Fifth Gear Season 14 Episode 5

Although this week’s episode was also a bit late, it sure made up in the great cars it had on this show.

It all kicked off with a classic dog fight between Jason Plato and Tiff Needell, driving two performance sedans, the Lexus IS-F and the BMW M3. It was a true show of force, but on the circuit the M3 beat the IS-F by only a tenth of a seconds, quite impressive because nobody ever gave the Japanese car a chance at taking up the classic performance european models. But the fight didn’t end here, they later picked up the clash between the fast sedans with a rather unique test, Jason and Tiff both taking 3 girls in their cars and going on a lap of the circuit, the winner being the one who managed to get the heart rate of their passangers the highest. Needless to say, Tiff’s driving style and the donuts at the end of the lap won the challenge.

Next up, Tom pitted the new Subaru Forester against the current preferred small SUV car, the Land Rover Freelander 2. On a specially designed test track, the cars were really put through their paces, with the Freelander setting a respectable benchmark. One which the Forester got quite close, but the terrible automatic gearbox and petrol-powered engine dissappointing Tom. As a conclusion, although the car was pretty enjoyable, the Forester was let down by the engine and automatic gearbox.

The next feature had a special guest driving one of the most desirable cars at the moment, the Nissan GT-R and the Porsche 911 Turbo, driven by GP2 driver, Bruno Senna, the nephew of the great Airton Senna. Although the 911 did a great job, being one of Bruno’s favourite cars, the GT-R got him really excited, the lack of turbo lag impressed him very much, so did the responsive gearbox. All of these reflected in the time, the GT-R beating the 911 by an impressive half a second.

Vicky followed with her trip on the record breaking Subaru congregation in honor of the late great WRC driver, Colin McRae. It was a great trip, and reflected the problems met in this monumental gathering of Subaru Imprezas. The spelling of Colin’s name was a true challenge in organisation but in the end it was amazing, setting a new world record.

Next up, Tom grabbed the wheel of one of the most desirable modern american muscle cars, the Dodge Challenger SRT8. It was a great drive, although the big HEMI engine drank gas as easily as water, the car really stole Tom’s heart, with the design and V8 engine. Dodge didn’t bother with calculations of the CO2 emissions or passanger space, they just made a true muscle car.

Vicky returned next, testing two hot hatches, the Vauxhall/Opel Astra VXR Nurburgring Edition and the Ford Focus ST. Although down on power, the Focus beat the Astra with over half a second, most of it due to the great chasis of the Ford, and the lack of engine finesse of the Astra.

A special guest appeared on the last segment of the show, John Prescott, a respected Parliament member which wanted to develop his racing skills, by driving a racing prepped Jaguar XKR, with 420 hp, a true change to the usual cars to which the former deputy prime-minister was acquainted with. Although John really liked to put the power down on the straight lines, the corners really made him slow down, making Jason laugh quite a lot. In the end, the advices really helped John a lot, improving his racing skills.

In the end, the show really impressed and you should expect the next review tomorrow, until then here are a couple of videos from this show.