I was quite pleasantly surprised, I found it quite watchable.
Matt LeBlanc was very good, as was Chris Harris. Rory’s manner got on my nerves a little, he comes across as an excitable puppy, but at least there was no Eddie Jordan and Sabine. The latter, I’m very sad to admit got on my nerves.
There were opportunities missed. Clarkson, May or Hammond would have delivered a stirring monologue about the Kazakhstan steppe, accompanied by picturesque tracking shots of the landscape as the usual nod to the local tourist industry. The fake banter between Rory and the others got on my nerves too.
I think the Guardian summed it up by suggesting that Rory, Matt and Chris hole up in a bar somewhere and get very, very drunk to work on minimising the awkwardness and faux camaraderie.
But it’s improved by 73.2% since Chris Evans moved on.