TV star Jeremy Clarkson was left ‘saddened’ after breaking down in an Italian supercar worth a staggering £234,000. 

The motorhead and former Top Gear host suffered the humiliation while driving to his pub — The Farmer’s Dog in Burford.

He was reviewing the swanky Maserati MCPura Cielo when the engine suddenly stopped working. And the 65-year-old opened up about the unfortunate moment in his column for The Sunday Times.

Describing the thrill he was feeling before things went wrong, he wrote: “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.”

However, he continued: “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.”

As for his review, he explained that MCPura Cielo translated to “pure heaven”, but he said he had no idea why it was given a Scottish sounding prefix.

Despite the extortionate cost, he said the switches looked like they had come from a Fiat Punto and that the seats were “hard and meagre" leaving him with an “underwhelming” feeling.

And breakdown aside, the 65-year-old TV presenter questioned who would actually buy the car for £234,890? He said it would be unlikely anyone with that kind of dough would turn down a Bentley, McLaren, Ferrari or Lamborghini to instead go for a Maserati.

He said he met the man known as Mr Mountbatten-Windsor when he was a “dashing prince” and a “war hero”.

“I used to see him at various events, and he was invariably being chatted up by a gaggle of impossibly beautiful girls who were longing for an invite back to the Palace,” he said.

Jermey added: “So why did he feel the need to befriend a paedo and then get him to ship girls over from America?”

He concluded by saying it “makes me think there’s a lot more to the story than we think”.