Last Night's Top Gear

To be honest I can't see how anyone watching that would not have known it was staged, they loved the stratos - they have a stig and he doesn't spin out 3 times on a power lap, so it was pretty staged. Although I do sort of agree they should have tested/shown the cars performance.

To be honest the main gripe seemed to be the comments ref build quality - but then the wiper did fall off!

I can sort of see their distress - but then its Top Gear! They always annoy someone, Morris Mariner anyone

I thought the Stratos thing was a bit of fun!!

The thing that gave me the cold shivers was May straying into Norwich Airport's ATZ. Whether it was staged or not (and I suspect it probably was to a degree) it brought back heart stopping memories involving a Cessna 152, me, and an Airbus A330......

At the end of the day its a scripted, funny entertainment show, people need to get out more if they are taking it seriously

QUOTE(Lee RS @ 30 Nov 2009, 09:43 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>At the end of the day its a scripted, funny entertainment show, people need to get out more if they are taking it seriously

I know it's a comedy show first, but if I were the manufacturer of the Alitalia kit car and 350 million people had just seen the Stig bin it repeatedly on a power lap, I think I'd be a bit p*ssed off to find out later that the binnings were all completely staged.

It may be a comedy show, but as the most popular 'car' show in the world, I'd imagine their impact their reviews (even the light hearted ones) have is immense.

Think about the Fiesta storming the beaches in Normandy, I bet Ford's execs were already out spending their bonuses on the back of that.

It's so scripted and staged it's not actually comical.

Top Gear Tesla off when they said it kept running out of power when in fact it didn't. They need to be careful what they say, they can sway their uneducated (towards cars) audience with their biased, opinionated views. Their demographic has changed drastically over the years.

Top Gear has become like The Sun, a magazine for the masses. I'll still watch it but like a discarded copy of The Sun I pick up on a seat of the train, I won't take it that seriously.

Its just a bit of fun the people need to get a grip for sake

I agree with razzle and people are missing the point he is making.

We know it's staged and to a certain degree quite funny, but any people who were thinking of building a Stratos kit car will now be put off using the company that supplied the car to TG as it appeared to break a lot.

When they showed the proper Stratos I was thinking that I could do a kit version for a weekend car so when the kit version came on for only £13k I was quite excited, but in the end all the break downs etc did put me off and when they mentioned you would spend more time under it than in it that sealed the deal for me.

Funny show, but I would never lend them a car as a promotional tool.

Even if bits of it were staged, the way that car looked under braking I'd NEVER have brought one :\ It looked sketchy as hell everytime the stig touched the brake peddal.. That would be more then enought to put me of buying one!

I dont think the shows as good as it used to be, but still I'll never miss an episode

I actually didnt realise it was staged. I am sooooo nieve

I suppose a better way of looking at it is to imagine they did the same thing with the new Focus RS. Thousands of people could potentially be put off purchasing one.

I think it depends how you look at top gear, it is more of an entertainment show rather than a car show. Like when Jezza says "Yes it's perfect but its German so dont buy one"

QUOTE(razzleultra @ 30 Nov 2009, 11:09 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>I think people are missing the point.

Yes, it's 'just a bit of fun' for the guys on the show, and the enormous world audience.

But they need to be careful when presenting fiction as fact that they don't inadvertently destroy people's livelihoods.

'Pretending' that the mast on your converted sail-boat-car has accidentally snapped off on a low bridge doesn't really hurt anyone and is (arguably) entertaining.

Making a car look sh*t through staging spins, and PRESENTING IT AS FACT when it isn't the case is irresponsible.

I have never seen any fact in any Top Gear for a very long time.

I think it was reasonably funny, and I would buy one of those Stratos based solely upon the look of it

If we take issue with this section, they Slagged off Kia, what about all of the poor Kia Salesman, and more importantly the Caravan, one of the few industries that the UK seems to be good at.

Some guy gets all tearful because his build was slagged off in a witty way and a few bits exaggerated, what was their agreement with the show? Has it been breached or did they just go because they thought great, free advertising in front of 8 Million people, I mean what could go wrong???? lol I think they dont really understand how much good has been done, as I am near tempted just to go and buy one.

Top Gear is only three guys opinions! If they told you that your was , would you sell it?

And whilst I think about it, I wouldnt have an Evo X even if it was free because the 4 wheel drive car isnt quick enough to escape a tank!

Did you all get upset when Clarkson said that the Orange was for chav No exactly just take it as a bit of fun

QUOTE(razzleultra @ 30 Nov 2009, 01:07 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>I don't know why I bother....

My last post in this thread, promise.

1. Presenting an 'opinion' as an opinion, no matter how crazy is fine by me.

2. Presenting a video as FACT when it directly relates to the capability of the car is unacceptable in my opinion.

Calling the ST a chav-mobile is (1) above, saying that Porsche's are boring is (1) etc.

If you can't understand that distinction then you must be some kind of ad-man's wet dream.

How did they present the VT as fact? They never could do so for any car they feature, they are all shot on multiple laps.

Are you saying that the spins were CGI? If they happened then they are surely fact, if you are saying that their editing of the piece was a little dubious, I would agree with that.

Here is a script for a nice factual TV Programme

Any BMW, well built will hurt a bit come to service and spares time
Audi much the same only a bit less smarting

Ferrari forget it as most of our audience will never get to ride in one let alone own one
repeat for all super cars

Ford & Vauxhall, build cheap cars that are cheap to run and on the whole not very inspiring

Japanese and VAG group cars as above only a bit better

SO it goes on week after week after week

If we are going to have factual motoring programs they should suit the audience so lets have

10 minutes of the best tow car
10 minutes of I have £9000 to spend and a gammy leg whats the best
6 minutes of how to fool ANPR cameras and make off from Petrol stations
2Minutes of how do I get makeup stains out of the velour upholstery of my rep mobile before the wife notices
1 Minute of stuff that would be of the slightest interest to anyone who considers themselves a petrol head
1 minute on bolt on extras for everyday cars

Top Gear raises the profile of us sad gits that love cars, and of the cars themselves, it takes it to a new audience that want to be entertained and will hopefully protect us from the big emmision meanies for a while by drawing their fire!