First opinions on the new Grand Tour hosts?

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Goodman4525@reddit

Throttle House is one of the best YouTube channels out there right now especially on chemistry and jokes. This will live or die by how they interact with Francis.

maomao3000@reddit

isn't that the point? No one can ever replace Jeremy Clarkson, or James May... but Hoovie and Doug would be a good start. Doug Demuro especially should have been involved.

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Trongobommer@reddit

Doug wouldn’t work in a group setting I think.

When you see him in the cars&bids videos with the two employees, he’s always trying to outshine them any way he can.

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FrontBench5406@reddit

I like Francis, in the videos I've seen.... I dont get why he is on this show....

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segsmudge@reddit

Wait, the train guy is on it??? Wtf 😳

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I'm well aware of his work history, but think about which cars he likes and why. The Dacia, the Renault, his assemblage shows. I'm not saying he has no passion for cars (he's owned 2 Ferraris). I'm aware the man loves cars But it's not rooted in a different place than speed, power, luxury, etc .

My point is this: the new host guy who loves the engineering aspects of trains has a path towards loving cars in the same way. So we shouldn't dismiss him.

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Darthfarter66@reddit

Because it's all an act. Francis is an actor called Luke Nicolson.

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PingCarGaming@reddit

Hiw whole wiki page reads like a joke column

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cannedrex2406@reddit

He's more into the engineering than straight power and speed.

If anything he likes cars at a HIGHER standard than the other two.

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Daft_Munks@reddit

James May had much less of s passion for cars than the other 2 for a long time

What gives you that idea?

Cassian_Rando@reddit

Go watch his video with Chris Harris

The grand tour doesn’t need someone who cries when he sees a train

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Stierscheisse@reddit

I honestly feel like Thomas and James are very knowledgeable and professional but otherwise quite generic and rather bland presenters, their jokes and chemistry always have a scripted lean to them. Francis, the more of his stuff I see, is so much more, a human being, so much more himself.

TH is the rich neighbor kids talking shit (circlejerking) about hot cars all day in brand clothes, Francis is wholesome. None of the original TGT trio is like Francis (honestly, May can be such an arse), and I am really rooting for Francis.

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LimpHousing2578@reddit

I feel like he'll be the captain slow vibe

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Embarrassed-Ad-01298@reddit

Fucking train wanking nonce, this show is doomed

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superbound@reddit

Yes.

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cmartmen@reddit

I do obviously agree 1000% with this, the Grand Tour name has a lot of weight to it specially how it ended less than a year ago.

Perhaps in time they can make it their own, but there is a lot to the grand tour that just those three, we must not forget Wilman, the writers (like Richard Porter), the crew has been with them for years, the editors, etc… It’s a whole team and I’m afraid everyone will be expecting them to measure up to the iconic Trio.

Also, there is an interesting comment that Clarkson did about on-screen chemistry… which is nowadays producers expect presenters to have chemistry from the get go, but chemistry is built over time. If you go and watch the original Top Gear (S1/S2/S3) they had a moderate amount of chemistry until 2-3 years in.

I just hope it’s for the best, but Chris Harris did say, Clarkson is an impossible act to follow, and I believe he might be on to something. Although I also get that if you had the chance to go and do the grand tour, why not do it? Huge budget, crazy stories, it’s a very cool experience.

I don’t know, I just hope for the best and wish them nothing but luck!!

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They're a different kind of funny. More witty than offensive so they're less likely to piss off the emotionally vulnerable.

EastwoodRavine85@reddit

That was what I would've liked, maybe have a few "correspondents" that become part of the show for a segment here or there. I'm wondering about how much it'll be TH, in that it grows into and becomes TGT, so it avoids the whole thing that Top Gear tried to do.

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FirstChurchOfBrutus@reddit

Francis is a goddamned gem.‘I have no idea how he’ll translate to long-form content, but I am eager to see if and how he translates his love & knowledge of trains to an automobile discussion.

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sir_sri@reddit

They could also do something like deliberately change hosts every year or two, which might be a different kind of interesting. Give a bunch of people a couple of chances to have some interesting adventures, and then do the same thing with someone else and see how they have different adventures.

Part of Top Gear was there was a consistency to most of the show: interview, reviews, test lap(s), and then the specials was the people we know doing something different. If they keep hiring youtubers or other people who already have a following this could be a chance to do something interesting that's relevant to the hosts while not trying to find a way to establish the familiarity we had with the Trio. Top gear is different, top gear needs to establish that familiarity because that's the brand. But Grand Tour can be... this group of people go on a grand tour for a season, and the next season is the grand tour for the next group.

That wouldn't preclude them bringing people back multiple times. The throttle house guys are the obvious choice because they do a little bit more than just car reviews and the 'screwing about' part is what the Grand Tour needs. But a lot of other people could do interesting things too.

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zachattack8805@reddit

Stoked for the throttle house guys and No offense to the train guy, but I would so much have rather seen Jason Camisa as the third host with a bonus of Randy Pobst as the “stig” type of roll

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cyan1delol@reddit

the top gear reboot was terrible. They should have let the name rest in peace and come up with something original. This will no doubt not be as big as the OG trio's and it stinks of money grab from amazon

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SGnirvana97@reddit

I love the Throttle House guys, Thomas and James are the perfect choice tbh, not familiar with the train fella so no opinion on him yet.

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Visual-Reception-139@reddit

Throttle house dudes are the bees knees. They’ve consistently been the best car review source anywhere - YouTube or elsewhere. And they have tough competition.

Also they’re both seem to be well grounded people. Good diversity. They happened to have children each (surprisingly not with each other, jk ) who should now be or age where they can really thrive in the Grand Tour role.

Good choice. I’ve been a silent but adamant watcher. Proud of them.

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LesserBilbyWasTaken@reddit

There are new hosts 💀

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Secure-Muffin-2848@reddit

For years the trio has always said that the show only works if they use people that are a “nobody”. I think this new trio could work out pretty well after the teething issues are ironed out. I hope it does, because I’d like for a new generation of this happen and go in as long as the old one did.

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jonbivo@reddit

These three are hardly nobodies..

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They are for the general GT audience. Even here most people never heard of the train guy

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Cultural-Cucumber703@reddit

Thw Grand tour was Clarkson, may and Hammond

The need to rebrand

Ouch, a bit grumpy on the subject huh?

Look it’s really simple. The trio are varying degrees of old and older and sooner rather than later we will start loosing these beloved heroes of ours. There is absolutely no reason why the world should lose this really fun form of automotive reporting and adventuring just because the OG and best at their craft are no longer available. Instead of being so bitter to the idea of a new trio on Grand Tour we should be focused on making sure it’s the right Trio and giving amazon hell if they get the trio wrong. And keep giving amazon hell until they get it right.

So, just like the BBC, amazon thinks they have something in their hands... pathetic.

Also read a news headline "fans threaten to boycott the show" which outright fucking stupid, we are fans of the trio, not of whoever replaces them or the show itself.

Basically who cares about any of this, let amazon fail, and ignore this stupid news, it aint what we love, and it will never be it either.

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ScheduleUpstairs1204@reddit

The difference is Amazon didn’t kick them out and replace them, the trio decided it’s time to retire from the show themselves, Amazon gotta come up with sth to fill in the gap in their rapidly expanding Prime Videos. But they should change the name.

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7grims@reddit

Basically yes "change the name" seems to be the consensus.

Yep. A lot of people are wondering why TF they've cast him in this. Myself included as someone heavily into trains, and cars

His tiktok personality definitely isn't him all the time, so I hope they don't play him up as some sort of unserious goof in the show. Like he does modelling and also wrote a book?

Prinzini@reddit

to be fair, I went "wait, isn't that the tiktok train nerd with the GoPro? Lol I am definitely watching that"

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MarchMadnessisMe@reddit

I’m ngl I’ve only seen him a handful of times but I just kinda assumed he was on the spectrum.

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RipCurl69Reddit@reddit

Oh absolutely lmao, no doubt about it

One of my mates works down at Francis's local train station and says he's there often running up and down the platform when the trains come through lol

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MarchMadnessisMe@reddit

Ok I figured. Absolutely no disrespect to him he seems like a nice guy that’s passionate about trains, but I just don’t know that I see him as a TV show host.

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BenXL@reddit

Dudes most likely autistic. It's not weird

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Exadory@reddit

Dude has not publicly said he is autistic. I’m not gonna diagnose him. I think it’s worse to assume someone is weird so they must be autistic than it is for me to just think the guy is weird.

Passing the torch on is fine... but they need to do it in a way that isn't the same recipe with different ingredients, because - just like Freddie Mercury - The Boys are irreplaceable.

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Monsoonl22@reddit

Ive hardly seen anything from these 3 im unsure if they will fit the show or not

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gecko80108@reddit

Train guy?? Ohhh this is a treat

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sierra120@reddit

Funny I’m the opposite The duel Thomas and James are brilliant. No clue on the other guy. But if we combine our enthusiasm for the other this might actually be a great pairing.

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Ping-and-Pong@reddit

No offence meant to Francis by this, but I think he was chosen for his Internet "fame". Which given that, tells me that amazon have learnt nothing from the decades of people trying to copy the trio.

OfficialMichigan@reddit

Throttle house has a very fun dynamic. I can see them working well. I have no idea who the other one is

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mrzurkonandfriends@reddit

Why is Ellen degenrous working with throttle house?

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BEGBIE_21@reddit

Give is 4 episodes

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Synthetic_Energy@reddit

I do hope amazon isn't doing the exact same thing top gear did. Because as we all know that went sooo well, didn't it?

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mr_lab_rat@reddit

I know and love Thomas and James. If anyone can fill those big shoes it’s these guys.

I knew nothing about Francis so I watched couple of his videos.

I don’t quite get the hype. Maybe because I’m not into trains.

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AlucardVTep3s@reddit

What happened to Alex? Last I saw of him was in a YouTube Ad recently promoting something? Is he not apart of TH anymore?

He’s brilliant and was kind of the one that brought everyone together.

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The throttle house guys are really pretty great.. they are true car guys.

I don’t have any expectations about them bringing the same experience as James, Hammond and Jeremy gave us, but they don’t have to.

I hope they can do what they did on YouTube on a bigger budget and with a bit higher production value (YouTube was allready pretty professional)

I don’t know the other guy.

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Ok-Turnip-477@reddit

I wish them luck. They have massive shoes to fill.

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slickricksghost@reddit

Didn't know they were rebooting The Grand Tour with new hosts.

Think it's well deserved for the Throttle House guys, but have no idea who the third person is...

I think it would be better and safter to have a new show name. TG and TGT are: Hammond, May and Clarckson and with a new brandname you can ride a whole other road. Yes, people would still compare the show but at least it's not TG or TGT which is a lot harder for the whole team. Look at the season after Hammomnd, May and Clarckson quit TG.

Throttle House duo will be great. They’ve been doing this for years and have a great dynamic.

So now the autistic train kid is going to have the same reaction with cars?

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FuFmeFitall@reddit

Why do you need to continue with more GT? Let’s retire this beautiful master piece so we can remember it and not ruin it.

Let’s make a new car show for the new hosts.

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ConsistencyWelder@reddit

If Andy William would have been the producer of the new series, it would have a chance. But he's busy doing Clarkson's Farm.

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MidnightNinja9@reddit

Very bad, doesn't appeal to foreign audience at all :(

It's fine for US and Britain. Very bad for the rest of the World audience

This is a fact !

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stq66@reddit

But weren’t the original crew also UK only at the beginning and became a cult later on world wide? I don’t know nothing about those above but just that they are unknown anywhere else doesn’t mean anything.

Spot on mate. And we all still learned a lot about cars during their reign anyways! I’d never have had the same respect for Toyota as I do today if it wasn’t for the Hilux episode.

I’d never appreciate how much a reserver tank of fuel actually lasts if it wasn’t for the A8 V8 to Glasgow and back or the race to run out of fuel!

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julianAppleby5997@reddit

That's a pass from me..

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rstar345@reddit

Wait the grand tour is continuing without the trio? Pass.

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IVCrushingUrTendies@reddit

I can’t see it working because you have 2 that have worked together for years and they’re try to inject some popular 3rd influencer just to pump initial viewers. I can’t see it blending

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Fil_19@reddit

He's not that popular. 2M on tiktok don't make you a superstar, def does not come close to injecting the amount of users a production like that needs.

lanascar@reddit

Hear me out Doug DeMuro + Throttle House

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captaincourageous316@reddit

This is how I find out Thomas and James are taking over the Grand Tour, and now I’m stocked for it. Easily one of the best automotive content creators right now, along with Cammissa

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AFC-Wilson@reddit

I didn't watch any of the "new top gear" after JJR left because they were too ingrained in to the show for me. TGT is slightly different, I actually quite like this idea because these three won't try and be like the old hosts and just do their own thing. If that works then I think it will be good. I've also noticed Francis doing a few car videos on his channels recently ...

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jonbivo@reddit

I can see that they're enthusiasts with a following. I'm not hopeful it'll be as good as before and I'm not sure they'll act like blokes that jab on each other and have a good laugh about it.

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Geezheeztall@reddit

Throttle House I like, but I have no idea who the first guy (in the white shirt) is.

I don't know how well these guys will perform as our beloved trio were rougher, off the cuff, and sandbagged each other in quite an amusing way. Throttle House seem more canned and sanitized.

I hope they do well.

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Erm. No. Needs a new name

The Francis guy is a joy to watch for 5 mins at a time about trains and seems a lovely dude - but for me I’d struggle with more than that

And not sure what they know about cars

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Haenkster@reddit

So at least "that guy" has studied mechanical engineering, so besides his crazy "alter ego", he might be quite knowledgable and adding to the mix.

However, watched one video of him and did not find it entertaining. But that's just me, maybe?

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fbman01@reddit

That is the mistake hosts make, they must not try to be Clarkson, Hammond and May, they are not. That is what happened with top gear that first season, they tried too hard.

I liked the last set of hosts top gear had, they made the show their own and it was enjoyable.

That is what any potential new hosts must do, make it their own. Grand tour will change as the hosts will change..thinking otherwise will cause the show to fail

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AdHungry9867@reddit

I suggest you watch a throttle house video to get a feel for their presentation style. This is probably how they'll present the grand tour. They may already have been inspired by the og trio.

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AdHungry9867@reddit

I have always wished for a show where the throttle house guys do some crazy shit. Seems like wishes can come true after al.

Their narration rivals that of Clarkson. The tonen of the show wil definitely shift, the banter will not be as brutal and mean as the 3 old guys.

They should just make a different show, trying to compare the epic trio Is a almost impossible task. Big shoes to fill. Maybe if they rebrand it might work.

Ultimately, I think it's all going to hinge on how well the TH boys play off of Francis, and vice-versa. If the chemistry works between all three of them, then I think this has some serious potential for greatness.

Or it could end in a ball of flames. No idea, at this point. We'll just have to wait and see.

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xCAPTAINxTEXASx@reddit

Don’t know who they are but, won’t bother watching.

I recently watched Clarkson’s Farm and the episode where Hammond was on, you could clearly see they interact with each other in a different way vs anyone else that’s on the show.

I mean, I enjoy watching Throttle House on YouTube, but sitting through an entire hour (or more) of their diatribe would get tiring.

I think the problem is that once people started calling them the next Top Gear or The Grand Tour, they began to believe they actually deserved to be hosts on those kinds of shows.

Gizmo45@reddit

I don't understand why they even need three hosts. It's hard enough to match up two people who click together, why add a third and complicate it?

Have the Throttle House guys do one season on their own before adding someone else into the mix. It helps them get their footing and then they know how to make the show work before adding more complexity.

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I don't recall wanting or needing more of this show from other people.

I still can't watch what Top Gear turned into after they left. This is going to be just another retread with people not living up to the giant shadows cast by the former hosts.

(I hope you get the reference).

But it’s hard to replace the GOATS. I do not envy their task

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feel-the-avocado@reddit

Well that guy on the left who is into the trains.... I did a google of him and it came up with this video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xna1D2Pre7A

I am not very keen on watching more.

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Getafix69@reddit

I'm glad the shows continuing I watched a couple of car throttle bits on YouTube today and wasn't very impressed though in fact I ended up hitting don't recommend channel to get it off my recommendations again.

Could have gotten better gear head YouTubers. they had 3 mil subs, sure but that's nothing these days. Also I heard more about donut and hoonigan than these guys cause these guys worked with actual racers while throttle house didn't really.

Also if they weren't popular on YouTube, how are they gonna carry the weight of the ogs shadows on them? Too young, too inexperienced, too boring to pay attention to. This is dead before it leaves the water.

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RipCurl69Reddit@reddit

Donut is base level automotive YouTube. Can't stand their content for more than ten minutes, it just gets grating.

Also not to mention Donut has practically imploded and all the main hosts splintered off into other corners of the YouTube sphere, I doubt they'd be up for another massive change so soon.

Throttle House though? They're definitely big, I don't know where you're getting the notion that 3mil is 'nothing' unless your perspective is severely warped.

Also peak username. I'm surprised you didn't take a dig at Francis. As a train enthusiast myself I'm pretty iffy on having him as one of the hosts; worst case scenario everyone goes "oh hey it's the fisheye GoPro nerd" and tunes out in the first few episodes. But if he can take it seriously he might actually do some good PR for us train geeks

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rumper-L2pro@reddit

I am mortified

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CheezWong@reddit

It's the trio that make it legendary, not the name of the show. While it may very well still be a good show, I didn't watch it just for the cars and the structure of the show, and that sentiment, admittedly, was borne of the Top Gear era. I watched it because Clarkson, Hammond, and May are the best band in the world who never released an album.

The cars and adventures are a cool blend, but it's the chemistry that made it good to drink. The perfect combination of wit and witicism, dashed over a single-malt man juice, and stirred with a bit of celebrity and pop culture. There was a flavor note for everyone.

It sucks seeing something you love change into a different animal, for whatever reason there may be. The Grand Tour was a perfect 11th hour for a group that, when brought together, made some of the most entertaining banter and bother that television will ever give us.

Cheers to the old boys. 🍻 And good luck to the new.

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Rox217@reddit

I said it before, but I’m honestly shocked at the negative reception. Throttle House is the closest thing we’ve had to OG Top Gear in a long time.

I’m willing to give it an episode. But honestly I’ll probably have the vibe of a Roman emperor about to give the official thumbs up thumbs down on it, I couldn’t agree more with everyone else that it needs a name change because the entire POINT of creating TGT was to continue on making automotive content with CHM, without them…..it’s like non alcoholic beer, yea it’s beer but….is it REALLY beer?

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