Original Air Date: March 1st 2019
Vehicles Used:
- All Presenters: 1984 Winnebago Chieftain
- Clarkson: 1988 Fleetwood Pace Arrow
- Hammond: 1983 International S1724
- May: 1999 Ford F550 National Tropical
Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May are forced to go on an RV holiday in the southwestern United States, despite regarding such things as slow, uncomfortable and pointless. Pushed to breaking point within 24 hours, the hosts decide to take matters into their own hands by each buying a used RV which they can then modify to suit their own personal preferences before continuing their vacation across Nevada in comfort, or a near approximation of it.
This episode provides examples of the following tropes:
- The Alleged Car: Clarkson's RV starts off as this - aside from none of the dashboard working, the vehicle has a high idle speed and he has to repeatedly hit the accelerator before he can hit the brakes. The engine backfires repeatedly, at one point scorching a cameraman's leg. And then it hits a bump, causing the controls on the flying bridge to disconnect at a crucial moment...
- Hammond's modified truck has a powerful V8, but it can't go any faster than 15mph on an incline due to the engine running hot.
- Awesome, but Impractical: Clarkson modifies his RV to resemble a yacht, complete with a flying bridge on the roof where he can control the vehicle from. Except that American law prevents him from actually using it this way on the roads. And the seat gets very hot in the Nevada sun.
- The Bus Came Back: The American returns, seeming to stalk Clarkson wherever he goes.
- Inherently Funny Words: At their first stay in an RV park, Hammond and Clarkson make a game of adding the word "Anal" to the names of other RVs around them, leaving them in stitches.
- My Local: James modifies his RV into a traditional British pub called "The Rack & Pinion", which even has the trio's favourite beers on tap. The commentary notes that he based the interior off of his favourite pub in Hammersmith, London.
- Oh, Crap!: Clarkson has this reaction when, following a nasty bump, none of the controls on his flying bridge aside from the steering work.
- Everyone has this at the episodes' end, when the American lights a ring of fire around their RVs.
- Take That!: A Running Gag wherin votes on decisions with enormous, inestimable consequences where a marginally smaller "minority" is overruled by a single vote is a jab at the Brexit referendum.
