I got the retirement order right on the Supercar challenge!

It was nice to note that the wheel failure on the Coop was due to the holes drilled into it and not a general Hub or suspension failure too. I wonder if many start to cuss the Coops build quality because of how it looked to fail.

One thing that hasn't been mentioned ... when Clarkson started climbing in to the coop talking about it's "special feature" did anybody else think, "Oh my god! He's going to demonstrate the ankle straps!"

Yes, I did.

Dirty boys!

I thought it was funny, and given what they did to it, the coupe stood up remarkably well, especially ripping the side out of the BM!!

Initially I was annoyed by Clarkson's starting in reverse and j turning. But then I realised that they had to do that, otherwise the coupe would have flattened the Astra's time leading all criminals to think, hmm, now there's a handy car for joyriding/getaway purposes! Let's face it, in the context of that (humorous) section, £900 easily beats cop car wouldn't be spectacularly funny.

It could have been much worse, the jibes were to be expected.

Would I rather have seen a 'supercar performance for banger money' feature, yes of course I would, but that's unlikely to happen in the present TG format.

I was recording it on Sky plus and the wife cancelled it so she could watch another programe whilst I was recording the football (what a boring game!)

Does anyone know when it will be repeated ?

Anyone selling a coupe's now going to be offered 900 quid

I thought it looked great in the police colours. The rest of TG was as crap as usual. That whole 'Celeb in a crap car' is just boring.

Whenever Clarkson reviews a great car he spends the first half saying how crap it is and then ends by saying its the best car in the world. eg F430 scud, E60 M5 etc

its on iplayer look under top gear in search bar

According to the Sky TV Listing website its repeated at 9pm Friday on BBC2

I was expecting the same treatment Jezzas alfa got, anyone who saw it at the Auto Itaila show would understand. Don't think it will change prices for the coupe, they are cheap enough and that was a lot of car for £900.

Ankle straps, will mention that to the misses tonight hahaha

it was a shame to see the vanden plas and coop trashed (anmd the lexus and vitara for that matter) but car-trashing-annoys-me-bias aside - the more women watching top gear (my gfs finally started enjoying it....i think) the more they seem to be catering to everyone.

surely the point of a car show is to appeal to car enthusiasts, if i wanted a generic entertainment show for the masses id watch soemthin with vernon kaye in.

seems theyve had more writers, more budget and more time to plan a series that somehow doesnt have the appeal it used to. star in a reasonably priced car is dull and the review could have been any clarkson review from the past few years, nothing interesting really. i like the challenges, but only if they focus enough tv on them, not 3k worth of dead cars for a 15 minute 'short'.

...fingers crossed for next week

Another coupe taken off the road then.

Personally i think they are a bunch of overpaid idiots, its sad to see what was once a respected performance car turned into a joke just for tv.

I'm not the biggest fan of Top Gear and even though i dont own a coupe anymore, it irritates me to see a car that i love turned into a farce for a dumbed down car show.

Just watched it whilst home for my lunch and thought it was pretty good to be honest.

I suspect the audience for a proper car reveiw show is pretty limited now and the format Top Gear has taken over the last few series has seen them getting big ratings for BBC2. The reasonabley priced car slot is purely to get someone into interview and it was a bit longer last night as there was two of them.

Top Gear is no longer a car show, its entertainment based around cars. It would be pretty dull if it concentrated on reviewing cars the average person will be buying....watch the repeats of older Fifth Gear shows on that Dave channel...dull!!

I thought that it was bloody funny.

When it comes down to it the show is all about entertaining...yes JC can be a prat, but that is all part of the fun.

Dont watch it then

Maybe I'm been picky but

why oh why did he pick a coupe if he was wanting to barge it of the road when speed/overtaking is more akin to the coupe in that scenario.

He would have been better in a volvo.

It's a real shame. I've previously defended the right of TG to NOT be a boring sedate program which reviews 1.6 hatchbacks, but they really seem to have lost the plot, or, more accurately, to have decided not to bother writing the plot any more.

Top Gear script:

1. Clarkson gets hold of whatever available fast car for the week and rags it round the track sideways and inevitably "loves it"

2. News section is only left in as an ego fest between the three. No need to add even the faintest attempt at genuine humour - we already have our audience base.

3. "Star" in a reasonably priced car - no need to find a real star more than once a season, C-listers will do just fine for the other 9 episodes.

4. Increasingly ridiculous challenges which would be funny if they were, er, funny, but we're now smug enough not to have to offer any real entertainment in this sketch.

Repeat for 10 tedious episodes and retreat to earn the big bucks elsewhere all summer long off the back of what you USED to deliver on TG.

It's a real shame, I've watched TG right back from the days of William Woollard, through it's glory days, but all I can see for the future now is less and less new stuff, less and less episodes (I'm sure it used to have two per year?) and a swift decline into nonentity and removal from the schedules whilst we all go off to watch Dave 24/7 waiting for the occasional decent episode to be shown (again).

Wow a mixed bag of sentiments here. I enjoyed the show, just managed to watch the last half of it after 1/2 time in the Italy vs Spain match.

I totally agree with Cappo though, where as a few years ago I would make an effort to watch it now I'm not too fussed as it's getting a bit too samey.

It was funny first, second, and even third time round when they bought a car and fccuked it up for 'entertainment', or made weird challenges to the continent. I can more or less predict what will be going on in latter shows in the series now.

Although there is apparently only going to be 6 episodes this series!

Because they are breaking from the summer and then back again in the autumn, so its 6 + 6 (or 8) i think

I see! Your script there for sounds just about right

there are a lot of good arguments here.

I think this episode as a hole just didn't have any focus. the challenges have been very good up until now. the porch one sticks in my mind when they had 1500 quid to get one. or the boats one.
reason they all worked because they were the focal point of the show. and run for a good lengh. They were just entertaining

this last show just felt like lots of bits stuck together. fuel economy, fast far, guest, challenge

now the challenge could have probably worked this weekend. if it was directed better. each presenter had a little time on camera decided what car they wanted and the reasons.
to be honest just a fair test of the cars would have been nice.

the hole show was a disappointment for me. and what the hell was that stunt all about. a complete waste of a classic car that made me shout at the TV.

i have mad my choice and wont be watching from now on. but that inst fair on me is it really, as i still have to pay for it?
and fair

Nope.

As i said earlier, first thing I thought when I saw it pull up was "hmmm, lush".

Mine's going in to get re-sprayed next week.

Carbinieri-green, anyone?

What a crock.

Back in the tear-jerky/ sentimental "William Woolard" days, it used to get about 10 viewers a week.

It now gets about 10 million.

Do the math, as they say.

That was the funniest Top Gear I can remember. It's just three blokes having a laugh and taking the P**s out of the rest of the planet, Great!!!! Only bit they can ditch is "unheard of star in a rubbish car". But I had my daughters blind to put up whilst that bit was on. You have to ignor the fact they wrecked a Coupe & I've spent the entire day at work being ribbed, it could have been any car. It was plain hilareous, you knew it was going to end with the car getting wrecked and the fact that the wheel nearly killed Hammond, on it's way past was almost a great bonus ball. Great!! Great!! Great!!

S. Maths.

That's because it used to be about cars first and entertainment second. Now its about entertainment first.

Its not just TG that this has happened to, the Beeb is/has changed many of its programmes to suit a more generic entertainment audience in the scrabble for ratings, partly to justify the licence fee, partly to be more successful when selling abroad.

Some will see it as 'dumbing down', others 'broadening the appeal'.

As I said....."I've watched TG right back from the days of William Woollard, through it's glory days. Not that the WW days were the glory days....

But now it feels like they've hit their 10m viewers figure and thus don't bother putting any effort in....

couldnt agree more!

Why? the coop did quite well I thought. People at my work seemed to think it was a great buy for £900, thumbs up to JC

Most of the Alfa guys know what happened to the Alfas already...