The 2005 Top Gear Awards

[si|verfish]

i liked the one they did during the show!! LOL

best handling animal: cat (hamster's impersonation!!)
most oversteering 2WD (2FD??) animal: dog
worst handling animal: hyena ROFLMAO (its got FWD, the turn radius SUCKS!)

Yeah, that bit was funny. Although I do not agree with Clarkson that the dog has more fun because it oversteers into a cabinet. The cat executing a perfect 4 wheel drift and managing to steer clear of the cabinet surely is better off.

 

[si|verfish]

means got 2 cars of the year?

Yes indeed.

 

[Ingolstadt]

hmm audi shot up quite high! ~~ good one! how come volkswagen so far behind? and lexus is still indestructable.....

 

[si|verfish]

I think you may have been looking at the wrong thing, mate. The JD Power ranking is not what we are discussing (that's my post signature). Please look at page 1.

 

[Ingolstadt]

:) yupe .... i saw wat u'll are talkin in the first page. :)

 

[alien]

It's subjective. Some people still think the 3 series Beemer is better ie. Evo and Autocar for example.

yeah, there's a lot of reviews saying the 3 is still the car to beat.
It has the best balance of everything, performance, refinement, image etc.
tat's wat they say..
but to me.. the lexus looks way better.. hehe..

but the 3 series is the benchmark in this class..
juz like the 911.. everycar new car in tis class sets the 3 as the car to beat..
watever cars they make.. it is sured to be compared to the 3..

 

[si|verfish]

yeah, there's a lot of reviews saying the 3 is still the car to beat.
It has the best balance of everything, performance, refinement, image etc.
tat's wat they say..
but to me.. the lexus looks way better.. hehe..

but the 3 series is the benchmark in this class..
juz like the 911.. everycar new car in tis class sets the 3 as the car to beat..
watever cars they make.. it is sured to be compared to the 3..

Yeah, the 3 series is a very competent machine. But the new styling is just sooooo dreary and boring. It's just a slab of lard of a car, all fat and droopy.

 

[infernaL]

Yeah, the 3 series is a very competent machine. But the new styling is just sooooo dreary and boring. It's just a slab of lard of a car, all fat and droopy.

hmmm i think it was u who remarked the new 3 series in the perfect explanation somewhere in this forums ...

" it just gotten old and becomed fat etc etc "

 

[si|verfish]

hmmm i think it was u who remarked the new 3 series in the perfect explanation somewhere in this forums ...

" it just gotten old and becomed fat etc etc "

Yeah, it was me. I said it has become middle aged (and everything that goes with being middle aged). Couldn't be arsed to dig up the original post.

 

[Ingolstadt]

I think Top Gear nail it right. Most car reviewers, focuses on the "mathematical" part of a car, the dimensions, fuel economy, boot space, rear legroom, headroom, number of airbags, cupholders. Any manufacturer can increase this and claim themselves a category award of the year.

But to make a good car, manufacturer not only has to do this, they have to bring out the aesthetics, the soul and most importantly, what is it that, at the first place make this car (its ancestors maybe) successfull.

Take the new 3-Series for example, well "mathematically" its a much more balanced car than the IS, bigger boot, bigger room as so on, as mentioned by Autocar and Evo. But gone is the sporty image of the E36, which gradually made it to the E46. In the E46, it stood right in the middle of the very thin boundary between classy, and sporty; which is what propels 3 series into a wild success. The current 3-series just losts all these recipes, even thou theres a bigger boot......

 

[si|verfish]

There's another fundamental reason why Top Gear is better. It is funded by the BBC. Therefore, unlike other mags which needs the support of manufacturers and whimper when the marketing men call to complain, they won't give 2 hoots if you don't like what they write about your car. Therefore, theoretically more neutral than all the rest.

 

[Ingolstadt]

And of course, Jeremy Clarkson. He is the godfather of car reviewers. In one of the series, he mentioned :

"Supercars is like a bowl of nutritious, delicious salad, but its hard to eat nicely, you picked up the carrots, cabbages, but the shrimps fell off... what Mercedes had done with the SLR, is to put the same recipes into two slices of bread...."

Classic....... :)

 

[na_power]

I hate jeremy clarkson... all non-uk cars sucks... all uk cars gud... GTH jeremy... japanese cars rules

 

[Ingolstadt]

wrong wrong wrong wrong.... its our narrow minded mindset that makes us believe he is biased upon UK cars. Whenever he praises a UK car (Say, an Aston Martin Vantage) we proceed to remembering that he did thrash a non UK car the previous week (say, a Mercedes Benz E-Class) which; since we, un-exposed and narrow minded Malaysians, weren't able to fairly justify whether a Mercedes Benz, is a good car or not because we thought all Mercedes Benz are good ones.

Why car reviewers see cars as individual models and not a brand? Thats because each car is different, and its only us, narrow minded nitwits, thought that we can differentiate cars by brands. Such as :" Toyotas are good cars."

 

[si|verfish]

I hate jeremy clarkson... all non-uk cars sucks... all uk cars gud... GTH jeremy... japanese cars rules

Right...you probably know everything...

All bow before his clu...I mean greatness...

 

[SkYwAlKeR]

jeremy isnt good at judging cars by its performance side... he judge them from a normal consumer point of view....
and yes, he is more bias towards UK cars.... he like most of them and hates all american cars.... he do give credit to some japanese cars.... but usually, nothing for malaysian and korean cars... haha....

 

[si|verfish]

jeremy isnt good at judging cars by its performance side... he judge them from a normal consumer point of view....
and yes, he is more bias towards UK cars.... he like most of them and hates all american cars.... he do give credit to some japanese cars.... but usually, nothing for malaysian and korean cars... haha....

Right...

I'm sure that explains why some quarters are blaming him for the demise of MG Rover. That also explains why he destroys Austin Allegros and Morris Marinas for fun all the time. That would also explain why he owns a Ford GT and likes the Dodge Viper and Hummer H2, for instance.

Right...

 

[zan]

wrong wrong wrong wrong.... its our narrow minded mindset that makes us believe he is biased upon UK cars. Whenever he praises a UK car (Say, an Aston Martin Vantage) we proceed to remembering that he did thrash a non UK car the previous week (say, a Mercedes Benz E-Class) which; since we, un-exposed and narrow minded Malaysians, weren't able to fairly justify whether a Mercedes Benz, is a good car or not because we thought all Mercedes Benz are good ones.

Why car reviewers see cars as individual models and not a brand? Thats because each car is different, and its only us, narrow minded nitwits, thought that we can differentiate cars by brands. Such as :" Toyotas are good cars."

yeah, let me sample some bad mercs..

190E - small and cramped.
G class - the slowest jeep of all, doesnt deserve SUV badge.
M class - another bad attempt by merc
A class - looks can be deceiving, the A class failed the elk test during 1st media presentation and rolled over ashamingly.

i like JC though, he maybe sarcastic but the comments are always constructive. the problem is, manufacturers often not listening to car mag tests and the conclusion. proton is one example. he he

those who read his report normally have one thing in common - narrow mindset.

and also normally its becoz they are driving what JC had condemned! no offence, but try driving european cars before purchasing any new car.

set a benchmark then you know what i mean. thee hee hee :cyclops:

btw i managed to peek JC's resume in year 1987 and this was what i remembered amongst them.

Language
1. English - excellent in written and spoken
2. Sarcastic - excelent in written and spoken

 

[Ingolstadt]

jeremy isnt good at judging cars by its performance side... he judge them from a normal consumer point of view....
and yes, he is more bias towards UK cars.... he like most of them and hates all american cars.... he do give credit to some japanese cars.... but usually, nothing for malaysian and korean cars... haha....

Tell me friend. Why Jeremy likes Dodge Viper? Yupe, he condemns American cars, for instance the latest incarnation of Ford's Mustang GT. You know why? Because the Mustang GT is using a fixed rear suspension, in short, its a kinda suspension design inferior to that of even our humble Wira.

Biased towards UK cars? treating them good? Did you saw the episode where he made such a huge joke out of the Aston Martin Vantage using its stupid tiptronic transmission?

He never judge cars by performance? Oh my, are we talking the same Jeremy Clarkson? or the JC you are mentioning is the one from Backstreet Boys?!

 

[SubVerSiv]

...and loves a Noble GTO. Which is really a 'bathroom appliance', as what James May described.

You pays your money. That's what May and Hammond are there for, and they're there because of Clarkson.