ot - Top Gear fan or fury? (mild rant)

They have some great machinery on Top Gear but so little of the prog is about the cars - seems to be more about the presenters playing with their egos. A shame really when we could see more mechanical stuff.

I don't think any of the 3 understand much about mechanical engineering (or indeed eng of any kind) and Clarksons oafish comments are threadbare. Are you (like me) fed up of him saying (this car has so many) "torques" when he means "torque".

And now I see that long haired one has god knows how many spinoff shows in which is portraying himself as some kind of nerdy mechanical wizard - which he is not.

And that little mouthy little oik - he said once that the lotus elan (those of the '60's) were "rubbish". I know for a fact they were not rubbish as I rebuilt two of them from the ground up - just for the fun of it. Yes there were rubbish bits of design - like the usless handbrake operating on rear discs - but the car as a whole was a superb performer beautifully balanced, as it was, on that centre box-section frame. Such a pity someone who is uniformed can make such statements and denigrate an excellent piece of British design.

Sorry folks - I just sense none of these 3 presenters has ever really got their hands dirty or suffered the real work involved in fixing one's own car(s).

Yes I know it's just entertainment - and the show is successful - just wish it was about cars. Thanks for reading.

Reply to
dave
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could not agree more ! I stopped watching this inane program ages ago. I doubt if any of them would know how to change a light bulb ! Trouble is, like many overpaids on TV, they wrongly think money turns them into intellectuals LOL !

Reply to
doug

Just to make that worse,

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- watch the wrap.

I was enjoying the show but its becoming boring now with so many over the top instances, going out of their way, to be plain stupid. This results in utter crap.

Reply to
Rob

dave gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying:

Umm, nobody's _forcing_ you to watch it.

Yes, it's shit. Yes, it's the Clarkson ego show. Is this _news_ to you?

Reply to
Adrian

Clarkson doesn't know much about engineering but he knows Torque is twaddle. Diesels make lots more torque than petrol heads beloved torque monster V8's but don't go. So it's clearly not torque that makes cars go so it's not worth talking about it sensibly.

How far had it got before it needed a ground up rebuild? Local tech college had 3 Lotus heads under the bench, all cracked. A friend has got one, it hasn't moved in years.

Marcos GT I go past every day is so good it spends 355 days per year under a cover.

Reply to
Peter Hill

Watch something else then & shut the f*ck up moaning about something that doesn't really even try to be about cars anymore, ffs.

Reply to
Nige

No he doesn't, he probably actually means "Newton Metres". It's called a combination of sarcasm and trying to make the programme as accessible as possible to the masses.

Don't mention it.

Reply to
AstraVanMann

In message , Adrian writes

I must be missing something, I watch it as a comedy show...

Reply to
Gordon H

You know when you get 3 blokes, in a pub, talking about all the things they would do with their favourite marque of motor, the daft road trips they've always fancied having a go at, or just pissing about in the cars they accidentley bought of ebay, last time they got home from the pub.

As the beer flows, the ideas get much more far fetched, the beer mat planned trips crazier, and the what are we going to do with that wreck plans more extravagant.

That is TopGear. I know the old sensible version was sometimes more practical and interesting, but it got canned due to lack of viewers.

It is escapism, and I love it. Given a small lottery win, I too would probably arrange daft trips and "Challenges".

Yes it "wastes" license payer's money, but you know what, I would rather see 3 blokes tear the arse out of Europe in the ropey end of a certain car, that we could actually afford, than send 20billion presenters, crew and staff for a 2 week holiday in South Africa to watch a bunch overpaid yobs kick a bag of wind around a play park before being sent home embarrassed.

Reply to
Elder

If a civil engineer came up with an design for a bridge that kept falling down on a regular basis it wouldn't be classed as excellent.

Reply to
Shaun

There speaks someone who knows f*ck all.

Reply to
Conor

My Mondeo TDCi has 130BHP. My wife's Mitsubishi FTO GR has 170BHP. The BMW 328i E36 has 190BHP.

My Mondeo can just about out accelerate the above two from 30-70MPH.

Explain.

Reply to
Conor

Bollocks.

Reply to
Nige

It's got a gearbox.

Reply to
Duncan Wood

Agreed. Must have a limp right ankle, can't floor the throttle. Maybe he's got some mats stuck under the pedals?

He can't be stupid enough to have stuck them in top, the TDCi won't go down to 30mph in top. Connor's wife clearly hasn't been taken in by the "bigger is better" petrol head myth. If I had to choose between a FTO GR V6 and a BMW 328i I'd overcome my dislike of FWD and take the FTO.

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So in gear the GTO and 328i completely muller the TDCi.
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30mph both the BMW and FTO could be hanging on to 1st but thechange would lose the benefit. Not much in it at 30mph, FTO has 107%of the TDCi's acceleration, a butt dyno would be hard pressed todetect the difference. By 40mph the FTO has 125% and the BMW about120% of the TDCi's acceleration. By 50mph the TDCi has run out of goand needs 3rd. The FTO has about 190% and BMW 328i about 170% of theTDCi's acceleration. I think it must be a very numb bum to be unableto detect a times 2 difference in thrust. By 60mph the BMW has changedto 3rd and it's advantage has reduced to 120% while the FTO is stillaround 190%. At 70mph the FTO has had changed into 3rd while the TDCiis getting close to needing another gear change, FTO has 170% and BMW160% of TDCi's acceleration.

Reply to
Peter Hill

My 4.2 SD1 produces 201 lb ft @ 1000 rpm, 220 lb ft @ 1500 rpm, and continues producing more torque until 4000 rpm when it peaks at 266 lb ft. Peak power is 260 bhp @ 5000 rpm. It has a 3 speed auto transmission.

My brother has a Merc E280 CDi which produces more torque and slightly less power (over a much narrower rev range). It has a 7 speed auto box.

The Merc can't keep up with the SD1 as the SD1 has *instant* torque available on request. The Merc needs the turbo to be giving it full beans to keep up.

Admittedly, the Merc uses less than half the fuel...

Reply to
Pete M

There speaks someone with a bad case of Tourette's Syndrome.

Reply to
The Peeler

This is kinda significant. SD1 V8 about 1370Kg to 1430Kg for Vanden Plas EFi E280 (2006) 1715Kg. Instant 25% advantage to SD1.

Also unless faulty auto's will never hold a high gear at WOT, so it's acceleration due to power and not torque that you experience.

Reply to
Peter Hill

Mine hits the redline in all three gears. Doesn't stay there for long, but it really doesn't need to... and it's getting bloody scary in 3rd cos I really need to polybush the anti roll bar..

Reply to
Pete M

My auto goes way into the red, around 7,600 rpm when red is 7,200rpm. I've not had the bottle to hold it until it changes but have lifted off to force a change up. I think the rev counter is lying but it does seem to hit the limiter. I think it's going to get a manual conversion soon as it does 23mpg while manual does 29mpg.

I dunno when I lost the bottle, 30 years ago I had the bottle to run a Honda CB125S with redline at 9,500rpm to 12,000rpm. Not once but twice. The redline ended at 11,000 so it was back in the green.

Reply to
Peter Hill

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