The former Top Gear host was left ‘saddened’ after the Italian supercar conked out on the road between his farm and his Burford pub while he was reviewing the luxury vehicle
Television personality Jeremy Clarkson was left feeling disappointed after experiencing a breakdown in an Italian supercar valued at an eye-watering £234,000.
The motoring enthusiast and former Top Gear presenter endured the embarrassment whilst travelling to his establishment – The Farmer’s Dog in Burford.
He was testing the luxurious Maserati MC20 Cielo when the engine unexpectedly failed. The 65-year-old detailed the unfortunate incident in his column for The Sunday Times.
Recounting the excitement he felt before matters took a turn for the worse, he penned: “There were some dry spells when I was able to put my foot down and it was all very jolly. Yes, the nose graunches constantly on the road surface, but overall I started to think of this car in much the same way as I thought of its predecessor, the MC20. I liked it. I even liked the lack of style. It all felt very un-Cheshireish, if such a word exists.”
Nevertheless, he went on to explain: “But then it broke down. It was late, I’d had a busy day, and on the main road between my farm and my pub it conked out. I’m unable to say at the time of writing what went wrong, but just as I was wondering how on earth I would load it on to a trailer with a nose that low, in the middle of the night, it started working again.
“I haven’t dared drive it since and this saddens me because it’s just sitting in my yard, looking forlorn. And that’s the thing you see. I do believe a car can feel sad because I am a car person. I see them as beings. And as a result I would be as sad if Maserati went west as you would be if they pulled the Uizi down because it cost too much to keep it cool in there.”
Regarding his assessment, he noted that MCPura Cielo meant “pure heaven”, though he admitted he was baffled as to why it had been given what sounded like a Scottish prefix.
Notwithstanding the eye-watering price tag, he jokingly observed that the switches appeared to have been sourced from a Fiat Punto and that the seats were “hard and meagre”, leaving him with an “underwhelming” impression.
And mechanical failure aside, the television presenter pondered who would genuinely purchase the vehicle for £234,890?
He suggested it would be improbable that anyone with such substantial funds would reject a Bentley, McLaren, Ferrari or Lamborghini in favour of a Maserati.
