I buy the Times on Saturdays, and the review in there gave it 2 stars out of 5 and said that it was fairly tame. The reviewer praised the production values and the rapport they have, but everything else was stale and scripted.

Given the Times review, and the underwhelming advert on TV at the moment doesn't really sell it to me. There looks to be far too much 'muscle' and not enough rolling over in Reliant Robins.

Me too.We only subscribed to Prime for this. I watch it for the laughs.My OH is the Petrolhead!

Just watched it.Wow!We both loved it. Absolutely brilliant viewing.

Have you seen this advert?

If you loved the old Top Gear and this trailer doesn't do it for you then there is no hope ever.

Finally watched it last night and enjoyed it.

It's not Top Gear at it's prime, but it was probably better than the later episodes of Top Gear that they'd done and definitely better than revamped Top Gear.

Brilliant cinematography, decent in-depth look at the cars, a reasonably good track and a couple of laughs, oh and finally racing the three hybrids was worth the wait too, even if it was a bit inconclusive!

Only negatives, I thought the crowd felt a bit flat, can't help thinking literally any European crowd would be better than a US one (sorry US ) and the new 'Stig', in so many words, was a bit meh, but I understand they can't do a lot of stuff now that the BBC has religiously copywrited, so I suppose they made the best out of a bad situation on that front.

Still wouldn't mind seeing at least a couple of more down to earth segments though, so it doesn't all just seem like some big budget, low-rent, action film. That's kind of what Evans Top Gear had become for me and I didn't like it at all- that and the US bias- I hope it's not too obvious, now they're using amazon money and all that.

One episode! We've had one episode! I'm sure that "rolling over in Reliant Robins" type stuff will come. They're not going to do everything in the first show. If they'd done a two-part "cocking about in modified Mini Metros travelling across a desert" skit for the launch, people would no doubt be moaning that there were no supercars and it was the end of the world. I don't doubt that the first run of 12 episodes will include everything we're used to and plenty more besides.

I assumed that TG and TGT would be fighting over the Chiron. Since TG didn't show it, I hope that TGT does.

Jeremy is on QI this week, and on the XL version he tells a very short lavatorial anecdote about filming in Namibia.

I never loved Top Gear, but I did like it. There's not enough in the pre-series hype that makes me want to pay money to watch it.

I am that strange person that is happy to wait for the new series of BBC Top Gear. And now there's an opportunity there to go back to basics.

Although... there are very feint rumours that The Grand Tour will be syndicated, so maybe ITV will buy it. I wonder if CH5 would buy it, as it would give them a whole load of viewers it wouldn't have otherwise had. If that happens then I'd definitely watch.

On another note, Jeremy Clarkson did say that although he was nervous, he wasn't worried about people liking the first episode (In other words, people are going to like the first episode). So it'll be interesting how the 'neutrals' rate the rest of the series.

Since it seems to me to be a complete Top Gear retread, I imagine any 'neutrals' will find it very familiar.

IIRC reviews for the last Clarkson series of Top Gear weren't as positive as before, perhaps they were already running out of steam.

Watched it Friday evening and really enjoyed it. Looking forward to seeing the next 11 episodes

Watched this over the weekend; content-wise not much to add over what others have said - it's basically the old Top Gear minus the bits they are no longer allowed to do, with old Top Gear's pros and cons.

No doubt it will be wildly popular but if I didn't already have Amazon Prime, I'm not sure I would have joined Prime just to see it.

However, it looked absolutely stunning in 4K HDR on an OLED TV; better than many demo reels.

It's top gear without Chris Evans.

Therefore infinitely better

I was a very occasional viewer of Top Gear - I enjoyed bits and pieces of it and some of the specials but I could only take small doses.

Obviously I had to watch The Grand Tour given all the hype (can't be the only one of my mates in the pub who didn't watch it ). I got a very similar experience from watching TG - liked parts of it, was bored by others, didn't really enjoy the studio bits.

Does anyone think that the decision to concentrate on green technology in the first episode was a bit of a wink at the environmental lobby - sort of a 'we're not going to live up to your stereotypes' thing? I suppose Clarkson coming out as an ardent pro-EU voice was already a bit of a shock

Not really- the Clarkson critique of the Prius has generally been that it's not a very good car, or perhaps not as good as those who make a song and dance about it want to say it is, and those that are- and I say this as one who sympathises with such a worldview- are motivated more by its alleged green credentials which blind them to its inadequacy as a car, or at least as a certain type of car.

Now that the tech's in the sort of car Jeremy likes and is doing a decent job of it, it's more worthy of the comparison films the shows are known for.

(Historically they were very positive about Honda's hydrogen-powered car, too)

As an old ( and new) TG fan I was going to watch this anyway, as it happened I already had an Amazon Prime account so not sure if I'd have subscribed just to watch The Grand Tour.
First thing I noticed was the sound, on my amp it came up as surround and was expecting Dolby Digital, like many shows on Amazon and Prime, had to crank up the volume to make it tolerable.
The opening sequence cost £2.5M, self indulgent? I thought so, the banter is all very well but we know it's scripted and it shows, we know Clarkson blew his house up post divorce, assuming to start again but it looks like they are going to incorporate it into the show.
Show what a stroke of genius it was to have the Stig as a mute, the new GT driver seems devoid of charisma, the sliding supercars was a bit meh and over long, I'll continue to watch it but it didn't live up to the hype.

Don't listen to newspaper reviews, have a read of some of the reviews left here by viewers. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt5712554/?ref_=nv_sr_1

Yay! Snap

it was excellent

Those three bafoons back together on a motoring show

thats all i wanted

and I'm now happy

business as usual

'Just' for this - Wow, that's extravagant. I watched the first episode (and will be with all the subsequent episodes) for fee on Putlocker HD.

I loved it though !

You nailed it

High Five

Wow. One gets the impression that many of those reviewers would give ten stars for anything CHM put out. Barely two or three mention the tent scenes which were by far the weakest element. Don't get me wrong, the filmed segments were fabulous but the the stuff in the tent was disappointing. It looked and felt stilted and uncomfortable. It just failed to come across as natural. Put it down to nerves or put it down to unfamiliarity - and I'm sure it'll improve in time - but some of those reviews made me wonder if I'd watched a different show!

Just down to opinion and taste, I personally liked the tent bits and the comedy sketches, the only thing I thought was a bit awkward and uncomfortable was when they were on the stage introducing each other.