Just reading AOL news - a VS744 to star in a special on Top Gear 18th July about engine power - using the jet blast to blow a car off the runway.
Picture here...
https://home.comcast.net/~squirrel83/images/1089157256.jpg
Pix
quote:Originally posted by csparker
Was Clarkson in the car, or was he too busy testing a really good, expensive one?
No he wasn't, although a lot would have liked him to have been
Did see the little fella sit in a car whilst it was struck by simulated lightning though, bit scary that one
The 'little one' is Richard Hammond.
The one 'a bit like Stephen Fry' is James May
I also think that you are being a little unfair to Clarkson. He praised the new Bentley and Rolls Royce models (oh, but they're German cars aren't they?!). He has little or no time for some of the c**p peddled by Vauxhall - but they are American and he (rightly) slated the new Rover City Metro thingy - but then that's Indian
The one 'a bit like Stephen Fry' is James May
I also think that you are being a little unfair to Clarkson. He praised the new Bentley and Rolls Royce models (oh, but they're German cars aren't they?!). He has little or no time for some of the c**p peddled by Vauxhall - but they are American and he (rightly) slated the new Rover City Metro thingy - but then that's Indian
quote:Originally posted by AlanA
Yes, let's tie Clarkson to a post and give him a close jet wash. Anti British scumbag Clarkson:- "Oh look! its got a German badgs, well that's ok then lets praise it to the hilt, this one is built in Britain, lets take the piss"
Clarkson is a motoring journalist not the Prime Minister. Therefore his job is to identify excellent vehicles and poor vehicles, not to promote Britain to the world. Time and again he has identified that in Britain we make crap cars and in Germany they make excellent cars. That's not his fault. I'm sure he'd love to be able to say for once: "Just look at what Rover have come up with now!", and remember the excitement surrounding that absurdly fast MG? Not sure what happened to that...
quote:Originally posted by onionzquote:Originally posted by AlanA
Yes, let's tie Clarkson to a post and give him a close jet wash. Anti British scumbag Clarkson:- "Oh look! its got a German badgs, well that's ok then lets praise it to the hilt, this one is built in Britain, lets take the piss"
Clarkson is a motoring journalist not the Prime Minister. Therefore his job is to identify excellent vehicles and poor vehicles, not to promote Britain to the world. Time and again he has identified that in Britain we make crap cars and in Germany they make excellent cars. That's not his fault. I'm sure he'd love to be able to say for once: "Just look at what Rover have come up with now!", and remember the excitement surrounding that absurdly fast MG? Not sure what happened to that...
Ok, I was going to stop, buit I have to reply to this .
Clarkson is a British "Motoring journalist" (thats a joke anyway, he is not a good journalist at all) paid by the British worker who he treats like rubbish. He should be ashamed of himself. I have met the arrogant sod and could tell a LOT of stories about his demanding attitude.
He as you say, comes up with the rubbish that German cars are good and British ones are crap. I can tell you that this is rubbish and total crap. I have had German crap cars and excellent British cars, and would choose British cars every time. german cars ar5e over rated, in fact in Germany BMW have an awfulo reputation for quality, something I can attest to. Mercedes are boring ugly interiors, Audis like tanks and drive like them, and as for Opels.....
I have a MG ZT-T a joy to drive, spacious, pretty car and craps on BMWs, and my Jaguar S type I can say the same things again.
Onionz, what do you do for a living? does it depend upon British people purchasing your companies products?
I get very angry when people like Clarkson can destroy many peoples lives with what he thinks are pithy comments, with no thought of what is actions incur, you do not get this attitude from any other countries journalists talking about something so important to their economy.
Come on Onionz,
Aston Martin DB9
Jaguar S Type, X type, X type XKS
MG ZT, ZT-T, Rover 75, MGTF
Lotus Elise
Morgan Plus eight
Land rover discovery, Range Rover, Defender, Freelander
TVR Tuscan, Chimera
Peugeot 307
Toyota Corrola
Nissan Primera
Honda Accord
Crap cars? I don't think so!
I believe there is a bit of history with Vauxhall and Clarkson. Apparently when he was startng out on his TV career as a motoring pundit he did a critical piece about the lastest Vauxhall model at the time which the company took exception to. They sent a delegation to the BBC demanding an apology, retraction, Clarkson's head etc. BBC not being susceptible to commercial pressures told them where to stick it.
At about the same time he did an equally critical piece about the latest Ford. Reaction from Ford? Zilch.
I beleive his standard response to all of Vauxhall's offerings since stems from this.
At about the same time he did an equally critical piece about the latest Ford. Reaction from Ford? Zilch.
I beleive his standard response to all of Vauxhall's offerings since stems from this.
quote:Originally posted by AlanA
Ok, I was going to stop, buit I have to reply to this .
Clarkson is a British "Motoring journalist" (thats a joke anyway, he is not a good journalist at all) paid by the British worker who he treats like rubbish. He should be ashamed of himself. I have met the arrogant sod and could tell a LOT of stories about his demanding attitude.
He as you say, comes up with the rubbish that German cars are good and British ones are crap. I can tell you that this is rubbish and total crap. I have had German crap cars and excellent British cars, and would choose British cars every time. german cars ar5e over rated, in fact in Germany BMW have an awfulo reputation for quality, something I can attest to. Mercedes are boring ugly interiors, Audis like tanks and drive like them, and as for Opels.....
I have a MG ZT-T a joy to drive, spacious, pretty car and craps on BMWs, and my Jaguar S type I can say the same things again.
Onionz, what do you do for a living? does it depend upon British people purchasing your companies products?
I get very angry when people like Clarkson can destroy many peoples lives with what he thinks are pithy comments, with no thought of what is actions incur, you do not get this attitude from any other countries journalists talking about something so important to their economy.
Come on Onionz,
Aston Martin DB9
Jaguar S Type, X type, X type XKS
MG ZT, ZT-T, Rover 75, MGTF
Lotus Elise
Morgan Plus eight
Land rover discovery, Range Rover, Defender, Freelander
TVR Tuscan, Chimera
Peugeot 307
Toyota Corrola
Nissan Primera
Honda Accord
Crap cars? I don't think so!
I find Clarkson's style entertaining and informative. Of course there's arrogance there too, but i prefer that to dullness.
I've never been a big fan of the great English vs German argument - that's for Sun readers. But in that list of cars, some howlers stick out a mile. Personal (although admittedly 3rd party) experience of build quality issues on the S-type and the Rover 75 (mostly relating to interior finish, but some mechanical issues on the 75 too), and the well known deficiencies in build quality of most of the MGs and TVRs - thats the main ones. Sure we make some great cars that look nice and go well, but they never last long enough to enjoy them!
I'd like to say we make the greatest cars in the world, but i prefer sticking to the facts. This doesn't mean i prefer Germany to the UK or i spend the weekends in lederhosen eating Bratwursts.
quite agree tie clarkson to the engine and full trust ahead, he is allways right or not most of the times[:p]
quote:Originally posted by AlanA
I have a MG ZT-T a joy to drive, spacious, pretty car and craps on BMWs,
sorry to say this but the R75 /MGZT is based on a BMW 3 series
chassis but set up for front wheel drive and if you look at your wheel nuts most of them have a BMW stamp on them same with the central locking motors all BMW.
The R75/MG ZT was designd by BMW/Rover before they sold out to the Pheonix consortium.
I have met clarkson a couple of time and i thought he was a top bloke who just speek's his mind
More facts...
All the motoring press love the Lotus Elise, and incidentally the Vauxhall VX220 Turbo too (which Top Gear magazine can't praise highly enough). The DB9 is starting to get some good reviews although it is hardly finished yet.
Peugeots, Toyotas and Hondas don't make good TV (at least not to Top Gear's target audience I guess). TVRs have joke reliability (mine blew up) and the Morgan Plus Eight is a niche anachronism.
And yes, the Rover 75 design dates from the BMW time, being originally built at Cowley (which incidentally now builds Minis which AlanA somehow forgets). The 75 has the BMW Z-axle rear suspension and borrows a fair amount from the BMW parts bin.
Rover's sales contine to fall with the base model Rover marques showing a 27% reduction in May from the previous year, reflecting the age of the designs. MG sales were also down significantly in May. No one in the motoring press thinks the Rovers are good cars, but neither does anyone else! And the CityRover -- sheesh!
Now some opinion...
Clarkson, despite being a seventies-style misanthropic joker, does actually know something about cars, even if he and I don't see eye to eye on semi-automatic gearboxes.
BC
All the motoring press love the Lotus Elise, and incidentally the Vauxhall VX220 Turbo too (which Top Gear magazine can't praise highly enough). The DB9 is starting to get some good reviews although it is hardly finished yet.
Peugeots, Toyotas and Hondas don't make good TV (at least not to Top Gear's target audience I guess). TVRs have joke reliability (mine blew up) and the Morgan Plus Eight is a niche anachronism.
And yes, the Rover 75 design dates from the BMW time, being originally built at Cowley (which incidentally now builds Minis which AlanA somehow forgets). The 75 has the BMW Z-axle rear suspension and borrows a fair amount from the BMW parts bin.
Rover's sales contine to fall with the base model Rover marques showing a 27% reduction in May from the previous year, reflecting the age of the designs. MG sales were also down significantly in May. No one in the motoring press thinks the Rovers are good cars, but neither does anyone else! And the CityRover -- sheesh!
Now some opinion...
Clarkson, despite being a seventies-style misanthropic joker, does actually know something about cars, even if he and I don't see eye to eye on semi-automatic gearboxes.
BC
Black cat,
Some information for you.
The Rover 75, R40 was designed by Rover before they were sold down the river to BMW, as was the Mini. As with all car manufacturers, they use each others parts bin to save the costs of tooling new parts and yes, currently the 75 uses the Z axle as was always designed for. The car was desined to be both rear wheel and front wheel drive versions, to give sporty versions. BMW when they took over changed tghe design of the front bumper assembly so that the car had to ride high and coulod not be designed as the sports version. They also cancelled the R41q (Tourer) version and took £25 million out of the redesign of the R46 Project Opyster.
They spend money on the Cowley plant and put very little into Longbridge.
Rover before BMW took them over were making profits, BMW came in and changed the way the accounting was done and declared that the company was making losses! They then stripped out the Four wheel drive information, Computers designs and data from Land Rover before selling it on to Ford, they took the front wheel drive technology from Rover, a system they had no ability to do themselves, they kept the Mini, even though that had been designed by Rover engineers, they took the R55 project designs and information, mostly designed before BMW took over and used all this iformation, floorpan and running gear for its new 1 series, they kept many of the British names and left MG Rover with an out of date plant they had failed to invest in, three models again they had failed to invest in or had tried to scupper at launches. They asset stripped Rover as they always had the intention of doing.
Rover have actually just increased production on ALL facelifted models due to demand, to seven day a week working.
With what was left by BMW, MGR have acheived miracles and does not need the crap Clarkson comes out with.
The single thing wrong with Britain today is peop0le who seem to take great pleasure in putting down British companies and their products whilst buying foriegn built produxcts because of a label or a badge on it.
Yes CityRover is crap and that is why a major change is going on at the moment with it. But if you thinbk BMW get their c`ars` right every time, you don't know what goes on behind the scenes, and of course, Clarkson and his ilk don't advertise these problems. Not British you see.
Many hundreds of thousands of jobs are reliant on the UK motor industry, which if they go, will effect everyone of you and your jobs. The economy is rather like an eco system.
All these people whining now about their call centre jobs going to India, whilst buying foriegn produced goods, because they are cheaper than UK produced goods do not see the irony.
Some information for you.
The Rover 75, R40 was designed by Rover before they were sold down the river to BMW, as was the Mini. As with all car manufacturers, they use each others parts bin to save the costs of tooling new parts and yes, currently the 75 uses the Z axle as was always designed for. The car was desined to be both rear wheel and front wheel drive versions, to give sporty versions. BMW when they took over changed tghe design of the front bumper assembly so that the car had to ride high and coulod not be designed as the sports version. They also cancelled the R41q (Tourer) version and took £25 million out of the redesign of the R46 Project Opyster.
They spend money on the Cowley plant and put very little into Longbridge.
Rover before BMW took them over were making profits, BMW came in and changed the way the accounting was done and declared that the company was making losses! They then stripped out the Four wheel drive information, Computers designs and data from Land Rover before selling it on to Ford, they took the front wheel drive technology from Rover, a system they had no ability to do themselves, they kept the Mini, even though that had been designed by Rover engineers, they took the R55 project designs and information, mostly designed before BMW took over and used all this iformation, floorpan and running gear for its new 1 series, they kept many of the British names and left MG Rover with an out of date plant they had failed to invest in, three models again they had failed to invest in or had tried to scupper at launches. They asset stripped Rover as they always had the intention of doing.
Rover have actually just increased production on ALL facelifted models due to demand, to seven day a week working.
With what was left by BMW, MGR have acheived miracles and does not need the crap Clarkson comes out with.
The single thing wrong with Britain today is peop0le who seem to take great pleasure in putting down British companies and their products whilst buying foriegn built produxcts because of a label or a badge on it.
Yes CityRover is crap and that is why a major change is going on at the moment with it. But if you thinbk BMW get their c`ars` right every time, you don't know what goes on behind the scenes, and of course, Clarkson and his ilk don't advertise these problems. Not British you see.
Many hundreds of thousands of jobs are reliant on the UK motor industry, which if they go, will effect everyone of you and your jobs. The economy is rather like an eco system.
All these people whining now about their call centre jobs going to India, whilst buying foriegn produced goods, because they are cheaper than UK produced goods do not see the irony.
quote:Originally posted by pegittquote:Originally posted by AlanA
I have a MG ZT-T a joy to drive, spacious, pretty car and craps on BMWs,
sorry to say this but the R75 /MGZT is based on a BMW 3 series
chassis but set up for front wheel drive and if you look at your wheel nuts most of them have a BMW stamp on them same with the central locking motors all BMW.
The R75/MG ZT was designd by BMW/Rover before they sold out to the Pheonix consortium.
I have met clarkson a couple of time and i thought he was a top bloke who just speek's his mind
Pegitt,
it was based upon the 5 series floorpan, NOT the 3 series, and was designed before BMW took over.
As I have said in a previous posts, sharing of parts is a normal situation in modern automotive production due to economies of scale and development costs.
ZT was designed AFTER BMW asset stripped Rover. It was originally done by a team of engineers without BMW being aware as they flatly refused to have sporty Rovers.
quote:Originally posted by AlanA
Black cat,
Some information for you.
Mostly opinion, not information, I fear.
Most motor industry pundits agree that BAe had underinvested massively in Rover (£1B in 1988 was not nearly enough) and BAe had even sold a large proportion of the plant at Cowley for development. In fact, BAe (having been sold the company at a hugely undervalued price) should have invested some serious sums in Rover rather than continue to rely on Honda for technical input.
The upshot was that BMW ended up paying some of the price of these decisions - to the tune of £800m per year - and the instability of Sterling compared with the Deutschmark (as a result of the UK coming out of the ERM) led to BMW's first ever losses. The result was, unfortunately, inevitable, although BMW did lend Phoenix £500m as part of the deal.
Oh, and the idea that motoring journalists aren't prepared to criticise German marques or support British ones is just plain wrong. On p.181 of July 2004 Top Gear: "Now even BMW has come clean and said that the 7-series is a mess. Great engines and a capable chassis isn't enough, especially in this sector." On p.182: "More evidence that BMW is losing the plot big time..."
And also on p.182 regarding Caterham: "They're astounding." On p.201 regarding the new Range Rover: "the car that makes everyone else turn off the lights and go home", regarding Morgan: "I'm just glad that something as wonderfully eccentric as this is being made", and on p.214 "The Noble is one of the finest examples of its kind."
All Clarkson quotes regarding either British-made cars or British companies.
BC
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