Fifth Gear  [ Official Site ]

Fifth Gear

Tiff Needell, Vicki Butler-Henderson, Jason Plato, and Tom Ford review cars from supercars to fast hatchbacks.

For more information read the Fifth Gear article at Wikipedia

Fifth Gear Show Guide

Fifth Gear - Season 12, Episode 8 - 2007.10.22
In this episode:

  • To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Rolls-Royce Silver Ghost, Tom and Jonny build an armored version of one
  • Tiff heads to Ferrari’s test track in Modena to see if the new Ferrari 430 Scuderia is faster than a Ferrari Enzo
  • Fifth Gear Awards including best small car, best family car, best fast car, and best overall car of the year

Fifth Gear - Season 12, Episode 7 - 2007.10.15
In this episode:

  • Shootout: a “General Lee” Dodge Charger vs. a Ford Gran Torino from “Starsky and Hutch”
  • Jonny and Tom build drift cars from a pair of Bedford Rascal vans which ends in a bad crash
  • Tiff drives the brand new Subaru Impreza and sees if it lives up to it’s ancestors
  • Jason drives the Caparo T1, a street legal race car, which ends in the car catching on fire and burning Jason 

Fifth Gear - Season 12, Episode 6 - 2007.10.08
In this episode:

  • Vicki takes Sally Boazman, Radio 2’s traffic announcer, out for a day at Bentley’s chauffeur school
  • Jonny celebrates the 75th anniversary of the Deuce Coupe, the chopped and tuned versions of the 1932 Ford Model B
  • Fifth Gear crashes the annual gathering of fast cars trying to beat the 0-60 MPH record to see if anyone can beat the current record of 3.07 seconds
  • Tiff and Jason put the BMW Z4 and Nissan 350Z head to head on the track
  • Jonny test the new Mini Clubman in Madrid
  • Tom drives an insane Smart Car monster truck which uses Unimog parts

Fifth Gear - Season 12, Episode 5 - 2007.10.01  
In this episode:

  • Shootout: Vicki drives two Audi TTs — one with a manual gearbox, one with the semi-automatic double-clutch S
  • Tronic system — to see which is quickest around a track
  • Fifth Gear puts fuel additives to the test to scientifically see if they really do improve engine performance or not
  • Tom Ford drives the brand new Fiat 500
  • Tiff takes the £225,000, 224 MPH Gumpert Apollo out on the track
  • Jason goes offroading in the latest Bowler beast, the Nemesis
  • Jonny meets up once again with the owner of the world’s fastest street legal car, a Vauxhall Victor named “Red Victor 1?, to see if they can break the quarter mile record

Fifth Gear - Season 12, Episode 4 - 2007.09.24
In this episode:

  • Vicki finds out if a police driver is as fast as a racing driver by spending a day with a police trainer
  • Jason takes Sarah Beeny out in a Volvo Globetrotter semi-truck and challenges her to a maneuverability trial
  • Tiff goes powersliding in the brand new BMW M3
  • Jonny finds out if some of Britain’s cheapest cars can make it to the top of Britain’s steepest road when fully loaded
  • Tom gets his hands on the keys to a Phantom Drophead Coupe and offers the car’s services out on a local radio station to good causes

Fifth Gear - Season 12, Episode 3 - 2007.09.17
In this episode:

  • Australian cricket player Shane Warne gets a track driving lesson from Jason
  • Fifth Gear Shootout: Vicki races the UK spec Honda Civic Type R against the harder core Japanese version
  • Tom and Jonny put the new Mini Cooper D (diesel) against the petrol version to see which is better
  • Tiff races the new Lamborghini Gallardo Superleggera head-to-head against British superbike racer Leon Haslam on a Ducati 1098

Fifth Gear - Season 12, Episode 2 - 2007.09.10
In this episode:

  • Vicki compares the new Peugeot 207 GTi against a classic Peugeot 205 GTi to see if it really does live up to the old car
  • Jonny road tests the new £350,000, 207mph Mercedes-Benz McLaren SLR Roadster
  • Tiff and Jason put the Audi R8 and the Porsche 911 Carrera 4S head-to-head
  • Fifth Gear meets up with Paddy McGuinness once again as he prepares for and takes his motorcycle test
  • Man looks at what happens when a big, 15 year old Volvo 940 estate crashes into a small, light, 3 year old Renault Modus which has a 5 star Euro NCAP safety rating

Fifth Gear - Season 12, Episode 1 - 2007.09.03
In this episode:

  • Shootout: Vicki races the brand new Audi S5 against the BMW 335i
  • Jason teaches Kyran Bracken how to drive on a track and then lets him have a go in an open-wheeled Formula Palmer Audi race car
  • Tom drives the new Maserati GranTurismo coupe on some beautiful roads in Italy
  • Jonny drives the incredibly small, but expensive, 4-door Mitsubishi “i” and then tries to get the same thing for less money by bolting two Smart cars on top of each other which ends in a hilarious result
  • Tiff heads to the French chateau where the Bugatti Veyron is assembled and gets to drive one on both the streets and the track where he gets it a bit sideways!

Fifth Gear - Season 11, Episode 10 - 2007.07.02
In this episode:

  • Fifth Gear Shootout: Tiff trashes two rental cars around, a Vauxhall Astra and a Ford Focus, to see which is faster
  • Tom spends a day with wheel clampers to find out ways to beat them
  • Vicki drives the latest generation Nissan 350Z
  • A very short Q&A with John Travolta about his passion for cars
  • Jonny, under the cover of darkness, fills in a pothole himself
  • Tiff and Jason take four car loving cast members of the British soap opera Hollyoaks out for a series of boys vs. girls challenges
  • Various motorcycle stunts in the cafe’s parking lot including stunts by Shane Lynch

Fifth Gear - Season 11, Episode 9 - 2007.06.25  
In this episode:

  • Fifth Gear Shootout: Renault Sport Megane 230 F1 R26 versus one-off Ford Transit Connect X-press
  • Yvette Fielding, British televesion presenter and owner of 3 Aston Martins, gets to drive her dream car, a Chesil Speedster — a replica of the rare Porsche 356 Speedster
  • DTM driver Susie Stoddart races her DTM Mercedes-Benz race car against her company car, a Mecedes-Benz CL63 AMG
  • Jonny races the Fifth Gear chip-fat powered Merecedes-Benz against a Jaguar powered by methane created from rotting apples
  • Jason tests the brand new Lotus 2 Eleven, a very, very quick track day car
  • Tom finds out what happens when a Limo crashes into a concrete barrier
  • Vicki tests the latest BMW X5 by towing a wakeboarder

Fifth Gear - Season 11, Episode 8 - 2007.06.18
In this episode:

  • Jason tests the recently facelifted Jaguar XJR by dressing up for the part of a common Jaguar owner
  • Dom Joly, creator of Trigger Happy TV, rents a tank for the day to drive around his home village
  • Vicki drives the new Vauxhall VXR8 to the limit
  • Tom and Jonny take two Reliant Robins and modify them to their liking for racing against each other
  • Tiff finds out which is quicker around Castle Combe, the street legal Porsche 911 GT3 RS or the Porsche 911 GT3 Cup race car

Fifth Gear - Season 11, Episode 7 - 2007.06.11
In this episode:

  • Tom drives the latest Land Rover Defender around Iceland to a glacier
  • Jason and Tiff race a Ford GT against a Formula Ford with 150 horsepower
  • Driven To Destruction: Vicki chains a car to a heavy truck and trashes it about from a cold start
  • Fifth Gear visits the home of Alex James, the bass player in Blur, where he goes bungee jumping from a crane
  • Jonny drives to Italy in a Ferrari 612 Scaglietti to deliver a birthday cake to Ferrari’s CEO

Fifth Gear - Season 11, Episode 6 - 2007.06.04
In this episode:

  • Jonny drives the new Ford Mondeo, the most high-tech Ford you can buy (at least in the UK)
  • Driven To Destruction: Vicki finds out which cars are the most crash worthy by dropping them from a crane
  • Shootout: Tiff races the Mini Cooper against the Suzuki Swift Sport
  • Tom drives 1500 miles in the new BMW M5 Touring to Valencia, Spain to deliver some clothing to the Oracle America’s Cup team
  • Olympic sprinter and BMX biker Iwan Thomas is tasked to do a stunt challenge with help from Russ Swift
  • Jason Plato in the awesome sounding Aston Martin V8 Vantage Roadster

Fifth Gear - Season 11, Episode 5 - 2007.05.28  
In this episode:

  • Tom drives the new Porsche Cayenne Turbo
  • Vicki sees if she can live without a car for a day
  • The Fifth Gear Shootout returns with the Renault Clio 197 taking on the brand new Vauxhall Corsa VXR
  • Jonny drives a Rolls Royce Phantom to Italy for a classic car show at the Villa d’Este on Lake Como
  • Yorkshire cricket captain Darren Gough goes head-to-head with Jason on an off-road track in a Volkswagen Touareg 

Fifth Gear - Season 11, Episode 4 - 2007.05.22  
In this episode:

  • Tom and Jonny along with help from Tiff decide which hot hatch they like best — the Renault Megane F1 Team R26, the Mazda 3 MPS, the Ford Focus ST, the Honda Civic Type R, the Seat Leon Cupra, the Vauxhall Astra VXR, or the Volkswagen Golf Gti
  • Fifth Gear drives a car to destruction in reverse to test it’s gearbox
  • Comedian Paddy McGuinness does the CBT (Compulsory Basic Training) required for people who want to get a motorcycle permit
  • Vicki tries to break 200 MPH in an A1 Grand Prix car

Fifth Gear - Season 11, Episode 3 - 2007.05.14
In this episode:

  • Tom checks out the gadgets on the new Lexus LS460 and then sees if he can get the same gadgets for less on an older Lexus
  • To test the durability of a windshield, Fifth Gear lobs chickens, rocks, and a road cone at one
  • Jonny spends 12 hours locked in the new smart fortwo to see how comfortable it is
  • Virgin Radio Breakfast Show DJ Christian O’Connell gets a stunt driving lesson from Russ Swift
  • Vicki attempts to replicate the infamous C’était un rendez-vous using a diesel powered Citroën C3
  • Tiff takes the new Bentley Continental GTC out with two models in the back to see if going faster makes their hair get blown around less

Fifth Gear - Season 11, Episode 2 - 2007.05.07
In this episode:

  • Tom drives the Alfa Romeo Spider around the Sahara desert
  • What happens when you remove all of the oil from an engine? Fifth Gear finds out
  • World Superbike leader James Toseland and Tiff Needell race around a track with a Honda Fireblade CBR 1000RR and the new Honda Civic Type R
  • Jonny tests the new Mercedes C Class
  • A motorcycle stunt team performs in the Fifth Gear parking lot
  • Actor Chris Barrie gets to drive his dream car, an old Jaguar D-Type worth £3 million

Fifth Gear - Season 11, Episode 1 - 2007.04.30
In this episode:

  • Jason takes the £230,000 Brabus Rocket, the fastest four-door car on the planet, to the German Autobahn to see if he can crack 200 MPH
  • Vicki drives the new Fiat Panda 100HP and sees if it’s actually faster than a Ferrari (mind you, on a very small and tight track)
  • Jonny crashes a perfectly good Ford Focus into another Focus that had been previously crashed and repaired
  • Tiff heads to Las Vegas to drive the totally awesome Audi R8
  • Tom tests the new Kia Ceed by using to become a paparazzo