I don't have anything with women, but Vicki Butler exaggerate with all show and isn't that good as she think. Boring for me and my friends who viewed the show. PS: Her laugh scratch our brains. In rest i like drive skills of others 2 good pilots. Tiff have what a presenter need to show, Jason look very "kewl" when drive a car and he doing i think in many situation better then Tiff. Tom Ford was awesome, i think the only one with some fun in the show. In rest in show the originality missing, like some other people said they take from other shows ideas, also that i know Tiff and Vicky started at Top Gear and this was a little advantage for them to make something original in new show.
15 Reviews
Top gear got real.
jim-papajim1 June 2010
So there you have it,top gear is the best car show(wait 5 seconds...)in the world,but what's with that other show "Fifth gear" Clarkson was talking about?Being a top gear fan,makes you wanna hate fifth gear already right?I though maybe i could see an episode or two of fifth gear then I can justifiably say "I watched it and it sucks ".But then something really weird happened or didn't happen...Not only I didn't hate it but after the first couple of episodes,in my mind it established itself as one of the most descend car shows in the world.Not only that but it had the only thing the best car show in the world didn't have...Nice big chunks of REALITY.So here is the sum up: Fifth gear is:
----less fun/funny than top gear. ++++Way more realistic,more and better consumer advice. -Not a single person with a great narator's voice when top gear has lots of them. +More practical info,also features like "It's new but is it any good?" and "Cars you didn't know you could afford". -Presenters acting too friendly to the viewers almost begging to watch them. +A woman amongst the presenters.Would be super hot if she lost some weight but still a nice addition to the show. -Script and challenges not as good as top gear's.
So add this up and you come up with Top Gear(9 stars) - 1=8 If you want a show that is great to watch,unusually funny and amusing with super-cars taking up 90% of the time,in a world where every car other than super/hyper/ultra is just rubbish(so rubbish that doesn't deserve a real review),enter the crazy world of Top Gear.But if Earth is your kind of world then Fifth Gear is the car show to take you there.
----less fun/funny than top gear. ++++Way more realistic,more and better consumer advice. -Not a single person with a great narator's voice when top gear has lots of them. +More practical info,also features like "It's new but is it any good?" and "Cars you didn't know you could afford". -Presenters acting too friendly to the viewers almost begging to watch them. +A woman amongst the presenters.Would be super hot if she lost some weight but still a nice addition to the show. -Script and challenges not as good as top gear's.
So add this up and you come up with Top Gear(9 stars) - 1=8 If you want a show that is great to watch,unusually funny and amusing with super-cars taking up 90% of the time,in a world where every car other than super/hyper/ultra is just rubbish(so rubbish that doesn't deserve a real review),enter the crazy world of Top Gear.But if Earth is your kind of world then Fifth Gear is the car show to take you there.
Basically, Top Gear minus Clarkson & BBC, plus Five = 5th Gear
philip-22510 April 2006
In short, 5th Gear is a "Five" re-hash of the old Top Gear format, and because it uses many of the same cast and crew, minus Jeremy Clarkson, it's a good one. It's like TG used to be a few years back, when the items were geared more towards information, although I will say that I have always found Tiff Needell entertaining when he track-tests a super-car.
Some have said that the show would benefit from Clarkson; personally I don't think so, partly because Five would probably have to be careful about not upsetting advertisers (unlike the BBC) and he has, shall we say, shown the potential for that!!
All in all, 5th Gear is a great show, and long may it continue.
Some have said that the show would benefit from Clarkson; personally I don't think so, partly because Five would probably have to be careful about not upsetting advertisers (unlike the BBC) and he has, shall we say, shown the potential for that!!
All in all, 5th Gear is a great show, and long may it continue.
Not good enough!!
thilinaweer19 July 2009
Warning: Spoilers
Comparing with Top gear, I find it hard to say anything good about Fifth gear. The presenters are not trying to do something new or smart, but just trying to imitate the presenters of TG. I have seen many clips of the show and I can without any doubt say, they are just using tracing paper and pencils to make the show. Plus points about this show are that it is more factual and on the point than other motoring shows, but it doesn't have the posses or the ambition. If they keep on going this way, the team will find it real hard to stay on even the lower levels of rating. And this program really lacks the voice talents. There is no voice that is good enough to keep the viewers glued to the show, and that is a big disadvantage when you are considering a TV show, specially British.
Old Top Gear in new package
make214 January 2007
Well, it isn't as funny as Top Gear, but it goes straight to the point. Tiff Needell and Vicki Butler-Henderson were presenters at Top Gear before, but they decided to start their own show. Well, Tiff doesn't have verbal gifts of Clarkson, but his driving skills are amazing. And Vicki is so cute when she pushes car to the limit and giggles at same time. Style of Fifth Gear is like Old-school Top Gear style, and by my opinion, older TG:s were better than new. It's odd that Fifth Gear doesn't have any comments and its user rating is only 6.3? I bet that none of voters have even seen the show... Fifth Gear is really worth watching, I recommend it to all TG-fans.
terribly biased car show
gdmclean3317 May 2014
I've watched a few episodes of this show and have come to the conclusion that their show is horribly biased to European and British cars. Maybe they get a lot of funding for their show via European sponsors, but anytime they do a car comparison between a euro/brirish car and anything American, the euro car will be held up like a beacon of automotive ingenuity whilst the US car will be touted as 3rd world engineering.
The shows segments and tests are blatantly setup to either pass or fail a car, before they even get behind the drivers seat. One episode the girl is blindfolded and put in the front passenger seat, and through nothing other than sound, smell and feel she is asked to guess what car she is sitting in. She successfully guesses not only what make of car she is sitting in, but also the model. Just to give a bit of perspective, there are over 130 makes of car in the world. Then encompassing all the models of each make, there are over 2000+ models in the world. FWIW, the car was a Chrysler 300c. The viewer is meant to believe that she was able to make that miraculous guess sitting in the passenger seat while blinded.
Needless to say that all of the presenters on that show gave the car an extremely bad rating, because it was of course - American made.
There are some redeeming qualities in the show as far as humour and entertainment go with drag racing, etc but a car buyer should never take any notice of these clowns when deciding on what car to spend their money on.
The shows segments and tests are blatantly setup to either pass or fail a car, before they even get behind the drivers seat. One episode the girl is blindfolded and put in the front passenger seat, and through nothing other than sound, smell and feel she is asked to guess what car she is sitting in. She successfully guesses not only what make of car she is sitting in, but also the model. Just to give a bit of perspective, there are over 130 makes of car in the world. Then encompassing all the models of each make, there are over 2000+ models in the world. FWIW, the car was a Chrysler 300c. The viewer is meant to believe that she was able to make that miraculous guess sitting in the passenger seat while blinded.
Needless to say that all of the presenters on that show gave the car an extremely bad rating, because it was of course - American made.
There are some redeeming qualities in the show as far as humour and entertainment go with drag racing, etc but a car buyer should never take any notice of these clowns when deciding on what car to spend their money on.
How Fifth Gear is different and better than Top Gear.
docrobot24 February 2011
Fifth Gear is made for hard core car enthusiasts who want to be informed. Top Gear is made for the masses of average people who like cars and want to be entertained. From experience, it is easier to get a woman who doesn't enjoy cars to watch an entire episode of Top Gear than Fifth Gear.
Fifth Gear is about the cars first, the location and the hosts come second. Top Gear is more about the guys, the locations and the post production special effects than the cars IMHO.
Fifth Gear's hosts; Tiff, Vicky, Jason and Ben are all professional racers that take that experience to the show. They are professional drivers first, TV Hosts second. Tiff and Vicky are also ex-Top Gear Hosts and worked with Jeremy Clarkson until the troubles that plagued the 2001 season of TG.
It was in 2002 that the current Top Gear format and the then new Fifth Gear both appeared on British TV for the first time.
Now, I like both shows, but Fifth gear appeals to the Car enthusiast in me and pumps more adrenaline in my veins than Top Gear ever has...
Fifth Gear is about the cars first, the location and the hosts come second. Top Gear is more about the guys, the locations and the post production special effects than the cars IMHO.
Fifth Gear's hosts; Tiff, Vicky, Jason and Ben are all professional racers that take that experience to the show. They are professional drivers first, TV Hosts second. Tiff and Vicky are also ex-Top Gear Hosts and worked with Jeremy Clarkson until the troubles that plagued the 2001 season of TG.
It was in 2002 that the current Top Gear format and the then new Fifth Gear both appeared on British TV for the first time.
Now, I like both shows, but Fifth gear appeals to the Car enthusiast in me and pumps more adrenaline in my veins than Top Gear ever has...
Down to Earth
valleyandy112 July 2019
Missing Tiff
rr-7891131 October 2019
Better than Top Gear, either UK or USA
wikipediacabal18 August 2012
Fifth Gear lives in the shadow of the top viewership car show ever. Top Gear UK has more worldwide viewers, but that's only because it is broad entertainment. It conveys only scraps of information, mostly through the Stig's segment. It's always funny when the bombastic Clarkson is shown to be wrong about a car by the Stig driving it in a way that would be impossible if Clarkson's review were true.
Fifth Gear's presenters all have the skills and athleticism to handle a fast car, unlike any of the speaking personalities on Top Gear UK. And they are better able to talk about the cars than the Top Gear US presenters. Fifth Gear does it all: watchable and interesting while managing to teach quite a bit about the cars. There is no bias that I can see, unlike Top Gear UK which favors British cars and mocks American cars, among others.
My criticism is that the show hasn't changed at all in the Internet era. There are a few complete episodes available only to UK viewers, and that's it. At minimum there should be episodes available to world viewers, not just UK; extended episodes and outtakes, which can be created at minimal additional cost; a forum with participation by the show's crew; and marketing tie-ins with auto makers and retailers to take advantage of the fact that many readers will be shopping for a car.
Fifth Gear's presenters all have the skills and athleticism to handle a fast car, unlike any of the speaking personalities on Top Gear UK. And they are better able to talk about the cars than the Top Gear US presenters. Fifth Gear does it all: watchable and interesting while managing to teach quite a bit about the cars. There is no bias that I can see, unlike Top Gear UK which favors British cars and mocks American cars, among others.
My criticism is that the show hasn't changed at all in the Internet era. There are a few complete episodes available only to UK viewers, and that's it. At minimum there should be episodes available to world viewers, not just UK; extended episodes and outtakes, which can be created at minimal additional cost; a forum with participation by the show's crew; and marketing tie-ins with auto makers and retailers to take advantage of the fact that many readers will be shopping for a car.
Much better than Top Gear
drakul-608-84239724 May 2019
It's got the formula right at last - beats Top Gear
chrischapman-4754512 October 2018
The latest series (2018 - on Quest) seems to have hit a sweet spot - after lots of format and channel changes the current team seem genuinely pleased to be back and enjoying each others' company. The reports are generally expertly made, well constructed, good humoured, decent camera work and there are no silly gimmicks. IMO far better than the post-Clarkson/May/Hammond Top Gears.
Why do so many people think Top Gear > Fifth Gear?
ixinh18 July 2014
I'm always curious at how popular Top Gear has gotten compared to Fifth gear. I've been watching these shows for a while now, back even when they used to all be on the same show. I have to say I loved Top Gear back in the day, and then pretty much everyone left for Fifth Gear, and I watched both for a while... and by now, it's quite hard for me to sit through an entire Top Gear episode... They always feel so long, and drawn you feel like you have to sit through all the jokes and talking to get to bits about cars. I just wish that Fifth Gear would put out episodes more regularly and longer episodes too. I can't get enough of watching Tiff and Jason duke it out.
My thoughts are... people that watch Top Gear, well I get the feeling they watch it more for the Jeremy and his jokes... It's more of an entertainment talk show that has cars in it. You get to hear all of the outlandish comparisons Clarkson makes about cars to usually things that have nothing to do with cars, and unfortunately, the one guy on the show that I really want to hear from on that show, the Stig, isn't allowed to talk. And after 10 years of Stig jokes, I'm surprised they even bother.
Fifth Gear, the format of each show is pretty well defined. You get a team test, a new car road or track test, usually a battle of some kind pitching comparable cars together, and a special segment of some sort. Granted the special segments are kind of irrelevant to me some times, but that's probably just in my personal opinion, since I'm not always interested in the topics. They vary quite a bit, from i.e. trying to break an old Merc, to driving tanks, building engines, crash tests, etc. Aside from that though, there's just something about this show and it's presenters that makes you almost feel as if you were driving along there with them. It's so immersive in the amount of detail they describe about cars, and each of the commentators are quite different in their personalities... Watching them all review a car really gives you a well informed all around opinion. They're really inconsistent in putting out new episodes, so I hope there will be more fan support for these guys to review more cars and put out more episodes... Watching these racing drivers go at it on track is priceless... and Johnny too, with his really weird sense of humor and practicality.
My thoughts are... people that watch Top Gear, well I get the feeling they watch it more for the Jeremy and his jokes... It's more of an entertainment talk show that has cars in it. You get to hear all of the outlandish comparisons Clarkson makes about cars to usually things that have nothing to do with cars, and unfortunately, the one guy on the show that I really want to hear from on that show, the Stig, isn't allowed to talk. And after 10 years of Stig jokes, I'm surprised they even bother.
Fifth Gear, the format of each show is pretty well defined. You get a team test, a new car road or track test, usually a battle of some kind pitching comparable cars together, and a special segment of some sort. Granted the special segments are kind of irrelevant to me some times, but that's probably just in my personal opinion, since I'm not always interested in the topics. They vary quite a bit, from i.e. trying to break an old Merc, to driving tanks, building engines, crash tests, etc. Aside from that though, there's just something about this show and it's presenters that makes you almost feel as if you were driving along there with them. It's so immersive in the amount of detail they describe about cars, and each of the commentators are quite different in their personalities... Watching them all review a car really gives you a well informed all around opinion. They're really inconsistent in putting out new episodes, so I hope there will be more fan support for these guys to review more cars and put out more episodes... Watching these racing drivers go at it on track is priceless... and Johnny too, with his really weird sense of humor and practicality.
I aint Top Gear, but is it better
smc476125 January 2024
Recently started watching Fifth Gear when I noticed it was available on Prime, well from season 12 onwards.
Thoroughly enjoying it though it does have a couple of minor irritations.
My main gripes are are around the filming of the cars as they test them/ race them. The camera work is too frantic changing shots every 2 seconds or thereabouts, perhaps to give a feeling of exitement. Does not work for me, I end up feeling dizzy.
Usually music in background of said test, as presenter is talking. Its too intrusive and at times difficult to hear presenter Biggest gripe though is quality of filming. Its way too dark, especially at outdoor scenes
On the plus side its snappy. Runs for approx 25 minutes and during that time usually 4 segments of around 5/6 minutes each meaning it does not drag on.
Presenters are great, Vicki, Tiff and Jason are bona fide racing drivers and there seems to be a great chemistry and rivalry between them, friendly of course Other presenters I have seen are Jonny Smith and Tom Ford, seasoned car journolists who know there stuff.
It was always going to be compared to Top Gear, but Fifth Gear is more down to earth. Not every segment revolves around super or hyper cars, like Top Gear does. Plenty of cars featured that many people actually have and can afford. Plenty of decent items on things like car safety. They do however still have time to mess around so its not all serious all the time
More of a car show where cars are the stars, unlike Top Gear which is more of an entertaimment show, with the hosts being the stars.
Thoroughly enjoying it though it does have a couple of minor irritations.
My main gripes are are around the filming of the cars as they test them/ race them. The camera work is too frantic changing shots every 2 seconds or thereabouts, perhaps to give a feeling of exitement. Does not work for me, I end up feeling dizzy.
Usually music in background of said test, as presenter is talking. Its too intrusive and at times difficult to hear presenter Biggest gripe though is quality of filming. Its way too dark, especially at outdoor scenes
On the plus side its snappy. Runs for approx 25 minutes and during that time usually 4 segments of around 5/6 minutes each meaning it does not drag on.
Presenters are great, Vicki, Tiff and Jason are bona fide racing drivers and there seems to be a great chemistry and rivalry between them, friendly of course Other presenters I have seen are Jonny Smith and Tom Ford, seasoned car journolists who know there stuff.
It was always going to be compared to Top Gear, but Fifth Gear is more down to earth. Not every segment revolves around super or hyper cars, like Top Gear does. Plenty of cars featured that many people actually have and can afford. Plenty of decent items on things like car safety. They do however still have time to mess around so its not all serious all the time
More of a car show where cars are the stars, unlike Top Gear which is more of an entertaimment show, with the hosts being the stars.
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