are we hapy with foreign car reviewers?
 

Before I start, I love Top Gear, fifth gear, BMI and all those great tv shows, they let me see cars in action, discuss pros and cons and they are great entertainment, nothing beats the comedic genius of James May and Jeremy clarkson or the spy vs spy type action of Tiff needell and jason plato, however as I sat and watched a few of them I have on dvd, it came to me that most reviews tend to pre-judge a car if it is made in america, now I know the US does not have a great record when it comes to making exotics, with a couple exceptions...

OK ... so the USA built the horrendous Bonneville and the extremely cumbersome only good in a straight line mustang... ok, that does not mean that just because of that all of the cars built there are garbage, I could say that british Leyland built horrible cars, and that is also true, I could say that Jaguars were a terrible investment until FORD took them over, but I would not judge all european cars on how much I hated a couple of them, why then is Jeremy Clarkson saying "rubbish" when someone mentioned the new Camaro to him? he judged the car without even driving it and I am sure in typical fashion they will botch the review and try to compare it with european cars to which it was never built to compete against, this does not make me happy, I also saw how BMI did a quick review of the Holden/pontiac VXR8 it made me cringe, because this car is a marvel to drive, they seemed to dislike it because it was too "bulky bloated americanese" but yet it handled beautifully and made a noise that the motor gods would weep for, and then they place it against an RX-8... bear with me here, Mazda built the rx-8 to be a handling masterpiece and it shows, it may not be as powerful as other cars but it is perfectly balanced, obviously a class above the VXR8 in that aspect, so it was obvious who the winner of a handling test would be, the mazda, but it doesn't do justibce to what the holden/pontiac car is, why didn't they pit it against the japanese equivalent? why didn't they bring in a Mitsubishi diamante or an Accord and do the same test?

Stuff like this makes me upset because I like fair play, case in point, I see that they have reviewed the Dodge challenger in fifth gear, you could tell that tom clearly loves this car, and his review praises the car's good things and he tells you to beware of cheap plastic dodge interior, which is good, until you hear the comments from the rest of the presenters in the show, I do not know if they are paid by a british car company but come on! the car is brilliant, enough said, it is not in the price range of an aston martin so why compare it to a DB9? it is obviously not meant to compete with a V10 powered 500bhp BMW M5, (with an enormous price tag)

I have been considering getting a Corvette... I currently own a 1993 RX-7 twin turbo, it is a good car and I have had it since 1995, it is showing its age and paint is bubbling up, however I am not keen on the things I have heard from it from these shows, I don't know anybody who has a vette and it is discouraging to see my fellow brits being complete poofters on TV, they have lost objectivity which was the main reason I turned to them for a car review, if I go to a dealership and drive a corvette, and I like it, I am going to call Jeremy Clarkson a blundering idiot.

I don't think anyone here takes Top Gear seriously. It's a comedy show. I mostly watch it for pretty cars and fantastic cinemaphotography.

Top Gear, in particular Jeremy Clarkson, have what I believe is a BBC instilled script bias against anything American. His past shows are completely different in his views of American stuff. They make exceptions for cars like the new Z06 where if they have to praise it because pretty much everyone else has reverred it as an excellent car. But they still made all the typical "friendly fire" jokes and made up B.S. about the sat nav.

Either the backers of Top Gear don't like America or the producers of the BBC want a super pro U.K. language in the script and banter of the presenters want them to bash the U.S. every chance they get. i.e. down play all our accomplishments, insult us every chance they get, etc.

It's one thing to make a typical joke about American's as we make fun of our selves occasionally, but the way Top Gear goes on promoting Britain and dissing everyone else boarders on State run television. Get over yourselves please.

Don't get me wrong I love the show and the presenters, but the show has drastically changed in it's banter since the formula restructure in 2002. The blatant "it's American, it sucks" statement wasn't really funny, and they've used it so much I never see their crowd's laughing at it.

Oh and another thing, they've never mentioned the Saleen S7 in their news much less reviewed one. Maybe because their afraid of how good and how fast it would go around their track, you know being American and all.

I would give them a lot more credibility if they would cut this crap out.

Example of Jeremy being completely different before the Top Gear Forumla change.

Extreme Machines

They have to find someone to lend them one in Britain first.

All reviewers will have biases. Clarkson happens not to like American cars. That is perfectly fine. My father dislikes American cars because every American car he has driven has ridiculously light steering, which appears to be a worldwide complaint. Part of being an informed viewer is to see through the bias.

You guys have to keep in mind how much those Corvettes, Camaros and Mustangs cost in Europe. For example, here in Finland a new Corvette is about $150k. The base model. And this isn't even the most expensive country when it comes to american muscle. They are very expensive also in GB. For those kind of prices, they really are quite rubbish. A Mustang is good for a $25k car. But it sucks as a $100k car. For that money, you can have an M3 instead.

I've had several american cars, and they were ok. Except for the interior. They go when you press the accelerator, and stop when you press the brake pedal. They even turn if needed. They work just fine, as cars. But would I buy one new? No. I could easily buy a better car for that kind of money. And TBH, american cars aren't exactly tailormade for european roads. I judge a car by how it drives in the area where I live. Not how it drives on a big, straight and wide road across the World :D

Oh, and the $9 a gallon gas prices have something to do with my car choices too nowadays.

Top Gear, the show, seems mostly for fun. The magazine is more reputable and Clarkson doesn't make as many arbitrary jabs. He also makes it clear in his articles that he doesn't have a hatred of American cars. The worst he is responsible for is the Good the Bad, and the Ugly special that he did on American cars. The combination of bias, ommission, and innaccuracy made it pretty ridiculous.

As far as the Z06 review on top gear where he reveals the 'vette's weakness as a "rough ride," I have to point out that it weighs 700 pounds less than the Ferarri he was comparing it to. Also, given that you drive an RX7, I doubt that you'd find a 'vette to be that rough. It'd be large for many parts of Europe, but I'm guessing you'd be buying and driving it in the states.

Grey has a good review on a Corvette (along wit reviews on other cars.) He, as you might know, eventually decided on getting a new '08.

http://www.motorworld.net/forum/show...orvette+Review

As long as the reviewer is not yourself, there will always be something you are not happy about. Cars reviewed on TV is really just a means for us to aware of the existence of the car and some basic info. You really can't base on any one of them to buy a car, you really have to go take it out for a test drive.

For cars we are not looking to buy / can't afford to buy, who cares as long as we are entertained. That is why Top gear and Best Motoring is so much fun to watch.

^That's why they gave up on reviewing normal cars a long time ago.

This is the kind of biased double talk (depending on the car/components) that drives me up the wall. He needs to figure out an opinion and stick with it.


And he never mentioned anything bad when he reviewed the first Koiengsegg CCR. Which had the same engine.

^Hahaha, great find Spiffu.

Although Clarkson claimed that in his early days of automotive reviewing, people actually went out and bought cars he said he liked and then complained when they didn't like them.

Since when was there a modular Ford 4.6 litre 2 valve engine made in '05 and '06? I'm pretty sure that's when they went to the 3 valve design. Otherwise, that's a neat little video.

I think that was a typo on the video producer's part, the 3-valves were in the top 10 in 2005/06. Ford wasn't making 2-valves anymore (for mustangs anyway)

From The Ford Modular Engine wiki entry

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ford_Modular_engine

Apparently they are still using them in Crown Vic police interceptors for the 2-valves, but the 2005 Explorer was the last prodcution car to use them.

ok, I am not buying a car based on their reviews, all I am saying is that their joke about american cars being bad, even before they drive them is just insane, I could quote another clarkson blunder when he supposedly tested a cadillac CTS, not sure if it was the (V) and he utterly insulted the car and the makers, and then the cadi made him eat his words as it drove like a snarling monster

the BMI clip I am referring to, it was not BMI now that I think about it, since it was german, and what I tried to convey was the fact that they tested a VXR8/G8 which is a 4 dooor saloon with a price of 29,000 USD has a great engine, brilliant performance, but is not a track car, so I thought comparing it to the mazda diabolical handling rx-8 was failure on their part when they could have brought in a direct competitor in its class like a FWD mitsu diamante or a nissan maxima

in the end I am so tired of seeing how they make it seem like all cars made in US are rubbish, yeah if you think of them as imports in your countries, with huge price tags then that is bad and I wouldn't buy one either, but when they say that a new camaro is bad just by looking at a picture, or that a corvette is bad because it has a stiffy ride when I know there are far worst european examples out there is just stupid and a crappy mistake on their part to make jokes, it is not funny anymore

I just test drove the corvette this morning, test drove an 08, I was told theat dealer will have 09's in couple weeks, if that is true I will wait and test one of those, so far I like the one I tested and the ride is nowhere near as bad as Mr clarkson made it out to be, at 55,000 for the one I tested, I believe that it is a bargain for what it is, aside from looking beautiful