As most of you already know, Fifth Gear ended last year. We didn't need Tiff's confirmation of the fact, as it was evident the old TV format had run its course.
Many gearheads, especially in Britain, grew up on this stuff(while Top Gear was off). But for whatever reason - time, work, other shows - many just neglected to watch the last few series Vicki and Tiff put together.
So what can you do? Well, you could probably download the episodes somewhere on the interwebs. But why bother when you can just watch them on Youtube?
Barcroft Cars seem to have purchased the rights and have uploaded four episodes of Series 25 in the past few weeks with more to come. It's relatively relevant stuff, regarding things like the BMW i8, the S63 AMG and even a screaming competition between the Ferrari F12 and the Aston Martin Vanquish.
In the first episode, Tiff Needell and Formula E racing driver Karun Chandhok put two fast limos up against each other on the track - the Mercedes S63 AMG and the Jaguar XJR. The presenting team test the Citroen C4 Cactus, a car with airbags on the outside, and find out how well it can stand up to being hit with a shopping trolley.
In episode two, VBH drives Aston Martin’s most powerful Vantage and Porsche’s most powerful 911 to find out which is fastest around a track. We all know how that's going to end! After that, the team test BMW’s first ever front-wheel drive car, the 2 Series Active Tourer Active Tourer, with Tiff concluding that it's unpleasant to drive.
And in the third episode, which is my favorite of the bunch, we get to see Vicki playing with the Alfa Romeo 4C. It's really satisfying to see the same flaws with the new Twingo we've discussed on some occasions being revealed.
While 65-year old Tiff might have to retire from the car reviewing business, we think Fifth Gear needs to live on, even if modern cars have as many as nine gears. Team tests, the banter between Needell and Plato... all that was great about the show.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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