Fifth Gear

So there you have it,top gear is the best car show(wait 5 seconds...)in the world,but what's with that other show "Fifth gear" Clarkson was talking about?Being a top gear fan,makes you wanna hate fifth gear already right?I though maybe i could see an episode or two of fifth gear then I can justifiably say "I watched it and it sucks ".But then something really weird happened or didn't happen...Not only I didn't hate it but after the first couple of episodes,in my mind it established itself as one of the most descend car shows in the world.Not only that but it had the only thing the best car show in the world didn't have...Nice big chunks of REALITY.So here is the sum up: Fifth gear is:

----less fun/funny than top gear. ++++Way more realistic,more and better consumer advice. -Not a single person with a great narator's voice when top gear has lots of them. +More practical info,also features like "It's new but is it any good?" and "Cars you didn't know you could afford". -Presenters acting too friendly to the viewers almost begging to watch them. +A woman amongst the presenters.Would be super hot if she lost some weight but still a nice addition to the show. -Script and challenges not as good as top gear's.

So add this up and you come up with Top Gear(9 stars) - 1=8 If you want a show that is great to watch,unusually funny and amusing with super-cars taking up 90% of the time,in a world where every car other than super/hyper/ultra is just rubbish(so rubbish that doesn't deserve a real review),enter the crazy world of Top Gear.But if Earth is your kind of world then Fifth Gear is the car show to take you there.

Rory Reid is not a car reviewer. Get rid of him and focus strengths which are facts and head-to-head tests. The earlier seasons were really great to watch.

I skip everything by Rory as it's borderline bad advice for consumer owners. It adds nothing to the show which is mostly watched by enthusiasts and real car people.

Give us consumer advice, real road tests and what you think consumers will actually buy and run with little issues based on your recommendations.

A great show but too much fluff as of recent that is unnecessary. Let Vicky and Jason do proper road tests with facts. Just give us what we want and the show will be successful again.

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.