Top Gear Magazine > Reviews (17)

The problem with Top Gear - and it is just that, the single problem - is that no one cares about the latest Skoda Fabia. Or the Superb. Or the Supreme, Sublime, Fantastic or whatever other wacky names those Czechs will think up next.

For a magazine dominated by Jeremy Clarkson - lover of the extravagant, the expensive and the put-down - Top Gear spends too much time reviewing cars that Top Gear readers don't buy. People who want to by 1.8D Passats and 1.1L Fiestas don't read motoring magazine - they're normally too busy with Heat or something similarly dire.

When they do send their big guns to review the latest from Ferrari, Porsche, Aston, etc, the single article usually more than pays for the mag. Recent months have seen some stunning comparisons of new-vs-old Astons (DB9 vs Vanquish) the creme-de-la-creme of 100k supercars (TG 24h with a 355 CS, 911 GT3 RS and GT40) and the only magazine I know of to have driven McMerc SLR and a Carrera GT head to head. Nevermind the 1000k road test with the VW Golf, the Seat-I'm-really-a-Golf-but-crappier and the Renaul Kangoo (but won't). Not because the reviews are bad, but because no one wants these cars in the first place, and even if they do, they sure as hell aren't interested that a Kangoo understeers chronically if taken round a corner, or that Golfs aren't great for handbrake turns or power-slides.

No, Top Gear remains the best mix of names, news, reviews and articles - and I still read it cover to cover every month.