The Grand Tour

Malevolence · 13 Apr 2019 at 06:09

My old man had a Mk.III 2000E, blue with a black vinyl roof. Used to love going out in that thing, thought it was the bees knees because it had the two shield badges on the front wings.

robj20 · 13 Apr 2019 at 06:54

I just hope they replace the Mondeo with something else. Absolutely refuse to have one of those crossover abominations.

theone8181 · 13 Apr 2019 at 08:35

robj20 said:
I just hope they replace the Mondeo with something else. Absolutely refuse to have one of those crossover abominations.

I'd have thought size wise a focus isn't far off a replacement.

robj20 · 13 Apr 2019 at 09:12

theone8181 said:
I'd have thought size wise a focus isn't far off a replacement.

It's no where near as big. Boot is a lot bigger on the Mondeo, also better equipped. Also wider inside with more legroom in the back.

I'm glad they are charging the format. Shows that don't change stagnate and die, glad they are making the tough choices to keep the show going.

Moonpie2 · 13 Apr 2019 at 10:50

Really enjoyable episode.
Learned a lot about Fords that I didn't know.

However... not wanting to be the bad guy, but just wondering if I'm in the minority that thought the ending was completely unnecessary and unwarranted?
(The end with the guys, not the end of the car)

DeanT77 · 13 Apr 2019 at 10:59

Moonpie2 said:
However... not wanting to be the bad guy, but just wondering if I'm in the minority that thought the ending was completely unnecessary and unwarranted?
(The end with the guys, not the end of the car)

You aren't.

It felt like a touching "end" to the show but the show isn't ending, it still continues just without the audience :confused:

Begbie · 13 Apr 2019 at 15:11

DeanT77 said:
You aren't.

It felt like a touching "end" to the show but the show isn't ending, it still continues just without the audience

Yeah the ending ruined the whole thing. Fake tears from Clarkson, nonsense. Makes much more sense to do it that way anyway.

Enjoyed the rest of the show though.

Rroff · 13 Apr 2019 at 15:19

Moonpie2 said:
However... not wanting to be the bad guy, but just wondering if I'm in the minority that thought the ending was completely unnecessary and unwarranted?
(The end with the guys, not the end of the car)

I didn't like the last 20 minutes or so of the show at all - the first half was pretty epic but the last half progressively got worse for me.

Moonpie2 · 13 Apr 2019 at 15:30

DeanT77 said:
It felt like a touching "end" to the show but the show isn't ending, it still continues just without the audience

It was just weird.
The heavy handed emotion and tears and lead up and even getting permission to use footage from the BBC, that's the kind of thing you do when announcing the end of a career.

But to do all that and the 'bombshell' is simply, the format of the show is changing. Talk about some god level BS and bait&switch.

DeanT77 · 13 Apr 2019 at 16:19

Moonpie2 said:
Talk about some god level BS and bait&switch.

That pretty much sums it up for me.

Liked the episode though, apart from that

Scania · 13 Apr 2019 at 16:20

Enjoyed it greatly, I thought the end with the “emotional crap” was way OTT and frankly needless given they are carrying on anyway.

The thing that surprised me most was the RS 500 Cosworth and the way they treated it - just like any other press loan car, I can only guess the owner didn’t mind / care although given its rarity, they only made 56 white RS 500’s and very much less than that survive to this day - and assuming it’s a real one, it’s worth a fortune and I wouldn’t have wanted it treated like that we’re it mine!

I loved the fact it beat a Lamborghini Countach of it’s era around the track which shows what a performance bargain they were in their time, still, I was very surprised it got the full beans....

Good episode in - for me - a very hit & miss series.

Fry750 · 13 Apr 2019 at 16:33

The ending threw me too. I immediately started welling up but was thinking well that was unnecessary after the special announcement (which we all knew anyway).

I'd wager the specials will be the last, so as that was the last with the live studio element - it's effectively the end...

Still, I'll miss conversation street

poosemon · 13 Apr 2019 at 16:40

Scania said:
The thing that surprised me most was the RS 500 Cosworth and the way they treated it - just like any other press loan car, I can only guess the owner didn’t mind / care although given its rarity, they only made 56 white RS 500’s and very much less than that survive to this day - and assuming it’s a real one, it’s worth a fortune and I wouldn’t have wanted it treated like that we’re it mine!

I loved the fact it beat a Lamborghini Countach of it’s era around the track which shows what a performance bargain they were in their time, still, I was very surprised it got the full beans....

I am wondering if an Amazon level budget gives a bit more freedom on the Sierra / Countach runs as they can probably afford to fix any issues that arrise from doing such a run/service any parts that would have been under extra stress from such a run?

Scania · 13 Apr 2019 at 17:44

poosemon said:
I am wondering if an Amazon level budget gives a bit more freedom on the Sierra / Countach runs as they can probably afford to fix any issues that arrise from doing such a run/service any parts that would have been under extra stress from such a run?

I can only assume so, but, say something catastrophic happened (it came close to a good whack on a few corners I thought) it’s one thing to repair damage but quite another if it’s an RS 500 specific part which breaks / gets bent which are getting rarer and rarer these days.

I suppose to some owners saying a particular car was featured on TGT or TG is a plus point, to others it’s a big put off....

If it had been a regular RS Cosworth, fair enough, I’m just surprised they used one that’s so rare , valuable and collectible for such a feature and the owner agreed to it.

Howard · 13 Apr 2019 at 18:05

A few laps of the track isn’t going to hurt it. Maybe some new tyres and brakes. And I’m sure if it did get damaged they’d sort it out!

Rroff · 13 Apr 2019 at 18:23

Scania said:
I loved the fact it beat a Lamborghini Countach of it’s era around the track which shows what a performance bargain they were in their time

What they said in the film about them getting away from the police was so true though :s I remember seeing the cops try to stop one once on the Ilminster bypass - put his foot down and just gone - cops didn't even have a chance.

Rotty · 13 Apr 2019 at 23:42

last 2 episodes were pretty good

Scania · 14 Apr 2019 at 03:42

Rroff said:
What they said in the film about them getting away from the police was so true though :s I remember seeing the cops try to stop one once on the Ilminster bypass - put his foot down and just gone - cops didn't even have a chance.

So true, when the Cosworth launched a “hot hatch” was the XR3i, all ~105 bhp of it, along comes the Sierra weighing ~300 kg more but nearly double the horsepower, they were a huge leap forwards in terms of “power for the common man”

robj20 · 14 Apr 2019 at 06:52

Few of my friends cars in the episode as well apparently, the Sierra Estate for one.
We have an RS500 in the ford club and he drives it like that, in fact i know very few people that don't like to have fun in their classic fords. Guy with the RS200 takes his on track days.

theone8181 · 14 Apr 2019 at 07:17

robj20 said:
Few of my friends cars in the episode as well apparently, the Sierra Estate for one.
We have an RS500 in the ford club and he drives it like that, in fact i know very few people that don't like to have fun in their classic fords. Guy with the RS200 takes his on track days.

I don't see what the problem is with letting cars strech their legs, surely thats what they are desingned for and i've heard stories (possibly just myths) that some cars that have never gone past say 50% max revs have issues.