Photo: Catalin Garmacea
Former Top Gear presenter Jeremy Clarkson is, form time to time, a bit of a klutz. This top 10 rundown of Clarkson’s most controversial moments sums up the guy’s mess-ups, those kinds that made the world turn against him despite all the hours of entertainment offered via Top Gear. After the whole fracas thingy, Jezza’s at it again... with SEAT and the Spanish.
Jeremy Clarkson tests a lot of cars on TV but even more off the small screen in the living room. In his latest writing for The Sunday Times, the 55-year-old motoring authority from the UK tested the SEAT Leon X-Perience. In our review of the X-Perience, we found this C-segment wagon to be a pretty good alternative to the popular crossover SUV segment. That good.
Not Jeremy though. You can pretty much get the whole idea of Clarkson’s view on the Leon X-Perience from the review’s title “Does this Spanish fly? No, it’s a homage to catatonia.” What does the latter word mean? “A state of neurogenic motor immobility and behavioral abnormality manifested by stupor,” according to Wikipedia. Kind of harsh considering how versatile this SEAT is in real life.
What will surprise you even more is that in Clarkson’s 31 years of testing cars, he didn’t get to drive a SEAT. Not even one. “The company has never offered and I’ve never asked because I really couldn’t see the point,” says Jezza. It all goes really downhill from the second paragraph of his review of the £16,530 X-ified Leon.
“SEAT wasn’t created by one man with a vision and a passion for speed, beauty, and power. It was created because at the time Spain was emerging from its Third World status and the government didn’t want its people squandering their beads and their chickens, or whatever currency they used at the time, on high-value imports such as cars.”
This editor doesn’t have Spanish blood running through his veins, but that’s... controversial to say the least. Before long, the Spanish media started labeling Clarkson’s review as having an insulting tone, with bits of xenophobia and racism. Nearly all Spanish news outlets criticized Clarkson for being off the mark.
If I were a Spaniard petrolhead, I’d get really disappointed after reading this: ”Who would want a car made by Spaniards who are good for fishing in Cornwall, when you can have one exactly like it done by the Germans?”
You can’t attack a marque and judge one of its most exciting models by saying that it “does not have a decent name” or that it’s “brown.” When Chris Evans tested it, the guy said it’s “‘a safe and economical family gondola that handles surprisingly well – at a price.” And Evans is a genuine car guy as well.
Dear Jeremy, as a fan of your work and fellow motoring journalist, could you please cut the dirty dig and focus more on reviewing cars? That would be appreciated and good for your career as well, thank you.
UPDATE: it's official. The last Top Gear episode with Jeremy Clarkon as a presenter will air on June 28th.
Not Jeremy though. You can pretty much get the whole idea of Clarkson’s view on the Leon X-Perience from the review’s title “Does this Spanish fly? No, it’s a homage to catatonia.” What does the latter word mean? “A state of neurogenic motor immobility and behavioral abnormality manifested by stupor,” according to Wikipedia. Kind of harsh considering how versatile this SEAT is in real life.
What will surprise you even more is that in Clarkson’s 31 years of testing cars, he didn’t get to drive a SEAT. Not even one. “The company has never offered and I’ve never asked because I really couldn’t see the point,” says Jezza. It all goes really downhill from the second paragraph of his review of the £16,530 X-ified Leon.
“SEAT wasn’t created by one man with a vision and a passion for speed, beauty, and power. It was created because at the time Spain was emerging from its Third World status and the government didn’t want its people squandering their beads and their chickens, or whatever currency they used at the time, on high-value imports such as cars.”
This editor doesn’t have Spanish blood running through his veins, but that’s... controversial to say the least. Before long, the Spanish media started labeling Clarkson’s review as having an insulting tone, with bits of xenophobia and racism. Nearly all Spanish news outlets criticized Clarkson for being off the mark.
If I were a Spaniard petrolhead, I’d get really disappointed after reading this: ”Who would want a car made by Spaniards who are good for fishing in Cornwall, when you can have one exactly like it done by the Germans?”
You can’t attack a marque and judge one of its most exciting models by saying that it “does not have a decent name” or that it’s “brown.” When Chris Evans tested it, the guy said it’s “‘a safe and economical family gondola that handles surprisingly well – at a price.” And Evans is a genuine car guy as well.
Dear Jeremy, as a fan of your work and fellow motoring journalist, could you please cut the dirty dig and focus more on reviewing cars? That would be appreciated and good for your career as well, thank you.
UPDATE: it's official. The last Top Gear episode with Jeremy Clarkon as a presenter will air on June 28th.
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