Jeremy Clarkson-The Good The Bad The Ugly

[lazs2]

Most brits suffer from the same narrow mindedness...  they think every road in the world is only 8 feet wide and has a curve around some first century rock wall every 50 foot or so.    

They end up building glorified go carts and then expecting every car in the world to perform like a glorified go cart.   We can build those too... it's just that there is no use for em... I like em fine... I have a 55 Healey with a chevy V8 in it.   No way to put anything in it tho and a long trip is....ah.... "tiring".

they can't imagine hundreds of miles of straight as an arrow well paved roads that are two to 6 lanes wide...   They can't think outside of 6 buck a gallon gas and when they do... they are still ruling class oriented... their powerful V8's get about 12 mpg...

I think it bothers them that working class people can afford cars like the vette that get 26 mpg and cost a third of what their ruling class pays for snob mobiles or... that the hot rod industry can produce an 800 hp mustang for cheap...

Heck... our specialty car makers build more cars than their big ones...  Hundreds of thousands of 500-1000 hp crate engines are built here every year...  

The real truth is that you can't really drive a big or a fast car much in england.  even if you could afford it.   You can stay in london for a week and never hear the sound of tires doing a 100 food burnout at night as you lay in bed.  

You can't really build a hot rod in england... I mean.. they are not banned but... they are very difficult to licence and insure and build and most of all... afford.   Here.... any bag boy at the supermarket can have a hot rod with a v8 and 300, 400 or more hp...  fry the tires all the way down the freeway onramp.

It is fun to punch the big block el camino in first gear of the richmond gear 6 speed while you are going 10 mph and have the tires both go up in smoke all the way across the intersection... lots of crude Americans giving you the thumbs up and smiling.  

We also have mountains...steep ones with gentle curves and wide roads...  torque monster heaven..  weazy little foreign junk loses all hope.   More than one BMW has wet itself when the grill of a 69 elky was glued to it's bumper no matter what it did...    

cars should be judged in the context of where they will be driven.   the show pretty much does that it's just that their tiny little island is not what I want in a driving experiance.

lazs

[Neubob]

I wonder why he didn't test the original hummer against the landrover. I'm pretty sure that nobody ever claimed the H2 was anything but a pimped-out station wagon with wheel wells big enough to accomodate 24 inch rims.

[Mini D]

GM discontinued the H1.

In all fairness, the off-road test was a bit staged. The bank they got the Escalade stuck on was one that would have gotten any of those vehicles stuck... ditch to sharp bank.

I guess he could have made his point in a better manner. But then, he's also not commenting on the fact that the Land Rovers might be good for a couple of weeks, but they are flaming POSs reliability wise. Hell, I can buy a 5 year old discovery for $5k that's "never been off-road".

I also wonder about the supposition that the U.S. builds disposable cars based on a test drive of a 94 GM. I'm kind of wondering how a 94 BMW would have done under the same conditions. Seems to me those were disposable cars also. In all fairness, BMW has greatly improved their reliability and longevity where the U.S. doesn't seem to be doing much, but from that era, pretty much everything fell apart.

Lazs... You could tell he loved driving the '68 Mustang and the Viper. He was just catering to his audience.

[Neubob]

The fact that the H1 is out of production should be immaterial. It was discontinued years ago, and has not benefitted from the subsequent technological improvements that the Land Rover lived to see. Should be an easy victory for the Land Rover. It was omitted for one major reason: Because no production SUV will beat it.

He also failed to emphasize that the chrysler 300, for all of its rubbish-like handling, is about 1/3 the price of the M5.

And finally, I still have to ask... Where was the Saleen S7TT?

[Viking]

Mini D, that was the new Range Rover, not any Land Rover. Range Rovers are luxury SUV's and direct competitor of the Escalade etc. Also BMW make cars that last. Many 1980's BMW's still running over here, and my '91 BMW is running like it was new. Has developed a slight rattle behind the glove compartment somewhere though, but after 15 years of Norwegian winters who can blame it.

As for Clarcson's movie, I loved the Viper. Always loved that "axe murderer", and who need to go around corners faster than the BMW Z4 anyways? Not me!

[Russian]

Some of you guys might enjoy 23 minutes long Jeremy Clarkson MotorWorld videos. He reviews cities and countries while keeping it educational and entertaining.

http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=jeremy+clarkson&so=0&hl=en&start=10

[FastFwd]

LMAO.

Well, the Euros seem to have us beat at every angle.

In the 4X4 test, the Range Rover wiped the floor with the Cadd. Escalade and the Humvee.

The 415bhp Roush Mustang was supposed to be so much better than the normal 475bhp Mustang, but even the Roush was beaten by the 1.8 liter Lotus Exige, which Clarkson called the plastic toaster!

In the straight line test, the BMW Z4 held out against the Chrysler 300C SRT.

Gotta say, pretty embarrassing for most Americans!

[rabbidrabbit]

ummm ya... that wasn't completely contrived and rigged...  good to know the mindless minions are happy.

[Mini D]

Range Rover is made by Land Rover Viking. I haven't seen many of the range rovers over hear, but a neighbor had a Discovery. It was a piece of crap. Now, I suppose the same company could build one well and the other poorly, but that would kinda go against the gist of the "all american cars are bad based on these" statements being made. Euros make disposable cars too. Even in the SUV world.

And I had entirely different observations on the mid 90's BMWs... my 91 525 in particular. There was nothing "built to last" about the car from the engine to the interior. My cousin had a 90 530 that was worse. I won't even comment on the 325's from that timeframe. They aren't anything to write home about. And... notice I didn't even bring up the mid-90s mercedes boodoggle.

In all fairness, BMW does seem to have changed for the better as has Mercedes. But the 90's was not the time any car company would point to as their shining decade.

[Mini D]

PS... Jag and the Rover are fords.

[cpxxx]

Originally posted by lazs2
The real truth is that you can't really drive a big or a fast car much in england.  even if you could afford it.   You can stay in london for a week and never hear the sound of tires doing a 100 food burnout at night as you lay in bed.  

It's funny just as I read the above, somebody did just that somewhere nearby. I know it's not London or England and I'm sure it wasn't a big V8 just some kid in his breathed-on ricer. Lying in bed here you can follow them thrashing their engines down the long straights on the edge of this city.  No sign of the police either, they hang out in the town centre oblivious.

[Bronk]

I can't help but wonder if Clarkson would like Shelby Cobra CSX 4000 or the Saleen S7.
American cars also.



Bronk

[vorticon]

do range rovers still use a buick engine?

[Neubob]

Originally posted by Bronk
I can't help but wonder if Clarkson would like Shelby Cobra CSX 4000 or the Saleen S7.
American cars also.



Bronk

He would like the Cobra because the Cobra was based on a British Car, so even if its biggest claim to fame was the result of an American, it would be, at its core, still a British masterpiece with a big, vulgar v8 in it.

He wouldn't like the S7 because it can defeat the Mclaren. He would claim that it is not a real car, but a cartoon, and would then proceed to get it stuck in dirt, or launch it into the air, to prove, on top of everything, that it was inferior to a Land Rover in off-road ability, and inferior to a Spitfire in airworthiness.

[Viking]

Originally posted by Mini D
Range Rover is made by Land Rover Viking. I haven't seen many of the range rovers over hear, but a neighbor had a Discovery. It was a piece of crap. Now, I suppose the same company could build one well and the other poorly, but that would kinda go against the gist of the "all american cars are bad based on these" statements being made. Euros make disposable cars too. Even in the SUV world.

Yes, but the Land Rover is a $30-40,000 car. The Range Rover is a $70-80,000 car. Sort of like comparing a Fiat Punto with a Ferrari F430, both are built by Fiat, but only one is a Ferrari.

Originally posted by Mini D
And I had entirely different observations on the mid 90's BMWs... my 91 525 in particular. There was nothing "built to last" about the car from the engine to the interior. My cousin had a 90 530 that was worse. I won't even comment on the 325's from that timeframe. They aren't anything to write home about. And... notice I didn't even bring up the mid-90s mercedes boodoggle.

The difference between your '91 525 and my '91 525 is that mine was built in Germany to European standards, while yours was probably built in South Carolina and built to US standards. There is a reason why US BMW enthusiasts buy "eurospec" parts from Europe or even import cars from Europe themselves. European cars built for the American market are built with American "values" in mind: Cheap and disposable. So for example while your 525 had cheap plastic headlights mine has ellipsoid crystal glass lenses.

The most expensive thing I've done to my 525 is service the auto box in 2001. The second most expensive was replacing the dampeners and all the rubber bushes in the suspension last year. Not bad for 15 years of service, and I make a point of driving it at about 130 mph at least once a year just to see if everything is still working as it should.