Top Gear UK/US are back - 2013

[team_v]

First Episode of Season 19 for UK was shown last night, I sourced a copy this morning and will watch it tonight.
Short season again (6 episodes i think + christmas special).





The first episode of the second half of Season 3 for the US shows tomorrow and should be available tomorrow night.




To be honest, the US one looks to be better this time in my opinion.

[Jarred]

Watched the first episdoe of UK yesterday, did enjoy it. Loved the piece on the hy hyur hhaur.. pagani, and the bently.

Looks like they'll have some good stuff in there this season, can't wait.

Will have to grab the US too and have a look at that. I feel the guys should be getting pretty comfortable with each other, the format and in front of the camera, so I am expecting some good stuff!

[Ryan_R]

Yep, head to finalgear.com to grab both shows as they're released.


Always enjoy watching the USA version as well although you can't help but notice 90% of the ideas have come from the UK show. Still, it's no worse than watching repeat TGUK episodes

[Dutch77]

At least the USA version is watchable, unlike what was produced here.

The UK version, despite bigger and better budgets, is still well down on its peak.. too much staged fluff, although still entertaining. Probably a victim of its own success - many non-car people watch it these days so the focus is always on super high end stuff (excluding the challenges!).

Will we ever see a GTI get lapped again..

[Mk3 AAA]

Thanks for the heads up!


6 episodes isn't enough, I'm happy to have them flesh it out with some new Mondeo etc reviews. (Yes yes I'm grateful for any).

I like the US Top Gear, not as much, but still good and the cast is entertaining, and I get the impression we haven't seen its best yet.

I hate to bring it up yet again, but wtf Aus Top Gear, it could have been really good, but instead we just boganed up UK TG. (Insert obvious pun.... then explanation of that pun shortly after). That would be right you would suggest a race that's to your advantage. YES WE UNDERSTOOD THAT'S WHAT HE WAS DOING.

Has anyone seen Chris Harris On Cars, on youtube? Doesn't present like any of the TG presenters but still manages to make some great segments. He also has a cool soulful approach to review cars, looking at their history, the mark etc.

Also, I understand 5th Gear rebranding itself as the drivers show, but ditching Tom Ford and (I forget the others name) lost some of the journalistic talent on the show, they were actually funny and humble, Tiff and Jason might not be arrogant in person, but their racing credentials are sort of desperately clung to, when neither really needed reiteration.

Guess us car-nerds are never going to be satisfied with the shows... I'm happy car shows are still getting made at all.

[THE_EGG]

Thanks for the heads up!


6 episodes isn't enough, I'm happy to have them flesh it out with some new Mondeo etc reviews. (Yes yes I'm grateful for any).

I like the US Top Gear, not as much, but still good and the cast is entertaining, and I get the impression we haven't seen its best yet.

I hate to bring it up yet again, but wtf Aus Top Gear, it could have been really good, but instead we just boganed up UK TG. (Insert obvious pun.... then explanation of that pun shortly after). That would be right you would suggest a race that's to your advantage. YES WE UNDERSTOOD THAT'S WHAT HE WAS DOING.

Has anyone seen Chris Harris On Cars, on youtube? Doesn't present like any of the TG presenters but still manages to make some great segments.

Also, I understand 5th Gear rebranding itself as the drivers show, but ditching Tom Ford and (I forget the others name) lost some of the journalistic talent on the show, they were actually funny and humble, Tiff and Jason might not be arrogant in person, but their racing credentials are sort of desperately clung to, when neither really needed reiteration.

Guess us car-nerds are never going to be satisfied with the shows... I'm happy car shows are still getting made at all.

Chris Harris is a God among reviewers. It is entertaining just watching him have fun driving the car. When you see him have fun, then you know it is a good car. Chris Harris and Johnny Smith (from 5th gear) are my favourite reviewers by a mile.

Does anyone know what happened to 5th Gear? Did they axe the show now ?

[Ryan_R]

In some ways it's the easily available and well done normal car reviews that are pushing the proper TV car shows to spend their budget on more extravagant films, which perhaps is the reason for the reduced number of episodes. That said I've never understood how BBC treats TGUK as a second-class show when it comes to scheduling compared to Pop Idol/X factor, etc.

There's a Fiesta-style review of the Kia Cee'd and looking forward to doing another 'epic race' (last one was Nissan GT-R in Season 11) and heading back to Africa (last trans-continental rural challenge was Bolivia in Season 14). Not sure if I'd enjoy the American (Viper) one; they've been there enough times now.

5th Gear are back in 2 weeks.

[Captain Courteous]

At least the USA version is watchable, unlike what was produced here.

The UK version, despite bigger and better budgets, is still well down on its peak.. too much staged fluff, although still entertaining. Probably a victim of its own success - many non-car people watch it these days so the focus is always on super high end stuff (excluding the challenges!).

Will we ever see a GTI get lapped again..

True that. It would have been good to get a decent version here for local content etc..

Hopefully we can see the Mk7 GTI out for a lap soon...

[team_v]

Episode 2 of the UK version is out now.
Pretty good show however the interview section was very long and boring for me.

The sound of an LFA is something the engineers at Lexus should be proud of.

[Ryan_R]

Yeah a decent episode (that said TG America did a West Coast Road trip down to Mexico as well last week).

The whole laser-tag segment was wasted on me, enjoyed the musical road more