[tweetiepooh]

The old format was 3 middle aged, white, English blokes mucking around and having a good time. The cars were simply a vehicle (sorry) for the show. One of the things that worked was that they were doing stuff that the audience would like to do but don't dare (even if they could afford it). Even the "foreign specials" normally ended up complimenting the country and their people so it was all very tongue in cheek.

The new format hasn't really got that same gelling. They are mixed in nationality, age, race so they can't exactly do the same thing. They do need more time to work out what works and tune things up but the modern audience (and bean counters) are too fickle and easily bored to wait. It may never work of course which would be a shame as it's one of the few programmes my wife and I can watch together.