German Car Forum

Come on guys - if you don't like his style, then don't read his reviews! Before we are starting here a general discussion about moral, ethic etc…!

We all know, that he is one of those "journalists", who loves to provoke! Discussing about his journalist future will not change a thing!

You're over-sensitive here EnI. There's nothing racist in his comments.

Clarkson has never made it a mystery that he is here to entertain people. He is not here to give you the exact size of the glovebox or to measure the diameter of the intercooler. He's not here to give you a scientific review with facts and to proove his points. You don't read his review expecting a very objective result.

He's here to amuse people while giving an opinion on a car. And, while his opinions are usually excessive (in order to entertain), they are often somehow justified. In that I fully agree with AYA or Mike. He's sometimes surprisingly right...

He's being excessive in its points rankings, in its phrasing, in its comparisons, in the examples he gives. What he says cannot be taken seriously. But if you back up a bit, take it with a pince of salt, he's often right on. He's not the first to say that this new 7er is too sporty for its own good. You may disagree with him, that is no problem. But don't take him seriously, please!

His show and reviews are like comedy or one-men-shows, he's criticizing things with a very excessive and unrealistic tone.


It's humor! British humor. I love that kind of humor. Top Gear is here to entertain people, and entertaining usually involved excess.

Why so serious, EnI? Just because he gave your beloved Beemer bad marks?

Actually raoul i don't think he said that clarkson was racist.

Well he spoke about nationalistic connotations and racism... On-purpose provokation or true racism, EnI says he plays with the fire in order to provoke and obtain recognition... A Manipulator...

While I disagree. He does that to entertain, and actually I find it entertaining. You clearly see that he's not serious about all these questions. He's saying Scotthish idiot like he says cock... Did you take what he said about left-handed people seriously?

All three of them, in TG, are playing with that. Accusing each other to look like a gay terrorist ot whatever. There's nothing serious about that. It's not about manipulation, it's about humor.


I don't think Clarkson wrote this review of the 7-Series in order to get worldwide attention, create a universe-scaled controversy and become the subject of the next NATO-meeting.

Actually, I think that he makes populistic politicians look ridiculous by stealing their lines and turning them into jokes.

Now don't take this the wrong way, but you used to do marketing and now work in PR, don't you?

Oh, yeah ...

Using PInc language to "entertain" is just like using sexual content / language (usually very sexistic) for "entertaining" purposes. Cheap & uninteligent.

Soooo funny. Not.

I guess that bishop Williamson who denies the existence of Holocaust (yes, he thinks it's all made up, and gas chambers were there for disinfection reasons ) is currently the biggest entertainer in the world. Yeah, right!


And ... Clarkson ... He usually writes something to get attention ... Do you think he uses such language just for his own fun? I don't think so. The intent here is very clear.

Btw, bashing wrapped as a humor is very questionable. I don't support such kind of humor at all. And I'm very liberal, and open-minded. But I find such indirect bashing very annoying & potentially very dangerous - since it signals such behavior is OK. Making fun of someone is legit only when the also the bashed one finds it funny. Such kind of "humor" - when persistantly used in working place - is called mobbing, and it's misdemeanor or even a felony.

PS: I guess Rafael Nadal doesn't find it very funny being called a "Spanish ape". Nor I guess do the Spaniards.

^^ Okay, so for you comedy means getting splashed by water only, because anything involving criticism is insulting?

I fail to see the resemblance between Clarkson saying unrealistic things in a funny car-review and a bishop who is seriously stating that the Shoah never existed. Really, I don't.

Nobody can take what Clarkon says for the reality. He says it in a humoristic way, in a humoristic text, always making sure that what he says is soo completely excessive that it cannot be misunderstood.

If you think that Nadal looks like an ape, and that therefore what Clarkson says reflects his real feeling about him, and that furthermore Clarkson wants to say that all Spanish are apes, then it's your problem. But I don't think it's exactly what Clarkson said.

The Bishop did not say it in a humoristic way at all. He was dead serious about that, and that is very very problematic.

Comedy usually involves criticism of the society, criticism of certain persons specificly, excess, and often sexual plays on words. That is called humor. Humor allows to say many things without being taken as an offender.

Clarkson makes a comedy show, only about cars. Don't take it as manipulation, it's humor. Cynic, british humor.

Why are we having this discussion?
Who cares what Clarkson thinks, if he doesn't like the 730d thats fine, there are many others standing in line to buy a new 7-serie.

List some left-handed tennis players by name, and then describe another one as "that Spanish ape whose name I've forgotten" is a pure insult, and has no function to entertain, or be funny at all. Sorry. It's just insulting.

Would you feel OK being named "French dick" or "French pig" in some text of mine about Z4? I guess not. Nor would the other members reading that.



Insulting particular person, or even group has nothing to do with comedy - especially not comedy about cars.

I love British humor in general ... but in that case Clarkson is a very, very bad example of a British humorist. He's just too arrogant to be funny.

The power of God compels him to stop speaking and writing in tongues.

Probably you should stop the discussion here!! We will not get any result!! Some like Clarkson's style - some do not! As I already mentioned is this generel discussion about moral and things someone should do or someone shouldn't!! It's like discussing about the wars over the world…we can not change the situation or anything! Clarkson will not read this here - and things like this will not change his writing style and his opinions.

I think, everyone shows his/her very own point of view - but we don't have to fill thousands of pages with this.

It's quite interesting, ree, this conversation. Sooner or later we would discuss the "why" behind Clarkson's writing style, and now it's done, very civilized with many interesting arguments. I'd like to hear more opinions on this subject.

Well…you are definitely right! Maybe we should open a special thread for this discussion where we can interpret a lot more interesting stuff, Clarkson wrote and say on his TV shows… …because it isn't only on BMW reviews…couldn't remember a review of him, where he didn't "live" his style…

Thing is... Nadal is currently the most successful and well-known tennisman in the world. So basically, Clarkson listed some names, some of them i have never heard of, and then refers to the most famous of them all as "whose name i've forgotten". That is funny, and agin soo excessive that it can't be taken seriously. I actually found it, if not funny, at least amusing.

It all depends of the context. if it's in the middle of a funny text/discussion, obviously not intended as an insult, I wouldn't mind (but i'm very cool and open-minded you know ). If it's just an insult thrown at me, I'd take it quite badly.


I disagree here. Comedy is often, if not always, about mocking other people. It all comes down to how you do it, but comedy is often a criticism of specificly designated persons. Just like caricature!
Here, it was just an attempt to be funny in a sentence, perhaps not the funniest and most spirited moment of Clarkson but nothing to be shocked by imo.



Funny thing is... You and me are completely opposed, EnI. Everytime you have an opinion, it happens that I think the contrary... it's quite an amusing thing don't you think? But very interesting, as I quite like our arguments.

The English are renowned for a certain, un-PC, but altogether endearing trait; it's called Pulling the Piss. It's about making light of people, situations, countries and whatever more with no real malice or harm intended. It's a way of subtly steering away from taking things too seriously.

I'm left-handed. And an avid tennis player. And I laughed my arse off at Clarkson's review. Of course he knows who Rafael Nadal is. Maybe like me he's decidely disappointed that Rafa is so imperious at the moment. Poor Roger. So, he pokes a bit of fun.

He too pokes a bit of fun at the 7er. It's all in the context of taking things "not too seriously". After all, it's just a car... and in the grand scheme of things...? Y'know, being left-handed I often get in and drive a nice car with a good manual gearbox and think that right-hand drive cars were in some sick form of coincidence ideally oriented for lefties. In my opinion, for all lefties, all cars should be right-hand drive and for all righties, left-hand drive...

Clarkson is funny, his shows are sell-outs, his books are great to read and he knows much more than he ever lets on.

And he just gave the 7er a big fat two-star rating in a column that just pulls the piss and nothing more. So what's the problem?

I couldn't agree more, Martin! Nicely said, as usual!

I'm also left-handed

I'm right handed and after ~10 years of playing tennis, I'm still crap

A bit off-topic!! But here are many left-handed people!! I'm also one of them! Well, I can't play tennis though …

Holy Sh*t!

I'm surrounded by freaks!!

Don't you mean apes?

Aha, nice one...

EnI i agree with you 100%. Since when is it okay to call black people monkeys. This happens regularly in the English premier league towards African players. Its blatant racism and FIFA have anti racism campaigns running in all leagues across Europe.There's a fine line between comic journalims and just blatant racism or pregidous. Dare I say it, but Spaniards are not 100% white. Why not then call John Mcnroe an American Ape then. Clarkson is racist, hypocritical and arrogant. Don't get me wrong. He is funny and I love Top gear. But he's been in trouble before for his pregidous behavoiur and comments. Besides, it's as clear as daylight that he's a Mercedes Benz lover and he hates BMWs. He's owned a few Mercs. My favorite part of his article is where he criticises the 730 for having i drive fall to the left hand. Correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't the S class and Audi system do the same. No mention of that. Wierd. In the end no love lost.

coolraoul its obvious you dont like bimmers too.

To say Nadal is black is a bit far-fetched I dare say. I wasn't the intent of Clarkson imo. Sure, if you go into deep analysis, you can make him say whatever you want by interpreting his words the way you want.

In the end, for me this is not racism at all. It's not right to see racism everywhere, he's just making fun, you can find it funny or not, there's no need to spend an hour interpreting this phrase.

If you loose the second degree, you will start to see Clarkson as an awful fascist and insulting monster.

Concerning me not liking Beemers... Well, I like the F01. I would certainly not give it only 2 out of 5 stars. But again, here, he's merely kidding. Did you see his conclusion? Big, bad and ugly... Not serious at all (it's not the e65. If it was, well...)

And while I'm more a MB-fan, I'm trying to be as objective as possible. There are many MBs I do criticize, and I always said that I appreciate the F01 a lot (at least in pics, never saw it IRL).

Just for a side-note... Clarkson did own a pair of Benzes, but is not kind to them in his reviews. He can't be regarded as MB-biased at all, even though he eventually ends up buying them.

He did criticize a lot the voice control of the W220 (spending one week trying to store a name, remember? Here again, it's completely unrealistic, but funny as hell), said the W211 looked like a Honda and has the poorest service you can get...

Again, I see him as a comedy-writer more than a serious reviewer. Even if what he says can sometimes be right despite its excessiveness, I'd never buy a car based on one of his reviews.

Coolraoul I agree with you somewhat. As for me judging your taste in cars is a bit harsh. I'm bimmer fan big time but I also happen to like a few Mercs and Audis. As for Mr Clarkson i simply don't agree with his ape comment. To me there is a line that shouldn't be crossed and he crossed it with that statement. If we don't draw the line some where soon it will be acceptable to throw racial slurs around in any means and forum. I do like the article he wrote though and i do not doubt his journalistic abilities. he is a great writer and deserves credit. He just needs to practice a bit more restraint.