The Grand Tour

[MR E30 325is]

I did, and did a double take...a small chuckle.

Im actually more excited to see the older episodes of TG season 2-18.

Agreed.

I still have plenty of seasons of Top Gear to watch, so I balance out the Grand Tour with an episode of Top Gear every now and then.

[Matt-B]

ah ha! I have found a means to watch without prime.

[N2MYE30]

Did anyone notice the Ape wearing a high heel on the conversation st header?

I did, and did a double take...a small chuckle.

Im actually more excited to see the older episodes of TG season 2-18.

[agent]

Did anyone notice the Ape wearing a high heel on the conversation st header?

Yep. It's one of the subtleties which I think are lost on much (most?) of the viewership.

[squidmaster]

How did they get a picture of you? (cue dad laugh)

[2mAn]

Did anyone notice the Ape wearing a high heel on the conversation st header?

[Aleman]

I'd be very curious to see what aspects of Top Gear are restricted for use on Grand Tour. From what I can tell, the following:
- Can't do Star in Reasonably Priced Car (I'm OK with this. That segment always sucked anyway)
- Can't buy 3 cheap cars and have 'the producers' hand the hosts challenges throughout a 'tour'.
- Can't have a 'Cool Wall'
- Can't do the show in an airport hangar
- Can't end the show with 'on that bombshell...'

Anything else?

From the title of it, 'The Grand Tour', I was very hopeful that the new show would lose the audience and feature nothing but epic adventures around the world, such as the North Pole trip in the Toyota Hilux. Sadly, the 3 gents weren't thinking the same thing.

[jpod999]

I was much happier with episode 3, but I was not as impressed as I wanted to be.

I will continue to watch the show, as it is an awesome idea, there are just a variety of topics and skits that don't make sense to me personally.

Excited to see what will happen, but I don't go into the show with my hopes set very high anymore.

After a weekend of reflection about the latest episode, I 100% agree with this.

[MR E30 325is]

I was much happier with episode 3, but I was not as impressed as I wanted to be.

I will continue to watch the show, as it is an awesome idea, there are just a variety of topics and skits that don't make sense to me personally.

Excited to see what will happen, but I don't go into the show with my hopes set very high anymore.

[Pootis]

Nothing feels genuine in the show anymore it all seems so scripted. May getting pissed off at Hammond for revving his engine in the tunnel etc seemed forced. No show seems way less off the cuff. And the house thing was idiotic because you could clearly tell no one was living there. There was no furniture or anything so it was pretty clear that it was coming down anyways.

[Stanley Rockafella]

... I think they're very comparable...
.

I concur

[Das Delfin]

Part of why the staircase freaked me out was the fact that the walls were missing and there was nothing to grab onto. My friend bought the house seeing through all that with the intention of fixing it. Which is what I did with my bmw ;)

I wish I could show you a video of a tour through that house. It's truly a hodgepodge. On the second floor one room leads to another which leads to another. The floors aren't level and the ceilings are low. There should be a hallway but the pitched ceiling doesn't allow one. So you get an upstairs den going to a bedroom which is attached to a studio. But in the basement you can tell what was there originally vs what was added on because the stone used in the original foundation was roughly cut from slab probably by hand or other primitive pre-indistrial tool.. I would try to keep that part of the house. I've been in houses that were built circa 1700 but have been kept period correct. This one isn't like that. There have been dormers added and rooms converted. A whole front section of the house is an add-on. And the work has been done with inconsistent quality. But there is potential. Like you, my buddy likes the old world stuff. So he won't listen to a word I say :D

[rturbo 930]

A 30 year old car and a 200 year old house are admittedly very different animals.

Gotta disagree with you there. Yeah, a house will be many times more expensive to restore properly, but I think they're actually very comparable. Old cars and old homes both have large enthusiast communities who enjoy them for what they are, generally some that is lacking in newer examples. Also, just like some of you think old houses are worthless, there are plenty of people who have seen my car projects and asked me why I'd bother. Badly done modifications and repairs, bad electrical work, and poor maintenance are all issues shared by both cars and homes. They also have some of the same design drawbacks - Older cars are often noisy, inefficient, less comfortable, sometimes cramped (think Model A, Beetle), etc. Like I said, I think they're very comparable.

My friend just bought an 18th century new england house which had been expanded and remodeled a few times over the years, none of which were done with any sort of semblance of aesthetics and I doubt the most recent additions are even to code. For example the staircase is narrow and tall, which is dangerous in itself, but at the top you have to take one more step to either your left or your right to go in either room. This means if you are on the top floor in one room and go to another, you have to remember to step over the staircase or else you will trip and die falling down the stairs and likely be rewarded with a darwin award for living in such a stupidly dangerous house.

He wants to seal off the staircase and keep it as a sort of secret memory of years gone by. I would want the satisfaction of bulldozing decades of "ehh that's good enough" and starting from scratch with something thoughtful and proper. But his is a basketcase whereas many older houses which have been kept up aren't as crazy.

If the additions aren't more than ~100 years old, and poorly done like you say, I'd bulldoze 'em without a second thought, especially if they're some tacky 80s nonsense that doesn't match. Sounds like the building my parents had though. Started off as a house, I guess the original owner sold it about 10 years later, and the next family made it a business, and it was added onto some 4-5 times between 1840 and 1955 when the last addition was done by my grandparents. Thing is, the original part was built quite well, but the first addition, which is a full three stories, was done poorly, and that's where all the problems are. I'll spare you the details before this thread goes any more off track than it has.

Some of the things I like about old ass houses is that old world craftsmanship and building methods, things that don't line up right, beautiful pine floors that aren't level, and hundreds of years of people wearing the thing in over the centuries and giving it character.

To me, the staircase you describe is just part of the experience. Steep, narrow, winding staircases are extremely common in homes of that age. Just pay attention and you won't have a problem. If that's a problem, don't buy the house. Don't get me wrong, I get why some people want nothing to do with such a house (or that staircase), but it would be nice if those people would leave em to people who enjoy them instead of ruining them for people like me.

[Das Delfin]

^ I think they are trying to make the celebrity kill-off a staple of the show. Maybe it's in recognition of what's obviously the most boring part of top gear? I always skipped over that part.

You know, the same could be said about old cars, but here we are posting on a forum for old BMWs ;)

If an old house was poorly built or poorly maintained then yes, it can be a real headache, but otherwise, it's really no different than an antique car. A bit more maintenance, but more rewarding because generally the people who own them love them. That being said, earlier this year my parents sold a large ~180 year old building that my dad inherited, and it was undeniably a crumbling mess. Quite a few things about the way that place was built that make you go ...what the fuck...

A 30 year old car and a 200 year old house are admittedly very different animals. My friend just bought an 18th century new england house which had been expanded and remodeled a few times over the years, none of which were done with any sort of semblance of aesthetics and I doubt the most recent additions are even to code. For example the staircase is narrow and tall, which is dangerous in itself, but at the top you have to take one more step to either your left or your right to go in either room. This means if you are on the top floor in one room and go to another, you have to remember to step over the staircase or else you will trip and die falling down the stairs and likely be rewarded with a darwin award for living in such a stupidly dangerous house.

He wants to seal off the staircase and keep it as a sort of secret memory of years gone by. I would want the satisfaction of bulldozing decades of "ehh that's good enough" and starting from scratch with something thoughtful and proper. But his is a basketcase whereas many older houses which have been kept up aren't as crazy.

[varg]

The desert whatever thing in the 2nd was the barely watchable part but everything in episode 3 was pretty good IMO, I'm just hoping they ditch the celebrity kill-off bit. I have to say that whatever that color on the Aston Martin was, it was the ugliest color I could imagine on that car. I'm not a fan of the red and black on the Challenger either though.