Author Topic: Jeremy Clarkson-The Good The Bad The Ugly (Read 10238 times)

Mini D · « **Reply #150 on:** January 09, 2007, 07:35:57 AM »

The Elise is in the exact same category. Hell, the early versions were sold with an "optional" passenger seat.

Blank · « **Reply #151 on:** January 09, 2007, 08:04:39 AM »

We all know lotus make GoKarty racing cars, small, fast nimble, very very basic interiors and probably leaky as hell too, but thats not the point, they are fun to drive, not for picking the kids up, if you have a smile after the drive, they've done their job.

Anyway lots of Clarkson Stuff on the Top Gear web Site heres his thoughts on American Muscle Cars (positive thoughts as he likes them)

like he says:
..Muscle cars, in short, are not as clever as Ferraris. But they're just as exciting...

whole article:
http://www.topgear.com/content/features/stories/2006/06/stories/08/1.html

lots of hime moaning about british cars and the British Nanny state too in the other articles.

Hope this brings a bit of balance, he's sarcatic about everyone equally.

:-)

lazs2 · « **Reply #152 on:** January 09, 2007, 08:26:31 AM »

wooley... "Lazs experience with his lethargic Fiat is exactly the same as anyone renting in the US - Dodge Neon anyone?. Out of interest Lazs, did you get a stick or auto?"

The car I drove was a stick. I have never driven but one neon and it was crap but.... it was twice the car that fiat was.. I hated shifting with my left hand btw... The worst car you could rent in America would be twice the car that fiat was. You would be laughed off the road or run off it if you drove that thing here...

The cars I seen in england were not jap cars. they were oddball stuff that looked and performed as badly as the fiat I rented.

lazs

lazs2 · « **Reply #153 on:** January 09, 2007, 08:44:55 AM »

and ffwd.... you may be able to beat a mustang with a go kart like the lotus in a race situation around curves...not acceleration or hill climbing (the things most people do day to day) but....

even at that.. you have a ten times more comfortable and roomy car that you can buy a part for at the corner discount auto zone and... for a few grand and a weekends work... you can still hop up the mustang to blow the doors off the go cart lotus in every except possibly thin ice on the lake racing.

We have shifter carts here that will blow the doors off the lotus. Ever driven a dwarf car? (single seat race cars with motorcycle engines).

The real truth is that the automotive experiance for the your-0-peeeans is like every other there and steeped in class restrictions... you have to buy your way up. The ruling class drives the high strung overpriced sports vehicles and turns their nose up at the lower class who drive crap boxes.

Here the automotive experiance is much richer and more free... (oddly enough) everyone has a chance to make his driveing experiance whatever he wants it to be for cheap... the road can have a porche alongside a 60's muscle car or 32 ford hot rod. Everyone has access to the kind of hp that the guys on that show have never even seen.

I wouldn't trade that for all the yellow crooked teeth and smirking ruling class and effite euro trash cars in the world.

But... the show is funny. It is just frustrating for people who know something about cars.

The equivlent would be to take the ford lightning truck and take any euro car with equal power to weight and then hook up a 35' power boat and trailer to them and a weeks worth of camping gear and then race em up a road that goes from 0 to 7000 feet up in about 20 miles.

Then go to england and shoot nothing but a bunch of snaggle toothed bar stool warmers and rain and gray skies.

plenty to laugh about with the cars and people of england.

My grandfather came from Scotland... a step up from england but just barely... I went back there and couldn't understand a word they said. Much like england... they laughed at my "accent".

I pointed out that I had no accent but that they did. More laughter... I pointed out that if I were wrong... How was it that they could understand every word that I was saying while they were all but unintelligable to me?

I also asked why it was that when they sang the sounded just like they were from southern kalifornia.

lazs

Blank · « **Reply #154 on:** January 09, 2007, 08:58:57 AM »

the main difference is fuel price and maybe insurance?:

And so the visious circle starts:

Most young people that like fast cars aspire to having a GTi or more recently 'RType' badge on thier car, but most are priced out insurance wise so they get a crapper slower more mushy base model :-( unless they only get 3 party cover, cos they "Wont crash Cos they are Uber drivers"

So you get a situation wear you have a young guy who gets a big loan for his Fast car which he cant afford or control properly in our crappy weather.

One night he stacks his pride and joy into a lamppost whilst showing off to his girlfriend and he loses the money he used to buy the car leaving him with a debt to pay off, and the insurance premiums go up even higher.

So true what Lazs2 says about buying your way up, as you need the cash for the insurance and fuel for the decent cars :-(

Edited as it made no sense hehe

Suave · « **Reply #155 on:** January 09, 2007, 09:10:21 AM »

Yeah Clarkson is funny as hell. Just looking at him sitting on the Toybota makes me laugh..

Clarkson talking about the 250hp outboard motor ".. and that's 600lbs sitting on the tailgate, that's like one whole american"

I love how he allways get's the top experts in a particular field working for him, and then promptly starts arguing with them.

Probably the funniest line I've seen yet was in the mini ski jump episode. The rocket scientists are going over a diagram with him, explaining the high tech rocket fuel which is a form of rubber and nitrous oxide for the oxidizer. Clarkson interupting when they mention the rubber fuel, "Look. Here's a tip, I've got a doctorate in engineering twice. You'll get more power if you use something like petrol or dynamite." I was lmao.

Choocha · « **Reply #156 on:** January 09, 2007, 10:56:50 AM »

The link is dead

FastFwd · « **Reply #157 on:** January 09, 2007, 04:35:50 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by lazs2
and ffwd.... you may be able to beat a mustang with a go kart like the lotus in a race situation around curves...not acceleration or hill climbing (the things most people do day to day

I think what you might have meant was "you may be able to beat a mustang with a go kart like the lotus in a race situation around curves...not acceleration or hill climbing (the things most people do day to day - in America"

What I'm seeing here from the Euros (and from others who have been there, like yourself) is that gasoline is very expensive at $6 a gallon, so it's no surprise that the Euros have not developed an appetite for 10mpg muscle cars. Instead, their cars are developed to perform well in situations closer to home - like twists and turns, narrow roads etc. Why would the Euros in Europe developing a car to be sold in Europe at a European price with European gas prices in mind want to develop it to some sort of American specification?

Quote

plenty to laugh about with the cars and people of england.

I also wonder why you target england and not any other euro country, because England doesn't have much of a car industry any more and most of their cars are imports.

Hmm. Seems like you have an ax to grind.

eskimo2 · « **Reply #158 on:** January 09, 2007, 04:40:02 PM »

I’ve owned 7 Fiats, just because I hate myself and like to make myself as miserable as possible. They are the worst cars in the world… ever. Some of them get a few points for style and even humor. The 128 had awful torque steer, would go up on two wheels and wanted to roll in a hard corner, there were these stupid shims for adjusting the valve gap, etc.

The only thing reliable about a Fiat is that you can be sure that it will be ready for the scrap yard just past 30,000 miles.

Still, there was something that I likes about the 500:

Bronk · « **Reply #159 on:** January 09, 2007, 07:06:18 PM »

Fix
It
Again
Tony

That is all.

Bronk

wooley · « **Reply #160 on:** January 09, 2007, 07:13:41 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by FastFwd
I also wonder why you target england.

It's his Scottish ancestry - its in his genes and he can't help it.

Now Lazs, repeat after me:

"Yaes can take oor lives, but yeas can never take our FRRREEEEDDDDOMMMMMM"

Choocha · « **Reply #161 on:** January 09, 2007, 08:18:59 PM »

the Link is dead

1K3 · « **Reply #162 on:** January 09, 2007, 08:36:16 PM »

It seems that Euros and Asians like 3-door hatchbacks that can corner very well and go up to at least 160mph (Volkswagen Golf and Honda Integra Type R and Civic Type R). The cars mentioned above are the Euro and Asian definition of everyday sports car.

Mini D · « **Reply #163 on:** January 09, 2007, 11:06:56 PM »

I had a 2001 Integra GSR. It was one of the worst handling FWD cars I'd ever driven... right on par with the Pontiac Grand Prix GT. It was too twitchy and unpredictable in corners even during moderate driving and the torque steer was rediculous. Combine that with the fact that you have to drive the car above 4000 RPM to get anything from it and a whopping 22mpg from a 4 cylinder and it's a downright ****. The very next car I got was a 2002 Jetta which I had for 3 months and got rid of for a number of reasons... and the fact that a new reason seemed to creep in every day.

It must be my biased big-road American favoritism that caused me to eventually settle on a Mini Cooper. It's not a perfect car, but it suits my needs perfectly. But then... so does my 1971 pickup from time to time.

1K3 · « **Reply #164 on:** January 10, 2007, 01:50:53 AM »

About your Integra GSR.

Was it a 4-door model? Was the suspension modified (i.e. lowered & cambered). Integras GSR and Rs are suppose to be one of the best handling front wheel drive cars in the market.