Photo: Sunday Times
Jeremy Clarkson has decades worth of experience driving and reviewing some of the most impressive – and least so – cars in the world, from econo-boxes to limited editions and everything in between. But even he can fall victim to the “old geezer overwhelmed by technology” syndrome.
It happened most recently during a drive with a new Maserati MC20, which Clarkson had in for reviews, he writes in his Sunday Times column (link is behind a paywall). He may be a legit farmer these days, with his Diddly Farm and the Diddly Squat Farm Shop, but he still has the time to pass judgment on new releases.
When partner and fellow-farmer Lisa Hogan suggested they go out to the pub for dinner, Clarkson did not waste the chance to suggest they drive there in the Maserati. It would be a decision they would both regret once they pulled into the parking lot. Minutes later, they were still in the car, trapped inside because they couldn’t find the door handle that would release them back into the world, Clarkson writes.
“We were in the car and five minutes after that we were in the pub’s car park. And five minutes after that we were still in the pub car park because neither of us could find anything that even remotely resembled a door handle. ‘We’d have been screwed if we’d crashed into a lake,’ Lisa said,” Clarkson explains.
He did eventually find the “little button” that unlocked the door, but only after he used his phone’s flashlight. “And then I was back inside very smartly because the car was starting to roll down a hill,” Clarkson adds, in a typical tongue-in-cheek manner.
As he found out, there’s an entire procedure to put the MC20 in park, and Clarkson had to use the call-a-friend option to learn about it after several tries on his own. The whole ordeal lasted a full hour and was comparatively more frustrating than making a “soufflé out of ant hearts,” Clarkson says.
But he still got to eat pie at the pub and, more to the point, enjoy the Maserati MC20 for what it is: an awesome supercar “with kudos,” “quieter and more civilized” than direct competitors, “less intimidating,” and a beauty to look at. An awesome car Clarkson would pay £200,000 ($262,360) for.
When partner and fellow-farmer Lisa Hogan suggested they go out to the pub for dinner, Clarkson did not waste the chance to suggest they drive there in the Maserati. It would be a decision they would both regret once they pulled into the parking lot. Minutes later, they were still in the car, trapped inside because they couldn’t find the door handle that would release them back into the world, Clarkson writes.
“We were in the car and five minutes after that we were in the pub’s car park. And five minutes after that we were still in the pub car park because neither of us could find anything that even remotely resembled a door handle. ‘We’d have been screwed if we’d crashed into a lake,’ Lisa said,” Clarkson explains.
He did eventually find the “little button” that unlocked the door, but only after he used his phone’s flashlight. “And then I was back inside very smartly because the car was starting to roll down a hill,” Clarkson adds, in a typical tongue-in-cheek manner.
As he found out, there’s an entire procedure to put the MC20 in park, and Clarkson had to use the call-a-friend option to learn about it after several tries on his own. The whole ordeal lasted a full hour and was comparatively more frustrating than making a “soufflé out of ant hearts,” Clarkson says.
But he still got to eat pie at the pub and, more to the point, enjoy the Maserati MC20 for what it is: an awesome supercar “with kudos,” “quieter and more civilized” than direct competitors, “less intimidating,” and a beauty to look at. An awesome car Clarkson would pay £200,000 ($262,360) for.
Google News