I have been thinking about this and I honestly believe that Top Gear has had it's day. each week they seem to be getting more and more stupid and unrealistic. Maybe they should stop making it before they destroy all that they have built
Yeah they've already said that themselves the presentors have gone to an almost cartoon characters with everyone abit scripted.
Probably my favourite episode (other than the specials) is the one where they drive the BMW BioFuel in the BritCar 24hrs because it wasn't scripted at all and it was a great story.
The Comdy scripted stuff does work when its obvious such as the Fiesta and Twingo Test's which were funny and entertaing but they can go to far with it.
the signs on the cars with the doors open made me laugh. Have you looked to see who was driving the car in the official results? I did to see who the Stig is/was
I agree that it's going downhill - it's all now so obviously scripted it's impacting on my enjoyment of it. I don't laugh because I know the funny, 'spontaneous' moments were all planned from the start. And some of the things they do, like Jeremy 'crashing' the painted BMW in a ditch was just completely unnecessary. Even the funny things, like the messages on the sides of cars, are old jokes that they've done before. They need to try some new things and not get stuck in some scriped rut, which is where they're headed.
My Top Gear highlights were the caravan trip (which ended in them setting fire to another caravan) and the car/boats crossing the Channel. Even then I found it hard to believe that all the fun was just random, but in this series it's all been so damn obvious.