Top Gear: Rally Car Review

This week’s Top Gear starts out with a look at the two latest offerings from Jaguar: the F-Type R and the Eagle Low Drag GT. They truly are two of the most beautiful cars of the season and they the F-Type R did do a fairly fast lap equivalent with the Audi A10, however the Eagle Low Drag may be the best car that I have ever laid eyes on. It is the quintessential throwback to a time gone by and shows in every single feature. They were so meticulous that they even had custom made windshields to fit the overall look of the car. It was clear that Jeremy was in love with this car, but the price tag of £850,000 is an unreal amount of money.

The show also featured more of Richard’s love affair with Mazda as he went over the new Mazda MX-5. This is a redesign of the original MX-5 and somehow they actually made the vehicle lighter. Mazda went after it with the gram strategy to get rid of excess weight and dropped about 100 kilograms from the car. It is now one of the lightest on the road but still has all the fun features that make an MX-5 a fun car. However, they did nothing to get rid of the ridiculous look of the car leaving Hammond with only one conclusion, it will still have the stigma of the last car.

The news came with one piece of great news. Ferrari has agreed to terms to hold the electric super car race. This is the one that Jeremy has staked his name on that McLaren will be the fastest car on the track. They are still waiting on Ferrari to actually have a car in stock, but it is at least a step in the right direction for the race to occur. That may be the most exciting thing that happened on this episode.

The news also featured the alarming argument that the transportation commission feels that Top Gear may not be the feelings of the typical British driver. The group had a lot of fun at the expense of the politician who said this and provided a few laughs for the night as well.

Next up was the star in the reasonably priced car and this week it was X-Men star Nicholas Hoult. They went over the fact that he was indeed a car enthusiast and Nicholas told us about his experience in having BB gun fights on set with the rest of the cast of X-Men,  but when it came to the lap he was quick. The whole lap just looked fast and it showed in the final time. Hoult may actually be one of the better drivers that they have ever had on the show. Also, as part of the segment, they had a pretty cool clip from the new Mad Max film as well. Definitely worth slowing down on the DVR to watch this one.

The final segment was to put James May, a man known for being “fast,” on the track for an actual Rallycross event. He heads to the track where he is in a modified Volkswagen to race with the guys of Rallycross. One of the cool parts of this feature was that Tanner Foust of American Top Gear was the man training him to drive in the event. They went around the track a few times and when it came right down to it, May appeared fast.

The problem came in the next day when they actually showed the other cars on the track. He was in fact so slow there was real fear that he would be lapped in a four lap race. The race by the end simply turned into whether or not he could hold off Foust from lapping him. The rally was amusing but not by any account their best effort of the year.

Overall, this episode was more true to the roots of the show. It was a good show with three car reviews, the news, and a short feature but featured none of the flash of their bigger shows. Overall, worth the watch, but not a top episode either.