It may be hard to believe, but there was a time when BMW was known as “The Ultimate Driving Machine.” BMW built seriously quick cars that combined muscular performance and refined styling, kind of like The Rock wearing a tailored suit. Then something happened. Today, BMWs look more bugged out than buttoned down, and the brand strains credulity by asking you to pay subscription fees to use equipment already installed in your car.
BMW is pissing off everyone with these subscriptions, and now asks M-series owners to pay per month to activate the software that enables the full functionality of their cars’ Adaptive M suspension systems. Louis Rossmann, the right-to-repair legend, is all fired up about it, as you should be, too. But hold up, Icouldntfindaclevername found a subscription you’d be willing to pay for:
It there a subscription for smaller grilles ?
There was a weirdly special Volkswagen Jetta for sale on Bring a Trailer.
For just a single year in 2006, the Volkswagen Jetta got a new body, but an older, Pumpe Düse diesel engine known for better reliability than VW’s later common rail units. Really, the only kind of people who care about this are diesel freaks like me. Cheap Bastard has a good explanation for how it ended up on Bring a Trailer:
“What’s This Regular-Looking Volkswagen Jetta Doing On Bring A Trailer?
there is a very good reason as to why this silver 2006 Volkswagen Jetta ended up on Bring A Trailer, even if it seems more Craigslist than Forbes List”
It’s an 18 yo Volkswagon so yeah, bring a trailer.
Finally, the last ever episode of the Grand Tour is coming September 13. Now, I know the trio haven’t been the best guys out there, especially Clarkson and the toxicity he’s put into print. Yet, this feels weird. I grew up watching these three. I got blacklisted by the BBC by being one of those who brought the proper UK version of Top Gear to Americans (the BBC America versions were always a bit weird).
Top Gear helped form the car person I am today, so I feel for Nsane In The MembraNe here:
There are always going to be contrarian opinions that they’re overrated but I don’t agree at all. These guys did more for enthusiast culture over the last 25 years than just about anyone because they made car content that was for everyone. As much as we like nerding out on sites like this, the average person just wants to be entertained, and the boys were always entertaining.
The dynamics between them and their collective sense of humor are what really what made The Grand Tour and Top Gear. The cars are all cool, the challenges are great, the running bits (the variety of Stigs, guests always “dying” on their way to get interviewed on The Grand Tour, etc.) are great, but at the end of the day you watch for Clarkson, May, and Hammond.
And I’d be willing to bet that countless people found their way to liking cars because of their shows. Like I said, you don’t need to be an enthusiast to enjoy them. Hell, my mom loves Top Gear and used to watch it with me when I was home for summers in college and grad school. My wife also watches the Grand Tour with me and her dream car is a hybrid Highlander.
I’ll always love the trio and respect their huge contributions to car culture. They’re the best to ever do it and IMHO they walked so a lot of the automotive media we enjoy today (particularly some of the better YouTube channels like Throttle House) could run. They’ll be missed, but they’ve earned the right to go out on top and call it a career.
It’s going to be an end of era. Maybe one day I’ll tell some future kid I have about the old dudes who messed around with cars around the globe. Have a great evening everyone!
I never really got into Top Gear when it came back, but I loved the Tiff Needell era. I feel like that did so much for me as an enthusiast. It’s definitely informed my car purchases.
@Mercedes, If you have never seen the French version of Top Gear you should try it… the original French team was almost as wacko as Cap’tain Slow, The Hamster and The Orang Utan. It ran only for a few seasons ( I think about as long as TG USA ).
They tried a French reboot earlier this year with a new team, but honestly I didn’t bother to watch, the footages I weren’t interesting…
For Top Gear and The Grand Tour, there was always a special chemistry with the boys. Clarkson by himself was just an ass, but Clarkson with Hammond and May was a very funny and strangely endearing ass.
I have a Samsung TV, and by default the Samsung TV app is tuned to the Top Gear channel every time the TV is turned on. I will come home from work to find my wife (who’s gotten home 2 hours before me) or my kids just sitting and watching Top Gear reruns because they turned the TV on and got caught up in whatever segment was showing. It really is that entertaining.
Thanks Nsane In The MembraNe for perfectly summing up how I feel about Top Gear / The Grand Tour.
Second.
~15 years ago I started hearing this show in the background while my husband watched. Eventually I would stop to watch a bit, then started requesting it more than he did. And now I love cars. 🙂
Not to mention the countless spinoffs, now, that the whole family gets together to watch.
I’d argue that James May’s ‘cooking’ on FoodTribe was the best of it – in my house at least (though the Mythbusters connection with Richard was a great nostalgic treat, and Clarkson’s Farm is well-watched). It got the kids to be energized to make all kinds of silly combinations of foods, and get them more engaged in cooking for themselves.
I didn’t know about the cooking show, thanks!
I gotchu! 🙂
Yes. My wife who is wholeheartedly not a car person loves the Clarkson/May/Hammond trio. TopGear or GT are her go to shows if nothing else is on.
Woo hoo! Another one!