Top Gear USA is absolutely HORRIBLE!!

[LouSiffer]

The US version of Top Gear is HORRIBLE!! You got 3 hosts with no personality...no chemistry.... and look like they were pulled out of Grandma's basement and their game of Dungeons and Dragons was interupted just to make this monstrosity of a program. Thank God for BBC.-Lou

[gtrcollectr]

Havnt seen the USA version but I don't plan to watch anyhow....The UK version is great.

[Trussrod]

The UK version is pretty cool. I can't imagine a show with American hosts creating the same vibe.

[Grandturk]

I figured it would be rubbish.

[VitaminG]

they tried the same shit with Aussie hosts over here.

[nateb]

What channel is it on? I love the bbc one.

-Nate

[Grandturk]

Discovery or History or one of those. They should have gotten Bill Goldberg to host it - at least then you'd know it was hosted by someone who is passionate about cars.

[RacerX]

It's History, and give it a chance, I hear the UK Top Gear sucked at first too: http://jalopnik.com/5694780/first-drive-top-gear-usa

[Newc]

Haven't seen either show, but I'd assume it was about the cars, not the hosts. Do we really need the hosts to sell us the car? No, we merely need them to be the lucky bastards whom we hate for getting to drive the cars we wish we could, so who cares if they've got charisma?

They're getting the car (for a day) but I bet they're not getting the chicks.

[Hellbat]

Unfortunately that's the problem with top gear. It isn't really as much about the cars as creating wierd situations to put the cars and hosts in.

[Accept2]

Just watched it. It wasnt bad. Top Gear UK wasnt that great when it first started either..........

[dustin1969]

yeah, just got finished watching it. Yes, it's lacking right now, but it's not as bad as it could be. If you were to go back and watch the first few episodes of the current iteration of top gear on the BBC, it was pretty lame, the only reasons to watch was to see some supercars and see what Jeremy Clarkson was going to say. That's one thing that's missing, at that point Jeremy Clarkson was already extremely well known in the automotive reporting world. In the first few episodes they even had a guy combing through the classifieds to tell you the best deals to be had on regular cars. But it got better. WAAAAAY better.

I agree, what I just saw wasn't great, but they are unfortunately following a formula that works well for the BBC but not elsewhere. I would have thought that they would have learned their lessons with Top Gear Australia, which was god awful while they stuck to trying to copy the UK version segment for segment, but eventually got a little better when they stopped copying as much. And, believe it or not, there was a russian version. I saw the first couple and it was sooo laughably bad. Pretty sure that one lasted just one season. And, a year or two ago, they had a USA version that was supposed to star Jay Leno, but fell apart at the last minute. That's what they needed as their main guy, a known personality car guy, not a so so comedian actor. Adam Ferrara came off as annoying to me, at least Tanner Foust knows about cars and that seems to come across.

The star in a small car absolutely sucks by comparison, but any enjoyment from that segment in the UK version usually comes in the interview by Clarkson. I thought the "scenario" segments were ok by comparison. They were both standard sections that have been done numerous times on the UK version (I remember them taking a super lightweight Lotus that had to stay on the airport runways to avoid missile lock)

Anyway, I'm going to give it a few weeks, or at least until the next season of Top Gear UK comes back, probably Feb or March

btw, this is the most amazing thing I've ever seen come out of the whole Top Gear/Jeremy Clarkson specials.... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeUMDY01uUA

[Hellbat]

This is my favorite Top Gear moment. Mostly because I really want to drive an Atom.

[Endrik]

Don't tell me they're gonna talk about how good Nascar, SUVs and big turning radius are?

[asix]

top gear used to be a consumer program going back to the 70's then clarkson turned up. it still took 3/4 series of the new style to get the show sorted out and james may was not there from the start. give it time (i hope).