5th Gear

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.

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.

Fifth Gear is made for hard core car enthusiasts who want to be informed. Top Gear is made for the masses of average people who like cars and want to be entertained. From experience, it is easier to get a woman who doesn't enjoy cars to watch an entire episode of Top Gear than Fifth Gear.

Fifth Gear is about the cars first, the location and the hosts come second. Top Gear is more about the guys, the locations and the post production special effects than the cars IMHO.

Fifth Gear's hosts; Tiff, Vicky, Jason and Ben are all professional racers that take that experience to the show. They are professional drivers first, TV Hosts second. Tiff and Vicky are also ex-Top Gear Hosts and worked with Jeremy Clarkson until the troubles that plagued the 2001 season of TG.

It was in 2002 that the current Top Gear format and the then new Fifth Gear both appeared on British TV for the first time.

Now, I like both shows, but Fifth gear appeals to the Car enthusiast in me and pumps more adrenaline in my veins than Top Gear ever has...

Well, it isn't as funny as Top Gear, but it goes straight to the point. Tiff Needell and Vicki Butler-Henderson were presenters at Top Gear before, but they decided to start their own show. Well, Tiff doesn't have verbal gifts of Clarkson, but his driving skills are amazing. And Vicki is so cute when she pushes car to the limit and giggles at same time. Style of Fifth Gear is like Old-school Top Gear style, and by my opinion, older TG:s were better than new. It's odd that Fifth Gear doesn't have any comments and its user rating is only 6.3? I bet that none of voters have even seen the show... Fifth Gear is really worth watching, I recommend it to all TG-fans.

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.