Thank god we have an alternative to the awful so called car show on Star World called Top Drive (TD)!
The Auto Show airs on Sundays & Tuesdays @ 10pm on CNBC.
Hosts
Right off the bat, having a former female rally champ as regular host/commentator adds a healthy dose of credibility which is sorely missing in Top Drive.
While she may not be as glamourous or slick as the Star hosts, at least she comes across as genuine and ’real’.
I would disagree with her characterisation of over 5, 000 RPM as ’low’ for peak horsepower (she was talking about the 140+ peak bhp for the new Accord)!
Low in any traditional sense of the word (at least in mature car markets like the US) is about 2, 500 - 3, 500 RPM.
Low also implies accessibility in normal driving conditions and how many drivers keep going over 5K RPM when shifting in urban driving conditions?
The Saab 9-5 which has peak torque (twisting force measured in foot-pounds [ft-lbs] or newton-meters [Nm]) at about 2K RPM is LOW end for Americans (of course its amongst the lowest around for a sedan too).
Its also really annoying when the hosts don’t take the time or effort to get the pronounciation of a car name correct. In Top Drive they kept calling the Toyota Celica a ’silly-ca’ instead of the correct ’sey-li-ca’!
Can they pronounce - MORONS?!
Format
There is much more focus on the cars (’The Car’s the Star’ stupid!) than TD.
A healthy does of stats that we car buffs like to see and a lot more focus on the content than form.
A good competitor to Wheels on BBC.
Wheels does have lower production values (overall ’slickness’) but a better sense of humor.
Viewer’s car troubles are also addressed in a short segment which makes it more interactive in nature.
The music/back beats are getting better with each passing show also.
I love the feature of displaying the Album/Track info during playback which is new/innovative for any car show I’ve ever seen.
The accents are unashamedly Indian unlike TD where its so fake sounding and put on.
TD hosts have managed to get more of a fake accent after their few weeks/months abroad (if at all) than I did after 12 years in the US!
They (TD) just need to get over their hangups over being Indian.
The one big problem I had was with their star rating system.
The S-Class got only 4/5 stars for engineering!
Nothing would seem to get 5/5 by that benchmark.
It also got 5/5 for VALUE!!
This should have been a 1/5 for the most expensive car in the country which is sold at less than half the price abroad.
It seemed a little retarded ...
Summary
I’m just glad I’m not stuck with TD on Sundays any more.
Of course the best car shows in India so far are Top Gear on BBC and Auto & Motor Sport on DWTV. We should learn from them.
Their hosts spend zero time on makeup and looking good (and it shows!) but have a lot of knowledge and driving skills that would run circles around the delicate TD butterflies...