Funny Car Review

[Konrad]

This is hilarious.

I never thought I'd see the day when phrases like "Biblically Terrible", and engine noise being compared to "sitting a dog on a ham slicer" applied to a Honda??

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/driving/jeremy_clarkson/article6294116.ece

[lewisboats]

I have a love/hate thing for Clarkson...I think he's funny but I think he takes too much aim at US cars, US Fat people...US everything. It really surprised me when they (Top gear) came to the US and actually seemed to like the CTS-V, the Vette and The Challenger. I wonder when the new season (13) will start or if there is a new season.

Steve

PS: I did enjoy when they tried to convert cars to see if they could cross the channel.

[Frank Hagan]

Top Gear has been caught staging things on a number of occasions, including letting people think an electric car ran out of juice (it didn't ... they "lied" on video tape by showing the three guys pushing it back into the garage). 

He is entertaining, but he's opinionated and anti-American (I think its a form of penis-envy).  Now that he's got his show here, he "likes" some American cars.  Its funny you mention the Corvette; when I was in Ireland, I saw a show where he trashed it and said that most Americans couldn't fit in the seats, but they made them too wide anyway. 

[lewisboats]

I've seen him trash it too...just in the last season did he admit a bit of good stuff with it.  He liked it on the salt flats and the handling on the road.  I always suspected various prevarications...especially when they compared a prius vs something rather hot...ran them around a course with the prius at full out and the other loafing along. Of course the prius got worse mileage when used at maximum vs something that was using only minimal % of maximum power. Kind of like driving at 55...fuel efficient but no fun! I specifically remember him poking the aft end and commenting on the flex of the plastic...I did it myself not too long ago and got the same result. Not a structural defect but not something that looks good on tv either.

[Ken_Potts]

  It seems to me that he pokes more fun at Brits than the Americans.  Anybody who makes fun of himself is allowed to make fun of me.

  A lot of the stuff is staged - Remember when they "accidently" burned the travel trailer to the ground.  It's still fun to watch.

  I liked the episode when they drove the "jeep" across the lake by going flat out and planing on the paddle-tread tires.  And the race between the motorized kayak and the car.  And the Reliant Robin Space Shuttle.  And...

  I watch too much TV.

[lewisboats]

I usuallly download mine...I missed the jeep one.What episode is it if you know. I think he take s most shots at the french and us...just my opinion.

[Ken_Potts]

Try googling "Top Gear jeep vs snowmobile".  I can't remember which episode it was but that search brought up a lot of hits for that segment.

[Frank Hagan]

He hated the Prius, and couldn't understand why Americans wouldn't just buy a small diesel to get almost the same mileage.  That's because he's a moron:  you can't buy a small diesel in every state here.  They don't meet our more stringent environmental regulations.  And the European method for calculating mileage is more forgiving than our new standard.

I drive my Prius 90 miles roundtrip up the 101 Freeway, along the coast, uphill and down.  I average 65 to 75 MPH on a trip that is mostly freeway, but has about 10 miles of city driving.  I average 51.4 MPG, real world, in over 80,000 miles driven so far. 

[Ken_Potts]

   I have to agree with him about the small diesel because there's something he probably doesn't know:  We can't get the little diesel here.  A while back when we were still in the grips of $4 per gallon gas after Katrina, Ford's CEO said that they had no intention of introducing the diesel version of the (either Festiva or Fiesta or Focus or something, I don't remember which) in the US even though it was all over the UK.  It is available in the UK and it is rated at something like 64 mpg (I'm working from memory here) but Ford has made a definite executive decision NOT to sell that car here (WHY?  I'll buy one right now!)

   I had a good time driving my ex-girlfriend's 2004 Prius but then she became the ex and I don't drive the car any more (cause that would be illegal).  The best I was able to manage was 52ish mpg on one road trip to the museum but my normal rate of usage was only () about 48 mpg.  I'm not a leadfoot and I was hypnotized by the mpg readout so I was driving extra-careful-like (and having fun).  A diesel that gets 64 mpg wins my vote over a hybrid gas car that gets 52mpg every single time.  Especially since the 3 cylinder diesel doesn't have an expensive battery pack in it.  I tend to keep my vehicles a long time and if I buy a hybrid I'm certainly going to have to replace the battery pack at some point.  I've got 245 thousand miles on my Ford piclup at the moment and I need to replace it so I can do better than my 26mpg but I'm really upset that Ford isn't giving me the option of buying a 64mpg Diesel.  Back in 1991 (yes, I'm talking about the 20th century) Honda made the CRX-HE that managed 60mpg on gasoline but somehow the big three can't seem to match that in the 21st century.  I'm in the car factory business so I get to see a bunch of the stupid decisions the American (and the non-American) companies have been making over the last several years and I wish our current administration would stop throwing money at them (even though it will cost me my job) because Ford (and the others) REFUSE to give me the option of buying a 64mpg 3-cylinder diesel simply because of my zip code.

   Let the market decide which companies get to survive and quit stealing my Social Security to bolster companies that refuse to build the product the customer wants to buy.

   Now that my rant has run its course - Man, that Prius was fun!  ;D

[Frank Hagan]

Its hard to compare the different MPG ratings from different countries.  They do calculations to make liters=gallons and kilometers=miles, but the testing methodologies to get the beginning ratings are different.  And often you're reading Imperial gallons rather than US gallons.  The US gallon is 3.8 liters, while the Imperial gallon is 4.5 liters.  Some charts, like the ones on Wikipedia, take that into account.  The VW Polo diesel, too dirty to be sold here, gets 74MPG combined ... in British gallons.  In US gallons, it converts to 62 GPM. 

But it gets worse.  When we test the same cars here, using our new standards, they are from 10 to 20% less than the British or European standards. 

Our EPA mileage methodology changed a while back.  VW is upset that the small diesel they are introducing is rated at less than 45 MPG.  All of the "50 state diesels" that VW and BMW are introducing here get less mileage than the formulas say they should, in part because of the urea-injection system they use to make the cars meet our NOx requirements.  (That same urea-injection  system is also the reason the new diesels won't run on biodiesel ... they have to have petrol-oil based diesel). 

The reality is that the average driver will come closer to the "your mileage may vary" sticker on the car now than in the past.  The Prius dropped from something like 68 MPG to 50, which is a more realistic figure that people are actually getting in practice. 

I think we'll see some new turbo charged gasoline cars come back ... they used turbo charging in the 80s to provide "power when you need it" for small engines.  But they were troublesome and repairs were very expensive. 

Last I checked, a complete battery pack for a Prius was $1200 - $2400 (used or new).  In California, the battery pack has an 8 year or 150,000 mile warranty.  Because the batteries are never discharged below 50%, they are expected to last a very long time. 

[Konrad]

      Let the market decide which companies get to survive and quit stealing my Social Security to bolster companies that refuse to build the product the customer wants to buy.

For the love of God, Ken.. Turn on the TV.

Because you're starting to think for yourself..!! 

[Greg Luckett]

Ok gang, this thread is so completely off topic for the forum that I am shocked.  It should have been part of a pirated thread from someone about boats or nautical or etc, instead of its own thread.  We have traditions here you know.  Konrad, you are naughty. ;D :

[Ken_Potts]

For the love of God, Ken.. Turn on the TV.

I'd love to, Konrad, but I traded my TV for 3 cases of Spam yesterday.