watched the new The Grand Tour last night

Having watched Top Gear, I was expecting over the top production combined with equal parts of arrogance, but this show really reminded me of the reason I started Grassroots Motorsports some 33 year ago.

In this show, they compare three million dollar cars against each other. Their cheap car is a new M2, (although I do agree with Clarkson, that it is the best M Car ever made. Back then, I was so fed up with every car magazine telling me how fast my new Ferrari was going to go, when I was a broke ass kid trying to keep a fifteen year old Datsun Z car on the road. We didn't have car TV back then, but I am pretty frustrated with all the crap I see in car TV today too. I think will bring this thread to our next editorial meeting to remind everyone how and why we got started all those years ago.

Just the opening sequence alone was worth the price of admission. It was a triumph of optimism and joy over gloom and despair. In fact, I think I want to watch it again right now.

Oof. I liked the show, but the opening sequence was so indulgent and ridiculous, it made me cringe. Did they really go to burning man in red white and blue Mustangs?

I really liked it and can't wait for tonight's episode. Right now the fanbois on Facebook are going crazy because Jenson Button said there's a bit too much sliding around for his taste, and I totally agree with him. Was watching it last week with a friend and we were both saying "Alright, stop drifting a McLaren already.... we get it." Hopefully the shenanigans in future episodes don't consist entirely of "Let me go around this same corner sideways 20 times in a row" like the M2 test.

The show has the potential to be epic, and it further drives home the absolute lack of chemistry and charisma with the new Top Gear cast :-\

Yeah, you can get the backend loose in a 900hp car, we get it. Especially when they show the SAME corner from multiple angles. The flat-brim crowd is happy at least, Monster Energy can name that corner. Maybe share it with whatever vape product is popular.

johnnie wrote: Oof. I liked the show, but the opening sequence was so indulgent and ridiculous, it made me cringe. Did they really go to burning man in red white and blue Mustangs?

No, it was a miniature Burning Man knockoff ("Burning Van").

GRM and GT are two sides of the same coin. I read magazines like GRM to look at cars I could possibly own some day. I watch shows like TG & GT to watch people drive cars that I rarely ever see, much less have any chance to actually own. Those shows wouldn't have the same appeal if they were driving around in cheap hatchbacks, beyond the goofy challenges.

Thing is, despite the arrogance, there are also occasional lapses of wonder where those hosts let on how awesome their jobs are and how much they appreciate their positions.

Remember Tim, most of us would be happy to have any one of the cars in your fleet or to experience even a fraction of the cars you've driven. How many of us would have the opportunity to drive Brian Johnson's race car around Sebring at near race speed? But as I sit here in my paid-for house, currently surrounded by walls covered with guitars, next to my garage of paid-for cars, I can not claim any right to be jealous of others who through hard work or simply sheer luck of birth are more fortunate than I am. Dame Fortune has smiled upon me quite well.

TV shows aren't real. It's fantasy. Even the "reality" ones. So while I don't disagree with you holding The Grand Tour as an example of where you don't want your business to go, those types of shows with million dollar super-cars sliding around and turning $1000 tires into smoke have their place in the world and we are better off because of them.

It's not like all the sliding is new. They did it all the time on Top Gear. Let's face it, a sliding car with tire smoke pouring out is more fun to look at than a car taking a tidy, fast line around a corner.

In reply to Tom_Spangler:

Yup. It's why we love watching rally so much.

What if I told you that you could have more fun on a gravel road in a manual transmission Nissan micra at 70 mph then in any hypercar.

GameboyRMH wrote:

johnnie wrote: Oof. I liked the show, but the opening sequence was so indulgent and ridiculous, it made me cringe. Did they really go to burning man in red white and blue Mustangs?

No, it was a miniature Burning Man knockoff ("Burning Van").

Burning Van is a regular VW meet. The more you know about rear engined VW EFI plumbing, the more it makes sense.

Top Gear has always equated oversteer with handling. I took our ND V8 to a Top Gear Magazine test last week, and it basically consisted of a full day drift session in a car I've worked very hard to make an all-around handler. They didn't try to do anything else until the rear tires were corded, with the inevitable off following immediately.

Tom_Spangler wrote: It's not like all the sliding is new. They did it all the time on Top Gear. Let's face it, a sliding car with tire smoke pouring out is more fun to look at than a car taking a tidy, fast line around a corner.

Yes, and the reason most auto racing is not that interesting to watch unless you watch it for the strategy. You never really get any of the thrill you would get actually doing the driving, a good handling car gives you almost nothing visually.

Top Gear is known for high dollar unobtanium cars. It is also known for very GRM cars (e.g. 1000 lb challenges, first USA special etc.). Cheap cars that break and modifying them (generally in rather silly ways of course) are a hallmark of Top Gear. Not sure about the new show, but I certainly hope so.

I should note that even GRM has slipped into that hole. I believe I may have been the person who inspired the Bang For You Buck rating when I criticized GRM for constantly telling us how great some higher dollar sports car was. I believe my general comment was: a higher dollar car SHOULD be better, that is what you are paying for, what is far more interesting is a cheaper car that performs or drives as well.

I watched the first episode last week and I'll probably watch the next episode whenever that is available (although Project Binky has clear priority).

It did look like a somewhat tired two-finger salute to the BBC, with parts of it being overly scripted. A lot of it felt that they were trying to get as close to the old TG format as their lawyers would let them. The "test track" is a little odd and TBH I thought the NotAStig wasn't that great either.

I did like subtitle joke segment, but felt that would go past too many people (you have to have a half decent understanding of spoken French to really get it).

The chemistry between the hosts is clearly there and better than the new TG hosts, but that's only to be expected. People do tend to forget that it took those three a considerable amount of time to get to the level of chemistry they have now. It is beautifully shot and even popped on our run-of-the-mill bedroom LED TV. I think I do have to borrow the big living room TV for the next episode tomorrow.

That said, it's very clearly erring on the entertainment side of things. Like Top Gear, it's intended to be entertainment that more or less accidentally happens to have cars in it. I've felt for a long time that for "real" car journalism one has to look elsewhere - heck, James May on his own produced better car content.

But hey, at least the neighbours' complaints about Clarkson's house getting blown up when it was supposed to be demolished by more conventional means are starting to make sense now...

I will watch every episode, probably with a smile on my face. Won't stop me from watching Binky, reading GRM or reading Evo.

It's a lot more entertaining than just about anything else on the tube, and enjoying it is more fun than complaining it doesn't match up to some theoretical ideal.

I probably shouldn't comment because I haven't seen the show. But I have seen enough similar shows to pretty much turn me off to the typical TV Car Shows lately. I tend to like the technical side of the old car hobby and mostly focused on the sports/GT cars. I like to see build stories and stories about the historic tid bits that caused the car to be the way it is. Maybe the technical aspects of its build specifications, including some of it's weaknesses, real or imagined. But of course I suppose that wouldn't sell as well especially on TV where everything is designed for outrageous excitement for the masses.

I loved it, but it's fine if you didn't - I think. The barrier of entry is super low, so that's nice. I'm pretty excited to see what else they do, the first episode seemed like a "here's our format, also we're a bit miffed at the BBC - so we're going to show it."

I think the next few might get more interesting.

Episode 2 is now out, I haven't been able to watch it yet though.

Let them do their thing, GRM you do your thing. Its fun watching uber expensive supercars in the hands of doofuses, but I still want to learn what's the best chemical to use to stiffen up my motor mounts. (Is it window weld?)

In reply to gearheadmb:

http://www.industrialpolymers.com/truecast/truecast-90

I was amused and thoroughly enjoyed it, but hope that the "this totally isn't Top Gear, honest" shtick mellows for future episodes. It was appropriate as hell once, but will wear thin over time.

So... just watched episode #2...

"...TV shows aren't real. It's fantasy. Especially the 'reality' ones."

FTFY.

I was blown away by the intro*, and sad that I didn't know about it (and probably wouldn't have been invited) but having Midlana on the dry lakebed (with all that comes with the dust) would have been a high point for me.

About the show, yeah I agree I hoping they move on from the BBC jabs - it's like having a buddy telling you over and over about he doesn't miss his old girlfriend. Yeah, right, got it, move on.

There were some odd parts, like the three people "dying"... WTF was that about? But yes, it's nice to have them back; they just need to settle down and get comfortable again.

*I wondered what that cost and the Interwebs said it was $3.2M (or 3.8M, can't remember which).

kb58 wrote: *I wondered what that cost and the Interwebs said it was $3.2M (or 3.8M, can't remember which).

Series budget was roughly $6M per episode, give or take. Amazon (and, I assume, more than few private partners) but up around $200M for the 36-episode series. From what I hear, that's just production budget, not marketing, which is probably a similar number. To put that in perspective, if we had their shooting budget, instead of giving someone a T-Shirt when they renewed, we could afford to give every reader a nice NB Miata (or a REALLY nice NA). We would still have to charge for hats, though.

It is just like TG, which is what the fans want. Including this one. Cars sliding, three aging Brits poking fun at one another and scripted disasters are all part of what makes TG great entertainment. Either you get it or you don't.

I thought it was very well done. A few awkward bits but then it is early days in the program. As soon as they have a caravan challenge all will be right with the world.