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Top Gear on the Prius yet again

Discussion in 'Gen 2 Prius Main Forum' started by geraldc, Jun 23, 2008.

  1. bredekamp

    bredekamp Member

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    Let all the Priuschat members chase the Topgear presenters around a track with pitchforks and broken bottles and see how well they do. HEHEHE

    I never take them seriously....
     
  2. ASavingMember

    ASavingMember New Member

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    How you guys doin?
    I do alot of reading and not posting but it is time

    I just dont know how to put this but the BMW is a better machine in everyway.
    let me finish....

    i have a prius and i love the warm and fuzzy feeling i get from it but when i drove my buddies (hugo's) new m3 with that disgusting v8, ive never felt better. It was like i found jesus. It is faster, handles better, it is even more comfortable around town and i can fit more stuff in it, i don't get run off the road all the time and people looked up to me when i drove that car as opposed to the finger.

    I think it is time to trade... :(

    sorry fellow earth saving friends
     
  3. VEGAMO

    VEGAMO New Member

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    Prius was made for people who want to get from point A to point B without much fuel cost/pollution.

    BMW M3 was made for speed, fun, and show off.

    If I had the money, I'd get a M3. Prius is just something to get you going cheaply.
     
  4. GatorJZ

    GatorJZ Member

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    Agreed. I absolutely love Top Gear. I even subscribe to the magazine even though a subscription to the US is $170 per year. They constantly take pot shots at Americansand bust on some of my favorite cars, but it is great entertainment. Not many automotive enthusiast TV shows or magazines are going to be pumping up the Prius too much, it is simply not that kind of car.
     
  5. AussieOwner

    AussieOwner Active Member

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    I rather liked the commentary from one of the UK TV reviewers on the show:

    "The first episode of the 11th series opened with Clarkson fighting back against the carbon-footprint brigade. To that end the hybrid Toyota Prius was driven as fast as it could go to show that it was less fuel-efficient than a large-engined BMW at 17mpg. I'm not convinced about the real-life scientific relevance of this research. As it happens, I've got what Clarkson calls a 'horrid eco-box' and a couple of weeks ago I drove it to and from Dorset at standard motorway speed - i.e. between 80 and 90mph. And I averaged just below 60mpg of petrol. So I reckon they must have been flooring the poor Prius at about 120mph on Top Gear. Note to readers: if you want to drive that fast, don't buy a Prius. And move to Germany.
    The signature attitude of the show is that of a frustrated company executive letting his hair down, following a big steak lunch with a good bottle of wine, and leaning out of his powerful car to stick two fingers up to some passing vegan on a bicycle.
    It's an attitude that you can hear in the very inflexion of the presenter's voices, a kind of overemphatic irony and exaggerated indignation that, such is its popularity, threatens to become the blokeish lingua franca of Middle England. Watching the first episode of the new series it dawned on me that Top Gear is the middle-aged Top of the Pops for the generation that grew up on Top of the Pops. It might almost have qualified as an original insight had Comic Relief not done Top Gear of the Pops last year.
    There's the same set-up of a cut-out audience brought into the studio to add atmosphere, the same badinage between Jeremy Clarkson and his sidekicks as that between Tony Blackburn and the Hairy Cornflake in TOTP's heyday. And, of course, the cars are the bands.
    It's a winning formula, but such an unchanging one that Clarkson felt compelled to joke that the new episode was not a repeat. 'You're not watching Dave,' he quipped. But we could have been. And many viewers will do in the months and years to come. Like some road monster, it just keeps going on and on. Carbon footprint? Top Gear is a lesson in recycling: it is its own carbon copy"

    Andrew Anthony on television: When Tim is sent to commentary | Media | The Observer

    Puts it all into prespective :D.
     
  6. Lexus_Prius

    Lexus_Prius New Member

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    You mean like the Ford Mondeo? He loves the mondeo. He praises plenty of day to day cars and has expressed his love for the GTi and many other affordable, fuel efficent cars...have you seen topgear?
     
  7. Rohe

    Rohe New Member

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    Well, I didn't have sound on, but it looked like the Prius beat the M3 around the track! I am so happy for my Prius beating the M3, I knew that car was overrated.
     
  8. KandyRedCoi

    KandyRedCoi S is for Super!

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    i smell trolls, im out...
     
  9. patsparks

    patsparks An Aussie perspective

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    Thank you, I wasn't sure how to word my response, you said it so much better than I could.
     
  10. e30318is

    e30318is New Member

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    how fast is the 0-60 time for a prius? normal everyday cars don't even get over 100 on the top gear test track. so im assuming that the prius did not go much higher then 60mph.

    actually thats pretty false. JC hates most british cars. and he hates BMW's too.

    even though its an entertainment show, i doubt they'd go as far as to rig it.

    they really should. anyone have an m3, a prius and a test track?

    fifth gear is no where close to being the leading motoring show in the UK.
     
  11. M Coupe

    M Coupe New Member

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    Yeah, attack BBC, Top Gear and Clarkson because he doesn't like a car... that make sense.

    Clarkson is worth his salt, regardless of his opinions.
     
  12. metal_chair

    metal_chair Nashville Prii Unite!

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    the beamer was drafting the prius so of course better mpg's right?
     
  13. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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    While his assumptions about the Prius and his repeated attacks on it are annoying, I rather enjoy the show. Jeremy is pretty funny in a British jerk kinda way and Hammond just cracks me up. It's simply entertainment. :)

    My favorite episode (episode 4 series #10)is when they had to drive across central-southern Africa (from Botswana to Namibia) in a 1000mile endurance challenge in a trio of total old school beaters. lol
     
  14. hill

    hill High Fiber Member

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    Don't feel bad, everyone is entitled to their opinion, no matter how wrong it is :p

    BMW has been around a long time before the Prius. But I remember BMW's first attempt to be popularized here in the us. It was the early 1970's. They were as unreliable as all get out. And way too often, that has been the case over the decades. The Prius has been on the top of Consumer Report's reliability list from the get-go.

    When push comes to shove, there's really no comparison. One is built strictly for comfort, acceleration and cornering ... while the other is built for high mileage. The sad joke on BMW is that they, like GM, are caught with their pants down, and nothing to offer, now that gas is in the early stages of spiraling ever upward in cost and scarcity. Tortise & the Hare.

    As for Top Gear? Those poor slobs ... if it wasn't for the Prius, they wouldn't be able to earn a living.
     
  15. YoDaddyAlex

    YoDaddyAlex Member

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    sure sports cars are really fun to drive, and bmw has arguably the best "driving experience" out there... but owning a prius doesn't always mean you hate fast cars. personally i love sports cars, but the price of gas and the cost on the environment have made me realize in the end it isn't worth it. if i want to get my kicks I will turn on a car racing video game. If I could afford it, I would buy the Tesla roadster. That is the car of the future.
     
  16. F8L

    F8L Protecting Habitat & AG Lands

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    Agreed! I watched my truck (In the process of selling it) turn 850rwhp on the dyno yesterday. I miss driving it a little but I wouldn't trade the Prius for it. I feel much better about using less fuel and producing less pollution than that 850rwhp could make me feel. :)
     
  17. miscrms

    miscrms Plug Envious Member

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    +1

    Rob
     
  18. miscrms

    miscrms Plug Envious Member

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    Yeah, its frustrating as I also really enjoy the show. Too bad they seem to be determined to take the piss of out the Prius. At this point it just seems to be one of their running gags, theres not even an attempt to take it seriously.

    Rob
     
  19. GatorJZ

    GatorJZ Member

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    Wow, talk about exercising one's right to "wrong" opinions.

    BTW, folks:

    Bimmers = cars
    Beemers/Beamers = motorcycles

    BMW Car Club of BC - bimmer vs beemer perspective
     
  20. zeeman

    zeeman Member

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    can't play the video.

    i am guessing there is that same British donkey (no hard feelings m8ts, we got those assholes here as well) who blew up the prius with the shotgun in a previous video?