Anyone been watching Fifth Gear this season?

peterattheboro · 15 Dec 2010 at 23:04

What a horrendous series it's been.

Firstly, Jonny has just done a segment where he offers alternatives to buying a brand new Chevrolet Spark for £7000. His suggestions was an Audi A4 offroader thing and a Mercedes S Class, both up for £5000!

Also now they have the 'Stig' Ben 'The Bore' Collins working for them you'd think he'd be pretty good but he's a terrible presenter and I don't think he's won any of the challenges! He's also just done some motorcross race thing (old episode) where he made some schoolboy mistakes, something which 'Stig' (or any former racing driver for that matter) would never do.

And finally the competitions.... not sure what the car was on this episode but i'd be surprised if it wasn't a £6000 Mini Cooper or something.

It's only saving grace is that Tiff and Plato have been fantastic with their battles and some decent segments with some very very nice machinery. The GT2 RS for example

andicole0 · 15 Dec 2010 at 23:08

Don't really watch it any more, Jasons OK, VBH is OK until she gets squeely but she doesn't get a lot to say and makes all cars look girly.

Andi.

-TA- · 16 Dec 2010 at 00:18

It is utterly dreadful.

Ben Collins is just a joke, got about as much presenting talent as a grilled haddock, and his driving has been poor at best, has anyone checked if he actually was the Stig?

kidloco · 16 Dec 2010 at 00:51

Tiff and Plato are both great. I can see Ben Collins being dropped for the next series (if they get one) as he has the personalty of a potatoe and driving skills to match if his challanges are anything to go by.

Fr0dders · 16 Dec 2010 at 01:18

kidloco said:
Tiff and Plato are both great. I can see Ben Collins being dropped for the next series (if they get one) as he has the personalty of a potatoe and driving skills to match if his challanges are anything to go by.

seconded

boring to watch, both inside and outside of a car.

His all powerfull persona of "the stig" appears to have been doing him favours on TG as he isn't living up to it.

Last FAIL was on the 370z / Cayman / TTRS test where he attemped to join Tiff and Jason in a drifting competition .... with the traction control on !!

nanospider · 16 Dec 2010 at 02:06

I saw that last challenge, felt like they were deliberatlely trying to make him look bad to show that FG drivers had been better than TG drivers all along.

Heres that £5k bargains thing LINKY
I immediately thought of ocuk motors when i saw the S class

130k mile dog of an s2000 as well :eek:

Lashout_UK · 16 Dec 2010 at 06:42

'Cheaper but miles better'.

Hmm. -sigh-

I'm sure a 9-year-old S-Class will probably cost a bit more than a Spark to run

MikeHunt79 · 16 Dec 2010 at 06:58

Not seen any of it I'm afraid, when was it on?

J1nxy · 16 Dec 2010 at 07:25

Having now "seen" Ben Collins you can understand why they never let him talk or be seen, he is truly awful with somewhere around 0 (at best) presenting ability

Scania · 16 Dec 2010 at 08:22

nanospider said:
I saw that last challenge, felt like they were deliberatlely trying to make him look bad to show that FG drivers had been better than TG drivers all along.

Heres that £5k bargains thing LINKY
I immediately thought of ocuk motors when i saw the S class 130k mile dog of an s2000 as well

They did a really good job of pointing out the pitfalls of such cars - not!

I await Fox's input on this with interest! (or Jez for that matter!)

iaind · 16 Dec 2010 at 08:27

R420LA6X2/4MNA said:
They did a really good job of pointing out the pitfalls of such cars - not!

I await Fox's input on this with interest! (or Jez for that matter!)

Should fox be the new presenter?

I can see it now, he could lurk in the background and let them talk about buying an S class instead of a new supermini, then stroll up and smack them all upside the head with a keyboard.

Scania · 16 Dec 2010 at 08:35

iaind said:
Should fox be the new presenter?

I can see it now, he could lurk in the background and let them talk about buying an S class instead of a new supermini, then stroll up and smack them all upside the head with a keyboard.

well, he has a lot more knowledge than most car show presenters....

I think he'd make an excellent motoring journalist, somehow I suspect he has his career already though.

volospian · 16 Dec 2010 at 08:48

Never watch 5th gear, crap presenters trying to play catchup with top gear. Can't stand Needell or Plato, VBH is getting on a bit now and not as cute as she was, the young guy seems too much of a spiv for my liking, although the fat guy with the beard is OK, I suppose.

The trouble is, TG is not really a "motoring" program, it's more like the three stooges at the Motorshow and we all know it's goping to be a laugh, with no "serious" content at all, while 5G doesn't seem to be able to make up its mind if it wants to be a serious motoring magazine, or if it would rather be like TG, so they end up with "serious" articles about buying cheap bangers, mixed in with 10 minutes of Tiff Needell powersliding a £250,000 hypercar around a racetrack.

Come on 5G, settle on your audience, and your angle. If some nerd has just spent 20 minutes trying to tell the audience which is the most suitable sub £6k pacific rim shopping cart for them to die of old age in, why will they then be interested in the virtues of a £250,000 hypercar going sideways? The brush is too broad, and so the shows focus is lost. The only thing TG will do with a sub £6k shopping cart is drive a truck over it, or shoot it off a cliff, or maybe send it into space... while accidentally hitting each other with ladders and shouting "Why, I oughta..."

Nick1881 · 16 Dec 2010 at 09:21

Totally agree volospian, I find Plato particularly annoying.

Haven't seen any of the new series with Ben Collins, sounds like I haven't missed much.

lordrobs · 16 Dec 2010 at 10:04

I caught the latter half of the series.

I always record it and by the time you have cut the rubbish out about the competition and the same old "boys vs girls" bit it totals 20 minutes at most!

It is ok though, not great by any stretch of the imagination. I agree that they need to target an audience. The can't do the messing about thing as well as Top Gear, not that they have a hope in hell of doing that with their budget anyway. They don't do the serious car review thing well because they are trying to dumb everything down too much.

TBH though with such slim pickings I'll watch anything car related that comes on the tube these days

flat-6 · 16 Dec 2010 at 10:25

Ben Collins was crap otherwise I thought it was very good. Tiff and Plato have good chemistry and make entertaining telly.

Best to Sky+ tho and skip all the competitions and other dross.

Finglonga · 16 Dec 2010 at 11:05

Only seen a couple and it was cryngeworthy.

I think Plato is the best of a bad bunch. Tiff just talks rubbish constantly. VBH grunts/squeals like a pig every time she goes around a corner. Ben C is like watching damp cardboard. Bring back Tom Ford!

Scuzi · 16 Dec 2010 at 11:57

iaind said:
Should fox be the new presenter?

I can see it now, he could lurk in the background and let them talk about buying an S class instead of a new supermini, then stroll up and smack them all upside the head with a keyboard.

Fox is a reincarnated Chris Goffey.

naefeart · 16 Dec 2010 at 13:15

Haven't watched much of it tbh, haven't they compressed it down to a 30min slot?

From what I've seen watching on-line, the Tiff vs Plato battles are entertaining, rather reminiscent of Top Gear of Old (even after JC left, with the Tiff vs VBH segments).

From what I've seen on Ben, it's almost as it he can't drive without the white suit. It does even make you wonder if he really was the Stig. I don't think he will ever live up to the status or following the Stig had.

Yeah ok, now he's got his face on TV, but at the expense of his career?

Should have kept his mouth shut and the suit on imo.