James May's Cars of the People

[talking about the Fiat 124]

James May:
What basic Italian cars always gave - *still* give, in fact - is the sensation of performance without the expense and inconvenience of actually achieving it.

[commenting on a shot of four Japanese firefighters getting into a miniature "Kei car" fire engine, with the "Trumpton" music playing in the background]

James May:
It might look cute, but these are perfectly suited to emergencies in the narrow Tokyo streets - like a kitten stuck up a bonsai tree!

Himself - Presenter:
In normal life, Joss does crosswords and likes small animals.

[sarcastically referring to the demise of the classic team of Jeremy Clarkson, James May and Richard Hammond in Top Gear, and the near-demise of the programme itself]

James May:
The Morris Minor has come to be regarded as everything that's good and proper about being British. Let's imagine for a moment that overnight the Morris Minor suddenly disappeared from the British conscience. Would it matter? I think we would struggle with it. If you did a survey - should we get rid of the Morris Minor? - No! But actually, would we really notice? Would it in fact give us a chance to move on? It might be a little bit as if a very popular and very well-like television programme suddenly came to an end, everybody would think it was a disaster but after a while, well, they'd get over it, probably find something else.

[James May demonstrates the off-road capabilities of a Range Rover]

James May:
This, with the best will in the world, is *not* a car of the people. It is a fully-loaded, supercharged Range Rover. It will cost you around ?120,000. It takes up more space that it really ought to. And it will be *chronically* under-used by the vast majority of its owners. And that's a bit of a shame because this four-wheel-drive marvel is no show pony. It can do some truly remarkable stuff, and to be honest, it has to otherwise it isn't credible and is just a designer handbag.

[he approaches a very steep hill on a rocky off-road track; the car descends slowly with the front wheels sliding and back wheels bouncing off the ground, but still in control; a dashboard display shows the angle of the front and rear axles]

James May:
Holy mother of God! Look at that! It's sorting all that out for itself. This thing really is bloody incredible.

[he starts to drive it through a ford with the water up to the door sills]

James May:
I'm now going to drown it. I know it's ridiculous. You're not going to do this - it'd be like going gardening in your best disco shoes. But it's nice to know it *can*, isn't it?