New Series Fifth Gear On At 8 Tonite

[grober]

New series of Fifth Gear on tonight at 8pm for anyone interested. Features Joe Calzaghe going off road with Tiffany Dell and VBH driving a Ferrari California ---among other things.

 

[gurpz]

Yup was going to make a post myself. Should be good filler until Top Gear's back in what they say might be in March.

 

[A210AMG]

Set the Series link on Sky thanks

 

[stats007]

Tiffany Dell

I always thought he was a bit effeminate .

 

[Fandango]

I managed to endure 20 min, then switched the TV off.
What a load of carp.

Anyway, I'm off to bed with a headache.

 

[kraftwerk]

I managed 30 minutes. Ghastly. Don't think I'll be bothering again.

 

[A210AMG]

You probably missed the best bit the Ferrari.


Look past the presenters its the CARS I watch it for (although VBH is ok)

 

[kraftwerk]

I used to watch it for the cars, but their presentation of them this evening was dreadful. Skoda Superb piece - what was that about? KTM and Lotus feature -ruined by that ghastly pissing about with the boxes. Golf item - why bother with the rubbish supermarket preamble and pathetic bakery analogy? It just smacks of terrible scriptwriting and a depressing lack of imagination.

 

[A210AMG]

I still stand by what I say, I watch it for the cars

Top Gear can be the same a lot of daftness between actual car talk but I like it.

The two programs are the only two car programs on normal TV and as I love cars I watch them.

If it annoys you then fair enough....

 

[Dieselman]

Most of the programme was Ok but is badly scripted/delivered.
The Ferrari piece wes, well...normal VBH fayre...
The Skoda bit was Ok if only to highlight the issue of quality V's cost and depreciation, the Golf was quite interesting as it's a mainstream car and highlighted VW's profit weakness on the old model...but the best bit was, as usual...the crash test...

Oops..!

I bet sales of Shermans go through the roof now...

 

[grober]

Lacklustre first program. I would have liked a closer shufty at the Bowler Nemesis for example. http://www.bowler-offroad.com/nemesis.htm Hopefully it will improve in future episodes.

 

[kraftwerk]

I still stand by what I say, I watch it for the cars

Top Gear can be the same a lot of daftness between actual car talk but I like it.

The two programs are the only two car programs on normal TV and as I love cars I watch them.

If it annoys you then fair enough....

What annoys me most is the missed opportunity. An hour of programming supposedly given over to cars ruined by it being rubbish.

 

[timskemp]

Ferrari California. I really like it but is it really worth an SL63 and a lot of change?

Skoda Superb. That's why I drive an E class. It's meant to appeal to me, not the C class driver, giving E / 5 space on a C/3 budget. Notice how they didn't major on the fact that it doesn't drive anything like a proper rear drive exec car does, just kept hitting it with a hammer. And if they'd stopped me in the street I'd have told them - it's not a merc or bmw, so take it away. It's a car for families with teenage kids, they'll be happy to travel in the back but will never ask to borrow it to brag to their mates.

Zafira. We've had two of them. It fared better than I thought - but the reality is that it wouldn't have had the run-on in a real motorway pileup -it would have been a more sudden stop.

Lotus vx X-bow - Who the hell wants the X-bow anyway?

I like fifth gear - it has Tiff (that's Timothy, not Tiffany) Jason and Vicky all of whom can actually drive and don't need a white racing suit to make the other presenters look good.

 

[timskemp]

What annoys me most is the missed opportunity. An hour of programming supposedly given over to cars ruined by it being rubbish.

It's about 42 minutes if you cut the competition, next part previews and ads.

 

[Dryce]

Zafira. We've had two of them. It fared better than I thought - but the reality is that it wouldn't have had the run-on in a real motorway pileup -it would have been a more sudden stop.

That was the only bit I saw.

- People who use the rear seats don't have a lot of options. That's why they buy the Zafira or its ilk.

- Why no comparison - does anything else do the job better (eg. Previa, Sedona, E-class estate, ML, Disco).

- As usual they screw up the science bit. Confusing force with momentum and energy.

- Why no stats. Is this sort of collision really representative and what about actual accident rates?

So we were left with a totally pointless exercise to scaremonger with no background reporting or worthwhile opinion.

This sort of stuff reminds me of why I despise so much TV.

 

[KillerHERTZ]

1st of all, lose all the presenters bar Tiff, Plato. The thin guy and the fat bearded bloke arent even suitable for a GCSE project in program making.


At that 'New' MG's built quality, the screws are visible in the shaky armrest. 16k!!!

 

[SilverSaloon]

i still dont get the MG re-hash. It didnt sell very well last time for a reason - to bring it back with little change it at that price, it still wont sell. People will by an MX5 or similar 1st! A good point about the 2nd hand value aswell, a last of the line previous MG over the new one.... hmmm. I'd have neither though! screws visible was appauling.

I switched off after 30 mins but forgot about the crash test so didnt see it. I assume the Zafira's rear seats were squished? i wonder how a E class etstate's rear facing seats would fare? there is a gap between the seat and the rear of the car because its rear facing - so atleast there is some space for the dent to go, rather than your body.

 

[Dryce]

I switched off after 30 mins but forgot about the crash test so didnt see it. I assume the Zafira's rear seats were squished? i wonder how a E class etstate's rear facing seats would fare? there is a gap between the seat and the rear of the car because its rear facing - so atleast there is some space for the dent to go, rather than your body.

They didn't go into much detail. The main point was that the heads of the rear passengers were so far back they were struck by the truck as it collapsed the rear screen. Headrests would not have protected them. Apart from that very little detail.

If they had thought about this they should have tested at least four vehicles: Small people carrier like the Zafira, a larger one with clearance behind the rear passengers, an estate with rear facing seats, and a 4x4 with side facing seats.

 

[jeremytaylor]

I thought the Zafira did pretty well too, considering.

The only thing is that the rear seat passengers heads on Zafiras and its ilk are very close to the rear screen (as the test showed with the heads hitting the front of the truck). Whereas rear-facing passengers in the back of an E-class estate (and similar Volvos) at least have the heads further forward and away from the danger zone. If something is going to be hit, I would rather it is my feet in the back of an estate than my head in the back of an MPV!

 

[SilverSaloon]

I thought the Zafira did pretty well too, considering.

The only thing is that the rear seat passengers heads on Zafiras and its ilk are very close to the rear screen (as the test showed with the heads hitting the front of the truck). Whereas rear-facing passengers in the back of an E-class estate (and similar Volvos) at least have the heads further forward and away from the danger zone. If something is going to be hit, I would rather it is my feet in the back of an estate than my head in the back of an MPV!

Yeah i agree with that. I dont use the extra 2 seats in mine that often though, and I avoid long trips/motorway trips in them in i can. They are useful when really needed though, and the kids love to wave or pull faces at the unfortunate driver behind

As for 5th Gear; they really need to find their own format instead of trying to copy Top Gear. Tiff and Plato's box challenge thing felt really fake - trying to hard to give the impression of real mates having a laugh - something May, Hammond and Clarkson do well, even if its also faked to an extent.

I personally think they have too many presenters. 2 or 3 is enough I reckon. The audience in Top Gear also helps things - but then they really would be copying TG. I liked Jonney's used car for a grand thing they did last series with the jag, 7 series and W126 S Class. More things like that IMO.

If it were up to me, i'd have the hairy guy, plato and jonney and keep it like that. The guy who co-presents with the hairy guy (sorry forget his name) is useless IMO.