We have to say, we feel a little jipped with Top Gear USA’s final episode of their first season. With the increasing attention and interest we have shown in the show, a recap episode is not what we were expecting for their last hoorah of season one. It was rather disappointing to say the least.
Dressing it up as a "best of" episode, the three Top Gear USA boys shared all of the antics from season one with their top choices for best super cars, favorite old beaters, favorites races, favorite road trips, and something called "Making Mom Proud." Hate to say it, but Top Gear USA did not make us proud with episode 10 of season one. Not proud at all.
The good thing about this episode is that we did get to take another look at some of our favorite Top Gear USA moments as well. It’s not exactly an ideal season finisher, but we guess it got the job done.
Hit the jump to see Tanner, Ruttledge, and Adam’s picks for the best of Top Gear USA, Season One.
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As if we didn’t have any more reason to get all geeked up over the 16th season of Top Gear, the lovely folks over at the BBC were kind enough to give us a peek of what to expect from Clarkson, Hammond, and May.
Top Gear’s 16th season is set to hit the tubes on Sunday, January 23, 2011, at 8 pm on BBC2 and BBC HD with the show airing in the States at a later date, that is unless you decide to stream the show on the Internet. As you can expect, you can take it to the bank that they’ve got tons of surprises in store for us.
Now we don’t know the full details behind the show, but we’ve gotten a glimpse of some of the things on tap for season no. 16, including reviews on the new Ariel Atom and the Skoda Yeti, a segment on the proper way to destroy a Volkswagen Beetle, a classic dust-up between the Porsche 959 and the Ferrari F40, a segment involving submarines, James May in tights, and landing a helicopter on top of a car.
At some point, there’s also going to be the return of our favorite test driver, the Stig, somewhere in there.
Rest assured, season 16 of Top Gear is expected to be one for the books, and quite frankly, coming from Clarkson, Hammond and May, we don’t expect anything less.
Top Gear USA is starting to really come around as the US version of the famous car show heads towards the end of its very first season. Eventually we see the trio of Adam Ferrara, Ruttledge Wood, and Tanner Foust coming into their own and not constantly being compared to Clarkson, Hammond, and May, but that’s still a long ways off. The US hosts need to spend a lot more time in the hot seat before they can rid themselves of the constant criticism and ridicule. Nonetheless, we’re beginning to love the show and most of the hosts. Sorry to say, we still love to hate Adam Ferrara.
Episode Eight of Top Gear USA was just jam-packed with goodies, as Tanner and Ruttledge try to figure out if its faster to fly or drive from LA to Las Vegas, Bret Michaels takes a turn on the Top Gear test track, Rutt and Tanner review a Porsche Panamera Turbo and a BMW X6M, respectively.
Hit the jump to get all of the details on Top Gear’s eighth episode.
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We’re rounding the bend on the first season of Top Gear USA and although it may have started off slow, the show is really getting into a groove and improving with every episode. If there was one thing we would want to complain about at this point in time is the continuous references to Top Gear USA NOT being a reality TV show. Okay, Adam, we get it, this is real TV and not just some lame attempt at sneaking a peek at rehearsed "real" lives. Let’s move on now, please.
In this episode, Tanner Foust is given a break from losing at competitions so that the other guys can get a feel for what it’s like to compete against a much slower mode of transportation and still lose. Tim Allen makes a spirited and entertaining guest as he tries his hand at the Suzuki SX4 and the guys try their hand at selling used cars, all while wearing some questionable attire.
Hit the jump to get the details on this week’s episode of Top Gear USA.
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We are going to start betting on the fact that Top Gear USA is going to be a household name by the time it wraps up its third season. The show is gaining fans all over and the naysayers of the show are starting to come around.
And why shouldn’t they? With the funny challenges, the decent reviews, and the big stars, Top Gear USA is building itself up rather nicely. Let’s just hope that the balloon doesn’t deflate before we can win our little bet.
In this week’s episode, the guys from Top Gear USA run a few old GM models through a series of challenges to see which one should reenter production, Tony Hawk takes the Subaru around the Top Gear USA test track, and the news segment comes around again.
UPDATE 12/21/2010: Check out Top Gear USA’s rendering of their 2011 Buick Roadmaster in the gallery!
Hit the jump to see all of the details for this week’s episode of Top Gear USA.
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We are almost halfway through the first season of Top Gear USA and we are pleased to say that the show is not a complete waste of our time. In fact, we actually enjoy watching it. The clips are informative, the challenges are funny and entertaining, and the opportunity of making fun of Ferrara will never slide past us. We can’t help it; we don’t really like the guy as the "main" host.
Now that all of that is out of the way, we can move on to the actual show aired. The fourth episode of Top Gear USA takes us through a long review of the Mercedes SLS AMG with Adam Ferrara behind the wheel. Only Ferrara can ruin the Mercedes’ camera time. Top Gear UK has Captain Slow, we have Captain Boring. ’Nuff said.
The more interesting part of the show was the two challenges. The first was a race between the Ford F-150 Velociraptor and a HALO jumper while the second was a jumbled mess of two old beaters shooting out paintballs. And by two old beaters, we mean Ferrara and Wood. Just kidding.
Hit the jump to see details on the fourth episode of Top Gear USA.
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Another week, another Top Gear USA episode, and we may be starting to like the show a bit. Don’t give us a hard time; we’re only human. Yes, it’s still lacking the quirks and perks of the UK version, but these guys may just be finding their way.
The funny part about the statement we just made is that this week’s show saw fewer segments than the first two, but that could be what helped it. Everything wasn’t so forced and they didn’t jump to the next topic as if they were actually in a race. Of course, the downside to this was that they did not get the opportunity to review any vehicles and they inserted a brief and odd news segment.
Overall the producers for the show are starting to find a good balance between Foust’s car knowledge, Wood’s comedic randomness, and Ferrara’s dry commentary. Hopefully it will get all worked out soon and maybe people will actually begin to give the show a chance.
Hit the jump for details on this week’s episode of Top Gear USA.
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Top Gear USA may have wrapped up the second episode of their very first season, but due to geographical ramifications, many may have missed their first review. In Episode One of Top Gear USA, the boys tested the most powerful Viper in the line-up: the ACR-X.
In this video, you’ll see the USA’s version of the Stig as he whips the Viper around the new Top Gear USA track. The track is 1.6 miles long and consists of several turns as well as a few straightaways for optimal speed.
As a reminder, the Viper ACR-X is powered by the same SRT developed 8.4 Liter V10 as the standard super car, except that a set of factory tuned headers and a less restrictive exhaust system give the ACR-X a 40 HP kick in the pants meaning that there is a total of 640 HP on tap. Combine that with a weight savings of 160 pounds, despite the addition of a roll cage, and you’ve got an even more challenging track ready machine. On the market, the ACR-X is priced at $110,000.
Check out the video to see just how the Dodge Viper ACR-X did in the hands of the Stig when put up against the Top Gear USA test track.
Before we even begin to go into the second episode of Top Gear USA, we have to admit that we had to set an alarm to remind ourselves to watch it. That doesn’t exactly say much about the show’s first episode, but we actually did see some sort of improvement with this one.
This episode was a little different than the first one as Adam Ferrara kind of took a back seat to Rutledge Wood and Tanner Foust. That wasn’t exactly a bad thing considering that the actor/comedian was bland and uninspiring during the first episode. The chemistry was better between the three, but the music still sucked.
Enough about all that, let’s move on to the actual meat and potatoes of the show. In this episode we got to see Wood take on the Aston Martin V12 Vantage, Tanner Foust put two skiers to the test while driving a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution, and all three men learn a little something about drifting in a Nissan 370Z. Yes, Tanner Foust is a drift champion, but that may or may not help him during this challenge. Oh yeah, and some British guy takes on the Suzuki SX4.
Hit the jump to check out the details of Top Gear USA, Episode Two.
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