The Morning After Topgear......

Well i thought it was a hoot! Any body who has watched TG for any length of time knows the format. Yes Richard Hammond is an irritating little knob at times but still manages to be funny. Did anyone think it was going to be a love fest,as someone has already pointed out that would not have been good telly! I was not offended. I wish i could have bought the Spider afterwards to renovate.

Originally Posted by fife164

Good lord. It's entertainment and should be viewed in that light.

It does not portray Alfa owners as idiots. If anything, it paints them in a positive light - portraying us as people who make sacrafices and accepting a bit of unreliability here and there in order to reep the advantages of Alfa ownership, as was highlighted by JC at the end of the show. 'I can't think of anything I'd like more' - is their higher praise than that from JC when offered use of the 75 for the next 12 months?

As for harming Alfa UK, I've never heard such nonsense. Did their £1500 Porsche piece ruin sales of Porsches in the UK? I think not.

ANY £500 motor subjected to that kind of torture is going to suffer. I think all three cars held up rather well under the circumstances. I'm heading off to Classic Le Mans in my S4 Spider tomorrow and am now convinced more than ever that it will get there and back without a hitch thanks to last nights programme!!

Showing more of the Stanford show, not crashing into each other and making the segment less entertaining that it was would have made the show more like Gardeners Question Time than Top Gear.

It certainly appealled to my sense of humour. I laughed like a drain for the duration.

I wouldn't overappreciate the impression it gives of AR owners. I think it probably confirms us as rather silly people

JC's closing praise was utterly disingenuous he won't drive even a pristine 75 for > 5 mins.

It is irrelevant to UK sales (of course). Only good product and service can overcome that (over time).

ANY £500 motor subjected to that kind of torture is going to suffer. absolutely right! But I thought it was disingenuous again to paint that as evidence of Alfa-ness. Everyone will have said it all before but a 20 yr old Sierra would have fallen over too and that doesn't make it an Alfa.

Originally Posted by alfa-female

CHRIS_B and all others ...if you had taken time to read 1st post you would have seen it says only post if you enjoyed the show....

so pleassseee.....go create animosity somewhere else.....its not big...its not clever and its not appreciated

I enjoyed it. They really didn't need to trash that beautiful GTV though

You gotta love Alfas to get it. I did

BTW AF stop teasing me with your avatars

Originally Posted by Andy G

well this just goes to show you can't have a debate without name calling on this forum.

Not true. Ones calling names have been given infractions and will be doing so even more going forward.

@ Chris & Darren: you can go ahead and post negative comments despite what alfa-female said on the first post.

That is mearly bad form.



But you can't insult other AOers. That earns you infraction points.


Simple and straightforward.

I'll say I enjoyed last night's show...

...so long as they get an 8C on the track and p*ss all over some old BMW's in a future episode in this series - how's that?

Originally Posted by BigFoot

@ Chris & Darren: you can go ahead and post negative comments despite what alfa-female said on the first post.

That is mearly bad form.



But you can't insult other AOers. That earns you infraction points.


Simple and straightforward.

Unless you're a troll eh BF

I cannot believe some of the comments on here

JC really did love the 75 and I had a good chat with him about it. He loves Alfas. He was telling me stories of old Alfas he had driven, he totally got why Vantastic drove drove from Newcastle in his 75 to Surrey. To get on the show and have his car picture taken with minty.

It entertainment I knew the 75 would probably get trashed but its fixable. The show LCD is fun and trashing cars.
its all done by popular demand.
I'm sure Alfa Romeo will sell more Alfas after the show not less.

Didn't she look good on the track

Careful Chris, an infraction could easily turn into an infarction!

Originally Posted by VO2Max

Careful Chris, an infraction could easily turn into an infarction!

Ok Ok - I did have to look it up first

No worries here mate - I am out here on left field



Chris

good grief chaps, what would it be like in here if they hated the whole day and thought all Alfa drivers were ******5?

Whilst I can see that a few think it is poor form to thrash the cars, my kids loved it, and I an sure they will be saying 'my dad has an Alfa' like JCs rather than having to explain why there is a half car in bits on the drive.

What was much much worse was trashing the three supercars a couple of series ago. Now that was a heinous crime.

I enjoyed it for what it was.

I didn't see any insult to Alfa owners.Those that did should take a deep breath and inhale a bit of perspective.

I didn't understand why Hamster bought a Spider for a grand as everyone knows you're lucky to get a basket case for that kind of money with any 105 based model now. A 164 might have made more sense but so what?

The bumping May joke is wearing thin but it is a running gag so I accept they just do it anyway.

I would have liked to see a bit more of the beautiful Alfas, but they briefly shot a few. JC even cooed over the lovely red Bertie that passed them on the road about "those old GTVs are soooo beautiful" (or something similar).

I understand Chris's concerns about brand value but think he is over-reacting. If the the modern brand or product offering is that weak it has no chance anyway.


I love VO2Max's idea - it would be hugely amusing to see a £1k Porsche 924 or a £1k BMW 316 get slaughtered around a track full of GTAs and modern Alfas, maybe throw in a fully sorted ex GpA 155 or 156? It'd be equally funny but I doubt anyone would say "Oh all Porsches/BMW are cr@p because that clunker couldn't keep up with those newer Alfas".

The main thing is it was fun, it showed comradeship, support for each other, determination to keep the old crocks going and a real joie de vivre that I like to think AO'ers hold dear.

Originally Posted by 73GTVJim

I enjoyed it for what it was.

I didn't see any insult to Alfa owners.Those that did should take a deep breath and inhale a bit of perspective.

I didn't understand why Hamster bought a Spider for a grand as everyone knows you're lucky to get a basket case for that kind of money with any 105 based model now. A 164 might have made more sense but so what?

The bumping May joke is wearing thin but it is a running gag so I accept they just do it anyway.

I would have liked to see a bit more of the beautiful Alfas, but they briefly shot a few. JC even cooed over the lovely red Bertie that passed them on the road about "those old GTVs are soooo beautiful" (or something similar).

I understand Chris's concerns about brand value but think he is over-reacting. If the the modern brand or product offering is that weak it has no chance anyway.


I love VO2Max's idea - it would be hugely amusing to see a £1k Porsche 924 or a £1k BMW 316 get slaughtered around a track full of GTAs and modern Alfas, maybe throw in a fully sorted ex GpA 155 or 156? It'd be equally funny but I doubt anyone would say "Oh all Porsches/BMW are cr@p because that clunker couldn't keep up with those newer Alfas".

The main thing is it was fun, it showed comradeship, support for each other, determination to keep the old crocks going and a real joie de vivre that I like to think AO'ers hold dear.

Trust me Jim - this did AR a lot of harm - and I mean a lot


Chris

I gota admit, I have enjoyed Top Gears challenges in the past but each time they are getting worse and wrose, but will admit I thought the track section was a great laugh and thought Jezza in the 75 was one of the most funnest things I've seen on TG for a while.

Although the rest of the show was very very poor.

You will never turn misguided people to the point of view that an alfa or any Italian car can be, and is as reliable as a VW or BMW, but also has that little bit extra. People with a bit of sense would see that they were driving cars of 19 years in clarksons case and 24 in Hammonds, that were bought for peanuts and yet they still had that alfa spirit. Indeed I work with engineers they appreciate this. Their only comment I had was "I bet you were cringing seeing what they did to them?" Some though will just see that all alfas are crap, and lets face it, these people would NEVER buy an alfa.

I thought they brought the idea of alfa spirit and soul across well, and Clarkson summed it up well at the end. The huge grin on their faces said it all.

For anyone that didn't see it, I cut the last bit and converted it...

http://www.zen41135.zen.co.uk/topgearalfa.wmv