Just watched that episode, what a car and what a place to drive it. And what a Police escort.

Slightly OT but having watched the last 4 episodes of that series on the plane a few weeks ago (you realise how far behind Prime are when Air NZ has had the whole series onboard for a month) I reckon the show as it is right now is the best it's been for ages - and a lot better than the last few years of Clarkson/Hammond/May.

I don't get the point of cars like that Bugatti.

For not much more you could get a small jet with seating for 6 or 8, a toilet on board, travel 2000km on a tank of gas, cruise at double the speed without fear of getting a ticket, and not have people anxiously waiting for you to drive it into a tree or lake so they can laugh at you.

Fred99:

 

I don't get the point of cars like that Bugatti.

 

For not much more you could get a small jet with seating for 6 or 8, a toilet on board, travel 2000km on a tank of gas, cruise at double the speed without fear of getting a ticket, and not have people anxiously waiting for you to drive it into a tree or lake so they can laugh at you.

 

Seen the running costs for such a thing and training required ? :)

But yeah, unless you have access to a race track every weekend or a runway, not much you can do with the car ;)

sbiddle:

 

Slightly OT but having watched the last 4 episodes of that series on the plane a few weeks ago (you realise how far behind Prime are when Air NZ has had the whole series onboard for a month) I reckon the show as it is right now is the best it's been for ages - and a lot better than the last few years of Clarkson/Hammond/May.

 

I got my hopes up thinking there was a new series of TG out - didn't realise Prime had only recently started screening it here.

This latest series of TG is far superior than the joke that is the Grand Tour - I found that so cringe-worthy it became unwatchable. So overly-engineered it's sucked the life and humour out of what were once genuinely entertaining hosts. TG has actually restored some of those great belly laughs I used to experience with the old hosts at their best - but that's many, many years ago.

xpd:

 

Fred99:

 

I don't get the point of cars like that Bugatti.

 

For not much more you could get a small jet with seating for 6 or 8, a toilet on board, travel 2000km on a tank of gas, cruise at double the speed without fear of getting a ticket, and not have people anxiously waiting for you to drive it into a tree or lake so they can laugh at you.

 

 

Seen the running costs for such a thing and training required ? :)

 

But yeah, unless you have access to a race track every weekend or a runway, not much you can do with the car ;)

 

 

 

Yes - not exactly a cheap hobby (private jet).  

OTOH a set of tyres for a Veyron cost ~ $50,000 and only last about 4,000km, so you'd use up about $10,000 worth of tyre tread on a one way trip from Chch to Auckland. 

jonathan18:

 

sbiddle:

 

Slightly OT but having watched the last 4 episodes of that series on the plane a few weeks ago (you realise how far behind Prime are when Air NZ has had the whole series onboard for a month) I reckon the show as it is right now is the best it's been for ages - and a lot better than the last few years of Clarkson/Hammond/May.

 

 

I got my hopes up thinking there was a new series of TG out - didn't realise Prime had only recently started screening it here.

 

This latest series of TG is far superior than the joke that is the Grand Tour - I found that so cringe-worthy it became unwatchable. So overly-engineered it's sucked the life and humour out of what were once genuinely entertaining hosts. TG has actually restored some of those great belly laughs I used to experience with the old hosts at their best - but that's many, many years ago.

 

Completely agree with both those posts.

The new series of TG (which I saw months ago - come on Prime, it's not like your schedule is chocka block!) was really good. The three presenters seem to click pretty well (and I even like MLBs pieces on Industrial/Agricultural vehicles). Hopefully, their next season will be even better.

The Grand Tour, OTOH, is (as mentioned above) far too scripted and forced. Those three guys are funny when they  are just being lads, but maybe now they are paid too much and have too much expectation on them from Amazon? I will watch the GT when it comes out, but if it hasn't improved, I won't continue.

jonathan18:

 

sbiddle:

 

Slightly OT but having watched the last 4 episodes of that series on the plane a few weeks ago (you realise how far behind Prime are when Air NZ has had the whole series onboard for a month) I reckon the show as it is right now is the best it's been for ages - and a lot better than the last few years of Clarkson/Hammond/May.

 

 

I got my hopes up thinking there was a new series of TG out - didn't realise Prime had only recently started screening it here.

 

This latest series of TG is far superior than the joke that is the Grand Tour - I found that so cringe-worthy it became unwatchable. So overly-engineered it's sucked the life and humour out of what were once genuinely entertaining hosts. TG has actually restored some of those great belly laughs I used to experience with the old hosts at their best - but that's many, many years ago.

 

Agreed. I couldn't watch the grand tour without skipping past all the tent segments, very cringe

I'm enjoying the new top gear and I think Matt LeBlanc is a good host

An amazing machine the Chiron, but for me it seems more a "look what we can do" technology demo than anything else. It doesn't tickle my fancy the way a Ferrari F12 Berlinetta or Lamborghini Aventador does.
Also agree that Top Gear itself is definitely in a better place now compared to last year and the past couple of seasons with Clarkson, May and Ratboy. You can see the pleasure they take in talking cars and the relationship the presenters are building. Compare that to the overly processed and scripted Grand Tour, it's a breath of fresh air. Will give the new season of Grand Tour a go for sure, as hopefully things can only get better and they go back to actually reviewing and talking about cars.

Fred99:

 

I don't get the point of cars like that Bugatti.

 

For not much more you could get a small jet with seating for 6 or 8, a toilet on board, travel 2000km on a tank of gas, cruise at double the speed without fear of getting a ticket, and not have people anxiously waiting for you to drive it into a tree or lake so they can laugh at you.

 

My thoughts are similar Fred, but I'd substitute the jet for a helicopter and change "for not much more" to "for a little less". Can't fly as far but many more options for landing and taking off.

 These are engineering test objects. Developments tend to debut in this type of vehicle then filter down to cars you can actually use, much like F1 and other motor racing.

@MikeB4:

 

 These are engineering test objects. Developments tend to debut in this type of vehicle then filter down to cars you can actually use, much like F1 and other motor racing.

 

Nope. They're ~90% pure marketing.

@Fred99:

 

xpd:

 

Fred99:

 

I don't get the point of cars like that Bugatti.

 

For not much more you could get a small jet with seating for 6 or 8, a toilet on board, travel 2000km on a tank of gas, cruise at double the speed without fear of getting a ticket, and not have people anxiously waiting for you to drive it into a tree or lake so they can laugh at you.

 

 

Seen the running costs for such a thing and training required ? :)

 

But yeah, unless you have access to a race track every weekend or a runway, not much you can do with the car ;)

 

 

 

 

Yes - not exactly a cheap hobby (private jet).  

 

OTOH a set of tyres for a Veyron cost ~ $50,000 and only last about 4,000km, so you'd use up about $10,000 worth of tyre tread on a one way trip from Chch to Auckland. 

 

You don't need those tyres if you only plan to drive at 200ks to outrun the cops. Slam those on when you decide to do a top speed run, then swap them out for the $400 ones for the 220kph runs.

I dunno..... I quite enjoyed the Grand Tour. Particularly the Namibia beach-buggy double episode.

But I agree, Prime is stupidly late running Season 24 of TG. I suspect that they will have lost a good chunk of their audience as the hard-core fans, of which I am no longer one, will have seen it via (cough) "other means" rather than wait around for them to eventually screen it.

@Batman:

 

@Fred99:

 

xpd:

 

Fred99:

 

I don't get the point of cars like that Bugatti.

 

For not much more you could get a small jet with seating for 6 or 8, a toilet on board, travel 2000km on a tank of gas, cruise at double the speed without fear of getting a ticket, and not have people anxiously waiting for you to drive it into a tree or lake so they can laugh at you.

 

 

Seen the running costs for such a thing and training required ? :)

 

But yeah, unless you have access to a race track every weekend or a runway, not much you can do with the car ;)

 

 

 

 

Yes - not exactly a cheap hobby (private jet).  

 

OTOH a set of tyres for a Veyron cost ~ $50,000 and only last about 4,000km, so you'd use up about $10,000 worth of tyre tread on a one way trip from Chch to Auckland. 

 

 

You don't need those tyres if you only plan to drive at 200ks to outrun the cops. Slam those on when you decide to do a top speed run, then swap them out for the $400 ones for the 220kph runs.

 

Can't see a towbar option on the Bugatti specs - for the trailer to carry the spare set of tyres.

I wonder what the insurance situation would be if you ran the Bugatti on Chinese Ling-Longs - when you just wanted to do skids to impress the boys.