It’s been revealed that CHRIS HARRIS WASN’T A FAN OF THE ORIGINAL NSX. As you get over that, let’s discuss the rest of the finale of the first new-new Top Gear series.
Spoilers below if you haven’t watched the show.
Okay, let’s get this Chis Harris sacrilegious shit out of the way. The episode opened with a solo Harris review of the new 2017 Acura, er, Honda NSX. The film ended in the studio with the once-beloved car reviewer revealing that he thinks the new NSX is more interesting to drive than the previous one. He says the car is complicated without complications.
The Stig, which is rumored to have BRG earwax and a “Pierced Brosnan” in his LeBlanc introduction, lapped the Top Gear track in the NSX, which placed just above the Nissan GT-R.
The second film of the episode featured Rory Reid in the original Ford Mustang and two new ones in Scotland. “I don’t want to live in a world where my mum would consider buying a Mustang. And [the new one] is that Mustang.”
Matt LeBlanc complains about his first six weeks on his new job, and then he drives a Porsche 911 R. “A greatest hits album of the greatest 911s ever.” This review makes me want LeBlanc to stay on the show for as many series’ as possible. He’s fun.
Chris Evans checks out some rebuilt and restored classics including an Aston Martin DB5, an Eagle Jaguar E-Type and an MG “Abingdon Edition” all of which are tweaked to now include some performance and reliability at a steep price. You get to watch him have a lot of fun, “ladies and gentlemen.”
The episode finishes with the entire crew of presenters in a contest with no rules. The “Top Gear End Of Term Rallycross Sports Day Rally Jump Challenge.” Sabine ingests gasoline. There’s some chemistry among the presenters! Five of them get soaked to the bone. It’s kind of fun.
The last Extra Gear is as good as the others. Harris plays with a BMW i8 on the wet track, Reid gets grilled by Harris on his TG review of the new Mustang GT before taking Schmitz out on the track in it, Harris tears into the Stig’s lap of the Focus RS, and then Reid, Harris, Schmitz and LeBlanc all sit down and have a good chat. Sabine has a Porsche 911 R on order.
I want us to discuss, above all else, the greatest flaw of the new format BESIDES CHRIS EVANS.
My biggest issue with this series is that I can’t remember a single negative review of a new car. The closest we get is from Harris on the aftershow. Are they scared? Did they just only pick to review six episodes of good cars? I want to see some classic Top Gear criticism, and I think we missed that this go-round.
I think that falls under the bigger umbrella of lacking confidence. The best films of this series come when the presenters are confident. Give Harris a Ferrari film, Reid the drift-able hot hatch, Schmitz the German supercar and LeBlanc the expensive 911 and they nail it. You can tell they’re confident in what they’re good at, and what they should be there for. This series fails when it tries to hard to be the same, or tries too hard to be different, or when Chris Evans tries too hard at everything.
I can’t wait to see what they do (or, unfortunately don’t) change for the next series. I’m sure we’ll hear all about it.
Update: IT’S HAPPENING!