The Grand Tour

The Grand Tour episode rankings and how they compare to Top Gear

With 10 episodes of The Grand Tour now available to stream on Amazon Prime, we thought it would be good opportunity to see what all of you fans thought of the episodes – and check out how they compare (ratings wise) against previous episodes of Top Gear.

You see, every single episode of Top Gear and Grand Tour carries with it a star rating out of 10, which are determined by hundreds of thousands of votes placed by TopGearbox readers just like you.

So without further ado, here we go!

1. Episode 6 – Happy Finiish Christmas 9.3/10

The Grand Tour’s Christmas special “Happy Finiish Christmas” might be their highest rated episode so far with a score of 9.3 out of 10, but it was still comprehensively beaten by some 24 episodes of Top Gear, including the Africa Special (9.6) and Supercars in Spain (9.6), and the Britcar 24 Hour (9.6) episode. The GT-R race across Japan (9.5) was also voted better, along with the Vietnam Special (9.5), Bolivia Special (9.5), Caravan Holiday (9.5) episode, the Patagonia Special (9.4), the Greatest road in the world (9.4) episode, the Burma Special (9.3) and Jeremy’s Bugatti Veyron race against Richard and James in the Cessna 182 (9.3).

2. Episode 3 – Opera, Art and Donuts 8.9/10

The second most popular episode of The Grand Tour so far is Episode 3 – Opera, Art and Donuts with a respectable score of 8.9/10. Despite this, it was still behind an additional 46 episodes of Top Gear – including the Polar Special (9.2), the original America Special (9.2), the £1000 Police Car Challenge (9.2), Jeremy racing Richard and James to Oslo in the McMerc SLR (9.1), the Australian Road Trip (9.0), the RWD Coupe Challenge (9.0), the £5000 Lorry episode (9.0) and even Top Gear Ground Force (9.0).

3. Episode 5 – Morroccan Roll 8.8/10

In at third place is Episode 5 of The Grand Tour, Morroccan Roll, with a score of 8.8 out of 10. Between it and the episode above, sit 7 episodes of Top Gear – including the Ambulance episode (8.8), Jeremy testing the Touring Disco Volante in Italy (8.8), the Rallycross episode (8.8), the Aston Martin DB9 race to Monte Carlo (8.8) and Jeremy’s original test of the Ariel Atom (8.8).

4. Episodes 7/8 – The Beach (Buggy) Boys Part 1 & 2 8.7/10

Episodes 7 & 8 of The Grand Tour “The Beach (Buggy) Boys Part 1 & 2” were both rated 8.7 out of 10, meaning they sit behind an additional 10 episodes of Top Gear. These include The Winter Olympics (8.8), Jeremy’s Koenigsegg CC8S power test (8.8), Richard’s Land Rover Defender tribute (8.7), the stripped-out track car episode (8.7), Mobility Scooters (8.7) and James May’s maxxing of the Bugatti Veyron in Germany (8.7).

5. Episode 1 – The Holy Trinity 8.6/10

Some might be surprised to see The Grand Tour’s opening episode so far down this list. It scored just 8.6 out of 10, or an additional 13 places below the Beach Buggy episode. Higher ranking Top Gear episodes include the £100 Car Challenge (8.7), the second-hand BMW 325i episode (8.7), Jeremy and James in Beijing (8.6), the boy’s economy race to Blackpool (8.6), James flying his airship caravan (8.6), the Ferrari Daytona VS XSR 48 Speed Boat (8.6) episode and the one where they played Toyota Aygo Football (8.6).

6. Episode 9 – Berks To The Future 8.3/10

Episode 9 of The Grand Tour “Berks to the Future” sits an additional 18 places down the list, with a score of 8.3 out of 10. Sitting in between are classic Top Gear episodes such as the McLaren MP4-12C vs Ferrari 458 (8.5), the hilarious Convertible People Carrier episode (8.4), the indestructible Toyota Hilux (8.4), the Botswana Special (8.4), Richard driving an F1 Car (8.4), the boys testing off-road toys (8.4), the Alfa Romeo 159 against a man (8.4) and the Lamborghini episode (8.4).

7. Episode 2 – Operation Desert Stumble 8.1/10

“Operation Desert Stumble” was met with mixed reviews, so it is understandible that it is located towards the tail end of this list, with a score of 8.1 out of 10. Some loved it, some hated it. Still, it rated lower than Top Gear’s drive time radio show episode (8.3), Richard getting hypnotized (8.2), Jeremy testing the Ferrari Enzo (8.2), Jeremy and Richard filming the Sweeny movie (8.2), James testing the Ariel Atom V8 (8.2) and James driving up an Icelandic volcano (8.1).

8. Episode 10 – Dumb Fight at the O.K. Coral 8.0/10

It seems even less of you enjoyed the latest Grand Tour episode, “Dumb Fight at the O.K Coral – scoring just 8.0 out of 10. This means it sits below Jeremy and James racing a Yacht against a Toyota Corolla (8.0), Top Gear of the Pops (8.0), Jeremy and Damon Hill comparing the Aston Martin Vanquish and Ferrari 575 (8.0), the boys going to Iceland in convertibles (8.0), James taking racing lessons with Jackie Stewart (8.0), the Rally Team vs girls getting ready episode (8.0) and even the one where Jeremy drove the Land Rover Discovery to the top of a mountain in Scotland (8.0).

9. Episode 4 – Enviro-mental 7.8/10

Finally, we have the least favourite episode so far – “Enviro-mental”. This one scored just 7.8 out of 10, meaning there are some 19 Top Gear episodes between it and the next highest Grand Tour episode. Such episodes include the Ferrari Scaglietti VS a plane to Verbier (8.0), the boys building a Caterham Seven (8.0), the boys using tractors to plant oil seed (8.0), the £1500 Porsche Challenge (8.0), Sabine Schmitz driving a van around the Nurburgring (7.9), Jeremy testing the Tesla Roadster (7.9) and even the much hated India Special (7.9).

So what do you think? Do you think the people have got it right with their ratings, or do some of The Grand Tour episodes deserve to be rated more highly? We’ll check in again after all 12 episodes have aired, but for now you can let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

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12 comments

Charles Texeira December 29, 2017 at 6:20 pm

The Grand Tour will be better and better.
Fact is Top Gear BBC owes a lot to Matt Le Blanc universal appeal and the behind the scene crew members to carry on. The other two, Rory Reid and Chris Harris are not even a patch even with Richard Hammond or James May. Many of my friends can’t stand them either.

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Danno January 23, 2017 at 10:18 pm

You have to think that with Wilman and Porter behind the scenes, what we’re seeing now is pretty much what would have been on the Beeb. Minus the tent bits. But the writing, comments, and films are from the same teams. Bearing in mind the age and physical limits of the boys.

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duke January 17, 2017 at 10:24 am

Some of the lowest rated Top Gear episodes like the £1500 Porsche Challenge, or the superb India Special are among my most favourite episodes! I think my all time favourites are the Polar special and the Amazon in second-hand off-roaders episode. Richard Hammond fear of insects is to this date the funniest thing available on TV. All the cheap car challenge were superb.

Top Gear was best from its 6th to 16th seasons. Then they started to decline a bit. But they still were amazing until the 20th season. They were becoming more noticeably scripted ad fake. Trying too hard to get a laugh is never a good thing.

The new show gave them a boost, they still have great episodes. But it’s understandable that it will never top what was the peak of their careers.

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Restalot January 16, 2017 at 1:01 pm

Old TG was like a really comfortable sweater. You knew it was getting a little thin and made you a little itchy but you always felt good when you put it on. TGT is a more expensive sweater, in the same colour as your old sweater, but it is a little tight at the elbows and pulls a little funny when you bend over.

In a few years, that new sweater will be worn in nicely and you will hardly remember a time you didn’t love it.

tldr: bias of new show living up to old show standards is present now.

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Danno January 16, 2017 at 7:09 am

A more realistic comparison is how they ranked next to Evans and Leblanc. That’s the real competition, mate.

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Sean McKellar January 16, 2017 at 8:17 am

Well the highest rated episode from Series 23 is rated 6.1 so there’s not much of a story in that! We might do a comparo once TGT Series 1 finished, if everyone wants to see TG get smashed.

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Stefano January 16, 2017 at 5:30 am

houndreds of thousands of votes?
this is hardly believable, can you prove your statement?

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Sean McKellar January 16, 2017 at 8:24 am

This website has been collecting votes for 9 years – is it really that hard to believe?

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Scooby252 January 15, 2017 at 10:50 pm

Hardly a fair comparison , because there is also a lot of top gear episodes that are lower than the 7.8 from the grand tour.

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Sean McKellar January 16, 2017 at 8:26 am

Of course – but I thought it was interesting to see how they sat in relation to the older episodes. All things considered, they’ve done well.

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Marie Daverio January 15, 2017 at 11:17 am

Enviro-mental was way better than the ratings indicate, it’s one of my favorites of the series!

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the guy with no name January 15, 2017 at 10:34 pm

This; I was surprised that it was last. I’d say that ep5 was probably the least great (note how I don’t say worst).

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