TopGear drives 124 Spider?

[pgilling]

Hi,

I saw this link which appears to show Jeremy Clarkson driving a Spider as part of the next series of TopGear, lets hope he doesn't slag it off or else the used values could be badly hit! Conversely if he likes it then their values could could do well, don't underestimate how much weight his views carry. This car looks promising as it looks like a well sorted late model rather than a £2000 junker.

Scroll around half way down the page.

http://www.topgearbox.com/2014/news/top ... -spoilers/

[azruss]

At least, they didnt show the Fiat on the side of the road with a dead battery.

[MrJD]

Yea, clarkson will like it. He loved the late model austin sprite... Fiat will be twice the car by comparison.

[pgilling]

I hope so, normally when they each choose a car they tend to defend their choice and argue why it should win. In comparison with the other 2 cars this shouldn't be difficult.

[steve8462]

how would i determine when that episode will air again? i would really like to DVR it

[MrJD]

its for the upcoming season.

[steve8462]

Sweet! i'll just DVR all the new episodes!

[phaetn]

Should be fun to watch as long as its not totally jingoistic (Clarkson's nationalistic slurs can really beyond the pale sometimes).

Cheers,
phaetn

[toplessexpat]

(Clarkson's nationalistic slurs can really beyond the pale sometimes).

He's certainly an "acquired taste"... and I'm resisting any mention of the Dominion...

A

[steve8462]

it kind of annoys me when he cops that pompous ass attitude when talking about $500,000 cars as not being up to par. i would love to own a Maserati Vantage. (it would have to sit in my garage as a piece of art) since i couldn't afford a scheduled service on it, never mind sales tax or insurance!

[Exit98]

I like the show and those guys. All in good fun.

(He better not say anything bad about my car though!)

[phaetn]

(Clarkson's nationalistic slurs can really beyond the pale sometimes).

He's certainly an "acquired taste"... and I'm resisting any mention of the Dominion...

I know it's often in good fun, and I'm just enough into middle age to actually appreciate its nostalgia, but still. No qualms about living in the Dominion, though we're more than just ice and beavers. In a 21st Century multi-cultural context there's not much room left for Queen and Empire, despite our PM putting QEII portraits back up in government buildings and reinstating "Royal" for the armed services.

When I travel to England all I see is the blood of colonialism, despite the fact that (to paraphrase Conrad) it too, was once one of the dark places on earth. Too much exposure to po-co literary theory, I suppose. Despite their exceptional quality, too many of its institutions are founded on 18/19th C. imperialist ideology and I find it hard to take. That's just me though.

Back to the show: I fear too many references to "Jap cars" (despite it being called the "Japfest 2014"), especially since Clarkson recently called a Burmese man a "slope." Now he's in hot water for reciting "eeny, meeny, miney, mo, catch a *** by the toe" though it never actually made it to air but was leaked online. There's just no excuse for that -- it's not even remotely funny and appeals to the worst part of human nature.

I can already hear Clarkson's predictable comments about Italian "engineering." That said, I'm sure he'll wax lyrical about the Spider's "soul" (or blend of form *and* function) as compared to the Japanese marks; I must say that MG fastback that Hammy is in looks nice. Predictably Captain Slow is in some archaic Peugot (he's the most Continental among them).

While a lot of their show is unabashedly contrived and totally predictable, I do find their road trips fun. The two that really stand out are the trip on bikes through Vietnam (on a Minsk, Super Cub, and Vespa) and in the Southern US (in a Dodge Ram, Caddy, and Camaro, respectively). That and the episode where they go racing on a mixed track on budget cars.

All that said, I'm still looking forward to the show. I'm just cringing in advance -- like when I know Drunk Uncle is coming over.

[MrJD]

i assume it will be another Thousand pound 70's cars vs the cars that killed them... ie, Japanese cars.

oh, and I am a total top gear fanatic. LOVE it, lol.

Every day when going to bed its either top gear or wheeler dealers.

[toplessexpat]

I know it's often in good fun, and I'm just enough into middle age to [in appropriate snip] know Drunk Uncle is coming over.

All your points are (IMHO) correct... although as a young boy "eeny meeny" was a standard nursery rhyme that my mother used to sing to me! Yep, it's inappropriate now - but time changes peoples and cultures. Sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse.

Back to Top Gear - perhaps we can hopefully aspire for the objective criticism from Mr Clarkson to be "It's astonishing that a car with so many years under it's belt, can feel so.... fresh.... so alive..."

The MG *looks* nice - we all know what's really going on underneath that bodywork though... somewhat agricultural! (ok - I'm hopeless prejudiced against them!). The Peugeot actually looks quite smart in a weird sort of way!

[steve8462]

speaking of Wheeler Dealers, i want Ed china as a neighbor! that guy knows how to fix anything except his hair!