tonights top gear

[W210 Fan]

that was actually a decent review of a small affordable car - the Fiesta, the blues brothers bit in the shopping centre was a bit over the top, I also love the squaddies sense of humour who said `are we there yet?` when they left the landing craft

I missed the first 15 minutes arguing with my missus so I will have to get that later,

I also enjoyed the vulgar fraction who was to the right of Boris,

 

[Dieselman]

And did you notice Boris say cars would have to go electric.... I wonder what measures he will bring in to 'encourage' that to happen.

The first bendy busses will leave London's streets in 2010.....

....is that when the lease expires..??

 

[MBManInKen]

The first bendy busses will leave London's streets in 2010.....

...and let's hope he'll turn the bus lanes in s-class only lanes then .

 

[Mudster]

I like Boris, He is a character and He has Character which is refreshing in any politician.

Makes the rest of them look like they've been to smarmy politician school.

 

[andy_k]

I

Makes the rest of them look like they've been to smarmy politician school.

fixed that for you

 

[jeremytaylor]

No doubt the Morris Marina fan club will be moaning about JC trashing a 'perfectly good' "classic" Marina (not that such a thing ever actually existed!)

 

[Dryce]

that was actually a decent review of a small affordable car

I don't recall which model he had - but I'm guessing - not anywhere that near the bottom and not one quite like the vast majority that will be sold.

And the same goes for journo reviews in general.

The thing that rankles with me is that the Focus and Fiesta are liked by journos. So why is it that the ordinary ones that I have ever driven are nowhere near as good as the alleged reputation?

Well part of that may be down to my personal subjectivity.

But. And I think the nub of the matter is that Journos live in a cloud cuckoo land.

In the land where I live most people won't pay say 11K for a new Fiesta. They'll put that sort of money into a discounted or prereg low to middle end small family car. But in journo land they tell us 11K is a good price for a small hatch.

And when it comes to saying car A is better than car B amongst real cars then they are comparing upper range higher powered models. Not the mundane models that most of us actually buy.

Once a product has had a couple of reviews by established journos then the reputation sticks. Thereafter journos basically just reiterate 'the view' in their own version.

I think what particularly rankles is that the previous model Fiesta/Focus were particularly well regarded by journos. I never rated the handling of the ordinary Focus as anything special compared with its competition (at least the ones I have tried) and I particularly loathed the Fiesta as one of the few small cars I just couldn't live with.

 

[andy_k]

No doubt the Morris Marina fan club will be moaning about JC trashing a 'perfectly good' "classic" Marina (not that such a thing ever actually existed!)

they started whilst the show was still on

http://forums.mg-rover.org/showthread.php?t=274616

 

[Dryce]

I like Boris, He is a character and He has Character which is refreshing in any politician.

Makes the rest of them look like they've been to smarmy politician school.

'Cos Boris is a journo himself.

One of the problems we have with our current crop of politicians is that they pretty well started out as politicians. I suspect this is one of the reasons that Gordon and Alistair can get excited about a 2.5% VAT cut while everybody else is so underwhelmed. Their point of reference as to what counts and what doesn't is so far removed from the public that there is no empathy in either direction.

 

[andy_k]

that was actually a decent review of a small affordable car

no it wasn't, it was Clarkson taking the P*** out of all the people who say that Top Gear doesn't do car reviews of small affordable cars any more

every time he mentioned one of the lower spec models he said they were all s**t - comedy yes, car review nah

 

[Dryce]

No doubt the Morris Marina fan club will be moaning about JC trashing a 'perfectly good' "classic" Marina (not that such a thing ever actually existed!)

Well I wasn't happy about it either.

There can't be that many Marinas left running. And much as they malign these vehicles they still represent some sort of heritage.

 

[andy_k]

Well I wasn't happy about it either.

There can't be that many Marinas left running. And much as they malign these vehicles they still represent some sort of heritage.

Marina Heritage??????

That's got to be one of the funniest things I've read on here anywhere

They were a crap joke when they were made. Terrible build quality, cheap nasty interiors, lousy handling, ugly, unreliable pieces of automotive crap turned out by a so called motor industry who's workers spent more time outside the factories than inside them.

Truly a dreadful car in every possible sense of the word

 

[SEM]

thought top gear was a little duller than usual, up until last 10mins when i laughed my **** off... Is it Green, yes VERY...!

 

[SEM]

Marina Heritage??????

Truly a dreadful car in every possible sense of the word

I'm ashamed they came from my home town... Gaydon today was an eye opener to some the Worst.... sadly few best cars around

 

[nick mercedes]

Well I wasn't happy about it either.

There can't be that many Marinas left running. And much as they malign these vehicles they still represent some sort of heritage.

Clarkson seems to delight in destroying cars at our expense.

Why did they have to set fire to a classic car for a cheap laugh?

 

[Dryce]

Marina Heritage??????

That's got to be one of the funniest things I've read on here anywhere

Sadly I was being very serious.

The very fact that these cars are so maligned means there is almost no interest in preserving them. And regardless of what your opinion is about them (and my recollection is that they were simply totally underwhelmingly disappointingly boring) there should be some examples kept for posterity.

 

[nick mercedes]

Marina Heritage??????

That's got to be one of the funniest things I've read on here anywhere

They were a crap joke when they were made. Terrible build quality, cheap nasty interiors, lousy handling, ugly, unreliable pieces of automotive crap turned out by a so called motor industry who's workers spent more time outside the factories than inside them.

Truly a dreadful car in every possible sense of the word

But why do the BBC like to smash things up just for a laugh?

 

[Sp!ke]

Very good TV as usual.

Do you think this place/sign really exists?

 

[Dryce]

Do you think this place/sign really exists?

Yes. It's in Wiltshire.

 

[andy_k]

Clarkson seems to delight in destroying cars at our expense.

Why did they have to set fire to a classic car for a cheap laugh?

because it was cheap and it wasn't a classic?

They sell for peanuts on eBay, £500 buys a runner with MoT & tax

Maybe it was a half decent looking but knackered MoT failure which like most Marinas was doing it's best to fall apart faster than anyone could bolt the bits back on in which case it's £50 worth in the local classifieds

I thought that Top Gear made the BBC a profit through selling it worldwide so it doesn't really "cost" us anything.