When Amazon first announced it was rebooting The Grand Tour, car enthusiasts had good reason to approach the idea with trepidation when details were scarce. The presenting team of Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May changed car television forever and kept it up for more than two decades. Replacing such an iconic roster of presenters isn’t easy, but promise emerged when it was announced that the hosts of the Throttle House YouTube channel and train enthusiast Francis Bourgeois would be the new torchbearers. Flash forward to Sept 4, 2026, and the first rebooted season of The Grand Tour is out. Guess what? It’s even better than much of Clarkson, Hammond, and May’s later work.
I have a confession to make. Even though Clarkson, Hammond and May were part of my formative car media diet, I don’t go back to many of their post-studio-show Grand Tour specials often. ‘Seamen’ was quite good and ‘Carnage a Trois’ was fabulous, but towards the end, I got the impression that the people who changed automotive video forever were getting a bit bored of it. As the schedule dwindled down to about one episode per year, it largely seemed that the hosts just weren’t having that much fun anymore. James May’s seemingly abject trip in ‘Eurocrash’ made that special feel a lot like a two-man show, and ‘Sand Job’ wasn’t particularly memorable beyond the bizarre bit about a runaway snowmobile in the desert. The finale with the original hosts was different. They were clearly enjoying themselves in Zimbabwe, even if some of the gags were heavy-handed. From sending a Volkswagen New Beetle off a cliff to silver smuggling-related japery, the influence of the writing room was laid on thick, but the trio we’re familiar with seemed to be in on it again.
I’m going to defer to LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy here, with his iconic line “If you’re not having fun, you suck.” Sure, the phrasing’s rather brusque, but if you’ve grown visibly tired of a creative pursuit, bringing it to a landing on your own terms is the best possible way to end things. The end of an era isn’t necessarily the end of a title, though. Especially when the culture needs good high-budget car shows more than ever.
The trick here is more than just fresh eyes to this scale and sort of production: it’s making sure those fresh eyes absolutely adore cars with every fiber of their being. Anything that looks like mere celebrity moonlighting is usually rather obnoxious, with a few notable exceptions. This is part of the reason why I was so pleased to learn that Thomas Holland and James Engelsman from Throttle House, plus trainspotter and engine swap madman Francis Bourgeois, were chosen to succeed one of the most iconic casts in factual entertainment television. They’re not the sort of people you’d normally see on talk shows; two of them are bona fide car journalists; and we all know shows are better when the hosts really care about the subject matter. If you want to get a better sense of how deep the love runs, check out the AMA they did with us in August.
Make no mistake, these are some enormous shoes to fill, although it’s worth noting that the Clarkson, Hammond, and May era didn’t get The Grand Tour perfect right off the rip. Celebrity Brain Crash wore out its welcome quickly, Episode 2 with the military training was rather weird, and the trope of the stereotypically American racing driver would’ve likely landed better pre-2016. With that in mind, the new trio deserves some time to find their wings. Turns out, they didn’t need much.
SPOILERS BEGIN BELOW
The first episode of the new series features one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen: a relay race between some of the quickest gasoline-powered American cars on sale today and actual jets. There’s also hilariously awkward fangirling over an F1 driver, proper banter, and Francis Bourgeois immediately bursting on the scene and demonstrating that the producers have absolutely made the right choice. Amazon showed me this one under embargo, and it was one of the best episodes of car TV I’ve seen in a long time. Awe and belly laughs in equal measure. At the same time, it also feels a bit like a pilot. The road trip in ridiculously powerful American performance cars felt like a loose series of awesome challenges without an enormous deal of narrative or purpose tying them together, and it seemed like Holland, Bourgeois, and Engelsman were progressively finding their feet as a team throughout the episode. Now, I’m not privy to the order in which this series was shot and/or edited, but as the runtime went on, pacing got tighter, voiceover improved, ease of camaraderie seemed to grow, and the early jitters melted away. Starting off with a passing-of-the-torch from Jeremy Clarkson himself certainly helped too.
As such, I wanted to wait until the full series was released to give my verdict, and am I ever glad I did. All six episodes dropped at once, and they pretty much just keep getting better. The second episode immediately transported me back to the magic of my favorite era of Top Gear, only with more likeable hosts and better cinematography. If the first episode is the warm-up, the second episode is where the chemistry of the new trio starts to absolutely shine. No man’s left behind due to a breakdown, there’s real sympathy for machinery, and the pranks are lighthearted, non-destructive, and yet still giggle-inducing. Oh, and Francis continues to be an absolute ringer behind the wheel.
That interplay of hugely likeable, car-crazy personalities continues throughout the rest of the series. It’s obvious that the new hosts are very much their own people, but they play off each other beautifully and are all tremendously talented presenters. From historical pieces to challenges to road tests to a proper race over distance, the hosts shine just as bright as the cars. You cannot fake enthusiasm in this business, and with how easy it is to be cynical about some of the ultra-luxury stuff out there, the zeal and expertise of Holland, Bourgeois, and Engelsman are absolutely contagious. They’re also all properly funny, and they won’t absolutely smash up anything for a laugh.
Okay, so episode three is likely to be the most controversial episode because taking an Autozam AZ-1 down fire trails is rather cringeworthy, but the school bus pantomime horse as a plot device for getting through town seems like a stroke of genius. It appears that the sections of school bus are effectively mounted as outriggers in a non-destructive bolt-on manner, meaning attachment was reversible and bits of decrepit school bus seemed to make contact with each other before the bodies of the actual cars would touch. The result is all of the accidentally-crashing-into-each-other slapstick with none of the severe, uneconomical-to-repair automotive destruction. Likewise, in the challenge to find the most durable passenger car of all time, none of the three cars involved are especially nice examples. We’re talking quickly exposed hidden rot, signs of previous abuse, and major cosmetic defects. In short, the sorts of cars you’d probably skip over on Facebook Marketplace because they look too rough. If you want more evidence, the Singapore and Malaysia special shows in a somber way that in Singapore, it’s often more economical to cut up a reasonably modern car for scrap than to fix it. Everyone on screen looks genuinely broken up about it, so expect more general mechanical sympathy than you’d often see from the previous trio.
With this new Grand Tour series, the new hosts and the team behind them have done something magical: Make brand new high-grade car television that’s passionate, authentic, and enormous fun to watch. Something that carries the ethos that beyond commuting, cars should be a laugh, and other forms of transportation have huge entertainment value too. Questionably cheap used performance cars, restomods, microcars, hypercars, cop cars, locomotives, electrically assisted bicycles, planes … they’re all things that should spark infectious joy, especially among friends. Please, Amazon. Renew this for another season because I need more of this in my life. Oh, and if you find yourself feeling slightly unsure after viewing the first episode, do stick around. The future of The Grand Tour feels megawatt-bright.
Top graphic image: Amazon/The Grand Tour
Why would anyone write #amazonSHITcarshowReturns at the end?
Watching episode 1 now: Found out I don’t care at all if some supercar I can’t afford anyway is driven by gasoline or electricity.. So the “battle” between this and that is not really there for everybody.
The three persons in it seems nice and not too stupid (maybe a bit too much boring smalltalk and three hosts honestly seems a bit much) and the photography is amazing.
If there’s some challenges and wild adventures in other interesting places later, it’s probably an inspiring entertaining watch.
****(of 5)
Into episode 5 now: Would maybe have been better with some female angles also, I don’t think I’ve seen one woman in it the last 4 hours!
It always worked well in 5th Gear for instance. Or Sabine Schmidts contributions to TG/GT.
And another issue: Destroying things for fun is not really something you do in the 2020s. Like watching 20 year old episodes of Mythbusters: Doesn’t seem right anymore.
So clealy the whole thing was though out by white men born in another century. But so am I, so it’s entertaining – but not surprising in any way – for me.
Cars that are at least remotely attainable, that you can ride in, or drive have much more appeal than a museum piece only touched by cotton gloves.
Indeed. I felt involved when they did something I thought I could have done myself.
There is no way it is better. It isn’t bad, but part of the problem is that this format is kind of old now. The only thing that kept the old show going was the history and natural chemistry the old crew had. The relay race with the jets was like something just rehashed from a 20 year old TG episode.
I’ve seen the first 2 episodes and it’s fantastic. It’s easily better than the mediocre episodes the (former) 3 stooges were putting out near the end of their TGT run. By the end, it all just felt like “fulfilling their contract”.
I watched the whole series Thursday evening when it was out. As a Throttle House fan, the more interviews I saw with the three in the week leading up to it, the less concerned I was about Francis. But by the end, he was an absolutely perfect addition to Thomas and James. I haven’t laughed that hard in a while, and I cannot wait for a season two. It should only get better with time and honestly? I hope these guys can keep making TGT for as long as they still want to, just after that season. I think Amazon caught the lightning in a bottle the original trio were on Top Gear.
Is it the same? No, but that’s a good thing. Is it like Throttle House with a near infinite budget and Francis being delightfully deranged? Yes. And that makes for some damn good TV.
I like Throttle House, so I knew James and Thomas would fit the Grand Tour vibes very well, but I don’t watch Francis, and the early previews with him left me skeptical.
Boy was I wrong. The dude can drive, and I was laughing out loud the hardest at his jokes. His taste in unique cars is refreshing, and he brings a giddy joy mixed with genuine automotive cultural competence that the previews kept incredibly well hidden until you watch the episodes.
“Your car is for people who pull their pants and underwear to their feet at public urinals” had me doing a spit take.
His sense of humor is absolutely one of the best parts. I have rarely been so happy to be proven so wrong about my concerns.
I’m still waiting for power to come back on at my house today, but I’ll be watching as soon as I can on my bigass TV.
I’ve been excited for this once I knew who the hosts were going to be. How can anyone not love, and even be a bit jealous, of the honest enthusiasm that Francis brings to the hobbies he loves. We should all be able to express our enthusiasm over something the way he does. And it should go without saying that the true friendship, industry knowledge, and genuine enthusiasm for cars that already exists with Thomas and James is already YouTube win for all of us.
I don’t see these three as a replacement in any way, but rather try to view it as a new high-budget car show, with three hosts that I’m already familiar with and have become big fans of, that I’ve been eagerly awaiting since I first heard about it. The fact is that I watch any show with Jeremy, James, and Richard. Whether it’s all three or individually because they’re good at what they do and, in all honesty, feel like part of my TV family at this point. My wife, who barely puts up with my automotive shenanigans, enjoys these three too. So yes, these are pretty big shoes to fill, so-to-speak, but I see more as enjoying something new rather than considering them as replacement hosts. It also bodes well that my wife responded with an endearing smile the first time I showed her a Francis video.
I can’t wait to watch. How can anyone not be excited about this show?
Cautiously optimistic it will be good, maybe even great. It won’t replace the original in my heart, but it can be on the podium.
I watched a couple of episodes as I wanted to give it a chance before making any judgement.
As with anything, it is a bit rough around the edges at the start. Francis looks like a perpetually shocked teenager who can’t quite believe he’s doing what he’s doing.
But I do think that given enough time, they should get better. The Singapore-Malaysia episode was actually quite interesting to be honest, if a little harsh on Singapore.
Honestly, I think I’d be just like Francis if I were ever given an opportunity like this. This was probably something he thought would never happen in his life!
Can you blame him? Knowwing where he’s come from, I’m sure he absolutely feels like the luckiest guy on earth who can’t believe his own life. And if you follow him on IG, it so sweet how much his GF adores him and is so proud of him.
I’m 100% with Thomas on this one; and I don’t get all the negative comments. The OG3 had a great run but much of the final GTs were annoyingly frustrating and inane. The New 3, almost unknown to me beforehand, are a refreshing trio with true enthusiasm and chemistry/camaraderie. Having seen 2/3rds of the new series I am not disappointed in the least.
[And for the record, I really liked the Harris/LeBlanc/Rory era of Top Gear and even the final Harris/Flintoff/McGuinness seasons too; I became aware of Francis from the few videos he’s done with Chris Harris in recent years, all good stuff.]
Every bit of this post, I agree with.
Watched the first episode and really liked it. The crew looks like they will work well together. Francis is great. Every emotion is displayed on his face and is so genuine. I was smiling along with him during the train scene, he looked so happy. Can’t wait to have some time to watch the rest.
Episode three was annoying. Not the trio, they were great and I adore them. But the whole plot of the episode was painful and made no sense if you know anything about Kei car regulation in America.
For those who haven’t seen it yet: The guys buy three Kei cars in Wyoming and decide to drive them up Pikes Peak in Colorado. But at the time of filming, Keis were “banned” in Colorado.
They then decide to beat up three really nice Keis off-road to avoid ever driving on pavement. Then they weld the carcass of a school bus to their Keis to make them appear to be a single road legal vehicle.
It’s profoundly stupid from start to finish, and I’ll go through each reason one at a time.
1. Kei bans generally affect the titles and registrations of Kei owners in the state. It is unlikely that you’ll be bothered by cops if your vehicle is registered in a legal state and you’re just passing through. This invalidates the entire plot of the episode. They didn’t need to take them off-road.
America has lots of Keis still driving around states with bans in place. The episode makes it seem like the cops will seize your Kei the second they see it on a road, and that’s just not the reality for most people.
2. The whole school bus “Trojan horse” part was nonsense. The bus didn’t even have a license plate, a windshield, or functional lights of any kind, which is substantially more illegal than just driving the Keis is.
I get that these shows are highly scripted nowadays and accuracy takes a backseat to entertainment. But this one seemed bad even by those lax standards. The rest of the show, however, is fun. It’s like Throttle House with Top Gear silly mixed in.
Yeah it feels like they like to play fast and loose with presenting facts. The Singapore episode had numerous inaccuracies too that seemed to portray the country in an unnecessarily bad light.
Could it be dry British humor?
It wasn’t even humour. Some of the stuff were just plain wrong.
I mean… They’re not a news show planting incendiary devices to lie to the public. They’re first and foremost an entertainment show and playing the misinformed idiots is part of the entertainment.
Don’t even get me started on the OG trio and some of the things they got wrong about Detroit, but I knew it was all part of the shtick.
What is TGT without hyberbolic responses and ridiculous shenanigans that blow things wildly out of proportion? Without seeing that episode yet, I’ll have to reserve judgement, but in the same context of the OG trio, the plot sounds dead-on with what the series has historically been.
I suppose you make a good point! I don’t know, usually it’s easier to enjoy the ridiculous shenanigans. I think the fake bus is what took it over the top for me. Like I think the gag might have been funnier if the plot called for making the Keis look like their American equivalents. An F-150 Honda Acty could have been hilarious.
I drove a kei van to Colorado in 2001 to get a race car.
Would you watch if I had video?
Clearly our taste differs. My favorite The Grand Tour episodes… are those that you apparently don’t rewatch.
Watched 12 minutes.
Hennessey. Fuck RIGHT Off.
Enjoy your two season run, sellout bitches. I hope you all get super gonorrhea.
Try this. Tell us what you DO like to watch. I bet the list is short.
Goddamnit, I kept watching. Was hooked by the time one of the host embraced Jensen Button’s face. They picked the oddest voice to narrate, but I feel like they could lose / replace that guy without hurting the show (except for losing a 3rd participant in challenges).
I love the “Watch Me Catch Super Gonorrhea” channel on The Villages tv network.
Watched 2 eps. There’s the 3 really expensive cars episode and the 3 really cheap cars episode, kind of the standard I guess. Will see how it goes when they start doing the weird cars.
At this point its like a mix of GT and TH with a 3rd guy.
I liked the Top Gear and Grand Tour documentary-like segments (Senna, Ferrari vs Ford, etc.) and just car reviews, be it supercars or sensible dailys.
The “oh let’s do stupid things with cheap cars and let’s do Hollywood-like stunts with expensive supercars” is cool but gets old.
I hope at some point the producers realize this should be a bit more than “Mr. Beast for petrolheads”
The mini documentaries were nothing short of brilliant. That concept should be its own show produced by Wilman, but I can bet the audience would be way smaller. let’s not think for a second that TGT was meant for only enthusiasts.
Let. It. Die.
I thought the English were good at not dragging things out past their expiration dates. Most good BBC series run for 2-3 seasons, finish the story line and move on.
Hell, the UK office was like two 8 episode seasons and a 2-part Christmas special. The US version dragged things out like a decade after the main character left. The whole will they / won’t they thing is a lot less interesting when the theys get into their 40’s.
Based on early feedback from here and other outlets, you seem to be in the minority.
I’m not saying not to give these guys a show, just make it a new show.
The original hosts couldn’t even keep the TG format alive as GT and no combination of hosts (in any nation) has managed to make the TG format work even with the original branding.
I think this is my take. The show in the current form of TG/TGT has run its course. I think the OGs knew this and was part of why they gave it up. These skits are all played, and I was having sighing moments during the relay race with the jets. A new formula is needed, but I can’t say what that should be.
Have you heard of Dr Who?
Sorry but just because the big 3 couldn’t fill their own shoes doesn’t mean some UTube wankers that don’t even register in the top 1000 can. It’s probably more due to the BBC hammer locking the boys from doing what they created. But the new Grand Tour looks to me like another Top Gear USA fiasco.
Did you even watch it? The Cold War Isetta segment in particular was amazingly well produced and felt “familiar” while still feeling fresh and interesting.
The Malaysian car culture episode also felt fresh, exploring an area the original trio never went. The first part of the Angola special might have followed a little too closely to older desert specials initially, but without spoiling it, it veers into new territory the original three never reached.
Also, Thomas, James, and especially Francis can really drive. It’s not just showboating track drifts for the car reviews, but real, competent race driving skill.
They’ve come out swinging far harder than any of the other TG reboots, and Andy Willman is still producing it. I’m rooting for them.
“Every place you go you touch a wall and ask ‘Do you even KNOW how old this is?’. Last time it was a Tesco Express”
Caught the first two episodes today and enjoyed them immensely enough that I’m going to spread the last four out over the next several days. Francis as a bit of a ringer is a great way of subverting our expectations of him as being the new “Captain Slow”. This iteration of GT seems to want to do a bit of a deeper dive into car culture than its predecessor which I’m all about.
IMHO, the opening bit with Clarkson was awkward and unnecessary. I get the whole “passing the torch” thing but it just felt… off. The chemistry of the new boys is already in a good place and we don’t really need to be assured that they’ll be great. It’s like Tiff Needell barging into the first episode of “new” TG in 2002 to reassure us that it would still be a bastion of sound consumer advice for the British auto buyer. Hopefully May and Hammond’s cameos are less cringey.
Hammond’s felt a little forced, but May’s felt smoother.
I can’t wait to watch, all the promos look great.
I have a confession to make, I loved the show, I hated Clarkson and positively couldn’t stand him after the Perodua episode. Something repulsed me at a very basic level.
Not diminishing his writing (if he was the one to write the episodes, I don’t know), as the ones on the downfall of the UK car industry, the Tacoma and the Japanese car industry were stellar, but the Perodua one absolutely broke most strings.
The other ones were mostly appendages to him in my perception.
Chris Harris – amazing. Don’t know where he comes in – before, during, after? Dunno.
Clarkson created the Top Gear format and Hammond and May were rescued from anonymity but the perfect decision. Watch the clips of the TOP GEAR producer.
Two words: Perodua episode.
A sane decent human wouldn’t do that.
I was a huge fan of this season and thanks to a dentist appointment today managed to binge all 6 episodes until way too late.
It feels refreshingly, honest, candid, and not like they’re trying to make something happen.
I’m looking forward to watching this as I like to watch Francis on his instagram videos, his love of trains and his enthusiasm makes me smile. I think he will be a great character on the grand tour, with his unique use of the English language.
I’ve never heard of the other two, didn’t realise they had a youtube channel.
Hopefully it will be a good watch. I’m looking forward to the bits with trains included to see Francis’s face light up!
I’ll have to watch these.
Nice to hear that it is promising. Throttle House has been a very good YT channel.
I never had Clarkson, Hammond, and May on pedestals so it may be easier for me to be just fine with someone else taking the reins. They made their impact, had their magic, but most of that was years ago. A lot of the Grand Tour was unwatchable for me, and the three referenced episodes named after juvenile sexual innuendo by gross 60-year old men is a pretty good encapsulation of where they went wrong. Anyone can make a stupid dick joke. Doing it at the end of your career because there’s not much gas in the tank anymore is simply depressing.
The Colorado Jaguar special was quite good. I don’t even know what the last few seasons were like.
Not to be rude but IMO comparisons like these are distasteful and precisely the reason why all attempts to replace the original trio fail.
Exactly that, you sir are a candle in the wind.
There’s absolutely no point in antagonizing the audience by writing headlines like these.
The original trio acquired cult status, love them or hate them. For some, nobody else is going to measure up, for others it’s gonna be “good riddance!”. Just leave the comparisons already! I love The Autopian but this title is surprising and controversial in a very wrong way.
Yeah, I know the comparisons were inevitable, but I’d have hoped for better from the Autopian. Just saying “Hey check out the next generation Grand Tour, it’s really great!” would have gotten the point across.