I agree, in fact the original presenters of the so called new top gear only lasted a series before Jason Dawes got the boot and was replaced by James May, who had made an appearance on old top gear after Clarkson left first time round.

You need somebody to tell you what the hazard warning light switch does?


Anyway, this isn't about comparing old to new. Even if you totally forget that Clarkson, Hammond and May ever existed, this was still a VERY poor show. Evans Couldent stop shouting, LeBlanc's 'jokes' were cringeworthy and his presenting skills are more wooden than the Mary Celeste. Their on-screen relationship is quite obviously forced and they look totally un-natural together (in a bad way).......I could go on and on.

Oh, and they've got the best bloke there, Chris Harris, on the after show. I couldent be arsed to watch it. I couldent be arsed to sit there at home, anti-socially on my iPad and watch it. Having your family gathered around an iPad / laptop etc isn't exactly my idea of fun.

I think the BBC have really ****ed this one up. Still, it's not as if it's our money they're wasting on it :brickwall:brickwall

I think the naysayers are argueing from having too high expectations

I only caught the last 15 mins as I was finishing a bout of decorating, so was actually watching paint dry

Seemed a little too like the old one from what I saw, but I am sure it will get better

Apparently they did more in depth reviews on cars

They are just doing the same show with different people. Chris Evans came across as a total nob playing up the camera waiting for people to laugh at his terrible jokes....

Matt actually seems pretty good to be honest and once he gets used to the English sense of humour might be pretty good.

Fair play to sabine making the jet pilot sick!

Same $hit different hosts.

My mate Ric was flying the Paramotor.

Forgot it was on and missed it. Doesn't sound like I missed much!

Why is anyone bothered, he didn't want the old Audience anyway, he has his New and Improved one now. .

TG was running out of steam and this latest effort hasn't changed that; it should have been allowed to die once Clarkson & Co. had departed.

well just put rerun of top gear on three mins and turned it off what a load of sh..t its like f..g TFI with a few cars and that dick evens

So, they tore up a hill in the countryside in cars, and made a slur by referring to Sabine Schmitz as "The Kaiser". In the old days, the complaints phone would be ringing itself off the wall. Clearly, less people are out to be offended this time - or it was that bad that those bits got overlooked.

Oh dear,

i managed the opening intro, part of the viper vette section and fast forwarded it to the end.

shan't bother with any more

Mart :(

Not very good the 1st one may get better who fcuking knows, I will admit it I always liked clarkson May and Hammond so will be interesting to see their new show this year.

Just watched it on iPlayer. one word: Boring.

Just watched it on catch up...
Took me 10 mins to go through the whole program.
Very poor im afraid.

no worse than the last series, and will probably be on par with their new completely over hyped show.

Whilst it makes shed loads of money they will keep making it.

As its the first one l am going to give it a chance

Very much geared to the American market with the presenters & cars they 'tested'.
All based on a UK v USA senario with the silly competitions & as in the guests who have absolutely nothing in common except one is a Brit & one is a Yank.

Very much an entertainment show now & not much for a serious petrol head but I guess that's where the money is................................................ .................................................. ..............................

unless your a gobby,loud-mouth chef!!

Only trouble is ,its Not Entertaining now....

I'm car daft so I'll probably continue to watch it no matter how bad it gets. The visuals are, after all, generally brilliant.

However, it was clear that for at least a few years the TG format and dicking around was beginning to wear thin. Many people had already turned off and been alienated by the show but those that remained (such as myself) were there purely for the entertainment of Clarkson, Hammond and May (CHM) dicking around. The onscreen relationship and culture that had developed between those three was worth tuning in for.

The new show tried (and failed miserably) to retain that old format and to replicate the 'banter' and relationships. Without CHM the features stood out very clearly for what they are....bloody stupid and completely pointless. The missile lock thing and evading the paps was uninformative, boring, childish and pointless. What the producers seem to have completely missed is the ONLY reason we tolerated that sort of content was CHM.

You know, this whole thing reminds me of that guy (mate) that nearly everyone has. You know the guy, the one that pushes the line and maybe cracks jokes (often about other group members wives/gfs) that are a bit close to the bone. The sort of stuff you probably should take offense to but you don't cause you've known this guy for years and built the relationship. So he gets away with it; it's like an unwritten rule. Then one day another mate thinks he can banter in the same way and wades in and you just want to punch him in the face. That is what new TG is like; it's trying to be a mate that's a bit of a knob and get away with it. Trouble is, it hasn't earned the right. If you watch early CHM TG stuff it was much tamer and more informative; they built up to full scale cocking around quite progressively.

Well with the audience figures from the first show, and the reaction from viewers both in the UK and US I'm not sure it will be making money!...

For a lot of people Top Gear was just about the only thing worth paying the TV license for as well. It's about time that was scrapped and they went to a subscription based model.

^ this. I was trying to put my finger on what it was I felt was missing from the show, and this really brought it home. It was the lack of humility, sadness, embarassment even, at being brought in to take over from the Fab Three, which any true fan of the show would have felt compelled to try and convey in their interpretation of it. There were perhaps a few glimpses of it from Le Blanc, but not even the slightest hint from Evans, who's obviously far too obsessed with his own ego to understand or care why it would matter. I'll probably keep watching also, but not nearly with the same level of interest as I used to, and half out of curiosity to see just how bad it can get. Sad times.

I don't think Evans is the right choice, but I thought LeBlanc was ok, and will probably improve as he gets more in to the role.


I do think that Evans is going to fix everything so he wins, like Clarkson. I do not believe he would have outdriven Sabine, and he cheated to win the other challenge. All a bit familiar!


I'll keep watching though, see how the other presenters fare.

This weekends episode was even worse IMO :(

I tuned out after about 15 minutes, and that has never happened with top gear before...

Hopefully extra gear is better (certainly was last week).

Actually enjoyed it....

Yeah I thought it was much improved from last week

I enjoyed it to be honest .

I thought it was ok.

I thought is was good