Fifth Gear Recharged

For a brief time, the UK had three car shows that talked about cars in all their glory; Top Gear, which was now in its fourth incarnation in just as many years, The Grand Tour, which had sprang forth from the former, and Fifth Gear, which couldn't stay buried for long and had ran on and off since its launch in 2002 from the remains of the original Top Gear.

At this point, it had been revived several times over. Quest's was the latest attempt in 2018.

Then Quest did their first stupid thing one year later; fire Tiff Needell. 30 years of hard service, 16 of them at Fifth Gear, yet dismissed in the blink of an eye. Whether it was due to ageism or simply someone at Quest with a vendetta, Tiff was pulled away from a lot of his life's work without so much as a basic explanation. Then after one more series, the programme retools into this, an EV-only show. Not only was the 'Fifth Gear' name already increasingly obsolete with most new cars coming with 6 - 7+ speed gearboxes and C5 having ceded the rights long ago, it was now entirely vestigial. A name that means nothing other than a minor bit of brand power it once had in its mid-2000s heyday.

As for the favourable review that condemns its critics in the usual virtue-signalling way; limiting the scope of your programme to talking about EVs does not magically make the variety of new petrol cars still coming out and the people who are passionate about them go away.

Petrol cars are here to stay for a good while, the used market only prolonging their relevancy to consumers looking for potential advice delivered in a way only a car show could.

This programme ignores the RB17 hypercar. The Bugatti Tourbillon. The Aston Martin Valhalla. Moving further down into obtainable territory, we have the upcoming Toyota MR2 and Celica reboots, as well as the inevitable C8 Corvette ZR1 and bat-crazy Mustang GTD. You will never hear a peep about these cars on the new Fifth Gear because of the manner of their birth. And that's a shame.

Because these are cars that are and will be important for not only the immediate future, but perhaps the next decade. And they will have no big-budget show to talk about them. Top Gear finally died, The Grand Tour concluded on its own terms, and Fifth Gear has no interest in it. The programme has willingly turned its back on a large portion of the fans who helped get it off the ground 20 years ago.

All we have left is Lovecars: On The Road, Tiff Needell's pet project. And it's a show I strongly advise you watch instead. This is little more than pandering to a small minority of the fanbase and of the automotive fandom as a whole to try and force a consensus down the rest of our throats.

I love cars, and I feel there's been a gap in the market for this kind of show for a long time, a car show about cars (not forced childish games), and cars that you can actually consider buying.

I also haven't managed to keep up to date on the electric car market, so I'm appreciating the content. I have been surprised about what's already there and even more about what's to come in the near future.

Don't be distracted by climate change deniers, this show is just about cars, and electric cars are here to stay whether they want to accept it or throw their frustrations against a great tv show.

Vicky and Jason are legends that give the show an extra humph.

Its a decent show, something for everyone here. I would like to see them push the limits of whats possible in the reviews a bit more but its a solid effort from the Team. Well done. One thing that is annoying though from these shows is the confusion between kWh and kW with constant incorrect references being made between the two very different metrics throughout the show.

One could say "we do both" but this seems more like check the boxes. How about stop with the corny jokes mixed with being super woke, car passion coming 3rd and rather find real chemistry between the team and a good writer to help behind the scenes.

This forced wokeness is getting to the point of being absurd.

Show and cars have no soul . Rory get the clowns off of top gear and return to that show you are twice as good as flintoff and mcmarblemouth your enthusiasim for cars shows , even for bland erectric cars tried watching the new show , bloody painful.