Awesome. I had seen the Veyron super sports on another site (anybody else think they've just borrowed the orange paint job from the new Citroen DS3 Sports?), but didn't realise Top Gear was involved.
This was the worst episode of the last 13 series. I actually felt bad during the interview, which says a lot about how 'entertaining' it was. I like these challenges however and may's skit was good. The problem was in the studio, all they did was crap I still have faith for the remaining episodes
Rubens Cheesecake! Apart from that, another so-so episode. Got excited reading the blurb before watching when it mentioned the Mazza and the Rapide, but that felt a little 'off' for some reason. I found Hamster in the "muscle" (Sorry, a Merc? even an AMG? No) car segment more enjoyable than the painful wedding car shennanigans. But the highlight of the whole episode: "Some say he doesn't work if you hold him incorrectly..."
They should drop the star in a reasonably priced car.. Rubens was fine, but having the ginger was just waste of time. That said, was nice seeing just how uneasy he looked for the Emma Watson-question EDIT: watched the rest of it, damn the wedding stuff got seriously wrong.
The 'Muscle' car bit was rubbish imo, those 2 cars cant even be compared and that merc just isn't a muscle car, but it is a crime against car design (its hideous!!). Overall it wasnt a bad episode but not exactly great either, although i now want the maserati more than ever!
Yeah I'd like to hear how an E63 and a Camaro are vaguely comparable, other than that they both have a V8? I thought the SIARPC was the funniest bit, nursing a semi, haaa! The wedding was just excruciating and not really that enjoyable to watch.
i thought it was an okay ep. the wedding stuff i dont believe for one second, or that they didnt know themselves that was exactly what would happen but was fairly enjoyable the muscle car this started well then the AMG came in, one is 40k one is 72k, in whos eyes they are in the same catagory ill never know. the star in a crap part ive never liked, its okay if its someone thats really into their cars but these people that dont give a crap no thanks leave them at home. i think this series is better than the last, they seem to have realised its a car show
I thought the star in a reasonably priced car was quite good. The result of it was a surprise. The Quattroporte looked (and sounded) really nice and I'm sure a weekend sat down with the manual would mean you'd figure out what all the buttons did. I wonder what the MPG is? Edit: Ah, 19.2 for a 6-speed auto.
I quite enjoyed this episode - the wedding part at the end was rather rubbish, but I'll forgive them when they tested two fantastic cars. The muscle cars bit was a bit odd, but the E63 is definitely a muscle car imo, but a muscle car with a bigger budget. I enjoyed the SIARPC this week - he obviously enjoyed himself, and it wasn't just to plug his latest book or film. Rubens was another good guest, and a blindingly fast lap (although I still maintain the Stig would probably be able to beat it given how many laps he's done on that track).
I wasn't too impressed, definitely got the impression that they knew the World Cup would be stealing their viewers by the fistful, and budgeted accordingly. The 'muscle' car was a pretty crappy comparison - and I realise I'm disagreeing with Krikkit here - mostly because the heritage of the muscle car lies in cheap performance to humiliate expensive cars (best exemplified by Pontiac's 'GTO v. GTO' challenge to the Ferrari 250). It's all soaked up in that blue-collar background Detroit had, and to suggest the £70k Merc is a worker's stoplight-racer is an insult to both workers and Mercedes. The Merc is certainly a muscular car, but it's not a 'muscle car' so much as it's a supersaloon, which is a genre in and of itself... I'm afraid I >>'d through the worst of the wedding embarrassment - it doesn't help that you know it's faked, after all - but I thought the first half of the triple test was pretty convincing. Love the Quattrosporte, too - why everyone chooses an S-class or a 7-Series is beyond me...
Yup, me too. Loved them testing the Quattroporte, Panamera and Rapide - less cocking about which was great. Also, did you notice how they didn't mention Jaguar at any point when they mentioned "traditional" luxury cars? - I reckon that's a good sign that they'll be testing the new XJ soon.
I certainly hope so - the new XJ is one of my most anticipated cars for the past few years. If it drives as well as it looks, it'll be utterly awesome.
What is it that makes a muscle car then? I'd assume the Holden Monaro was/is one. In that case I can imagine the Vauxhall VXR8 was/is too, even though it had four doors. Add a few gadgets and you get to the E63. It doesn't have a fancy engine, just a few fancy gadgets on the inside and a clever suspension setup. In fact I'd say most of the AMG models that Merc make are muscle cars really. Big, powerful engine dominating an otherwise unremarkable setup.
1: Price. Muscle cars are cheap and sacrifice ultimate build quality and prestige for straight line speed and power. 2: V8. It's not just about having a big V8. A Range Rover has a big V8, but that's not a muscle car either. A big merc like the one on Top Gear is an executive 4 door saloon, no matter how powerful it is. 2: Spec. Muscle cars traditionally are pretty basic, not luxury cars. They're pretty noisy, crude things with not much in the way of creature comforts. 3: Muscle cars are not sophisticated in terms of engineering. They break no new ground in terms of handling. They have crude, basic suspension. They have no electronic driver aids other than a simple on/off TCS. Muscle cars are pretty noisy, vulgar shouty things, where as the merc is understated and elegant in comparison. You just can't have a Mercedes muscle car... it just goes against everything that makes a muscle car a muscle car.... just as a Camaro or a Mustang is not an executive GT car, even if you did stuff it full of gadgets. A BMW M6 is a large 2 door coupé with a thumping great engine. A Mustang is a large 2 door coupé with a thumping great engine. Are they both muscle cars? I think they are not. Yes, the Monaro and Holden VXR8 are Muscle cars. No matter how many doors they have, they're crude, simple, noisy, vulgar things... but great fun, make great noises, and ordinary people can afford them
I see. So you need a technically crap, vulgar car with a heart of gold to shine through? I see what you mean, and I will defer to your opinion here, but I still reckon quite a few cars like the E63 and M6 are muscle cars at heart, even if their garnish disguises it.
The video for the 5K salon fuel economy test is up on topgear.com now btw. Link: http://www.topgear.com/uk/videos/exclusive-the-boys-test-the-economy-of-their-5k-sports-saloons
