Top Gear (Unaired Segments)

Like most TV shows, the version of Top Gear that ran from 2002 to 2015 had a couple of segments that were just too horrible to air on TV. Some of these were mentioned in the Big Book of Top Gear 2011. To this day, no footage of these segments have been found online.

Fiat Panda Armoured Car
Back in 2005, there was an interesting idea for a challenge. It was about making a cheap armoured car out of a Fiat Panda. Richard Hammond set off to find out how hard it could be. Whilst this was a good idea on paper, the attempts to test the toughness of the car had problems; they were considered boring. To make matters worse, a late re-edit which changed the order of the test caused continuity errors. During one of the tests, a window shattered. The re-edit caused the window to be already broken, magically mend itself and then break again. Eventually after all the problems, the Top Gear office decided to not air it. The Fiat Panda was consigned to the Top Gear boneyard and remained there until someone got rid of it.

Jeremy tests the Lotus Europa S
In 2006 there was a lot of hype for the Lotus Europa S. It was mentioned in the Top Gear news segment alot, with all three presenters (especially Jeremy Clarkson), looking forward to it. Hence, Jeremy was sent to test it. This is where things started to unravel however. The Europa wasn't really a new car, as according to the Big Book of Top Gear 2011, was just the Elise chassis lightly re-clothed. The interior although new, failed to meet its expectation of being luxurious. Jeremy tried his best to make a good track test, but since the car was not only irrelevant but also unsuccessful, the Top Gear office decided not to show it on TV.

The Top Gear Bus
In a challenge to make journeys by bus more pleasurable, Richard and James May were given the task of improving a cheap Routemaster and equip it with devices and set ups to do just that. Like most challenges, they were rubbish. However, they were so bad at it that they could barely keep a straight face during filming and the finished item was so comically horrible that they requested the producer to scrap the segment. The Routemaster was coined "The Unfunny Bus" by Richard and James and languished in the Top Gear car park for years. It made an appearance in the intro of Richard Hammond's Top Gear Challenge, where Richard crashes into it.

Jeremy tests the Pontiac Solstice
During the test where Jeremy went to Laguna Seca in the United States to try to beat a time set on the PlayStation, the Top Gear office thought they might as well have him make a road test at the same time. The car selected was the Pontiac Solstice, a car that was not likely to be sold in the United Kingdom, so enthusiasm was low. This got even lower when Jeremy tested it and in his opinion, thought it was awful. The test was filmed but was stuck on the shelf for ages and eventually never aired on TV.

Richard tests the BMW 6-series Convertible
Back in 2004, Richard was told to go on the track and make a power test for next series. However, it turned out that Jeremy had already tested the cars that Top Gear were interested in. The only car Richard could find was the then-new BMW 6 Series convertible, a car that Top Gear had never been interested in. The test was deemed boring and the Top Gear office decided not to air it.