In an interview in the current Radio Times, Matt LeBlanc is asked what he would want people to say about the new series of Top Gear (BBC2, Sunday). He says he would like people to watch with an open mind and “just give it a chance”. I’m going to try to do that, Matt. Forget about the fiasco of the last series, with Chris Evans. Plus you-know-who and the other two before that. Let’s wipe that slate clean.

So Matt is in Kazakhstan, with Rory and Chris. Who? Motoring journalist Rory Reid, and Chris Harris, not Evans. OK, so you’ve never heard of them, but they were in the last series, it’s just that you probably switched off after the first episode, along with everyone else. Anyway, they are now the three main co-presenters, so get used to them (or switch off again).

The trio are in the city of Turkistan, accompanied by a Volvo V70 estate, a Mercedes E Class saloon and a London taxi, each with at least 480,000 miles on the clock. That’s equivalent to driving to the moon and back. And they have to get to Baikonur Cosmodrome, from where Soviet cosmonauts used to try to go to the moon and back … oh I see, quite neat.

These days Baikonur is used by people like Tim Peake as a jumping-off point to get to space. And to launch satellites. There’s one going up in a couple of days – probably Putin checking in on his orange-faced new bezzie prezzie – and Matt and co have to get there in time for that.

Along the way there are a few challenges for them and their high-mileage motors: a race to the bottom of an old quarry, and back; a top speed challenge; a demolition derby with a few Lada-driving locals; and a game of dead goat polo (which is pretty much what it sounds like).

A good trip then, imaginative and potentially amusing. And it looks fabulous. Trouble is, it’s exactly the kind of thing Clarkson, Hammond and May used to do, this time maybe without the racism (there’s a bit of gentle cultural mockery, nothing too serious). So I’m sorry, M LeB, but it’s bloody hard to watch without thinking about what was before. Top Gear has just too much baggage in its trunk.

Now, I loathed Clarkson and co as much as the next sandal-wearing environmentalist Guardianist feminist snowflake. I still do, over on Amazon (except for James May, I’ve always rather liked him, to be honest). But whatever you think of their asinine, middle-aged laddishness, it’s hard to deny that there was something between them, a connection, a chemistry. It was like gatecrashing a stag party – second or third marriage stag party, of course.

Here, though, it’s more like speed-dating: no one really seems to know anyone else. Individually they are fine. Matt is great, properly funny (I loved his under-the-breath “A-hole”, after congratulating Rory on a challenge victory). Chris is a capable presenter; and he certainly knows his way around a race track, as he demonstrates in the section where he has a spin in a Ferrari FXX-K (so-called because it goes like FXX-K I assume). Rory is likable, and also knows his big end from his crank pin.

But Kazakhstan isn’t about the cars, really; it’s the fun bit, hopefully to be enjoyed by the non-petrol head too. And it’s not quite working yet. They are overdoing the bants – laughing too hard at Matt’s gags, and trying too hard with their own. Hey look, we’re having a hilarious time, in Kazakhstan, hahahaha, don’t switch off, please ...

I think they are feeling the pressure, knowing that Top Gear’s future existence rests on their shoulders. And knowing that people – including critics, sorry Matt – aren’t watching with an entirely open mind, but with half an eye on the past and another half an eye on Amazon Prime. Maybe some of these people watching are hoping for a crash – it’s demolition derby TV.

Yes, chemistry takes time, but there may not be much time, if ratings continue to go the way they did last series, into that massive hole in the Steppe. Chris and Rory need to relax, and maybe sit down with Matt and a bottle of Kazakhstan vodka, get drunk, figure out who they are, and develop some kind of relationship – bezzies, worsties, somethingzies. Otherwise they – the ratings, Matt, Chris, Rory, Top Gear – aren’t coming back out.