He trades the 280 for a bright yellow Aventador and heads out to a quieter part of town to pick up the craziest car yet, a street-legal Porsche 962. He commandeers an outrageous Datsun 280Z for a ride through Toyko that's filmed beautifully.Īs the night wears on, Reid runs into a pack of Lamborghinis all sporting crazy neon lights. In an exploration of Japan's underground car culture, Reid finds himself at a late-night meetup for owners of wild Bosozoku Style cars. His segment is the best part of this episode. My only significant gripe with this season of Top Gear is that Rory Reid isn't featured as much as Harris and LeBlanc.
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It was a surprisingly poignant moment for Top Gear, one that treats a tragedy with the respect it deserves. It echoes Clarkson and May's visit to Chernobyl in season 21, but this time, the location isn't treated as a punchline. In the episode, LeBlanc and Harris are even granted permission to explore the Fukushima exclusion zone, where neighborhoods lay abandoned after the 2011 nuclear disaster. Top Gear imbues these with typical antics-the Togue challenge involves Sumo wrestlers, and Harris and LeBlanc tether their cars together for tandem drifting-but they still manage to celebrate Japan's contributions to the car world. Harris buys a lovely yellow Mazda RX-7 while LeBlanc thinks he buys an R34 Nissan Skyline GT-R, but actually gets a rear-wheel drive GTS-T by "mistake." The challenges involve two celebrated elements of Japanese car culture- a Togue run and a drift competition. Before putting their cars on the boat, though, there are some challenges. LeBlanc and Harris are dispatched to Japan with ¥1 million (around $9400) to buy a 1990s Japanese sports car to bring back to the UK and attempt to sell for a profit. The episode's main feature revives an old Top Gear favorite, the cheap-car challenge, but even this takes on new life. Comparison tests are nothing new in the world of cars, but Harris still manages to make this one feel fresh. His takes are well informed, and his passion for what he's doing is obvious. Harris is a great host, and his background as an accomplished journalist and racer gives him an edge. Chris Harris is at the wheel for this one, and he's the perfect man for the job.
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It began with a rather straightforward comparison test between two of the most exciting Japanese performance cars on the market today, the Lexus LC500 and the Honda Civic Type R.
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Last week's Top Gear, an hour-long exploration of Japanese car culture, was remarkable. On its third season since the departure of Clarkson, Hammond, and May-the second with Matt LeBlanc, Chris Harris, and Rory Reid handling nearly all the hosting duties- Top Gear has hit its stride. Which makes it all the more surprising that the post-Clarkson Top Gear has become something great. Two seasons in, The Grand Tour has shown moments of greatness, but they're tempered by the same stale jokes, catchphrases and tropes we came to expect from their final seasons on Top Gear. Freed from the BBC and given a giant production budget, the former Top Gear hosts were given a golden opportunity to break out of the formula they'd perfected. With The Grand Tour, we hoped Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May would do something new.