In a recent episode of the revised Fifth Gear television program former F1 racer Tiff Needell got some one on one time with the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG ‘Gullwing’. The location for his drive? The Isle of Man. As it is the Isle of Man presents some kind of motoring nirvana; the roads there have no speed limit. However, for Tiff’s drive the roads were closed. With no oncoming traffic to worry about how do you reckon he went? Take the jump to find out.
Rumors of Fifth Gear‘s return to TV screens first surfaced last December, just a few months after it was confirmed the show had been axed. It’s now official, Fifth Gear will be back on UK television screens in a few weeks time.
According to the Channel Five website the new series will premiere on Thursday 3 June. However, the futures of former presenters Tom Ford and Tim Shaw appear uncertain. A snippet from the Fifth Gear website reads, “The 17th series of the show will see your favouite hosts Tiff Needell, Vicki Butler-Henderson, Jason Plato and Jonny Smith return to your screens.”
As far as Tim Shaw is concerned AUSmotive hopes there is no comeback, but Tom Ford would be a loss. Aside from that the comeback episode sounds promising with Lewis Hamilton taking time away from mssaging his ego to test a new supercar—gee I wonder what that could be.
Vicki and Tiff will be showing their talents in a hot hatch test featuring some mighty fine machines. They’ll be taking to the track in the Ford Focus RS, MeÌgane Renaultsport 250, Mazda3 MPS and Volkswagen Scirocco R.
However, the test AUSmotive is most looking forward to is Jason Plato’s review of the new Ferrari 458 Italia. Regular followers of the AUSmotive twitter feed will have already seen a preview of his thoughts. Can’t wait to see the full story.
Having Fifth Gear back is a good thing. At its best Fifth Gear provides a credible and genuine alternative to the bells and whistles entertainment of Top Gear. Fingers crossed the new season of Fifth Gear can find its best form. No drivel from Tim Shaw will be a fine start.
[Source: Five.tv]
Vicki-Butler Henderson has got her hands on the Porsche Boxster Spyder for the benefit of her Fifth Gear Web TV audience. Even better she took it to the track and gave a jolly good spanking. She reckons the car has a fantastic chassis, but is it worth the extra cash over the regular Boxster S?
Check out the video after the jump to find out.
[Thanks to Wayne for the tip]
That headline sounds less than flattering, but if you watch Vicki Butler-Henderson’s Fifth Gear Web TV review of the Porsche Panamera Turbo you will see she loves the thing.
I’m still not convinced of the Panamera’s styling, outside or inside, but, apparently the sensation from the driving position is a very good one. Ultimately, that’s all that matters. And with a six month waiting list for the Turbo taxi it looks like Porsche have given the market what it wants.
Enjoy the clip after the jump.
[via German Car Blog]
That’s the word on the tweet according to Jonny Smith. You’ll remember Jonny has already given us this potential scoop late year. This news follows reports from October last year confirming the show had been axed. Now, it looks as though Fifth Gear is about to take a leading role in Lazarus: The Auto Show. More news as it comes to hand…
UPDATE: Since this article was first posted Jonny Smith has tweeted, “we all know there’s room for 2 car TV shows. FG will simply be a reviews based visual car magazine.”
Tiff Needell has also confirmed via Twitter that Fifth Gear will be returning: “Home to the news that, after much negotiatiing Fifth Gear looks like it will after all be returning to your screens sometime in the Spring!”
According to former Fifth Gear presenter Jonny Smith, it looks like the other British TV show will be making a comeback in 2010. Smith posted the above tweet on Christmas morning (Australian time) and it makes quite a clear statement indicating Fifth Gear will be back.
News emerged in October that Fifth Gear would be cancelled, and the rumour was soon confirmed by Channel Five execs. If the show does return it will be interesting to see if there have been any format changes, or, more importantly, staff changes. Lose Tim Shaw and you have yourself a pretty handy lineup, really.
While it it may be true that Top Gear warms the hearts of more car fans across the globe, I believe Fifth Gear does have a place. If you agree, don’t forget you can get your fix by watching Fifth Gear Web TV.
Wow! What a totally amazing, excellent discovery! Jonny Smith, former Fifth Gear presenter, is trying to sell his 1975 AMC Pacer. You know the car, it’s like the one featured in Wayne’s World and, if my memory serves, is the only car ever made to have different sized driver and passenger doors. Yeah, odd, huh.
So, what’s not to like then? Here’s a chance to buy a genuinely odd ball car, from one of the best presenters to come out of Fifth Gear. It probably does help if you’re based in the UK, but Jonny’s ad says international bidders are welcome.
He’s just had his TV show cancelled, he’s already “sold” the car via eBay once—only to be cocked about by the time-wasting buyer—Jonny could do with a stroke of good fortune here. The online auction ends on Sunday, so help Jonny out—buy his Pacer today—it would be a most excellent thing to do.
The Mail Online reports that British television show Fifth Gear has been cancelled. The Channel Five program aired its sixteenth season earlier in the year and, according to the Mail report, Fifth Gear failed to rate in the channel’s top 30 programs.
However, recent tweets from one of the show’s stronger presenters, Jonny Smith, would indicate that no official announcement has been made, “Thanks to everyone for your compliments and words of encouragement. Remember, FG isn’t OFFICIALLY finished. Don’t (ever?) believe The Mail.”
Fifth Gear emerged when the original Top Gear format was cut by the BBC back in the early 2000s. Given the almost over the top production that Top Gear has become, it is not really fair to compare Fifth Gear with the best James, Jeremy and Richard can offer. Yet, the comparisons are inevitble. And, lately, Fifth Gear has fallen even further behind Top Gear.
For this viewer, Tim Shaw has signalled the death knell of the program. He is just an annoying twat, basically. Mine is not an isolated view either, so the fact he has been retained by the show’s producers for so long possibly indicates they have lost sight of what the viewer wants.
Whatever happens, what Fifth Gear did best was car reviews. In Jason Plato and Tiff Needell Fifth Gear possessed two very talented drivers who you knew were capable of wringing every last horsepower out of the cars they were testing. Even if Tiff was a bit too try hard at times. So, in a possible sign off for Fifth Gear, what better way to honour what was, generally speaking, a pretty damn good show than to enjoy Jason Plato’s review of the Ford Focus RS, which originally aired in February this year.
[Source: Mail Online via FinalGear.com]
UPDATE: I shot off an email to Channel Five execs earlier today seeking confirmation of this report. They confirmed the rumours are true—Fifth Gear has been cancelled—and had this to say: “Five is proud of Fifth Gear’s contribution to the channel but after 16 series, feels it’s time to try something new.”
You may recall that in addition to the regular TV show Fifth Gear offers a short and snappy web edition too. Generally hosted by Vicki Butler-Henderson, this is the latest episode—number 10. There’s a bit of news at the start before getting a closer look at Ken Block in action, while Vicki rounds things out by taking the 320bhp Vauxhall Insignia VXR for a spin.
Like the TV show this is more about inftotainment, rather than outright entertainment. I reckon this web edition has its place and makes quite good viewing, how about you?
If you’re not a Fifth Gear fan you’ll have missed the news that they have revamped their website to now include a fortnightly TV Web Edition. Kind of like the TV show, but without that fool Tim Shaw. It’s better already!
In Episode 5, the most recent installment, Vicki Butler-Henderson is given a drive of the stunning Volkswagen Concept BlueSport (click link for more). There’s only one of these in existence so far, so it’s a rare privilege indeed.
Despite earlier news that the BlueSport would not be built, hope remains that Volkswagen can find another suitor within its vast array of marques and give new life to the concept.
So, click on the image above to see what Vicki has to say about the closest thing to an affordable German MX-5 competitor we’re likely to see (the footage starts about 5 minutes into the episode).
On last night’s episode of Fifth Gear (16×05) Jonny filed a review for the not so new in Europe, but yet to be released in Australia, Volkswagen Mk6 Golf GTI. Click on the image above to watch the clip at the official Fifth Gear website.
Back in 2004 when Jason Plato thrashed the Mk5 GTI around the Paul Ricard test track (see below) you came away with a great feeling for what the car was like.
This time, though, I don’t think Jonny has done the car justice. Which is a shame. Hopefully we see Tiff Needell or Jason Plato in the GTI before the series finishes.
[Thanks to Simon for the tip]
Ever wondered if the Hot Wheels loop the loop you had as a kid was ever possible for real? Well, as this official Fifth Gear behind the scenes clip shows, you need wonder no more—resident Fifth Gear stuntman Steve Truglia has kicked off Series 16 with one of his best stunts yet.
The stunt was performed in partnership with Dunlop and you can see more about the build up at their special loop the loop microsite.