- 6/27/2025
Top Gear Season 1 Episode 1 (2002) – The Beginning of a Motoring Legend!
The first-ever episode of the modern Top Gear series aired on October 20, 2002, and marked the return of Jeremy Clarkson with a brand-new format, introducing The Stig, a dedicated test track, and celebrity guests.
🔥 In this episode:
Jeremy Clarkson drives the exotic Pagani Zonda supercar
Practical review of the Citroën Berlingo Multispace
The Stig’s first lap time on the Top Gear test track
Guest star Harry Enfield in the "Star in a Reasonably Priced Car" challenge
Introduction of the new studio and car testing format
This episode set the tone for what would become one of the most beloved car shows in the world.
🏁 Whether you're rewatching the classics or discovering Top Gear for the first time, this is where the journey begins!
👉 Like, comment, and subscribe for more full episodes and classic car content.
#TopGear #TopGearSeason1 #JeremyClarkson #PaganiZonda #TheStig #ClassicTopGear #BBCMotoring #TopGearEpisode1
The first-ever episode of the modern Top Gear series aired on October 20, 2002, and marked the return of Jeremy Clarkson with a brand-new format, introducing The Stig, a dedicated test track, and celebrity guests.
🔥 In this episode:
Jeremy Clarkson drives the exotic Pagani Zonda supercar
Practical review of the Citroën Berlingo Multispace
The Stig’s first lap time on the Top Gear test track
Guest star Harry Enfield in the "Star in a Reasonably Priced Car" challenge
Introduction of the new studio and car testing format
This episode set the tone for what would become one of the most beloved car shows in the world.
🏁 Whether you're rewatching the classics or discovering Top Gear for the first time, this is where the journey begins!
👉 Like, comment, and subscribe for more full episodes and classic car content.
#TopGear #TopGearSeason1 #JeremyClarkson #PaganiZonda #TheStig #ClassicTopGear #BBCMotoring #TopGearEpisode1
Category
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TVTranscript
00:00This is a car program. There will be no cushions. There will be no rag rolling. No one will sing and at the end of the series no one will have a recording contract.
00:18This is our new base. And this is our purpose built test track. There are no traffic jams here, well apart from this one, and no bus lanes either.
00:30This is Top Gear.
00:35And in the show tonight, I put two supercars head to head.
00:40Jason Dore on what to do when car dealers attack.
00:47Richard Hammond will try to beat a speed camera.
00:51And a star in a reasonably priced car.
01:00Hello. Now, two family hatchbacks, the Ford Focus and the Volkswagen Golf.
01:06Both have five doors, both have 1.6 litre engines and both cost around £12,000.
01:12That's how much family hatchbacks cost.
01:16Or do they?
01:17You see, on Top Gear, we found one that you can buy in Britain, no tricks, brand new, for less than £9,000.
01:26This is it. It's the Citroen Blingo Multispass.
01:30And I admit, it's a curious looking thing.
01:32That's because it started out in life as a van.
01:36All they've done is add some windows here, sliding doors, some snazzy seats where the cement used to go, and hey presto.
01:45Garnish it with some metallic paint, some alloy wheels, and you can even have a diesel version for £8,995.
01:52Thing is, though, are you getting what you pay for?
01:56Is it like cheap wine? Will you wake up with a headache?
02:00Well, to find out, I took it down the M20 to the Boozeborough for a trip to those supermarkets of Calais.
02:08First impressions are that I'm driving a van.
02:11It's quite echoey in here and not terribly refined.
02:16Most central locking systems, for instance, these days, they go...
02:21But listen to this.
02:26It's very uncouth.
02:30In essence, then, the Blingo is very loud, very Van Halen.
02:37But there is a softer Van Morrison option.
02:41For the same money, you can have a 1.6-litre petrol engine which develops the same power as a Mark I Golf GTI.
02:54With that under the bonnet, this would feel much more like a normal car.
03:01But how many normal cars have you ever come across that have got green dashboards with green dials?
03:08And how many normal cars are there with five glass panels in the roof?
03:13And they use roof bars which swivel sideways so you can carry a bicycle.
03:19Whatever a bicycle is.
03:20No doubt about it, the Blingo is turning out to be astonishing value for money.
03:27It is possible to buy a number of other cars for Blingo money, but none of them will be this size, none of them will be this well equipped, and none of them will have something that we're really looking for on this new series of top gear.
03:51It's an X Factor.
03:54See, this, this is a perfectly acceptable car, but this, I don't know, it's more than a car somehow.
04:00You'd want to bring it in at night, let it sit by the fire, give it a saucer of warm milk and a little wheel to run round in.
04:10It's got the most important thing that a car can have. Character.
04:16And now the coal is back in Newcastle. The Blingo is back where it came from.
04:28And I still can't find anything really wrong with it. The turning circle's not much cop and there's a fair bit of road noise.
04:36It's not terribly sporty either. But it is very comfortable. Hand on heart, it rides like a Jaguar.
04:49I could go on all day giving you swings and roundabouts, but the fact of the matter is, basically, I like it.
04:56Right, here we are at one of those Calais hypermarket cash-and-carry booze warehouse jobs and, boy, have I got the car for the job.
05:09Let me show you what I mean. We've got storage space up here, up here and here above the driver.
05:19In the back, there are two extra glove boxes and then, if we slide that open, we've got a cubby hole here under the floor and another one there.
05:30Then we simply fold the seats down like so. And we have a cavernous boot.
05:40And I haven't finished yet, because if we open the tailgate, there's another overhead locker here for a further ten kilograms of booze.
05:51So, let's shop.
05:53I want, erm, that one. That case there.
06:03It's all terribly exciting, all this cheap booze.
06:07But you have to be careful, because if customs suspect you're bringing stuff back that's not for your own personal consumption,
06:14they'll confiscate it and your car. And they're currently confiscating 30 cars a day.
06:19So I caught up with the shop's owner and his girlfriend to talk about this.
06:24Because I was reading in the paper that if I were to put 500 bottles of gin in the car, which I'm legally allowed to do.
06:32Absolutely. Customs are so, well, you'd never get through all that.
06:35How can they say that when it was Maggie Thatcher told us to stock our larders up? I mean...
06:41With 500 bottles of gin.
06:42Yeah, but if you drink a bottle of gin a day, that's only a year and a half supply. That's not a lot.
06:49Fizzy Liebfrau Milch.
06:53I don't think I'll be able to convince customs that's for my personal consumption.
06:58No.
07:00Other people were going berserk, perhaps because they didn't like their cars very much.
07:05Perhaps they wanted to have them squashed.
07:07Trouble is, I really am very, very fond of this car and I don't want customs to crush it. So...
07:18There we are. Saved a few quid.
07:22Well, pence.
07:26Now I should explain at this point that other vans are available.
07:29There's the Fiat Doblo, which is a trifle cheaper than this, but I think I'm right in saying it's the slowest accelerating car that money can buy in Britain today.
07:390-60 is 21 seconds.
07:42Then there's the Ford Torneo Connect.
07:45That's over £10,000. You don't even want to think about that. That's so awful.
07:49And then there's the Renault Kangoo. That's okay, but basically it's not as good as this.
07:54You have to have a Berlingo. The question is, diesel or petrol?
07:59Well, to help us decide that, I've been joined now by Top Gear's new car trader, pocket-sized chap, Jason Doerr.
08:07What do you reckon?
08:08Petrol.
08:09Really?
08:10Yeah, don't bother with the diesel. It makes you feel too much like a van.
08:12Well, it did feel like that. Going down the motorway, there was that...
08:15noise and you just think, look, I've saved enough money here.
08:17Yeah, but you can save even more at the minute.
08:18Really?
08:19Yep, they are doing a facelift on this car, which means they're going to change the bumpers and the bonnet in a couple of bits, but it'll basically look the same.
08:25What it does mean is that Citroen have got some of the old models. They need to get shot of them.
08:28These ones, basically?
08:29Yeah, yeah.
08:30This car?
08:31This car, yep.
08:32So what are they doing?
08:33They're doing a deal, you can get all the VAT off, so that means that instead of 8995, you can get a 1.4 for 7,700 pounds.
08:407,700 for one of these?
08:417,700, yeah.
08:42That's the bargain of a century.
08:43Cheap as chips.
08:45Good tip.
08:46Right.
08:47If I could just sum it up, it's like Gérard Depardieu.
08:50Slightly swollen middle, broken nose, but there are hidden talents.
08:54And it's not just me who likes it.
08:56Everyone in the Top Gear office likes it.
08:57All the crew here like it.
08:59Everyone, well, apart from him, he doesn't like it very much, but everyone else does.
09:03And the people who like it most of all are the family of Albanians that I inadvertently brought back into Britain in each of the wheel archers.
09:11They've written to me from their new house in Leatherhead, the Hollies, to say that it will always hold a special place in their heart.
09:19Great car.
09:20You know how, when you're making up a list, as you do, of the world's greatest race cars, you've just got to include the Ford GT40.
09:28And here's a reminder why.
09:30More on-line.
09:31That's why.
09:32Here's a reminder.
09:33We'll see you next time.
09:34Bye.
09:35Bye.
09:37Bye.
09:40Bye.
09:41Bye.
09:42Bye.
09:43Bye.
09:44Bye.
09:45Bye.
09:46Bye.
09:47Bye.
09:48Bye.
09:49Bye.
09:50Bye.
09:51Bye.
09:52Bye.
09:53Bye.
09:54Bye.
09:55Bye.
09:56Bye.
09:57Bye.
09:58so they built one of the most successful race cars ever great but that gave them a problem
10:16because try as they might they struggled for years to build anything remotely as glamorous
10:21ever again until they came up with a really good idea the best car to replace the ford gt40 was
10:27the ford gt40 i mean this is the new car and come on you're not fooling anyone it's okay four inches
10:33higher and 18 inches longer than the original gt40 but it is a gt40 basically they put the plans for
10:40the old car on a photocopy at 110 and said enlarge but it is a lot cleverer than the old one it's
10:46loaded with technology take a look at this so you want to see the engine right there it goes
10:50that's actually going to take a moment or two in the meantime you've pulled into a petrol forecourt
10:55obviously everybody's going to be looking at you but if they're not this should tip it have a go
10:59here we go let's get to the fuel look at that that's just to put your petrol in that's unbelievable we
11:06can possibly squeeze in and have a look at the engine now it's a 5.4 liter v8 supercharged that's
11:12about 500 brake horsepower that should be enough bear in mind this is a very very light car indeed
11:18but take a look inside you've got to have a look this is just it's just breathtaking look at the
11:23switches each one looks hand carved from a lump of aluminium and the gate around the base of the
11:29gear lever look at that none of that nasty rubber full of bits of biscuits and old chocolate of course
11:35this isn't real it's a pretend one i don't know what it'll be like when they make it and oh yes they
11:41are going to make it ford have announced this week they will be putting this into production
11:45but it's going to be expensive it's going to be on sale in america about a hundred and fifty
11:49thousand dollars a piece and you're going to be very very lucky even if you've got the money to
11:54get hold of one they're going to be incredibly exclusive basically you're going to have to know
11:59somebody at ford other items in the news this week the government has announced that it's going
12:04to spend 145 million pounds on the road network over the next five years which works out at
12:10twenty nine million pounds a year and that's enough to pay for three and a half miles of
12:16motorway a year wow think of the freedom we can enjoy with that three miles a year looking forward
12:21to it i can't wait three miles of motorway car news um fiat first of all they are in deep trouble
12:27they're currently losing two million pounds a day well they've got a new model which they think is
12:32going to stem the flow there it is look at that they're saved they're saved they'll be fine with
12:38that it's an estate version of the stilo and um it is actually very important this works because
12:44if fiat goes to the wall they will take with them lancia alfa romeo maserati and ferrari and of
12:52course they won't go to the wall because they're going to get bought by general motors so if you
12:56don't buy one of these general motors gets ferrari it's that simple so buy one news now the new micro
13:04and a rather gorgeous looking little thing as well that's um that's actually not it though that's the
13:10only thing lovely though it is they will do that eventually this is going to be the new micro which
13:14isn't that's all right that's not bad i've always quite liked the micro myself the important thing
13:19about it though is loaded with technology even in a small car it's even going to have and you'll
13:23probably seen this keyless entry so you walk up to the car and you know i've got some experience
13:27of that and there is a slight problem with it because you keep a little smart card in your
13:30wallet okay you get out the car push a little button doors lock you walk away and you think
13:34is that locked so you walk back to check of course it recognizes the smart card it's easy coming it's
13:40open you just the only way you know whether it wasn't locked is someone nix it yeah that's the
13:48only way you find out for definite now this um we all know the smart the the one that's been around
13:55for a few years the one you can put nose onto the pavement but now they've got delusions of grandeur
13:58and they've launched well i think we've got some footage of it here two versions there's a coupe
14:03and there is a cabriolet now the cabriolet is interesting you've got an electric folding roof
14:10rear engine with a turbocharger on it you've got rear wheel drive big fat alloys anti-lock brakes traction
14:16control basically just like a 911 turbo okay except a 911 turbo is 90 000 pounds this the car you're
14:25looking at here 11 750 that was the least convincing noise i've ever heard in my life 11 750 that is
14:36incredible actually if this is the future now here i'm not scared of that anymore you can bring it on
14:42take as much of the future as you like that's stunning 11 grand take a moment now talk about
14:46formula one what are we going to do about formula one yeah scrap it kill it no the problem i've been
14:55working right the problem here is very simple is that ferrari have completely dominated now we've got
15:02a photograph of what michael schumacher's going to do next year to try and keep it there we go
15:07that's what he's going to do next year to try and level it out a bit but really the problem as i see
15:13it is that the the teams have taken over the technology has taken over now that they've got
15:20traction control and gearboxes that change for you and i heard the other day that the teams the pit
15:25crews can actually tune the engine from the pit wall well as you say yes parents oh no we'll turn
15:32the revs down a bit no one of them developed a fault a bmw one developed a fault and they
15:36rerouted the oil without actually bringing it in did it remotely and you just think where's the driver
15:41the driver is the big hero he's the guy i want to watch you know it was like the second world war
15:46you had fighter pilots they were the big heroes after that they were racing drivers i want to see
15:50heroes i don't want to see geeks in black clothes going oh well if i just fiddled with this laptop
15:56we'll make it go faster in fact i'd execute that do you know i would i'd shoot them in the back of the
16:01the nine millimeters i want to see drivers take i want formula one unplugged rip out all the
16:07technology and give us proper racing again
16:09that was strangely touching your desire it was fed up with this i don't blame ferrari i can't blame
16:20them you know they built a better car they won just get rid of all the technology i think computer
16:25animate the entire sport get rid of them all in real life right um here's some stirring news for
16:31us uh in that it's a very stirring car the new bentley continental gt that is a very very big car
16:37indeed i think it's gorgeous you're a bit it's fine it's it's got a slightly vanessa feltsy rear
16:43yeah there is something of that but the important thing about the car is the engine right powering
16:49that is a w12 massive engine it's the same engine they put in the volkswagen feet on which i've
16:55already driven at 200 miles an hour exactly they decided at bentley not enough girl stuff strap a
17:01couple of turbos to it see how it'll do then which is great but it's given them an interesting
17:05problem it's now checking out so much torque that they can't tell us how much torque it's putting
17:11out every time they strap it to the machines that they measure it on it breaks them these are things
17:14the size of a building these machines they strap it down tie it all in you could tie it to this base
17:19here and it would just spin the whole studio around it would actually go around it that's exactly what
17:23would happen so unfortunately uh they can't tell you how powerful it is just lots and lots of talk
17:27right let's have a look at this excuse me this is italy's newest supercar from italy's
17:34newest supercar maker it's called a pagani zonda and it is exquisite it's exquisite on the inside
17:42too look at this just a wall a lap of aluminium and chamois leather and carbon fiber and look at
17:50these air vents like periscopes um anyone want to see the engine right well let's hop out and we have
17:59to do could you just grab the other side um you have to undo the leather buckle for the 21st century
18:05push the little button okay and there it is look at that that's a mercedes-benz 7.3 liter v12
18:16you want to hear it yes problem is health and safety okay they've told us we mustn't start cars in
18:23the studio all right but uh i don't think they'll hear they're ready foot in the clutch james that'll help
18:28i think we got away with it i don't think they heard it um now do you want to know
18:48what it feels like to drive watch this
18:51the similarities between the zonda and an f-15 fighter are obvious both have glassy bubble rubes
19:05at the front and a lot of engine behind and both have styled exhaust outlets there is one difference
19:12though in the f-15 you don't get much sensation of speed whereas in the zonda you do
19:20the key to this car is its engine it was built specially for pagani by mercedes and it is
19:34a masterpiece for me a huge chunk of a car's appeal is the noise it makes and the noise this one makes
19:45is just astonishing oh
19:49but even better than the baritone backdrop is that under the super light all carbon fiber body
20:03you have a 555 brake horsepower wallop not since the germans and the italians teamed up in the second
20:12world war have we seen power like this
20:14the top speed in fifth is nearly 200 miles an hour
20:22but i'm moving out of fifth gear now and into top gear and now my top speed is 220 miles an hour
20:36oh
20:54oh a bit of twitch under braking
20:57oh no
21:02whoops this car is an immense achievement plainly it's very well made it's astonishing to behold I
21:19mean really astonishing can't believe that Pagani's come from nowhere and come up with this it's a
21:26proper proper supercar in fact as I see it it only has one problem it must face up to the new
21:43Lamborghini Murcielago the latest in a long line of raging balls from Italy's maddest supercar maker
21:50it's the ultimate automotive pinner or is it ever since Audi bought Lamborghini I've been worried
21:59that the Germans would try to bring a bit of order to the chaos that they try to sanitize the madness
22:07this is the first Lamborghini where you don't need to have the body of Jean-Claude Van Damme to drive
22:16it look you can change gear with one finger
22:18and the steering doesn't feel like it's set in concrete and the clutch clutch it's like stepping
22:31on a marshmallow however some elements of lamboness do remain it still has the ultimate pub car park
22:40accessory gullwing doors and check this out when the engine gets hot air intakes slide out of the
22:46buttresses then there's the meat the engine it may only be a 6.2 litre v12 the Zonda's a 7.3 remember
22:57but amazingly this is more powerful it serves up 571 brake horsepower so this has more grunt
23:09but this has less weight so which is the fastest
23:14well let's find out
23:18four-wheel drive means that I have to get the car rolling gently before flooring it or I'll cook the clutch
23:40120 into fourth look at that Zonda go I'm being annihilated 150 into fifth
23:54and that's 160 and I have been destroyed destroyed
24:03so does this mean then that Audi has turned the raging bull into a timid little veal
24:16no not even slightly what they've done is turn it from a supercar into what feels like a small nimble razor sharp sports car
24:29the old Lamborghini Diablo was like a chest of drawers with a jet engine but this
24:39this you feel like the organic part of a machine
24:45this is by far and away the best Lamborghini ever not just the prettiest and the easiest but the
24:54nicest to drive it's so good it's better than any current Ferrari but astonishingly it's not as
25:02good as the Zonda this is the new king of supercars so that's it Jeremy you're saying the Zonda better
25:09than the Lamborghini job done end of story yes if you're six years old and you're looking to put a
25:14supercar on your bedroom wall this is the one you're going to put this up not the Lambo yeah small point
25:20six-year-old by posters what if you're actually buying the real cars there is a bit of a price
25:24issue here a small one yeah I admit yes the Lamborghini is around 160,000 pounds and this is
25:30310,000 pounds but in its defense you do get a free pair of shoes made by the Pope's cobbler with this
25:42and no no you do more than that you get 12 months free membership of the RAC 12 months 12 months I'm
25:51not joking you get 12 months free but I want to be the one that makes that call I want to break down
25:56M6 February Friday night hello yes it's my Zonda it's gone I think it's the engine management you
26:02better bring a laptop right well there's one final test for this the Zonda and the Lambo now let's face
26:09it nowadays 0 to 60 times absolutely meaningless top speed figures totally meaningless what really
26:15matters is how fast a car can lap a test track and fortunately we've got our own test track for that
26:22very purpose so this is it just under two miles of fast straights and tricky corners designed by
26:28the test drivers at Lotus this one Chicago Bend is a steady state corner that really loads up the outside
26:35tires then there's hammerhead a tricky left and right that provokes understeer this one follow-through
26:47is supposed to be flat out but death awaits the first man to try it there are corners with tricky
26:54bumps and cambers designed to test brake balance and in this one here a badly set up front-wheel drive car
27:01will struggle to put its power down at all right that's the track now we needed someone who could
27:11tame it so we got ourselves a professional racing driver who could post consistently fast lap times
27:17we um we couldn't do that now we call this thing the stick okay we don't know its name we really don't
27:24know its name no one knows its name and we don't want to know because it's a racing driver and racing
27:29drivers have tiny little brains and therefore worthless opinions and they're very dull doctors
27:34actually call it Mansell's syndrome its job is simply to go out there and drive fast so first of
27:41all we put it in the Lamborghini immense power we already discovered you got four-wheel drive you have
27:48to trickle it off the line then nail it right coming over that little light lift now he's coming through
27:53wilson bend let's see does it step out of line he's into third oh look at that look at that massive
28:00massive oversteer right and through the hammerhead no understeer at all incredible big oversteer he's
28:06trying not to hit those tires on the left and he's through so how's it handle carpenter's corner
28:11this is where you really want to nail it oh look at that every power car that goes around our test
28:18track is going to set a lap time we're going to put those lap times up here on our power lap time
28:22board so the Lamborghini was 1 minute 29 which is extremely good so I'm going to put that up here
28:27okay fine now we know the Lamborghini Jeremy I can't get Lamborghini Merchelago on here
28:33a simple Lambo will perhaps suffice there we are 1 29 now we know that the Pagani is faster than the
28:41Lamborghini in a straight line we've already seen that but the Lambo I've driven it is fast around
28:46the corners so let's put the Stig in the Zonda see what happens
29:03he's coming into the first corner here how's it looking through that oh it's looking a bit
29:12a bit wobbly but it's oh is he on standard track yes he is now he's got to get it right the way
29:17back across the other side to get it this is the hard one this is right yes look at that he's really
29:24having to fight that car even I found it difficult through there now he's coming up really really
29:30hard fast he's hard on the brakes here 150 miles an hour all the way down into second gear he's
29:36actually going to have to use first in this car how much is the understeer through the hammerhead
29:40corner oh he's actually nice he's got some oversteer there good Stig well done Stig it is quite a
29:48driver this one right follow through let's listen no did a dab on the brakes there he's gone through
29:56following through without fighting fighting the wheel up through there a little bit of the brake
30:01there we can see on the power that really is wet out there for this one that is a dry bit here
30:07or something that's still wet little bit damp brake hard and he's in to back rack bend braking again
30:14now for carpenter's corner oh he's still got the power on and he's done it should apologize for the
30:24easy listening soundtrack going on there it's the Stig it likes to listen to the sounds of the lounge as
30:29it goes round we've no idea why perhaps it calms it down anyway grim but no need to apologize for that
30:34time one minute twenty three that's what six seconds off the lambo's time that's the incredible thing is
30:39it must have made it up in the straights all that time because I know I drove both cars the lambo's
30:43faster through the corner that's where it has the power one minute twenty three I honestly can't see
30:47that being beaten throughout the entire series I think we've peaked neither can I right there is a
30:53story going round that says if a car goes fast enough past a speed camera when the second flash
30:59goes off and it needs that to verify the speed the car won't be there it's going so fast it will have
31:03left the shot entirely so in the name of scientific endeavor and under controlled circumstances we had
31:10a go so that you don't have to we've got together everything we need to do this a piece of track
31:17straight obviously we've got a speed camera oh and a really fast car and the stick to drive it
31:33Honda Civic Type R lots of people have got these it'll hit 60 miles an hour in 7.2 seconds and go on to a
31:47top speed of 146 miles an hour but will that be enough to beat the camera
31:52so how fast was that well I've got the pictures back it was 129 miles an hour and uh here's the
32:10results of the first flash and there's a Honda Civic doing 129 miles an hour and then the second
32:15photograph ah it's still there so 129 isn't fast enough that won't do it but we didn't give up we
32:22had another go and we'll do that later on good now when most comedians come actors make it to the big
32:29time they buy themselves a big time car Rowan Atkinson for instance bought himself a McLaren F1
32:35Steve Coogan got a Ferrari 355 Norman Wisdom well forget that one anyway our guest tonight when he made it
32:42the big time he bought one of these are we ready right here we go look at that it is a Vauxhall Cavalier
32:53convertible plainly this guy was devoted to making people laugh even when he was on the way to the
33:01supermarket shall we meet him ladies and gentlemen Harry Anfield
33:05what in God's name possessed you to buy one of those it's absolutely lovely car very reliable motor
33:23the Cavalier but I did feel like a bit of a you know because I'd sort of become slightly famous and
33:28you find yourself it's the only convertible I've had go up to the lights in the middle of London
33:33because I've always lived in London instead of in the lights and you've got the roof down and
33:36there are people crossing the road in front of you and they look in they see you yeah yeah you know
33:44loads of money ah and you're just stuck there because the lights raid yeah there's a magazine the
33:55convertible correspondence for the Vauxhall Cavalier convertible owners club great you I know you you
34:02appeared in this and this is my favorite bit under famous owners an occasional feature they haven't
34:08been able to find anyone since you've got one and you said it was like it was better than a BMW
34:13did I yeah well I think it is better than a BMW fine hair yeah which bit of it did you think was
34:21better than a BMW well I think I thought it the price was better than a BMW fair point interestingly
34:28when you decided that it was time to part with the Vauxhall Cavalier convertible you were getting even
34:35more famous at the time you went backwards and bought a Rover 200 yes yes I did again what in
34:43God's name possessed you to do that because most work in our industry is done in Soho and there was a
34:49shop in Soho that sailed Rovers so I went in there and and bought the Rover forgive me Soho it's close to
34:56Park Lane on which from memory there's Aston Martin Jaguar BMW Lexus McLaren and so right and so
35:04forth right you could have gone to any one of those shops not to the Rover one and bought a Rover 200
35:09which was a Rover was in Soho and they're about half a mile away and you know then so is this why
35:14you swapped the Rover for a metro yeah when you were going around to say see Rowan Atkinson or whoever
35:22at the time in your Cavalier or your Metro or your Rover did they say Harry and take you on one side
35:28maybe try to give you some advice no they're afraid but in fact it did actually happen once I never
35:32talk about sort of thing other but I do have a abiding memory in my head of driving around to Rowan's
35:38house but it sounds very show busy but it's the only time it's ever happened and Robbie Coltrane was
35:45there and Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie and they all had nice cars and I arrived at my Cavalier and they were
35:51all outside it was a nice day and they were all talking about each other's cars and and they
35:56looked at me and I looked at them and no one ever mentioned it just no one ever mentioned it there's
36:01nothing no one ever mentioned the car none of them ever anyway what do you got now let's uh now we've
36:07got um a Mercedes estate yes very very nice it's very small and it's too small and my wife's got a
36:16mini very good have you seen this yes um I want that car it's called a Volvo I want it's got seven
36:23seats and oh there's a picture on the screen that's a Volvo because I'm not allowed to drive because my
36:29wife likes to drive so I have to sit in the other thing and I at the moment I sit in our car like this
36:36with an airbag here this one it looks very big I either want this or the BMW one which we tried out
36:42that's fantastic no you don't it's great I assure you you know it's the ideal car you do my wife to
36:47drive because she's got blonde hair and we live in Notting Hill and that's the car people drive
36:52you're not just here to chat today aren't I no because earlier today um we had you doing some
36:59work oh yeah absolutely you see the thing is every week we are going to run an item call a star in a
37:05reasonably priced car we've got the star obviously what we then needed was a reasonably priced car now we
37:10talked to Hyundai they said no we talked to Nissan they said no we talked to Deu they said no then we
37:17talked to Suzuki and they said sure Everlyana nine thousand nine hundred and ninety five pounds on the
37:23road in fact it's over there there it is and what a beauty it is the most beautiful car I've ever seen
37:31in the world absolutely and the idea is is that every week our star will take that round our test track
37:39see how fast he or she can do it and then we'll post that time on a board and at the end of the series
37:44we'll be able to name Britain's fastest celebrity trouble is of course uh we weren't going to let you
37:49out go out first of all I had to try it with the other guys and uh this is what happened
37:5434 miles an hour no look at this look at this it's going well I once drove a super tanker that was a bit
38:08like this we're going off we're going off we're off we're off we're off we're off a bit of track with
38:14that's there which is a paint job anyway we got the tracking fixed the gearbox and I posted a time
38:24even with big Jason in the back of one minute 50 seconds um now we're currently cutting your lap in
38:32the edit suite we'll be showing it later how fast do you think you might have done it I don't know
38:36you don't know it was very fast was it I can't remember what comes next oh I know we're going to
38:41see if we can get that um car to go through a speed camera we're going to try and beat a speed
38:45camera so do you want me to stay here or go no have a seat roll your sleeves right would like a drink
38:50yeah chill earlier on in the name of scientific endeavor we tried to see if it was possible to
38:57go fast enough to beat a speed camera we used a Honda Civic Type R it did 129 miles an hour and it
39:02was still there for the second flash you might think this thing would be the one to do it in
39:06it wouldn't it's only a pretend one 20 miles an hour tops so we got hold of a faster car
39:11right then this should be worth a go the Mercedes CL 55 AMG at 89 grand not only does it cost as much
39:19as a house it's nearly as big as one but it'll still do 60 miles an hour in 4.7 seconds and it'll
39:25cruise all day at 155 as easily as your car will do 30 but will that be enough let's find out go on
39:32well we've got the pictures back and here they are 148 miles an hour and oh dear there is in the
39:56first one and still there in the second one that isn't fast enough we're gonna have to try and go
40:01even faster and we will do that okay so far in the program we've shown you how to save money on a family
40:07hatchback we're trying to save you some money on speeding fines by showing you that if you speed up
40:12you can get around them and now we're going to give you the biggest money saving tip of them all
40:18there's been a lot of talk in the newspapers on the radio this last couple of weeks about people
40:23running their cars their diesel engine cars I should say on vegetable oil there's been so many people
40:28trying it that up north one supermarket train chain is now rationing the amount of oil that it will sell
40:35to individuals now the thing is is that you can run a car on vegetable oil it's not completely
40:42brilliant however I've been joined here by Jason Taylor you reckon you've got a little additive
40:47that makes the whole thing better yeah yeah what we've got here is some normal vegetable that's
40:53used vegetable oil from a Mexican restaurant used used yeah why used well we find it gives it a bit
41:00bit of better power to the engine really it's all these bits we have to strain those out obviously so
41:05we've got that over here one of these j cloths okay and in we go so I'll collect the bits look at
41:13that and you reckon this will work yeah it's like golden elixir that stuff do make the car smell of
41:20it yeah it is actually the different restaurants you can tell what you're running it on yeah so we
41:27were in a car on this is going to a little essence of where it came from yeah okay that's in there like
41:32that fine now what have you worked out you have to add to that right well just to make it a bit a bit
41:37more runnier you add a solvent and for this experiment we've got a non kerosene based white
41:42spirit it has to be non kerosene based for tax reasons okay and how much do we have to put in
41:48in in a litre in 97 millilitres of vegetable oil put three millilitres of that in there so that's about
41:57that much okay let's just get that pull it over here okay so we add that okay and then we whisk it
42:05up well actually you don't really need to risk uh whisk it but uh so is that ready to go now that's
42:10ready to well no you should let it stand for at least a week or so and how much does that cost for a
42:16litre about three pence plus the tax oh you have to pay tax if you didn't tell the customs and excise
42:22that's three p if you do tell them you have to tell them okay of course you have to tell them
42:27you have to tell them right and how much are they going to charge uh 26 pence but check with your
42:34local custom customs and excise office there's about 29p a litre you've got to fill a couple of
42:39forms in yeah 29p a litre let's just run through do you have to modify the engine no just any old diesel
42:45will do yeah and you can and it's fine yeah performance the same as diesel maybe even better
42:50and you reckon we could tip that into a diesel car that'll work yeah got to give that a go haven't
42:56we this is a volvo 740 in the front there's a diesel engine and in the tank at the back
43:03nothing it's empty listen start the engine can't start the engine no fuel and we can verify that look
43:12here we have an independent adjudicator bell you'll verify there's nothing in there there's nothing in
43:17the tank we drain off 25 liters it's completely empty now right brilliant well if we go around
43:21the back and look in the boot we find a big container full of vegetable oil from el rio's
43:30in macclesfield now we've added a splash of white spirit and bell is going to pour that into the tank
43:37right it's now been converted from a carnivore into a herbivore but of course being a diesel you
43:45can't just start it you have to bleed the system first which you've just done yes pal
43:48system bled no airlocks in there good let's close the bonnet
43:53if you want to step in and let's see if it starts if it does i shall be astonished
43:59that's amazing go go
44:08one pound fifty a gallon and it's working wow it's actually i mean it's still going
44:18is it green sort of environmental yeah apparently so yeah wow anyway harry big news your lap has
44:25been edited do you want to have a look yes please you'd like to see harry's lap okay here we go
44:31hope i don't die ready steady go it went skid up on the 30 miles an hour now i'm going at 40 miles an
44:41hour 50 miles an hour blimey oh yeah that's supposed to be take that down way and nicely controlled
44:53take it round into second
45:06yes i can feel some kind of braking thing happening there me braking the car
45:17oh yes whoa hey i lost control of that nice that was fun
45:30finished i'm the winner in a race of one
45:42there are a couple of things i've got to bring up on that on one of the corners i think it was
45:50baccarat bend there the tail was out you're a bit hypocrite you came off the bloody circuit
45:56i know i'm saying this is praise oh this is a good thing it's a good thing it's a good thing i mean
46:02here i was cavalier convertible metro rover 200 i assumed father of three i assumed that you'd be
46:10useless well i was useless no but it's a very nice car because you put your foot on the brake and it
46:16it doesn't skid really it's got that aps braking thing really that'll do yes so you go in third
46:24because it doesn't really go in fourth but it's very nice that's what i call a proper a to b car
46:29want to know how fast it was i reckon should i guess that was 148 i was 150
46:34147 i've got some disappointing news for you no enfield i'll just put you up here you're the very
46:44first star in a reasonably priced car enfield two minutes one second and that's only 11 seconds
46:54off the place and that's not bad i've been driving around there all day there you go put you there
47:10right time now for some insider dealing jason what you got for us this week well first of all the
47:15mini so great news for harry at last after his appalling run of bad luck with cars he's bought
47:20one that's good news um the car's been out for about 12 months now and the first of those cars
47:24are actually starting to be listed in glasses guide and cab and incredibly enough the basic model the
47:28mini one which is this one uh was just on 10 000 pounds when it was new today that car as a used car
47:34is worth ten and a half thousand so you could you could run one for a year 10 000 miles yeah and sell
47:41it for more than you paid and make a profit 500 pounds i mean that sometimes happens with expensive
47:45cars isn't it ferraris and porses yeah but something this cheap i mean it just doesn't happen
47:50that's astonishing look how sick i'm feeling should have bought a whole dozen of them i mean the problem
47:56is after is they've just if the same thing's happening in america they've just shipped 20 000
48:00over there they sold that in well 15 minutes i mean you know ridiculous all gone yeah yeah it really
48:06has been a success what else is there well subaru everybody knows the impreza turbo um when the car
48:12first came out it was a great looking car but that's the one we remember unfortunately the ugly
48:16but that's the one we've got now that's the one we've got now now that car's only been out for
48:20just under three years but it's been doing so badly that subaru realized they had to change the way
48:24the thing looks they've actually got a facelift coming out in february of next year which everybody
48:28knows about everybody knows about the problem they've got is that they've got stacks of these
48:32so they're going to do something about it and what they're doing is they're taking three grand
48:35three grand off the price of these cars so how much is it now 18995 you can buy brand new subaru turbo
48:42seriously they will do that you walk in you just go what three thousand off that they go
48:45certainly they've dropped it by three grand that's before you do any discount and negotiation well
48:49there's still some most you'll pay for one is 18.995 and then there'll be a new pretty i mean you
48:54could just buy that kick it in the headlights make it look better anyway that's fantastic good news
49:01you want to buy a new one they are so cheap but the problem is that when something new drops in price
49:05you've got to reflect that in the used car values as well yeah but i haven't got a used subaru so why do i
49:10care because if you're going to buy a used subaru you shouldn't you should wait for a couple of
49:13months wait for these to flood the market and you'll save yourself another couple of grand on a used one
49:18brilliant what else xc90 the suv the new volvo suv volvo have made a major error with this car
49:25because the car's just so good but they're only gonna make three and a half thousand yeah three and
49:30a half thousand for the uk for the whole year now if you divide that by 220 dealers yeah it works out
49:35about one car per dealer per month which is nowhere near enough which is nowhere near enough i was
49:40talking to someone from volvo the other day and he said well i think we're only going to make 50 000
49:44i just thought i can't believe that because they've got a volvo pretty popular make it an off-road car
49:48well sort of off-road car and that's really doubly popular then they're going to put seven seats in it
49:53three rows still space behind for a labrador or any other sort of sloney dog and then they've got tvs in
49:58the back they've got separate hi-fi seat listen to tapes in the middle seats and stereo and um radio
50:04in the front and then they said we'll sell many of those even though it's 12 000 pounds less than an
50:09x5 potty so harry hang on to your mini and buy a volvo and you save so much money you can buy the
50:15cavalier back mazda have made precisely two interesting cars in recent years the mx5 which is a sports car for
50:24girls and blokes who like abba and the rx7 which was good but a bit daft so news of a new mazda sports
50:30saloon is hardly going to excite anyone outside of the frimbly green bowls club is it
50:54people don't buy mazdas because they desperately want a mazda they buy them because well unfortunately
51:02for them at that particular time it suits their needs in that sense mazdas are like sink plungers
51:09you don't really want one but sometimes you just gotta have one
51:18mazdas are good cars for shy exhibitionists you could drive one
51:22butt naked through any major town in the world and not an eye would be batted they're practically
51:29invisible
51:36the mazda 6 needed an image so it got one and it looks fantastic
51:46mazda confessed quite openly to leaning over the shoulders and cribbing from bmw and volkswagen
51:51but they haven't been stupid enough just to turn out a straight copy oh no the interior doesn't
51:57look like a japanese copy of a german design this is a japanese design they've used their own ideas
52:04and the changes are much more than merely cosmetic
52:10they haven't messed around for this car they haven't just tweaked the old 626 and launched it as an all-new
52:15motor this is entirely new so there's a whole new range of engines this is a 2.3 liter four-cylinder job
52:22the figures really aren't that good on paper it's about 166 brake horsepower if you're interested 0-60
52:28is claimed in nine seconds oh hum but that doesn't tell the whole story the point is it's tuned so that
52:35it's a constant power delivery it's mid-range it's always there it feels like a bigger lazier engine than it
52:42really is and then there's the handling which well where did this come from this is a mazda yeah are we
52:55quite sure it goes around corners really really well it just grips and grips if anything it's encouraging
53:03me to misbehave and i particularly like that this is incredible
53:20it is exciting to drive and i was really not expecting that it's just such a shock like
53:26discovering somebody really gray and average like john major is a shagmeister
53:40one blip does make itself abundantly clear pretty quickly it's quite noisy as soon as you just head
53:46off in one direction for any length of time with any speed on there's a lot of road rumble and wind
53:51noise that's gonna be bad news when you get to the motorways
53:56so how much will it cost well the cheapest bmw three series is eighteen thousand six hundred and
54:03ninety five quid and for that you'll be lucky if you get the sun visor this is the top spec mazda
54:08six it's got everything on it and it'll cost you seventeen thousand nine hundred and ninety five quid
54:15so will value for money cure milton keen's man of his bmw addiction probably not
54:21this is still a mazda people will think of it as a mazda so no matter how good it is let's be honest
54:29a life of luxury and excitement in the south of france does not await the mazda six i'm sorry
54:35for you it's going to be a life of powering up and down the m5 the m4 service stations cheap motels
54:41but it makes me feel good that at least we've brought it out here for a final dangle thrashing
54:49a final day out a final fling before you begin your life of misery and servitude
54:59now i've driven this car and i couldn't believe how brilliant it was it just feels so tight it's sharp
55:06and it's a mazda i know and 700 pounds cheaper than a bmw another 700 pounds safety with more power
55:12and more kit quite an achievement right more science final attempt at this we've been trying to prove
55:18is it possible for a car to go fast enough to beat a speed camera so far all we've proven is it's really
55:23really difficult we had a race track mistake to drive the car really fast cars haven't done it we're
55:28gonna have one last go so far yes i agree we've failed but we haven't disproved the theory just that
55:39we need a quicker car something like this a tbr tuscan s remember this would be a crazy thing to do if
55:52we weren't using a professional racing driver on our own test track
56:13no flash it never went off it was going so fast over 170 miles an hour the camera never saw it
56:20seriously absolutely so we've proven it is a mug's game you need two miles of track you need a car
56:25that'll do over 170 miles an hour but in the name of science we did it
56:34and on that happy note we have to start winding up the show the vegetarian car is still going round
56:40outside next week i go to wales with an rs focus uh we've got jamiroquai frontman jk coming here to try
56:47and go faster than harry enfield and um you know you're always seeing people with motorbikes trying
56:54to see how many buses they can jump yeah well next week we're going to see how many bikes we can jump
57:01with a bus see you then good night
57:10top gears back this tuesday night and again next sunday
57:13up next on bbc prime what does it mean to be human
57:27well it's called a nissan mildred
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