From cars being crashed to egos clashing between show host Chris Evans and executives from the BBC and increased competition for auto enthusiast eyeballs, it sounds like there are more than minor teething problems as the British network tries to right the ship following the firing of Jeremy Clarkson. And the show hasn't yet even aired its first new episode.
While it's true that The Sun isn't exactly the world's most trustworthy source of news, the allegations surrounding Top Gear sound plausible. In fact, some of the claims made by the British tabloid magazine seem likely. To wit, how many people outside of the UK thought Chris Evans (no, not that Chris Evans, this Chris Evans) was a household name? Perhaps more worrying than the unknown star power of its hosts are claims that the new production crew doesn't actually know anything about cars. And to top it all off, fans of Top Gear are going to have their attention split between the new Chris Evans-led series and the new show from Amazon starring former TG stars Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May.
In any case, there's nothing to be done but to wait and see.
