Chris
As a novice to Kit Cars I have found this site to be informative and a great laugh. Many thanks.
This rant is about Top Gear which I have always thought to be the best car program on TV. However, I run a Rover 216 Gti Twin Cam (130 BHP Honda
engine!! One of the best) and had to sit through Clarkson and co buying a 416 Gti (115Bhp single cam) for £75 and then slagging off the car in every
way possible. We arn't all lucky enough to drive Porches and Aston Martins every week!!.
I have driven enough GTi's to know that the Rover (actually a Honda CRX/Civic underneath) is a fab drivers car and handles very well. Ask anyone
who's raced one!!! I've had lots of offers from people wanting it as a track day car! (With a 7250 red line I'm not surprised!!)
Sorry to rant but I had to get that off my chest. It really Pi**ed me off as its wiped more value off the car.
Anyway, on with the Kit Car choice GTS/MK/GTS/MK Hmmmm!!
Friend of mine used to say the same thing about his Metro. We didn't believe him either
Chris
who might that be chris????
The main dealer 'head gasket' man 
Chris
Don't know of many Metro's with a Honda Twin Cam under the bonnet??
Shame it rotates the wrong way for a type 9 gearbox!!!
quote:
Originally posted by marktigere1
Don't know of many Metro's with a Honda Twin Cam under the bonnet??
Shame it rotates the wrong way for a type 9 gearbox!!!
Hmmn, do gearboxes near to spin the "correct" way? Or could you just get away with using a standard box and a flipped ring gear in your
diff?
Plenty of cheap speed parts for those Honda engines...
Cheers, Ted
It was still by far the fastest round the track, and it was the Stig's fave of the bunch.
But it was basically a shagged, old car.
They joked about it being a rover but then what do you expect.
In the mag they slag the other 2 cars off just as much.
Would be interesting what 'the Stig' would have done in mine. Close ratio box, lower suspension, twin cam Honda and all as standard!!!
Shame Rover has such a bad image.
This weeks programme features the V8 rear-drive 75.
Now that's a Rover worth thinking about.
Cheers,
Neil.
I always liked that model of the 200 / 400 - had one for a week - 214 - and it went really well for a lowly 1.4.
dont take clarkson too seriously.
do you really think people with money drive ferraris like w%^nkers like they do on that program?
Its a caricature not real life.
Im sure the rover cityrover isnt that bad either..... not that id buy one
atb
steve
Mate of mine's a producer at the Beeb in London. She says he has absolute power over that programme. He demanded his producer be sacked during
the current-incarnation of the TG format. And she was.
She says he's got a massive ego and is very rude, but is bloody good at his job so no-one cars.
My six year old finds him very funny. I think that just about sums up the intellectual pitch it's aimed at.
Hang on, I enjoy the programme. <soul searching>What does that say about me?
Cheers,
Neil.
</soul searching>
Clarkson certainly puts fear into car manufacturers. Look what he did to Rover? His comments about Honda are not always great either.
Thank God for sites like this where real people with real cars actually communicate with each other.
This soap box is high!!
Is the stig still Perry McCarthy?
Its entertainment but it aint about cars anymore,well not the type the Mr average drives anyroad.
They should just call it the Clarkson ego show
Cheers,
Bob
I had a chat with Mr Clarkson when I went to the filming of top gear about a year ago. I said I was building a kitcar and he said that his wife had
built a caterham. apart from that and the fact that he obviuosly earns far too much money to be able to afford nice cars he seemed ok to me.
Ned.
Yes, his wife had a Caterham for some time (miserable bastard that she is ) and used to do the endurance rallies in it. Think she did the
Liege-Targa-Liege a few times. Has an Elise now I think ?
Top girl !
The Beeb don't make Top Gear, it is an independant company (hence some of the budgetary stuff is real) that sells it too them.
They don't actually have planning permission to do what they do on Dunsfold aerodrome, so a lot of locals get tickets as "hush money".
So if you want tickets, just say you live up the road !
clarkson was a hero of mine,i think they have lost the plot,playing darts,crashing caravans etc,what happened to testing real cars we can all
afford.
the city rover probly is worse than they said,ever seen a car that the indians built?qc whats that???
quote:
Originally posted by Considerably
The Beeb don't make Top Gear, it is an independant company (hence some of the budgetary stuff is real) that sells it too them.
Not sure education level and dyslexia have a link ...
I don't know what Rover are doing with the City Rover. I'm not sure if Honda are still on board. Having owned 2 GTi's (Honda's)
and a 214 (K series) I would go for the Honda every time.
It seems that Rover give Clarkson lots of ammo. Bet next weeks show slags off the Rover V8!! What engine is in that? (Honda/Rover/TVR????)
quote:
Originally posted by marktigere1
I don't know what Rover are doing with the City Rover. I'm not sure if Honda are still on board. Having owned 2 GTi's (Honda's) and a 214 (K series) I would go for the Honda every time.
It seems that Rover give Clarkson lots of ammo. Bet next weeks show slags off the Rover V8!! What engine is in that? (Honda/Rover/TVR????)
The reason Flop Rear and Fifth Beer and all of the motoring programs annoy me is that they assume you have more money to spend than you do i.e. they
will do a report on the best family car for £12,000, or the best cheap runabout for £4000 etc. Or they will rubbish most of the popular family saloons
because they get nice review cars to drive all the time. They are out of touch with reality unfortunately, but equally unfotunately no-one would tune
in to watch them be nice about Mondeos or Vectras, it just isn't good telly
bmw dropped honda with no warning when they bought the company, so i expect, with the japanese mentality, the bridge was well and truly
burnt........no honor.
has no one else noted the law breaking on top gear? there was summat I dont remember from the last prog, and that race to the south of france against
the train had to be breaking limits.
Just imagine if we found out about a french program where they were racing at illegal speeds up the m6......
atb
steve
quote:
Originally posted by theconrodkid
clarkson was a hero of mine,i think they have lost the plot,playing darts,crashing caravans etc,what happened to testing real cars we can all afford.
I herd that Mr Clarkson new nothing about the engineering that goes into cars. He admitted that himself once.
I do enjoy the program just wish they were a little more down to earth like Kit Car builders!!!
I don't know anything about journalism though... still wish I had his job!
James
quote:
Originally posted by andkilde
Hmmn, do gearboxes near to spin the "correct" way? Or could you just get away with using a standard box and a flipped ring gear in your diff?
Plenty of cheap speed parts for those Honda engines...
Cheers, Ted
No doubt Clarkson is an arrogant tosser - a friend of mine used to deal with him quite a lot and said the same. Top Gear is about entertainment, not a
factual programme about regular cars - as long as you view it that way is pretty watchable.
Lets be realistic here, would you want to see an hour long programme about the latest volvo estate, people carrier or budget supermini, or rather
watch them loon about in supercars and total caravans? If I need to know what new car to buy I'll buy a mag and read the 'sensible
reviews'.
Top Gear, has lost its apeal to me,
a few years ago It was a very good programme in showing what was on offer to "us" the buying public, but now it is slanderous (right
spelling ??) aginst certain makes, Rover included
I have had Rover's for years, and so has my Father, rovers may be boring, but mine has never given much trouble or been vanderlised or
nicked!!
All of us have a like or dislike and it is our own decision
The crap programme in its current state has nothing to do with decision as they "the panel (total loosers) "have decieded what is cool and
what is not
I have not seen the programme by choice for a couple of years
steve
As Mr Clarkson originated just down the road from us in a small village called Tickhill... he is a Yorkshireman. Probably that's where he gets
his dry offhand wit. However, moving away from Yorkshire does come with pro's and con's.
Pro's
Normally your salary increases substantially
You talk total bo||ocks
Con's
You're humour changes to personal insults
You become arrogant (Yorkshiremen/Money don't usually mix well)
You talk total bo||ocks
Apparently his mother used to write stories about a certain Teddy Bear, that's where he got his money from in the first place.
I talk total bo||ocks mostly, and I've never had to leave Yorkshire to do it.
i went there once and see what ya mean
See what I mean TCRK?
His mum, Shirley, MADE Teddy bears, the first Paddingtons actually, under the name Gabrielle Designs, and did so for many years. So next time you see
Jeremy, ask him how his Paddington is, he'll love it
(At last - something I can speak about on this forum with REAL authority)
if you think of top gear as a lads mag on tv then is good but for advise on your new car then its poor.
after watching them loon around a welsh beach last night, great fun
do they allow the general public that option ?
and decent facilities for cleaning the cars afterwards......
I think they're running out of ideas - that bit about sitting in a car while 'lightning' hit it was done in an Equinox program 10 years
ago... I think it was in the same test facility! In the Equinox program they even drove around under the arcs!
David
.......... and the car (obviously) survived even back then. still interesting with the amount of electronics modern cars have that they wern't affected
I knew Clarkson would make fun of the Rover!! Still, he almost sounded as though he quite liked it though stopped short of saying so!!
Wonder if he's been reading this thread? Or is he 'Considerably"??? Hmmm, there's a question!!
i thought the rover came out quite well, considering .....
BTW who is JK?
referred to several times, showing my ignorence (blush!)
He does like that ZT260, you can tell. But he's right, it's too expensive, outclassed by just about everything else in terms of space,
equipment, residuals and technology. That's unfortunate but I think they've done a cracking job considering the resources they have.
Evo gave it 4.5 stars in their recent road test back to back with an Evo 8 UK (which also got 4.5 stars) - bloody impressive. They've managed to
re-engineer a FWD car to be rwd AND make it handle.
You'd have to be nuts to buy one with your own money... second hand in 3 years however....
[Edited on 7/6/04 by mackie]
JK is they car-mad frontman of Jamiroquai. Their videos tend to feature him driving around in various exotica.
He's one of the lucky sods to get an Enzo.
Thought it was a QED program........ in that one they drove the car around during it... and it looked like the same place
atb
steve
quote:
Originally posted by Scotty
.......... and the car (obviously) survived even back then. still interesting with the amount of electronics modern cars have that they wern't affected
Steve - you're correct! I knew it was one of those gee-whizz' science programs.
DJ
oh - thanks mackie
glad it was due to my old age i didnt realise it was him
I remember the old QED (?) program - at the time I thought their lightning simulation was a bit pathetic - a really big bolt of lightning would have
thousands of times the energy that van der graaf could produce. There are lots of lightning classes, the big ones I think are top of cloud to deck
& they can fuse 100sq mm conductors.
Having said that in a metal box (normal saloon) you'd probably be fine - it's all earthed together with conductors well out of the way, all
designed with esd protection in mind. In a locost... let's say it would relieve you of the misery of being out in a locost in a thunderstorm!
cheers
bob
PS planes get struck by lightning all the time but you have to switch off your CD player for take off. They're taking the P
quote:
Originally posted by marktigere1
I herd that Mr Clarkson new nothing about the engineering that goes into cars. He admitted that himself once.
quote:
Originally posted by Bob C
I remember the old QED (?) program - at the time I thought their lightning simulation was a bit pathetic - a really big bolt of lightning would have thousands of times the energy that van der graaf could produce.
If the Rover is anything to go by - the Safety Car at Cadwell 6/6/04 was the V8. What a terrible sounding car - tho' the compare did state to it
having broken an exhaust manifold. Was very tasty tho'...