8/10 as well - apparently, I'm also pretty easy...
While the hot hatch review did have a touch of "who let the film students go nuts with the visual effects" about it, I enjoyed it. It's always fun to watch little cars like that do their thing, and do it well. The enthusiasm that Richard (and later, Jeremy) showed for the Fiesta seemed quite genuine - when was the last time that those two both gushed about the same American car? (And, no "American cars corner like crap" jokes for once - quite the opposite.)
The news was...over quickly, and unremarkable. I agree with those who wonder why it was so short, given that it's the first of the series and presumably would need to cover more ground than news segments in later episodes.
New Zealand is lovely, no surprises there. I'm one who would rather have seen Jezza beat the bejeezus out of an ordinary car than baby a supercar over those roads - I know those are fragile, but I liked seeing how far he would push the Corolla. The "accidents" were obviously anything but, which was somewhat jarring. Spouse was looking forward to seeing the Oracle boat, as he's recently become a yacht-racing fan. Poor James...as we watched him get the stuffing knocked out of him for hours and hours, I thought back to his balsa-glider Toy Stories special last year and the easy sailing he had in that. He looked as if the wetsuit was the only thing keeping him from collapsing into a pile of goo at the end, so I don't mind his complaining about the ride - he certainly earned it.
Breaking in the Astra was very similar to the previous iterations of new-RPC, so we pretty much knew what to expect. Yeah, I grinned like an idiot as soon as Brian Johnson showed up - he's a lot of fun to watch on this show. Warwick Davis was good watching, as well, and his parts were solid. But this segment was where the forcedness seemed to be most obvious; Richard's awkwardness around Joss Stone and hiding from Mike Rutherford was a bit much. (Rather have seen the three of them jamming with Jeremy, honestly.) It was nice to see Charles Dance again - I've been a fan for decades.
So, a solid, if unspectacular, episode for me. Still happy that it's back!