Yahoo News The Grand Tour fans compare new special to 'classic Top Gear'
Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May returned to Prime Video for more motoring-based chaos.
What did you miss?
The penultimate episode of The Grand Tour has now debuted on Prime Video, bringing Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond, and James May together again for another epic road trip. This time, they travelled across the Sahara in modified sports cars.
Fans were full of praise for the feature-length episode — which ran for more than two hours — and likened it to the most entertaining episodes of Top Gear from the show's most popular era with the trio as the hosts.
What, how and why?
Devoted fans of The Grand Tour have been forced to wait a very long time for more vehicular hijinks, as it had been almost a year since the gang drove deliberately weird cars through Central Europe for their 2023 special Eurocrash.
So that meant that the new special — entitled Sand Job — arrived just when fans wanted it most. Despite a running time that would make even Martin Scorsese blush, viewers were thrilled by the classic feel of the challenge.
They compared Sand Job to the glory days of Top Gear, in which these ambitious, cinematic road trips were a staple of the show's best episodes.
I went to bed after watching The Grand Tour: Sand Job last night so I wanna share what I thought of it. I enjoyed it quite a bit. Felt like a classic Top Gear special, didn't feel too scripted and despite being over 2 hours long, it flew by. 1 more special to go, then its goodbye pic.twitter.com/s7smTQvbk4
— John Morrow (@SuperJohnny25) February 16, 2024
The new Grand Tour special being like an old classic top gear episode? pic.twitter.com/41UvDmexsW
— #AJ47 Connor 🇨🇱 (@cknnr17) February 16, 2024
I just watched The Grand Tour Sand Job. Now I like nearly all of these and the Top Gear Specials that they did, so I am biased, but this seems to be them getting back to top form. Yes some of it is contrived, but that is always the case. I'll miss this when they stop doing it. pic.twitter.com/HKlhWQMxCY
— Critical Stress🦜 (@criticalstressy) February 17, 2024
The ending of the latest Grand Tour special was peak Top Gear; incredible cars, scenery, music and referencing a motorsport. Glad it's not the last special.
— Sems (@Ali_Sems) February 16, 2024
There's just one special episode left before The Grand Tour finishes for good, with the gang returning to Africa for another adventure — this time in Zimbabwe. The episode is due to air in 2024.
It has been reported that Prime Video could continue the show with other presenters, but Richard Hammond explained that the trio wanted complete control of how their era came to an end.
Clarkson, meanwhile, will continue to front Clarkson's Farm for Prime Video. That show was recently renewed for a fourth season, before the third season has even aired.
What else happened on The Grand Tour?
The special saw the trio trace the final leg of the legendary Paris-Dakar rally from Mauritania to Senegal, including traversing the Sahara and a perilous river crossing.
Rather than purpose-built rally vehicles, they made the journey in a Maserati GranCabrio, an Aston Martin DB9 Volante, and a Jaguar F-Type. Of course, they had to modify the cars for the terrain by themselves.
The Grand Tour: Sand Job is available on Prime Video now.
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