James Mays cars of the People 2

[simon20vq]

Hi All
On I-player the above program. 46 minutes through nice little bit on Audi Quattro and Subaru if that also floats your boat.
The whole program is worth a watch IMO.
happy days hope you enjoy

[Audi J]

Yeah it was good.

[Rubberdubber]

I am surprised you guys actually liked it. I wondered how long he could talk about 4 wheel drive without mentioning Audi, the when he did I felt it was all too short and then just about the same amount of time spent on Subaru. Granted the Audi bit lifted my spirits, sound of the 5 cylinder and all that but it all seemed a bit of a missed opportunity to me

[mackenzie50]

That dark blue Mk3 Hilux he drove was very cool.
We just got 'cooking' diesels and front leaf springs/solid axle....didn't get V8s or IFS on Mk 3s over here.....
Yes, my other 'car' is a Toyota

[Tonybolony]

I am surprised you guys actually liked it. I wondered how long he could talk about 4 wheel drive without mentioning Audi, the when he did I felt it was all too short and then just about the same amount of time spent on Subaru. Granted the Audi bit lifted my spirits, sound of the 5 cylinder and all that but it all seemed a bit of a missed opportunity to me

[GazzaG60]

the problem I see is that in general the audi has hearts and minds of a smaller group of people and on the road a much smaller group than the Subaru. its telly after all.

having seen many a Subaru and tuned a few I wonder if the box and diff were left on the tarmac after james tried a launch

[K Simmonds]

the problem I see is that in general the audi has hearts and minds of a smaller group of people and on the road a much smaller group than the Subaru. its telly after all.

I agree, after watching the program last night I'd have loved to have seen more about the Audi and quattro development in general as I'm sure we all would. However it's a program for the masses as opposed to Audi enthusiasts and at least the info quoted was all factually correct.

I really enjoyed the last series and am glad the BBC have let him do a second season after the fracas with Top Gear and Clarkson...

I'm sure James May could write and present a two hour program on the quattro development program which we'd love every moment of but the other 97% of viewers would turn over after 15 minutes.

[mackenzie50]

Yes, in a nutshell. but probably 5 minutes i'm afraid.
I stuck in my above Hilux comment as tongue in cheek, cos I have other motoring favourites too.....and in my Hilux forum I posted my fav bit of the programme was the Ur rally car
That's the thing bout forums tho' isn't it- we're die hard afficianodos of that particular world and thus tend to slant/overestimate the importance of our obsession(s)
...but I enjoyed the programme...even May's obsession with gold wheels!!

[GazzaG60]

I thought the gold wheels was pushing it. a bit 1995.

[Bowie69]

I liked it, and the previous one too

[simon20vq]

I had a new impresa in 1997 and a Jap import STI V2 in 1999 estate with gold wheels (17" spoke things) and I loved it. In truth one of the best most reliable cars I've ever had. It was a trip down memory lane especially with Prodigy playing in the back ground............I must be getting old!!

[Audi J]

Looking forward to tonights episode @ 9pm

[cardcrash]

Looking forward to tonights episode @ 9pm

I only caught the last 10-15 minutes of last nights episode but it seemed pretty good, I'll have to watch it in full. ...the Sinclair C5 what a flop, and he sold his computer business (who doesn't remember the Spectrum?) to Alan s*dding Sugar to keep it afloat.

The autonomous RS7 was quite funky, must be hard not to touch the controls when you're hurtling toward a corner at 70mph.

And he was raving about the hydrogen cell car being fantastic and whilst he mentioned the lack of hydrogen fuel infrastructure he never mentioned the energy it takes to produce the hydrogen itself. I'm no physicist had haven't looked into it but I'm sure I've read or seen somewhere that hydrogen isn't all that clean given what it takes to produce.

And don't get me started about electric cars and the amounts of lithium required from the African lithium mines, not to mention what happens to these cars at the end of their life cycle. Just seems to me everyone's raving about the non polluting car but failing to mention that it pollutes somewhere along the chain of events from concept to scrap yard...

The internal combustion engine has had a century of development and isn't that bad on the scale of things. I suppose you have to consider city air cleanliness and whatnot but still... perhaps there's some ideal hybrid solution, I dunno...

I'll get eaten alive now by some petro/electro/atomic wizard professor with 7 PhDs...

[Audi J]

That RS7, I was thinking more the 120mph straight at the end. James must have been wearing his 'emergency brown trousers' for that bit

In other news http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-ra...-look-top-gear

I'm with you on the electric car thing - where does the energy come from. Mostly from dirty fossil fuel burning power plants.

..and the hydrogen car - yeah great in theory, if only there was a way to easily harness hydrogen.

Think I'll stay a petrol head for the foreseeable future personally.

And don't get me started about electric cars and the amounts of lithium required from the African lithium mines, not to mention what happens to these cars at the end of their life cycle. .

Exactly. So shortsighted. In 50 years or so people will be talking about the car battery disposal problem.

[K Simmonds]

I only caught the last 10-15 minutes of last nights episode but it seemed pretty good, I'll have to watch it in full. ...the Sinclair C5 what a flop, and he sold his computer business (who doesn't remember the Spectrum?) to Alan s*dding Sugar to keep it afloat.

The autonomous RS7 was quite funky, must be hard not to touch the controls when you're hurtling toward a corner at 70mph.

And he was raving about the hydrogen cell car being fantastic and whilst he mentioned the lack of hydrogen fuel infrastructure he never mentioned the energy it takes to produce the hydrogen itself. I'm no physicist had haven't looked into it but I'm sure I've read or seen somewhere that hydrogen isn't all that clean given what it takes to produce.

And don't get me started about electric cars and the amounts of lithium required from the African lithium mines, not to mention what happens to these cars at the end of their life cycle. Just seems to me everyone's raving about the non polluting car but failing to mention that it pollutes somewhere along the chain of events from concept to scrap yard...

The internal combustion engine has had a century of development and isn't that bad on the scale of things. I suppose you have to consider city air cleanliness and whatnot but still... perhaps there's some ideal hybrid solution, I dunno...

I'll get eaten alive now by some petro/electro/atomic wizard professor with 7 PhDs...

There's sod all 'green' about electric cars given the technology currently at man's disposal.

I find it astonishing that Clive Sinclair sold his flourishing Spectrum computer company to fund the C5, that's got be one of the worst business decisions ever made. Even with the lighter amount of traffic on our roads in the 80's the bloody thing is/was an obvious death trap beside being impractical and making the driver look a complete tit.