Top Gear America

I'd honestly give it 8/10 for what it is, IF you didn't have to subscribe to the MT app to watch. I'm only mildly interested in cars but still find the show very entertaining and campy in a good way. It's self aware enough to play around in dad joke territory and doesn't take itself too seriously. The result is charming and lighthearted. Cast chemistry is great even though it wouldn't seem to work on paper. That's also part of the charm of the show.

Cast chemistry is weird. They're also trying to do the classic Top Gear joke and poke routine but it's rarely funny and mostly corny

I like Rob as an actor and watch everything he's in but every time he speaks he sounds like he hates cars. The other two hosts seem to have a true love for vehicles but even when Rob praises cars he sounds cynical and not in a funny way. This aspect of the show kinda takes the fun out of it for me. To be clear though there are leaps and bounds above the original cast, although I liked Tanner.

I still like it better than the new s**t show that is Top Gear without the original cast. I honestly can't understand the casting choices in that show period. I'm glad the guys came back on the Grand Tour.

For years my go to show was BBC's 2002 Top Gear until Clarkson, Hammond, and May "left" the show. I couldn't get back into it after they were replaced. I tried Top Gear (American TV Series), which had it's moments but never felt the same. Then there was the 2017 Top Gear America that lost my attention so fast that I almost forgot it existed.

The new 2021 season of Top Gear America caught my attention with Dax and Rob. With that alone I had to give it a shot and I'm glad I did. This isn't as good as the BBC Top Gear (2002), but it's still in it's infancy and even from the first episode it's better than some of the other versions of Top Gear. At the time of writing, they are only on episode 3 and I can see the show gaining more and more momentum. If given enough time to mature, this version of Top Gear could become the next best thing to Top Gear (2002). (The Grand Tour is obviously the next best thing considering the cast, but seems to be lacking episodes currently).

Update: Recently watched the latest 3 seasons of BBC Top Gear with Chris Harris, Paddy McGuinness, and Andrew Flintoff. Highly recommend watching as that was some of the best content I've seen.

Pros:

• Dax and Rob - Dax is a gearhead and Rob has a base knowledge, but both are funny and would honestly be a great duo in a movie.
• Fun content and commentary
• Shows massive amount of potential. If executed correctly, could become a big hit and long running series.
• Overall really enjoyable to watch and slowly improves after each episode.

Cons:

• Not a huge fan of Jethro. He feels a little separated from the show and a little boring.
• Length. The show is just too short or at least feels that way. They are around 35 minutes and I think the average for BBC Top Gear was 50-65 minutes depending on commercial breaks. This is a show where you need longer episodes to successfully cover the subject and entertain viewers.
• Motortrend. I feel like this is just the wrong place for it, but that could just be me. The only way I heard about this show is from Ads on Facebook and that it's stream on Motortrend for $5 a month (which is a good deal considering). Even so, it's not marketed very well and will be missed by many potential viewers.

Overall, I think this show has amazing potential and is a good watch. Unfortunately I don't think it will last long because it's currently on Motortrend and not getting the care or advertising it needs to survive with the cast it has. I think it could really take off if it was picked up by Netflix, Amazon, or even HBO Max and given some more screen time. Motortrend did a great job picking Dax and Rob who are pretty famous and well known, but I'm not sure if a network like MT could reach an audience big enough to keep this going. The sad part is that the show will probably last a season, maybe two, and then will get cancelled because of low viewership. This won't because of the cast or the content, but because of the lack of viewers that even know it exists. I hope it survives and becomes a big hit, but don't see that happening on Motortrend.

This iteration of TG was made for a streaming service and it shows. Camera work is awkward. Seems like every episode, or at least the 2 I could sit through were filmed in the middle of the desert. Its as if 95 percent of their budget went to buying/renting the supercars. The hosts aren't funny and seem awkward together. History Channel's 2010 version started off iffy but became pretty enjoyable as the series went on. That may happen here but it would take a considerable amount of work to get there.