However, the producers were unable to negotiate a deal, after their initial application was blocked due to opposition by local residents, who feared that Top Gear would create pollution and noise issues.
[5] In December 2006, the BBC upheld complaints from four viewers after comments made by Jeremy Clarkson were considered to be homophobic references, had the potential to offend and should not have been broadcast.
During the first American road trip, as part of a challenge, they painted slogans on their cars such as "NASCAR sucks", "Hillary for president" and "Man love rules OK" while driving through Alabama.
He suggested adding trafficators that displayed Nazi salutes, "a sat-nav that only goes to Poland", and "ein fanbelt that will last a thousand years", a reference to Adolf Hitler's propaganda slogan of "the thousand-year Reich".
[16] During the opening episode of series 14, the presenters were seen taking the Aston Martin DBS Volante, Ferrari California and Lamborghini Gallardo LP560-4 Spyder on a road trip to Romania.
The mockumentary had already stirred controversy in the country, with a number of local Roma who were involved in the film attempting to sue 20th Century Fox and Cohen.
[19] The Daily Telegraph was hacked by a group of Romanians, who stated, "We are sick of being misrepresented as Gypsies, and thanks to Top Gear, have been publicly insulted".
The group took over two pages of the website, covering them in Romanian flags and playing "Lonely Shepherd" by Gheorghe Zamfir (featured on the soundtrack from the film Kill Bill).
[23] BBC issued a letter defending the jokes, stating that national stereotyping was a part of British humour, but apologizing to the Mexican ambassador for the remarks made about him personally.
[25] Comedian Steve Coogan, who has appeared on the show three times, criticised the programme for its pitiful apology, suggesting that the usual defence of "a bit of a laugh", or "harmless fun" was no longer appropriate, that the insults had gone too far, and described the comments as "as funny as a cold sweat followed by shooting pains down the left arm".
Ofcom was of the view that the majority of the audience would therefore be likely to have understood that the comments were being made for comic effect.In September and October 2014, the three presenters and a crew of 29 people were recording the Patagonia Special in Argentina, featuring three cars—a Porsche 928 GT, a Lotus Esprit and a Ford Mustang Mach I.
The segment showed the car's provided batteries running flat after 88.5 kilometres (55.0 mi), with Clarkson claiming that the recharge would take 16 hours.
A Tesla Motors spokesperson stated that the cars provided never reached less than 20% charge, none needed to be pushed off the track at any point, the recharge time was 3.5 hours, and the brake failure shown in the segment was actually a blown fuse.
[41][42] The BBC responded to these claims with a statement saying, "The tested Tesla was filmed being pushed into the shed in order to show what would happen if the Roadster had run out of charge.
Top Gear stands by the findings in this film and is content that it offers a fair representation of the Tesla's performance on the day it was tested", without addressing the other concerns.
[42][43][44] The comments were made following Clarkson showing a limp windmill, and complaining that it would take countless hours to recharge the car, using such a source of electricity.
[51] In March 2015, the BBC announced Jeremy Clarkson had been suspended for allegedly punching a producer over a confrontation regarding cold food and long filming hours, and that the remaining episodes of the series would not be broadcast.
The show received widespread criticism after Jeremy Clarkson's contract was not renewed, addressing the importance of the confrontation but remarking the severity of the decision.
Chris Evans, a car enthusiast with prior TV-presenter experience, alongside a host of new presenters, took over as the lead for Series 23 before resigning after widespread criticism.
[60] The show was criticised by the Mountaineering Council for Scotland when Clarkson drove a Land Rover Discovery to the summit of Cnoc an Fhreiceadain, damaging the terrain as he did so.
The BBC defended their decision to broadcast the episode, claiming that "with only one programme remaining in the series, and the frequency of level-crossing accidents, it may have been considered that there was no "appropriate" time to show the film without it "offending" somebody.
During the show's Polar special at the end of series nine, Jeremy Clarkson was shown drinking gin and tonic while driving through an ice field in the Arctic.
[76] In a conversation about women distracting the presenters while driving, Clarkson said he recently saw a woman wearing a burka who "tripped over the pavement" and revealed a "red g-string and stockings".
[83] In the show's Middle East special, the depiction of a baby Stig as Jesus and the use of niqabs by the trio to disguise themselves were criticised by Catholics and Muslims.
[84] Ofcom received 19 complaints after the show had the presenters undertake a drive-by shooting on a cardboard cut-out of the Stig during the East Coast Road Trip.
[87] In an unaired version of Jeremy Clarkson reviewing the Toyota GT86 and the similar Subaru BRZ, he uses eeny meeny miny moe to pick between the two cars, which has historically included the word "nigger".
A couple of years ago I recorded an item for Top Gear in which I quote the rhyme "eeny, meeny, miny, moe".
Now when I viewed this footage several weeks later I realised that in one of the mumbled versions if you listen very carefully with the sound turned right up it did appear that I'd actually used the word I was trying to obscure.
[88]Though this incident happened before the 'slope' comment in the Burma special, it did not surface until afterwards and the combined complaints caused many public figures to call for Clarkson to be fired and ultimately resulted in a 'final warning' from the BBC regarding racist remarks.
"[94] The show received some criticism when a rare Matra Bagheera was significantly damaged during a feature in which the driver Paddy McGuinness and Freddie Flintoff filmed in Borneo.