For over 40 years, Jeremy Clarkson has been writing about cars, and in that time he has seen myriad improvements in auto-manufacturing. But he says there is not a single modern production car that he would buy today because of his powerful objection to advanced driver assistance system (ADAS), which by law now have to be implemented on all new cars sold across the UK and EU.
As well as automatically applying the brakes if the onboard software detects an imminent collision, ADAS systems also monitor driving behaviour. “If you break the speed limit or you are feeling drowsy or you straight-line a corner,” he explains, “you are told to behave yourself with a series of irritating bongs and beeps.”
However, writing in the Sunday Times, Clarkson said he did not need ADAS while testing a new Alfa Romeo Giulia Quadrifoglio because “there was a problem” with the sporty Italian saloon’s suspension.
He explained that his girlfriend, Lisa Hogan, complained about his driving due to the Alfa’s unforgiving suspension.
“The ride was so firm that on the A40 leaving Oxford, which isn’t noticeably bumpy in any other car, Lisa asked me to slow down to 50mph to make it bearable,” he said. “Falling down a flight of stairs would be more comfy.”
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The former Top Gear presenter, 65, is likely more sensitive to the Alfa’s unforgiving suspension these days after losing much of his natural padding. Clarkson has shed an impressive 3st following a course of the weight management drug Mounjaro.
However, he says that both he and Lisa have noticed a few unwelcome side-effects alongside the remarkable weight loss. He attributes a slight decline in his performance on ITV’s Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? to Mounjaro: “I find myself doing Hot Seat, thinking: ‘Oh f***, I should have said that, but too late now.’ But who's to say I wouldn't have thought that when I wasn't on [Mounjaro]?”
Speaking to The Sun, he adds that aside from losing some of his quick wit, he isn’t sure whether there have been any other downsides to trying Mounjaro: “Constipation? No, I don't have that. Diminished libido? I'm 65, it's hard to know what's causing that. I'll ask Lisa when I get back home.”
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Former model Lisa told him he couldn’t blame the weight-loss medication, saying: "You were never funny and you were never horny, Jeremy.”
Despite Clarkson’s shortcomings, he and Lisa recently celebrated nine years together. It wasn’t love at first sight, Lisa stresses: “He courted me for a solid three months!... he does make an effort to make me laugh a lot, which I really appreciate. And we do get on.”
