[radek]

Originally Posted by girishglg

Hope these precise comments keep reaching the presenters via their facebook/ twitter or their other social media contact points on a regular basis so that they come up with a better show in the year ahead.

No need. Most of them will be regular visitors of Team-BHP. As TBHP grows, there is not much 'us' Vs 'they'. Most of the people related to Auto field will be silent members or regular visitors here. When we comment about a presenter or a sales person or management of car companies, most probably we are commenting about some other member of team-bhp.

[malq]

There are very few anchors or presenters or writers in the regular print or tv motoring media who are not beholden to the PR industry or manufacturers or even specific manufacturers - so any comparision with, for example, Top Gear, is unfounded. This was not always the case, and in the early years when yours truly did a show on DD, then on Star, and then NDTV, there was never any commercial pressure.

All this changed around 1999-2000, specifically, and the automobile media has never been the same again, and I guess I moved on in life too.

From that point of view, the internet motoring media is so much more true and honest, and that's where the future lies. The blogging community as well as those on social media are where the future of motoring perception management and PR activities are likely to be headed for, and with that the choice of the thinking public too.

Eventually, in my humble opinion, the print and tv media will have to reflect these realities too - or become extensions of ad campaigns.

Just my 2 litres worth . . .

[vishwas]

Since Topgear is available in India on BBC entertainment, you should have put that as a choice and it would get my vote. Nothing on Indian TV is even remotely close to Top Gear - the wacky but brilliant ideas of Clarkson, May and Hammond are simply amazing. And these guys know how to describe a good car, how to treat it and most importantly drift in it! The camera angles, the music, and the overall presentation is simply superb. My son and I are so taken by the show that we want to learn how to drift!

In my opinion, The Autocar and NDTV shows are ok. Renuka Kripalani does a good job of anchoring and seems to have the chops for it. Hormazd Sorabjee seems to be a good auto editor and knowledgeable at the international level. Patankar acts too much like a pretty boy and keeps flying off to Germany to market the latest from BMW or Audi. The CNB show has more gimmickry than showing cars, some times it feels like SVP is trying to be prettier than the car ;-)

The other car shows are mostly irritating. The CNBC TV18 woman Shireen Bhan has a completely fake and affected English accent and has no understanding of the script that she reads out of a phone. Zigwheels Darukhanawala really struggles with his script (perhaps he does'nt have one) when presenting. The jokers on some other shows are slightly better than fan boys - no command over English and a very juvenile way of reporting.

[girishglg]

Originally Posted by sameern.85

Internationally, I am a bigg fan of TopGear, I also think fifth gear has done a great job thanks to Tiff Needle and his team. Mind you, Jason Plato is a driver at BTCC (British Touring Car Championship)
Simply put, international shows are based on infotainment (information + entertainment), most of the India shows just give us dull and drab BHP and Torque figures without knowing what exactly it means.
Sad..!

Originally Posted by vishwas

Since Topgear is available in India on BBC entertainment, you should have put that as a choice and it would get my vote. Nothing on Indian TV is even remotely close to Top Gear - the wacky but brilliant ideas of Clarkson, May and Hammond are simply amazing.

Agreed international shows are a class apart in terms of presentation and infotainment. However the idea behind the choices presented here is to look for the most popular shows among the Indian TV lot which are aired either in mainstream or popular channels. Also the fact that among the international ones only Top Gear and Fifth Gear are the more popular ones here but they have limited viewership either due to lack of awareness or niche channels not aired on one's cable/ DTH pack or simply because they are not relevant to our context. Also the likes of TG simply has no comparison with any of the other shows!

[bluevolt]

Hindi - Best show is Raftaar on NDTV hosted by kranti sambhav

English - I like the Auto car and CNBC Overdrive by shirish.

[Shivank]

There's no show which you could call THE BEST here. It's more like which one of these are at the very least watchable.

The content of every show is very predictable. Driving down some hilly road, or track-day with traction control fully ON as opposed to OFF-which most of us like to see. Endless commentary on boot-space, knee-room, head-room, driving room, 10 cup-holders, 6 airbags and what not. These specifics can be read directly from the brochures, Sir!

Then I don't understand who's the mathematician behind who does all the calculations in mm for these shows! Would you ever drop your plans of buying a Polo for a Fabia because it has got 7mm of more headroom, or vice-versa. What kind of nonsense is that!

It's evident that all of the shows or presenters are knowingly or unknowingly trying to imitate TG or FG. Or, in short, trying to communicate with the audience in a humorous+sensible way. But they fail every time!

If you can't powerslide a car, no issues. We understand you! But for God sake do something interesting. Don't quote the quarter-mile drag figure for each of the cars separately, simply put'em all on a deserted road for a drag race! Every kid over 18 in my society does that, why can't you. You are the experts . As Clarkson once said, "It's not what you drive but how you drive."

And don't run around a racetrack with an on-board camera. Ask your colleague for a race around the track in a car of his choice! Go spice things-up!

[abhi413]

At least SVP talks more sense than most of his competitors. Renuka is surely good too but the autocar show has a little lower substance. The so called 'scoop' by Hormazd is already invariably declared by him on twitter a week back so it is rarely interesting.

Thus, the Car n Bike show it is, as long as Mr. SVP doesn't dig too deep into describing "muscular wheel arches" and "swooping headlamps" etc. Otherwise all his reporting from the different auto expos and various countries is surely interesting.

[razrman]

I vote for Autocar show on Bloomberg thanks to Renuka & Hormazd and Overdrive on Cnbc due to Shirish. Although not the best, atleast these guys know what they are talking about.

At one point, I really used to like CNB show but soon realized its more of a car-design show than anything else. Sid, even though a decent presenter, spends almost 80% time talking of the swooping lines and contours and just the last line about the engine or any other technology.

Having said that, I think nothing comes closer to Top-Gear. I personally believe its the most entertaining automobile show.

[girishglg]

Till date C & B and Autocar seems to be top rated Indian shows by fellow BHPians mainly because of the presenters credentials, in terms of content and entertainment, TopGear seems to be out of this league by a huge margin.

The only problem though is that there are so many repeat telecast of old TopGear shows on BBC Entertainment that it becomes not only difficult to track and watch the latest season but gets boring if you watch the old episodes over and over again

[Prabal]

For fans of Overdrive (I am not, not since Adil left at least!), Sirish Chandran is rumoured to be leaving and moving on to Porsche India (Precision Cars India Private Ltd.) as the Head of Corporate Communication there.

[santosh911]

Have been closely watching some of the TV auto shows of late and I am really surprised at the overwhelming support by this super knowledgeable forum for the CNB show. Surprised because:
- I feel Patankar is a person who has no knowledge of cars and is popular with an audience who has no knowledge of cars. True enthusiasts can see through him in 5 minutes.
- CNB is extremely shallow in its reviews. Patankar goes on about styling and glosses over the key issues of the car.
- Patankar is a complete PR journalist and sucks up big time to CEOs and his interviews with them are all fluff and no substance. I know someone who works in NDTV and the buzz is that he likes to hog everything himself and there is no team work. The show is all about his self promotion and his PR for the CEOs
- This is evident in Patankar's tweets where he keeps making out how great he is and there is nothing newsworthy, no real scoop coming from him.

In his defence he is a very good anchor - probably the best - which hides the fact that he is not a " car guy "

I much prefer the Autocar show because its;
-No nonsense and to the point. Renuka is a very good road tester and gives pros and cons quite well. She overuses words like "Indian Roads" and "Indian market" which is quite irritating.
- The scoop section is great and quite addictive
- Kartik is great with bikes.
- The show has really upped the ante by getting the latest cars first.

Biggest criticism is the production quality and camera work - its just awful and looks like a college project

I think the Overdrive show has lost the plot after Sirish left. Bertrand's answers on auto selector are amateurish - like everyone should buy a car based on its performance and not the after sales, reliability or other more importnat factors.

Have emphatically voted for ACI show

[ajay_satpute]

My all time favorite has to be the Top Gear on BBC. Automobiles run in the Trio's blood. They review the car the way someone would review a movie, and still won't miss a single point.

Here in India, all shows are presented as if its a very serious topic and most presenters speak like news readers. Sometimes I feel no difference in the presenter on auto show and news reader reading a breaking story of some terrible incident.

All said and done, I voted for Autocar show. All First Drives of Autocar are pretty exhaustive and detailed. Good professional camera work supported by decent background score. I am a fan of Renuka's presentation and narration. Hormaz gives a nice glimpe into whats coming and all scoops. All in all, 8/10 to Autocar.

[vaibhav amlekar]

I also prefer to watch the CnB show on NDTV. But I feel there are too many advertisements in his show as compared to the other shows.But the kind of information he gives and the kind of knowledge he has is far greater than any of the existing hosts. I also like to watch the topgear on bbc. But their pathetic sense of humor is questionable a lot of times.

[naveen.raju]

Autocar - Good reviews and straight forward impressions even if it's good or bad.
CnB - I particularly like the exterior review detailing/covering all the aspects but overall review isnt great.

Powerdrift on youtube seems to be catching well. Although they are trying to copy TG UK kind of scripts (bringing in humour), it has to be the best visually compiled review. Awesome camera work and BGM.

[arunr]

Voted for CNB. Siddarth Patankar does an excellent job of providing a relatively unbiased review albeit he gets a little monotonous at times.

In terms of international shows it is TG with Jeremy and his histrionics that take the cake followed by Fifth Gear which makes drifting feel like a piece of cake atleast for those who have not tried it

Oh and how can i forget Tutu Dhavan- The car expert who guides people in deciding their next purchase