Filed under: Videos
Autoblog Christmas Watch: Clarkson's Good, Bad and Ugly
We thought we should provide you a little automotive diversion from your holiday festivities, so for the past two weeks, we've been amassing clips of Clarkson's UK-only film, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, with the intention of stringing them altogether in one post. Well, after a quick search of Google Video, we came up with the full hour and twenty minute flick to provide you a respite from the tinsle and eggnog.If you're going through Top Gear withdraws, this will help ease the pain, as Clarkson pits some of the European benchmarks against some of Detroit's finest. A couple of the more unusual comparos include putting the Lotus Exige toe-to-toe with a Mustang GT, and bringing a Viper together with an M-roadster. Jezza employs his typical jingoistic tactics during his search for a "good" 'merican car, including some other ridiculous head's up matches, so remember to take it with a grain of salt.
Follow the jump for the video and a link if you wish to view the movie in all its full screen glory.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Maxzillian 2:08PM (12/25/2006)
I can't help, but feel it's a hair biased, but the point is clear.
However, I don't really blame the automakers for how the cars are. I blame the society for setting the bar for the automakers to shoot for.
Another thing to consider is the roadways here in America. It can safely be said that they are vastly different than the roads of our European brothers. American cars are built for the vast and straight roadways leading to their grunt and lack of commendable handling. Europe is just the opposite where tight and curvy roads demand more handling and less horsepower, barring their lovely super cars which combine the best of both worlds.
Overall I will admit that I am disappointed with American cars. I'm slowly approaching the market for a new car to replace my somewhat finicky Mitsubishi Starion (love it!) as a daily driver, but the US doesn't offer much of anything that makes me say, "Wow."
Reply
Yaroukh 2:48PM (12/25/2006)
Thank you BBC!
Reply
Scott 3:04PM (12/25/2006)
Top Gear is a great show but this is video is just garbage. It's way too biased toward the European cars and the comparisons are a joke. Case in point; during the Mustang segment, he was describing the car as a GT with a 4.6 and 300BHP when clearly it was a V6 that he was driving. WTF??
Reply
Ralph 3:32PM (12/25/2006)
sometimes I think that a guy who own one of the most beautiful,greatest sports car ever made,has a right to call every other car crap.
But does he have right to say that he is testing a V-8 Mustang if it's clearly a v-6 version? I don't think so...Probably he came finally across somebody who was more clever than he is,that person made him think he was reviewing a different car,showed the whole world that Clarkson opinions about cars shouldn't be treated as seriously as they are treated by many TopGear viewers.
Secondly there is a part on this DVD where Clarkson wants to show how wise he is and how dumb Americans are.As a European,I can only defend those people by saying that if Clarkson did the same in Japan,Australia,Middle East and other people living there wouldn't know what the capital of France is too.Moreover when I was in Spain and UK many people didn't know what is the capital of Poland! So what's the big deal ?!?
As far as the comparos mentioned here are concerned,they are completely ridiculous,but that's a different story...
Thanks for Your time
Merry Christmas
Ralph
Reply
MaxP 3:37PM (12/25/2006)
Thanks England
I've just wasted 1h20 of my time
BTW, no Aston Martin? and the offroad test drive, to Rubicon?
This is ridiculous
Merry Christmas everyone!
Reply
Tigerx 4:01PM (12/25/2006)
HMMM, when he was testing the mustang against a horse, he said the mustang was a 4.6L 300bhp car, but the one they used was a v6 convertible.
i smell BS.
i gotta agree with his opinion on the ford GT and the GTX1 though.
Reply
Carguy 4:20PM (12/25/2006)
It seems like the British need videos like this to boost their national self esteem. The only reason British brands are still alive is because they are owned by foreign companies who modernized both their thinking and manufacturing. You can thank Ford for the Jag XK ;)
Reply
Bowserusc 4:40PM (12/25/2006)
Really biased. The match-ups are not comparable. How do you race a muscle car against the lightest thing in the world, an elise. A Hummer or Escalade against a Rover, yeah right, everyone knows that you would never take a Hummer or Escalade away from the pavement. Now I would buy a beamer over any other car, and thats just cause I really like beamers, but American cars arent as bad as Clarkson says. And that crosswalk thing he showed. When was it bad to have an orderly 6 way intersection, that you can actually cross without getting killed, pedestrian or driver. I mean thats rediculous. It's like saying Ghandi wasnt good enough because he didnt kick more peoples a$$es.
Reply
John P. 4:49PM (12/25/2006)
Clarkson is a homer, but that's ok. He is kinda entertaining if not exactly accurate. He reminds me of that monkey the organ grinders use to run around with the tin cup collecting money. I won't be buying any of his crap, he's fat enough as it is.
Reply
Aaron 5:04PM (12/25/2006)
I totally agree that this video is OBVIOUSLY biased, but Clarkson makes extremely valid points. As a mechanical engineer having lived/worked in both Europe and the US, the design and engineering philosophies are vastly different - even in the areas outside of automotive engineering.
The problem simply boils down to money. American companies are simply looking to create a product that is cheap to produce and that will be reliable and last (I don't agree with Clarkson on his comment about reliability). It's not that American engineers can't design and produce cars parallel to BMW, Porsche, Audi, etc... it's simply the fact that they do not have the time, the budget, or the resources that are available to engineers at, for example, BMW.
On the other hand, from my experiences engineering for an automotive company (which shall remain nameless) in Europe, they would go to any possible lengths to ensure every aspect of the design is as precise as possible. Anything less than perfection is a failure, and even if it will take 5 more months to modify/change a design, they allow their engineers to go to those lengths to perfect their product.
As with everything else in the world, it simply just boils down to money, not whether American engineers are 'qualified'. American manufacturers want a reliable product engineered as quickly and cheaply as possible, when European manufacturers will go to lengths above and beyond those of their American counterparts to create a product that is pure automotive perfection.
Reply
Rene Curry 5:31PM (12/25/2006)
We need Jay Leno to do a follow up using equal dollar value cars of Brit versus USA. This time we pick the vehicles. It would be great fun and a media sensation.
Reply
Okufre 5:33PM (12/25/2006)
I just wish they added some JDM vehicles to this like the Honda S2000 which would have smoked the M3 they had on there or even the Lotus. Come on Brits, if you're gonna start comparing cars, better let the asians in on it too so that you as well can look foolish.
Reply
Malto 5:47PM (12/25/2006)
Omg, Us cars are rubbish vs our european ones.
Reply
John P. 5:53PM (12/25/2006)
Isn't VW, Land Rover and Mercedes just about at the bottom of every quality survey for the last 10 years or so? Pure Automotive Perfection eh?
Reply
flaw 6:03PM (12/25/2006)
a dodge pickup truck versus the ariel atom.
one is made to haul stuff from home depot. the other is a track tuned machine. the comparison is done on a track.
im no fan of pickup trucks but to be fair we should have both cars haul 3 2x4's from home depot and see who makes it home first (or in 1 piece)
usually i take jc's stuff as more entertainment than automotive fact but that segment just rubbed me the wrong way.
Reply
Don'tYaWishYaHadOne 6:36PM (12/25/2006)
That video was made by an ignoramus for ignoramuses. This fella has more nuts in his noggin than Collins Street Bakery has in an eigthteen wheeler load of fruitcakes.
Reply
Ralph 7:15PM (12/25/2006)
I am happy that You don't write things as 'he is right,U.S cars are crap!'
There must be an answer by somebody from the U.S made!
One thing more comes to my mind,Clarkson don't behave like You were Italian,German,British at once.You can't be proud of the fact Ferrari is made on the same continent You live on!
It's like I bregged about the fact my Neighbour had a Callaway C16,although I personally own a crappy Skoda Fabia!
You must have a very strong inferiority complex my friend.Although You succeded as a journalist there must be something inside your head makes You feel small...
BTW,I live in Europe and there are very many happy Mustang owners who bought their cars without a warranty and although there's no good maintanance service in my country.They find their cars very reliable and would never buy a base 3-series for a price of a Mustang GT (that's how much it costs here)
People on the streets bored with watching microwaves on wheels are impressed when they see a new Mustang,SSR,Infiniti or others.They always say it's impossible that those cars are so cheap in the U.S
best wishes
Reply
gkz 7:33PM (12/25/2006)
this video is entertainment - lighten up. if it upsets you, stop watching it.
Reply
Yaroukh 7:58PM (12/25/2006)
#12: S2000 would smoke M3?
http://youtube.com/watch?v=3jDqRGhQ0r0
Are you sure?
Reply
Aaron 8:00PM (12/25/2006)
@ John P...
When I was talking about 'pure automotive perfection' I wasn't talking about the reliability of the car, but the way the car performed, handled, etc. If you read my entire post, you would have seen that I stated American cars are much more reliable than European cars, simply because the fact that they are less sophisticated and have less mechanical and electrical components to go wrong.
Reply