‘Top Gear’ Recap: ‘Season 26, Episode 4’

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

At this point, I’m learning to expect the unexpected when it comes to Top Gear. Because in the four weeks that I’ve been watching it, the only common thread present in this series is the celebrity segment where we get to see folks out of their element on the Top Gear Track. But outside of that, it’s been a free for all when it comes to what this series showcases and that’s supremely refreshing, since it has allowed for the audience to experience true wonders when it comes to the cars this show highlights and well, this is on my mind today simply due to the fact that last night’s episode, outright blew me away with what it had to offer.
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Because rather than spotlight and review a wealth of new cars and their stunning features, the show instead turned toward the past to demonstrate how far car technology and efficiency and affordability have progressed in this day and age, all because our intrepid hosts really didn’t want to subscribe to the fact that the new Dacia Sandero offered all kinds of reliability and features when it comes to its reasonable price of six-thousand pounds. In fact, they believed that for that kind of money, one could buy a classic luxury car and enjoy a taste of the good life alongside some stellar performance and well, that meant the Sandero and our hosts’ choices of affordable classics were going to be put to the test and this allowed for the funniest episode of the season to take place.

I say that, simply because I spent a vast majority of this episode laughing my tail off at how every single car the guys chose, failed miserably when it comes to the head to head tests, they took part in alongside the Dacia Sandero. In fact, the obstacle course that the producers laid out for them resulted in disaster since Chris’ Mercedes Benz was a little too large and smacked a few parked cars on its way out of the course. Meanwhile Rory’s Rolls Royce smashed into everything it tried to turn away from thanks to its sheer size and Matt’s Bentley not only suffered from a similar problem, the darn thing had an issue that kept it from running in times of need, and it even blew a little coolant at the end of the course and it didn’t fare any better when it came to a quick race on the Top Gear track, since it stalled out, and the other cars didn’t exactly impress either during this quick jaunt around the track, since the Sandero won.

Yet, the episode wasn’t quite done with hammering home the wonder of the Sandero since the producers put the boys to the ultimate test; a six-hour relay/endurance race at Silverstone, during an active race and needless to say, this did not go well. Because Rory’s car had zero acceleration and often found itself chugging along as cars sped by, plus…it ran out of gas quickly and it only got worse from there. For Matt’s car basically fell to pieces while on the track and while Chris’ car managed to hold its own, its age eventually caught up with it, to the point where a wheel freakin’ flew off of the frame mid race and of course, the Sandero was the backup car for this race, and while it may not be a speed demon, it performed admirably and helped the team in their quest to place anywhere but last at Silverstone and wouldn’t you know it? They finished 69th.

However, while all of this was a blast to watch in its own right, even the celebrity segment found ways to keep things fun and lively since Matt Baker and Matt LeBlanc went head to head in a hole digging contest, which was wholly unexpected and kept the laughs going and well, when all said and done, what a delightful episode this turned out to be. It was just a blast to watch and it was incredible to see our hosts’ knowledge of cars be put to the test in the most unique way imaginable and this is to date, my favorite episode of Season 26. Because it really caught me off guard, and forced me to hit pause a few times in order to get the chuckles out of my system and well, it’s a darn shame that this season is about to come to an end because I’m having so much fun watching this show and I am definitely counting down the minutes until next Thursday’s entry, so I can see what other creative and hilarious adventures await me. Until then.

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