Top Gear, modifying the Avantime

[Ricardo]

I watched this episode last night, am i the only 1 that thought "What a waste of 10K!!" trying to make the Renault Avantime as quick as the Evo 10, not so much making it quicker but where they spent the money.t Maybe i read it all wrong but surely between the 3 of them they could have done it so much better. I know it's a programme with 3 people acting like kids having fun driving cars but........

A perfect opportunity with 10K wasted springs to mind, there's obviously more to it in the programme that we probably know about but IMO almost beggars belief what they spent the (licence payers?) money on, was it mocking the modifying scene/culture??

What do you people think??

Also, i found it interesting with the modifications they did what effects it made to the laps times. Tyres being the most important? The only contact with the ground being important? Does it show what area our money should be spent when looking into quicker lap times.

Am i reading into what they did too much!?

[dangerous dave]

it was a waste of money, i would have tried to make it faster, added tyres and a smaller upgrade with the brakes as they were only gonna do a lap, not a race..

itsn't that engine pretty tuneable?

[Trevhib]

I thought it was cool, and interesting from a number of angles, especially since they used the Avantime.

Agreed that they could have done other things with the money. Overall though I thought it was ok. Between the comedy there was just about enough seriousness in trying to get the lap times down.

[Trevhib]

it was a waste of money, i would have tried to make it faster, added tyres and a smaller upgrade with the brakes as they were only gonna do a lap, not a race..

itsn't that engine pretty tuneable?

Aye. Although you'll never get everybody to agree on what they should have done Dave.

[tonesGTT]

I think it can only be taken with a pinch of salt Rick. They just take the pi55 really.

all in all its a laugh and nothing more. perhaps yes, there was a bit of a jab at the 'general' modifying scene. ie, slam the thing, put a loud zorst on and do a big brake conversion. boom, an extra 100 horse innit, not. But, i just think its all for the laugh. Its one of things that i dont like about TG these days. All too comedy over factual content.

[Bigfoot]

I wouldn't say wasting the tax payers money. Things like eastenders is wasting the money really. Think how many actors they pay to be on there. Top gear only pay 3 people, not including film crew as that is going to be on any show. There money is spent elsewhere which is more noticeable.

As for where the money goes I think they were a bit exessive on certain things, but yes easiest way is for contact with road. Dont see how 50bhp could have been loss due to not servicing the car though

[Ricardo]

Obviously the programme is watched by a broad spectrum of viewers, petrol heads to people who simply watch it for the comedic humour and just fans of the 3 broadcasters. IMO it would have been nice for them to make a serious effort in making headways into the Evo's time, or i guess they knew they'd never make it so they had fun trying. I mean if RTOC were given that cash to spend we'd have done it differently, with humour along the way

[tonesGTT]

Dont see how 50bhp could have been loss due to not servicing the car though [/quote]

Thats what i thought!! And what did they do overnight to find it again lol!?!

[Mart]

I mean if RTOC were given that cash to spend we'd have done it differently, with humour along the way

With 10 bags of sand to hand, we'd have p1ssed the Evo X lap time for sure...

[Ricardo]

Out of interest people, what would you have bought with that kind of cash to help drop those laps times??

I mean come on, 3K on brakes, chuck in race pads. Toyo 888s

A reason why they couldn't strip it all out??

[Bigfoot]

Out of interest people, what would you have bought with that kind of cash to help drop those laps times??

I mean come on, 3K on brakes, chuck in race pads. Toyo 888s

A reason why they couldn't strip it all out??

Had to still be a family car

[Ricardo]

With 10 bags of sand to hand, we'd have p1ssed the Evo X lap time for sure...

PMT, party rings, let's go

[Hoolio]

Although it was aiming a bit of a kick at the modding market i think they shot themselves in the foot a little, you have to remember that they actually succeeded in making a box go around a track the best part of 7 secs faster. That's a lot in anyone's reckoning. Yes they spent a lot doing it but they blew the bulk of that on fitting those calipers which offset any gain with extra weight, a simple upgrade would have been more efficient. I think what it did show was the importance of getting the damping and geometry right and losing any useless weight.

[Trevhib]

Dont see how 50bhp could have been loss due to not servicing the car though

Thats what i thought!! And what did they do overnight to find it again lol!?!

Come on guys, read the thread if you're not going to listen to the programme. Four dodgy injectors plus other bits were to blame for the drop off in power.

[Trevhib]

I think it can only be taken with a pinch of salt Rick. They just take the pi55 really.

all in all its a laugh and nothing more. perhaps yes, there was a bit of a jab at the 'general' modifying scene. ie, slam the thing, put a loud zorst on and do a big brake conversion. boom, an extra 100 horse innit, not. But, i just think its all for the laugh. Its one of things that i dont like about TG these days. All too comedy over factual content.

Fifth gear is always available if you want factual content.

[stuTHC]

Obviously the programme is watched by a broad spectrum of viewers, petrol heads to people who simply watch it for the comedic humour and just fans of the 3 broadcasters. IMO it would have been nice for them to make a serious effort in making headways into the Evo's time, or i guess they knew they'd never make it so they had fun trying. I mean if RTOC were given that cash to spend we'd have done it differently, with humour along the way

Well why dont RTOC approch fifth gear or whoever, and tell them we can do it. Give us 10k and an avantime and we'll beat a heavehoe. Mart could finally get to meet VHB

[Andrew Cooke]

Well why dont RTOC approch fifth gear or whoever, and tell them we can do it. Give us 10k and an avantime and we'll beat a heavehoe. Mart could finally get to meet VHB

VBH, he should have said...

[dgdogz]

New poster! (less than 10 posts)

ws quite amusing...tht big stupid f1 spoiler then b&q front splitter.
and th best bit was whe it caught fire
hahaha
theyr crazy them 3

[TNT Tricky Nicky]

i was shocked that they put the 3k brakes on and thought it was a hugh waste of money as previously said plus i could see the comical oh dear the wheels don't fit anymore bit coming. i said it would go slower as the brakes were heavier and wheels larger

[Mart]

Well why dont RTOC approch fifth gear or whoever, and tell them we can do it. Give us 10k and an avantime and we'll beat a heavehoe. Mart could finally get to meet VHB

If you can't even get her initials the right way round, what chance is there of Fifth Gear thowing 10k our way? Well done stuTCH

[MR TURBO]

Big waste of dosh my grandma could have done better!!! They should have let jeremy go with some nitrous!!!!! Surely a chip and remap would have done more than what they did!!!!! More money than sense springs to mind!!!! LOL

[Penfold aka The Dealer]

The funny thing is i liked the car at the end... apart from the spoilers etc...

It looked pretty quick and funny, i was thinkin how would that drive around the Ring?

[UNICRONICUS]

I take it the Avantime they had has the 3.0L V6 and not the 2.0L engine to have the 210BHP from the factory?

Personally I would have changed the brake pads, upgraded the tyres to lower profile/wider/grippier ones, uprated the suspension, install a turbo (and in turn modify the fuel management system), charge cooler, straight through exhaust, forced air induction filter, uprated clutch, and loose some weight off the car overall.

How much stress do you think the gearbox could take before it fails?

[Bigfoot]

install a turbo (and in turn modify the fuel management system)

They had two days to do it, and supposedly only them 3 working on it.

[UNICRONICUS]

True, 2 days isn't a lot. They had help from other people on the suspension and lightening the car, so fitting the brakes, suspension, tyres, stripping the car out wouldn't take no more than 1 day with that many people surely. The engine mods that James was involved in (although probably not) would have taken a full day on it's own, but then I don't know what they did to it exactly, i.e. if the engine was removed for new pistons, lightened and balanced crank etc... They did say that more was to come on their car so hopefully a new turbo is on the cards? Although more power is surely to be had from that engine in N/A mode as it is wouldn't it?

[UNICRONICUS]

Anyway, the best mod on the program was the V8 food blender

[MR TURBO]

Anyway, the best mod on the program was the V8 food blender

That was complete madness!!!! Trust Topgear tho!!!!!! must have been loud as fook actually being there

[Os8472]

Well why dont RTOC approch fifth gear or whoever, and tell them we can do it. Give us 10k and an avantime and we'll beat a heavehoe. Mart could finally get to meet VHB

Interestingly I have VBH's dads mobile number, don't ask how I got it and how many times I left messages saying "I wanna F**K your daughter"