You know the drill: Sunday night, 8pm, BBC Two. This week, Steve Coogan returns in the reasonably priced car, Jeremy drives a Lambo and all three boys have a go at building a kit car... in eight hours. Here are the full behind-the-scenes details:
People carriers
The show kicks off with people carriers, but that isn't necessarily your cue to switch off. Vauxhall's Zafria, Mercedes' B-class and Ford's new S-Max are all trying to put the fun back into driving - and James and Richard were keen to see whether it's all just marketing waffle. The only way to find out - naturally - is to thrash them round the track, leaving Jeremy to look at the boring practicality stuff back in the studio.
And now the sensible stuff is out of the way...
After all that practical family car stuff, Jeremy needed an antidote - cue the Lamborghini Gallardo. OK, the seats squeak a bit and the steering wheel appears to be covered in a bath mat, but with a 5.0-litre engine belching out 512bhp it certainly goes some.
In the news...
The boys decided that folding metal roofs are a bad idea - especially when people think they have enough time to drop it down at traffic lights, when they clearly don't.
New cars unveiled this week at the British motor show included the Chrysler Sebring and the Land Rover Freelander 2. Talking of Land Rover, Richard has just bought himself a limited edition one in yellow and had a little accident with the touch-up paint pot...
Nissan, meanwhile, has unveiled yet another special version of the Micra C+C, this time designed by Sebastian Conran, when will it end?
And finally, the Top Gear survey is underway and we want your views. Check out our survey page for details on how to take part (and win a year's supply of fuel in the process).
Star in a reasonably priced car...
This week's star in a reasonably priced car is actor and all-round funny man Steve Coogan, who has come back to beat the 1.53 he clocked in the Liana. That, and to beat the time set by buddy Rob Brydon in the Chevrolet Lacetti.
Parkour what?
Nothing to do with dodgy anoraks, this one. It's a French sport which involves lots of running and jumping - and from some pretty spectacular heights (we call it free running). Top Gear thought this would be a good idea for a race - and that James was the bloke to do it (although obviously not the running part). Our Captain Slow jumped in Peugoet's new 207 and is leaving the energetic stuff to two teenagers who know what they're doing.
Caterham chaos...
Even the Stig's tiny brain is tired of constant Top Gear track lapping, so we decided to let him out on public roads. Some said this was a bad idea and that the Stig wouldn't survive outside his usual habitat, but it was such a good excuse to have a race nobody really questioned it.
The Stig set off from Caterham's factory in Surrey and headed for the Knock Hill circuit outside Edinburgh. Meanwhile the lads, who were already at Knock Hill, had 8 hours to build a Caterham kit car from scratch then drive it over the start line before the Stig. Simple, eh?
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If the wives/girlfrends were involved surely it would be in the tv listings.
Originally Posted by peter3hg2 
