For me, it was the best of the series so far. And, as someone said earlier, the closest yet to Top Gear, especially with the audience interaction (and, coincidentally, getting some of the more attractive women towards the front , behind Jeremy )

Classic Top Gear! Absolutely loved it, from the general arseing around during the Christmas presents segment to the fascinating Le Mans history lesson from James May. Not forgetting Hammond's dig at the Yank whilst passing the Cenotaph. Keep it up chaps!!!!

I'd say it's more (unnecessarily) crude than rude e.g. Latest episode has condoms
used for branding TGT not overly funny but parents might have second thoughts
about watching it with young kids

Episode 6 is the best so far.

Loved the Mustang GT v Focus RS shootout & I agree with Richard J Cheeseburger III, the Mustang V8 is the way to go.

You can't beat a bit of V8 muscle; nothing sounds better.

Also, if you can get handsome large coupe for the same price as a souped up Ford Focus with a four cylinder engine, there simply is no contest!

You have to add in the petrol tanker you need to follow you around with the mustang though.

It was weird to do a Christmas episode that was totally un-special and very old Top Gear-y with a bit of unfunny arseing about in the middle.

The main thing I think they should add to the Grand Tour is something connected to where they are to give it some relevance. Nothing apart from a few bad jokes had anything to do with Finland. They may as well just film it in a studio and stick a picture of the White House or Taj Mahal on the backdrop behind them and pretend they're there if they aren't going to actually use put the location to any use.

OK, so what else about Finnish motoring should they have put in there? There are only three motoring things Finland produces - racing drivers, rally drivers and people who drive both racing and rally cars. Nobody outside Finland has heard of any of the people who make cars in Finland, in fact I suspect very few people *in* Finland have heard of them. The only other interesting fact about Finland and cars is if you learn to drive a car in Finland you either end up very good at it, or dead. And they charge massive fines for motoring offenses.

That's it. That's ALL of it. Good luck making even a reasonable portion of a TV show out of that wealth of material.

They pretty much have to move the tent around to avoid being sued by the BBC. That's been admitted several times already. Given that, Finland seems as good a place as any for a Christmas episode. Hell of a lot more chance of looking Christmassey than the UK. 'Places with snow we can realistically be able to make a TV show' is basically Scandanavia and Alaska. And Scandanavia is a heck of a lot closer.

Well, they're the ones tasked with it, and they're not up to the job.

Can't they even drive around Finland?

How do so many people in the audience in the non English speaking countries understand?

I wondered about this; it must be a condition mentioned on the ticket (and when booking for a place in the tent) that you must be able to understand English fluently.

Quite a lot of people in those parts of the world speak English. Often pretty much fluently. You could easily find enough to fill a tent like TGT in any decent sized town..

Well, no. They've never claimed it's a function of their show to publicise anything specific about the country the tent has pitched up in (hah!, never been able to use that literally before).
The only people who seem to think they should apparently are a few people on DS. So unless one of them can come up with a way in which they could do that that would make good telly, you can't really ask anybody else to do it, can you? You argument is essentially they haven't done a job they didn't set out to do. Well done.


"Oh look, some snow... and.. some snow.. and ooh, there's some snow!" The function of the location is to provide a backdrop to 'the studio'. That's it. So when they wanted to do a show to go out on December 23rd, they went somewhere that looks Christmassey when they were filming. That's the sum total of the justification, and it's the sum total of the requirement.

Here we go folks I just wet myself I can't wait for this.

https://www.facebook.com/thegrandtou...7359335462612/

If you're reading this Andy.. season 2.. ditch the tent completely. Make more mini road trips.

The same as the rest of us in England, trying to understand what Clarkson's saying. By using subtitles


Nope, you're the only one who seems to think it's okay to make a show that goes to many different countries yet utilises NOTHING on arrival.

Anyone sensible would think they're find a way to tie it in. Doesn't have to be for the whole show, but for part of it, otherwise there's no point going.


So you sum up Finland ONLY as being snow. That's like saying England ONLY ever rains and there's nothing more to it. As the year comes to an end, you're in the running for the most ridiculous post in 2016.

the Only one? Only ? I can name you at least three people who think it's ok - their names are May, Hammond and Clarkson. Because if they wanted to do it, they would.

What a pompous thing to say.


And then they'd think 'nah, that's a rubbish idea' and move on. Because it is.


In motoring terms, yes. It actually has some very nice restaurants and a long history, but then neither of those are anything to do with a car show, are they?

Go on, tell me what Finland offers to a car show. Enlighten me.


Sadly it appears I was pipped for the prize at the last moment.

My take on this is that it simply demonstrates a degree of inclusiveness, as well as showing that the show is appreciated in many countries. I don't see the programme as a car-based travelogue (and neither should it be one).

Anyone notice the Stairway to Heaven lyrics referenced when Clarkson & May found a hedgehog in Hammond's sustainable hedgerow car in ep 4.?

'If there's a bustle in your hedgerow,
Don't be alarmed now,
It's just a spring clean for the May queen.'

That wasn't the Christmas Special. There is a two parter this weekend

It's called Happy Finnish Christmas though. Sounds Christmas special to me

Just caught ep6 and I have to say this is another winner (ep5 was very good). The old style of banter is back and James May's piece on Ford's GT40 at Le Mans was a mini documentary in itself. Excellent.

And don't forget the bit on the Ford GT40 smashing the living daylights out of Ferrari at Le Mans. So that's a Ford Mustang and a Ford Focus and a Ford GT40! A well balanced motoring/car prog or a coup (not Coupé) for Ford in the product placement stakes?

If you ditch the tent you lose the audience element, which Clarkson thrives on.

No ''Ice-cream is gay'' comment yet?

The "offended by proxy" moaners are probably having a lie-in.