[16x01] June 8th, 2009

[4G92Lancer]

Vicky is on the WebTV episode for those you who miss her...

Not a bad episode, but not great either. It still seems the show is still being pitched toward folks with attention deficit disorder. I left the room for a few minutes and came back to find i'd missed 2 whole segments!

I really can't believe that Fifth Gear has so much cash that it can burn it all away by hiring racetracks, transporting filmcrew, equipment and presenters all over the place and only have 5-6 minute segments. I'd personally be gutted if all my weeks of prep is on screen for less time than it takes to eat a burger...

[iciano]

Oh Tim's back, *sarcastic yay*.
Not great on the whole. Segments were too short, felt like quantity over quality......again. Studio stuff was cringeworthy with Tims weird leg crossing.
RS v Lancer was ok, felt a bit underwhelmed after it. Audi part was good, had potential to be very good, but as usual was too short so Jonny barely got going.
Didnt see the point in Tims bit, wouldve been better to give Jonny more time. DC thing was entertaining. Jonny's used car bit was very good. Picasso test was ok.
Can't see why they needed to rehash the stunt when they gave it an entire bloomin show already. Give that time to the other segments, and play to FG's strengths of being a car show about cars rather than trying to (poorly) imitate TG.

[dj.TAKA]

Hahaha, fifth gears nick'ing all TG's props.

As for the episode, it wasn't bad. The loop was amazing (hadn't seen it). Bit bland tho overall.

[Mytola]

Good stuff:

DC vs. Tiff - Finally a celeb who actually is relateable to cars in some way.
Evo vs. Focus RS - Typical Tiff and Jason-battle. I wish they went a bit more in-depth, though.
Loop - I've always wanted to see that done IRL, and they did it. A stunt-bit that actually was rather funny.

Bad stuff:
R8 - Far too short, no substance at all. Poor.
Cayenne - What an awful car. Surely, they could have found something else to use in this segment?
Old banger - Silly segment with Captain Obvious at the wheel... What was the point of this?


But... By far, the biggest thing that annoyed me was:

It's called "PorschE"! With an "E" at the end! Why the hell do they STILL keep pronouncing that wrong? Aren't they supposed to be car-buffs?


Overall: 5/10.

[nouseferaname90]

Originally Posted by Mytola

It's called "PorschE"! With an "E" at the end! Why the hell do they STILL keep pronouncing that wrong? Aren't they supposed to be car-buffs?

In Americaland, it isn't. Its simply Porsche (no extra emphasis)

I wasn't a great fan of the episode, but it was bearable. I really despise the extremely short segments.

[ChaoZ]

How on earth did they make something as epic as the loop-to-loop seem so boring? Cool they did it, but it was so underwhelming in terms of excitement.

[DanRoM]

The recycling of the looping stunt was underwhelming. They pulled of a really, really good stunt, yet they manage to bore the audience.
The Tiff and Jason segments were good, if a little short, especially DC. Finally a celebrity with a connection to cars, and all they do is drive around for a few minutes and don't talk at all. Johnny wasn't the right person to review the R8. Jason or Vicki would have been better.
Tim's banger segment was so obviously pointless that I skipped forward a few seconds in. And please, Tom, stop trying to be funny and just be funny!

And I missed VBH - she can be annoying, but that's mostly because her segments tend to be pointless. I still prefer her to Tim who appears to be just a complete idiot.
Oh, and I'm starting to get annoyed about the fact that I can't enter the competitions...

Overall, a solid season opener, but nothing stellar. Not that I expect stellar from Fifth Gear. 6/10

[edkwon]

Originally Posted by ChaoZ

How on earth did they make something as epic as the loop-to-loop seem so boring? Cool they did it, but it was so underwhelming in terms of excitement.

Download the stunt special for the full 45 min version, that was suspenseful.

[czechzero]

i tried watching this on my windows 7 in media center, and after the first commercial break it goes blank (black). i redownloaded it and same thing. in WinXP it works just fine. I downloaded and installed ffdshow and installed it in Win7 but same thing, always goes blank. Any ideas?

I'm able to watch other episodes (stunt special, etc)

[p0w3r]

what up with these prize things? it seems like it gets more and more crazy every season...i thought they were also gonna give out kitchen sinks with the ammount of stuff they were giving out.

[pepitko]

a 7 from me, neither very bad, neither very good.

Dogfight, it's a onetrick pony of FG that's done very well and so was this time. Sort of proved for me that no matter how you slice it 300HP to the front wheels doesn't really make sense.

Audi R10, tested on the same roads as Drivers Republic, and DR's videos (even without voice over) were better to watch IMO - great noise, fast driving, small powerslides round corners, showed how much power the car has. All of these fell short on FG. Johny did a good job but I was left wanting more, why not show it against a regular V8 R8 for starters to justify the point about price difference?

DC, fun stuff, wish all of the celebrity segments (also in TG) would be similarly good to watch.

Picasso, I liked Tom's approach to the review with the single/married twist

Loop was fine, but I saw the special so repetition for me.

They should ditch the prize competition, it's getting bigger every season.

[cooncheese70]

Anyone else notice Tim's M3 was a facelifted E46 shape (eyes up) even though BMW never made a facelift M3 model ?

Leads me to believe that its not a real M3 and made to look like one...

Though, I could be wrong and someone will correct me...

[Groagun]

My download didn't even make 10 seconds in. I'll retry it but what is up, this never happened before with any Final Gear torrent links, and really annoying that it's the first episode.

[NecroJoe]

The R8/VW thing didn't make sense to me.

"Here's an expensive German car.

Here's an old German car that's cheaper.

You're welcome."

[edkwon]

Originally Posted by cooncheese70

Anyone else notice Tim's M3 was a facelifted E46 shape (eyes up) even though BMW never made a facelift M3 model ?

Leads me to believe that its not a real M3 and made to look like one...

Though, I could be wrong and someone will correct me...

All the body paneling and fender flares match the proper M3, most likely the headlights have aftermarket eyeliners giving it the facelift look because swapping out ALL THE OTHER BODY PANELS is overly costly and makes no sense.

[pepitko]

Originally Posted by edkwon

All the body paneling and fender flares match the proper M3, most likely the headlights have aftermarket eyeliners giving it the facelift look because swapping out ALL THE OTHER BODY PANELS is overly costly and makes no sense.

I was thinking the same, actually these aftermarket headlights look really good, giving the car a fresher look than the stock M3 without spoiling the subtle styling

[waydee]

Tried to like it, kept giving it the benefit of the doubt but no - Fifth gear just gets worse.

Getting rid of Tim would be the first step to doing something about it though, the mans a complete twat.

[edkwon]

Originally Posted by waydee

Tried to like it, kept giving it the benefit of the doubt but no - Fifth gear just gets worse.

Getting rid of VBH would be the first step to doing something about it though, the womans a complete twat.

Agreed there

[Cobol74]

Talking about M3s, never got on with them, never owned or driven one mind you - just put off by them for some inexplicable reason (I know I should like them!) - I was dropped on my head as a baby probably.

[edkwon]

Originally Posted by Cobol74

Talking about M3s, never got on with them, never owned or driven one mind you - just put off by them for some inexplicable reason (I know I should like them!) - I was dropped on my head as a baby probably.

You're put off by M3 drivers, not the car, never having owned or driven one, its unlikely a car has physically done anything to piss you off.