Tag: Fifth Gear

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Fifth Gear Volkswagen

Fifth Gear – Series 14, Episode 7

This episode started with a proper old skool hot hatch, the iconic Volkswagen Mk2 Golf GTI. I’ve been fortunate to see a great example of these up close and they really are bloody good cars. Take a well loved Mk2 GTI to a tight mountain pass and it will keep any current hot hatch very honest indeed. Jonny was out to see what sort of improvements he could make at his local tuning shop. After Tiff set a benchmark time, Jonny started the mods. They started with the easy stuff like new suspension and exhaust, but also undertook a complete engine rebuild that was hoped to give a very tidy 50hp increase. The first part of the clip is shown above, check the second part to see how well the mods work at the end of this article.

Read on to see what else was in store for this episode…

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Fifth Gear Volkswagen

Fifth Gear – Series 14, Episode 6

Volkswagen Australia, are you watching! Even Tom Ford, all the way over in England, knows the deal—bring the Scirocco to Australia in place of the three door Golf GTI. While GTI production is in limbo prior to the launch of the MkVI model the case for the Scirocco is even stronger. WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?!

So we know how Episode 6 started, read on to see what else the Fifth Gear had in store.

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Fifth Gear

Fifth Gear – Season 14, Episode 5

The shootout saw Jason Plato in a Lexus IS-F with Tiff Needell in a BMW M3 saloon. The Bimmer was quicker round the track. Just. But no surprise that the Toyota felt softer and more distant. Tom pitted the new Subaru Forester against a Land Rover Freelander II. He reckoned the Forester was tinny and under powered. He wasn’t much of a fan of the auto transmission either. A weclome addition to the cast this week was the Nissan GT-R and the Porsche 911 Turbo. Oh yeah, and Bruno Senna. Fittingly, he was fanging the cars around a wet track in conditions that his uncle would have loved (see clip above). I say, flick Tiff and replace him with Bruno.

Vicki filed a report from a tribute to Colin McRae which saw 1086 Impreza WRXs spell out his name. She also got a fang in McRae’s 1996 WRC winning car. Very tidy indeed! Tom had a go in the Dodge Challenger SRT8. I have to say it looks pretty damn good—for an American coupé. Vicki got the keys to a Vauxhall Astra VXR Nürburgring and a Ford Focus ST (XR5 to us Aussies). Geez, they cram a lot into these episodes. Plato finished the show with John Prescott in a racing Jaguar XK-R. The first three episodes of this series were a bit testing at times, but the last couplf have been much better.

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Fifth Gear

Fifth Gear – Series 14, Episode 4

Apologies for the late update to this week’s show. Jason Plato—AUSmotive’s preferred Fifth Gear presenter—started the show comparing the JDM Honda Civic Mugen RR v the UK spec 2000 GT. The Japanese Civic was the quickest around their test track, and by some margin, plus it sounds bloody good, too.

I didn’t want to mention Tim Shaw this week, but given he covered the revised CO2 taxes UK residents will be paying shortly, I thought it would be worth raising, given our federal government’s recent issues with its proposed Luxury Car Tax increases. I’m guessing it won’t be long until we’re paying taxes based on emissions here in Australia too. They highlighted a Volkswagen Golf 1.6 and a Citroen C4 XS, the French car expels 13 grams less in CO2 emissions, but when the new tax laws are introduced, the Citroen will cost almost AU$200 less to register. I daren’t mention the funky and frugal MINI John Cooper Works again (6.9l/100km, 165 g/km), but, well I just did.

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Fifth Gear

Fifth Gear – Series 14, Episode 3

Fifth Gear - Series 14, Episode 3

A much better showing from the lads at Fifth Gear this week. The shootout saw Jason Plato pit der neue Passat R36 Estate against der neue Audi A4 3.0TDI Estate. TheR36 is Volkswagen’s most powerful and quickest production car to date, but it didn’t have it all its own way against the A4 oil burner. More VAG content when VBH compared a Golf GT TDI against a Kia PRO-cee’d diesel. She reckons the Kia is getting better. While I hate to admit it doesn’t actually look too bad, I’ll take her word for it otherwise. Jonny went to the Ultimate Street Car show, or Summer Nats for chavs. He claimed there was some art and talent there, and to be fair, he’s probably right. But there’s also a crap load of wasted money, including a Civic Type R that has had £90K (AU$193K) thrown at it. Tiff drove around with Jarno Trulli in a Prius. It’s okay, they fell asleep too. Tim Shaw simply has to lose the stupid jumpers and poxy jeans, although, that would leave him with precisely no personality. A point he proved again while trying to match manufacturer’s performance claims in a MINI Cooper S, Mazda MX-5 and an Ariel Atom. Tom drove around in a new Honda Accord Jap, oops, I mean Euro. Tiff closed out the show being a prat against Australia’s own Jason Crump on a speedway track. Predictable results and a whining Tiff followed. Passable.

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Fifth Gear

Fifth Gear – Series 14, Episode 2

Fifth Gear - Series 14, Episode 2 - Porsche 911 GT2

So the next episode of Fifth Gear has been and gone and if you can’t wait for it to air on Foxtel’s Lifestyle Channel, here’s a quick recap. Tiff brings back the shoot-out, starting with Mazda’s revised RX-8 up against Nissan’s 350Z. Whoa, that beeping rev limiter on the RX-8 is just daft. Just as well the Zed is quicker, then. Tim Shaw—epic fail. ‘Nuff said. Vicki spent a day with Lewis Hamilton to see if she could find someone who loves Lewis more than James Allan. Jonny flashed £3K around to see what would be the best used motor on offer. He started with an E34 BMW M5, then toyed a Ford SportKa before deciding to keep half his money and buy a first gen Mazda MX-5. Plato fangs about in a new Porsche 911 GT2. Very tidy. Tom is let out in a Benz SL63 AMG and reckons the old one was better. The show ends with a Fifth Gear crash test. They used a Peugeot 306 Cabrio …  it was ugly! The crash results, not the car.

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Fifth Gear

Fifth Gear – Series 14, Episode 1

Fifth Gear - Series 14, Episode 1 - Rinspeed Squba

Fifth Gear is back on UK screens and Episode 1 of Series 14 saw the debut of a new presenter, Tim Shaw. No, not the Demtel man, but someone possibly as, erm, loveable. We also saw Snooker legend and resident bad boy Ronnie O’Sullivan get some advice on how to blow his Crucible winnings. He took his pick from a Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG, a BMW M3 Convertible and a Mitsubishi Evo X. Speaking of the Evo, Jason and Tiff put the Mitsubishi Evo X and the new-ish Subaru Impreza WRX STi to the test to determine which was the best track day weapon. Jonny showed that scrap metal is not always worth more than the sum of its parts. Tom tried to see if the Ford Kuga was a stick in the mud, and, well, it was, even if he reckons it’s otherwise okay. Cast your mind back the the slick Roger Moore James Bond era and you’ll see exactly where Rinspeed’s inspiration for the sQuba came from (pictured above).

See you next week.

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Fifth Gear

Fifth Gear – Series 13, Episode 10

my what an ugly butt you haveThis was the last episode in Series 13 of Fifth Gear. The Anglesea shootout was between the early 1990s Ford Escort Cosworth and the early 2000s Ford Focus RS. Interestingly the older Cossie took the honours and was around 1.5 seconds quicker around the track than the RS. Amazingly, and somewhat surprisingly, as seen on last week’s show, my wife’s shopping trolley (Mk5 Golf GTI) is faster than both of these, haha.

It’s new, but it still didn’t keep me awake. Lucky, then, Tiff took the wheel of the new Impreza STi. Well, maybe not if you work for Subaru. He wasn’t exactly glowing in his praise of the car. Seems that, as well as hitting the new Rex with the ugly stick, Subie have hit it with the softly, softly stick as well. Shame.

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Fifth Gear MINI Renault

Renault Clio Cup v MINI Cooper S JCW

Renault Australia, get your arses into gear! Why do we not get the Clio down under? It was released when Napolean was telling Josephine ‘not tonight!’ There’s no excuses, surely!

Rant aside, this is a clip featuring the Renault Clio Cup and the MINI Cooper S with JCW tuning kit, as broadcast on the final episode of Fifth Gear’s series 13 (more on that to be posted later). Jason and Tiff abuse the cars around Cadwell Park and in a close affair the Clio Cup takes the beans from the mildly tuned Cooper S. While a more seriously tweaked factory built MINI John Cooper Works has been announced, which should give it the edge over the lightened Clio, it will get nowhere near the Clio Cup if ‘bang for buck’ is high on your purchasing criteria. C’mon Renault, bring it to Australia, you know it makes sense!

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Fifth Gear

Fifth Gear – Series 13, Episode 9

Oops, a bit late with this precis (Episode 10 aired last night)! Fifth Gear‘s Series 13, Episode 9 kicked off, as usual, with a shootout at the Anglesea track, and we saw the current hot-hatch du jour, the Mk5 Golf GTI take on the newly launched Subaru Impreza WRX. It seems the new Rex has been hit with a curse worse than the ugly stick. (See below for YouTube clip).

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Fifth Gear

Fifth Gear – Series 13, Episode 8

Fifth Gear 13x08Episode eight rolled off Fifth Gear‘s production line last night. Starting off at Anglesea, as usual, was another pointless comparison, as usual. This week saw a Porsche Cayenne GTS against a BMW X5 4.8 V8. And just in case you want to know which SUV is quickest around the track, which of course you do, then get the Porsche.

Quite why the producers didn’t set Vicki on the track with the new Honda S2000 GT and Nissan 350Z GT is anyone’s guess. Actually, it was probably a good call as it was as plain as day that we’d be told the S2000 would make the best accessory du jour for all high street hairdressers.

Chemmy Alcott can ski better than she can drive. And at least when she is skiing she’s not making an arse of herself.

Citroen have bottled it and tried to make a German C5, so expect that to sell as well as the outgoing French one, even if Tom reckons it’s a quantum leap forward.

Jonny and Tiff actually do a damn good job of making NASCAR seem interesting with their Daytona 500 report. If only the cars turned right from time to time.

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Fifth Gear

Fifth Gear – Series 13, Episode 7

Fifth Gear 13x07The seventh episode of Fifth Gear‘s thirteenth series aired in the UK recently. Crumbs, this latest installment really was scraping the bottom of the barrel. As usual, Vicki kicked off the episode by punting a couple of cars around Anglesea, this week’s thrashings were the Vauxhall Corsa SRi and Ford Fiesta ST. Is it ever bloody dry at that track?! And they really need to ditch that damn it’s new but is it any good segment, or at least, spunk it up a bit with some moderately interesting cars.

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