Fifth Gear

Recently started watching Fifth Gear when I noticed it was available on Prime, well from season 12 onwards.

Thoroughly enjoying it though it does have a couple of minor irritations.

My main gripes are are around the filming of the cars as they test them/ race them. The camera work is too frantic changing shots every 2 seconds or thereabouts, perhaps to give a feeling of exitement. Does not work for me, I end up feeling dizzy.

Usually music in background of said test, as presenter is talking. Its too intrusive and at times difficult to hear presenter Biggest gripe though is quality of filming. Its way too dark, especially at outdoor scenes

On the plus side its snappy. Runs for approx 25 minutes and during that time usually 4 segments of around 5/6 minutes each meaning it does not drag on.

Presenters are great, Vicki, Tiff and Jason are bona fide racing drivers and there seems to be a great chemistry and rivalry between them, friendly of course Other presenters I have seen are Jonny Smith and Tom Ford, seasoned car journolists who know there stuff.

It was always going to be compared to Top Gear, but Fifth Gear is more down to earth. Not every segment revolves around super or hyper cars, like Top Gear does. Plenty of cars featured that many people actually have and can afford. Plenty of decent items on things like car safety. They do however still have time to mess around so its not all serious all the time

More of a car show where cars are the stars, unlike Top Gear which is more of an entertaimment show, with the hosts being the stars.

Fifth Gear lives in the shadow of the top viewership car show ever. Top Gear UK has more worldwide viewers, but that's only because it is broad entertainment. It conveys only scraps of information, mostly through the Stig's segment. It's always funny when the bombastic Clarkson is shown to be wrong about a car by the Stig driving it in a way that would be impossible if Clarkson's review were true.

Fifth Gear's presenters all have the skills and athleticism to handle a fast car, unlike any of the speaking personalities on Top Gear UK. And they are better able to talk about the cars than the Top Gear US presenters. Fifth Gear does it all: watchable and interesting while managing to teach quite a bit about the cars. There is no bias that I can see, unlike Top Gear UK which favors British cars and mocks American cars, among others.

My criticism is that the show hasn't changed at all in the Internet era. There are a few complete episodes available only to UK viewers, and that's it. At minimum there should be episodes available to world viewers, not just UK; extended episodes and outtakes, which can be created at minimal additional cost; a forum with participation by the show's crew; and marketing tie-ins with auto makers and retailers to take advantage of the fact that many readers will be shopping for a car.

In short, 5th Gear is a "Five" re-hash of the old Top Gear format, and because it uses many of the same cast and crew, minus Jeremy Clarkson, it's a good one. It's like TG used to be a few years back, when the items were geared more towards information, although I will say that I have always found Tiff Needell entertaining when he track-tests a super-car.

Some have said that the show would benefit from Clarkson; personally I don't think so, partly because Five would probably have to be careful about not upsetting advertisers (unlike the BBC) and he has, shall we say, shown the potential for that!!

All in all, 5th Gear is a great show, and long may it continue.

I love the fact that all the presenters seem friends with each other and every episode is about the cars and not about them. Down to Earth and charming. Could be called the great British car show.

Still an enjoyable show. Jason, Jonny and Vikki are great. Jimmy the bore, not so much. I fast forward his bits. He's no replacement for Tiff. Get someone who can either drive or entertain. Or preferably both.