Funny jab at Land Rover in Car's 2
- Thread starter Wander
- Start date
Snagger
Explorer
To be fair, he mainly criticised US cars of old, which were always impractical for European roads - older US cars tended to be very large and designed more for the straighter and wider American roads, so their handling didn't need to be as sharp and they could have the soft, wallowing suspension. Modern US cars are becoming a bit more like European or Japanese cars - more compact, better handling and more economical. Their build quality is also improving, just like Land Rover's and Jaguar's quality has gone up. The three sports cars reviewed in the Top Gear US special (Corvette, Mustang and I can't remember the third) were very positively reviewed. But Top Gear is generally highly xenophobic - it's a long standing jibe which appears to be at the expense of foreigners but is actually aimed more subtly at the "little Englanders" who still believe in the Empire. It's very cleverly done and is very good entertainment. They do have quite a go at the regions of the UK too - pretty much anywhere out of the Home Counties (the counties just around the London area) gets it in the neck. Clarkson is a bit of a Francophile, but sticks the boot in to them pretty hard... Hammond's comment about the Mexican's was pretty strong, too. the whole point is to be riotously un-PC in a UK where you are no longer permitted to speak your mind or tell unpalatable truths.
Quill
Adventurer
That's why I said they are both comedy.:sombrero: As to to American cars not built for English roads, well that's rather obvious as they are American. I wouldn't want to run a Morse Minni on a freeway across the plains at 80 mph with a lot of semis [lorries] and a cross wind. Of course they weren't designed to primarily do that. But hey it's funny to comment on or putting a Lincoln Town car on the twisties. That's comedy.
Wander
Expedition Leader
Not to digress further but the three cars in the California to Utah test where the Caddilac CTS-V, Corvette ZR-1 and the Dodge Challenger R/TS which didn't get the best review and was very much out of it's league in that test. I am a big fan of Top Gear and get the humour but I've always been a bit of an Anglofile and spent some time in Swansea Whales when my parents lived there.
I think Hammond owns a 67 Mustang and is often a fan of them when they appear on the show.
I think Hammond owns a 67 Mustang and is often a fan of them when they appear on the show.
Viggen
Just here...
I think its all a conspiracy by Disney to drive Rover into bankruptcy by subliminally perpetuating the stereotype of British unreliability in the youth. That way when they get jobs and have enough money to buy one, they will remember the movie and not buy a Rover product thus leading to their demise.
Its a movie. Relax.
Its a movie. Relax.
cdm
Adventurer
That's a bit rich - a US company claiming US engines are better than British... have you seen the power to size/weight and fuel consumption of US engines versus European or Japanese engines? And lets not forget the P51 was a turkey until its Allison was replaced with the RR Merlin... Ironically, the Rover V8 is American in origin ('60s Buick), so it's not even an accurate slander!The true British engines in LRs like the Tdi and TD5 seem pretty reliable if not over-tuned and if regularly serviced.
But we arent talking about european engines. We are talking about british engines. Nothing in common with the 2.
Snagger
Explorer
Britain is part of Europe, so any British engine is a European engine. British engines also have the same high performance to low volume and mass design approach as other European and Japanese engines, a different approach than that generally taken by US manufacturers who go for big, heavy engines with plenty of cubic inches. But actually, the most unreliable engine in Land Rovers is the V8, which is an American engine subsequently developed, improved and manufactured by the British...
Anyway, this is all making me sound very much more upset about things than I am - I'm just making a conversational counterpoint, not an irate complaint like some of you could be excused for interpreting. Such is the limitation of text communication - no tone or body language to gauge context or feeling by. At the risk or tempting the p... takers, what does upset me is seeing "text-speak" and the omission of capital letters (and other punctuation) on an internet forum!
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Wander
Expedition Leader
I didn't read it that way Nick-no worries! If someone doesn't know that the V8 used by Land Rover (and several other BL holdings) was originally an attempt at a small efficient V8 for medium sized Buicks of the early 60's then they are well behind the mark.