Season 18

From Press Day at the Frankfurt Motor Show — William Woollard and Sue Baker report the latest cars. Frank Page drives the new medium-sized Peugeot 405. On the road, there are test reports on the BMW V12, Mercedes Coupe and Porsche 959. You can still drive as fast as you like on the German autobahn, but is it just too dangerous? Chris Goffey reports on the political pressure to slow down.

Surrounded by the glories of Britain’s motoring past at the Heritage Motor Museum, Syon Park, William Woollard introduces a new feature — the Top Gear Car of the Decade — and road tests nine cars with a claim to be the most significant designs of their decade. In the first test, the programme looks at the original 1906 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost, a car that set a standard of excellence in engineering that has been a benchmark for designers ever since. Ten pre-1915 Rolls Royces were among the 26 veteran cars that set out on a 2,500 mile tour of Britain earlier this summer. Sue Baker viewed £2 million worth of machinery at Stratford-Upon-Avon. Frank Page has been sifting through viewers’ suggestions on how to improve safety for pedestrians and cyclists on rural roads, and visits Water End in Hertfordshire to illustrate how some of them might work in practice. Chris Goffey tests Toyota’s new family saloon out this autumn.

Are Top Gear viewers dissatisfied with their cars? Several hundred of you wrote in to complain last series, in response to an invitation to air your problems. William Woollard investigates some of the more interesting cases. Sue Baker road-tests Vauxhall’s new flagship, the Senator. Is it prestigious enough to compete with established luxury cars? At the Acropolis Rally earlier this year Hannu Mikkola became the first driver ever to take part in 100 world championship rallies. Tony Mason was there to discover why Hannu is regarded by many as the world’s greatest rally driver. Chris Goffey drives a Ford Model T, the car that put America on wheels — and much of the rest of the world, too — and which Top Gear viewers have voted their ‘car of the decade’ for 1910-20. Frank Page, meanwhile, has been to Southend to examine the latest in car customising — California-look Volkswagens.

Car design in Eastern Europe has lagged behind the west, but with the new Lada Samara, has caught up. Sue Baker visits the Togliatti factory in central Russia, to drive one of the first righthand drive versions of the hatchback. Disabled drivers using conversions, fitted to conventional cars, are faced with a confusing range of devices. Chris Goffey visited the Mobility Roadshow to see how well the market caters for their special needs. Road safety depends on good tyres, inflated to the right pressure, but how sure can you be that the gauge is accurate? Frank Page looks at new machines that may be better. This week’s car of the decade is the Austin Seven, the first genuine car for the working person. For many people, the only accessible motor sport is ‘banger racing’. Tony Mason reports from Wimbledon on the Top Gear team’s courage and skill behind the wheel.

This year’s motorcycle show at the NEC Birmingham is set against a continuing background of falling bike sales. William Woollard views the latest models the industry hopes will encourage people out of their cars and back onto two wheels. Frank Page investigates the revival of the Norton company and the new bike they’ll be launching on the private market this autumn, and Top Gear looks at some of the more radical machines on which hardened bikers keep the cult of biking alive. One of Top Gear’s family of test drivers joins Sue Baker to evaluate the new small Citroen, the AX, and compares it with its established rivals from Ford and Peugeot. And why are Britain’s motorways so frequently in need of repair? Chris Goffey reports on new ways to try to make them last longer.

This week’s car of the decade is from the 30s. William Woollard tests the Citroen Traction Avant that introduced a new level of engineering to the family car, and foreshadowed front wheel drive. Chris Goffey reports on the latest Mazda 626 which breaks new ground with a rear-wheel steering system designed to improve highspeed handling. On a lighter note, Sue Baker tests the special Buick used to take the Duke and Duchess of Windsor into exile after the abdication. Some of the presenters try out an unusual motor sport — tractor pulling.

William Woollard presents the programme from London’s Motorfair 87. Sue Baker drives the latest Lotus, and there’s a report on the apparent revival in British car manufacturing — is it a genuine success story? Chris Goffey reports on the British Truck Grand Prix and Tiff Needell monitors the progress of the ‘Formula First’ entrants whose careers were featured in the last series. The VW Beetle was the car of the decade for the 1940s — Frank Page rediscovers the car in which he learnt to drive.

Britain’s motorway network seems constantly clogged by road repairs. William Woollard asks why the surfaces need rebuilding so frequently, and looks at an alternative way of funding road repairs being tried out in Arizona. Also in America Chris Goffey reports on a glimpse into the future shape of the car, through the eyes of design students at Detroit’s Centre of Creative Studies. What was it like to race motor cars at the turn of the century? The first car to carry the British Racing Green, a Napier, has just returned to Britain, and Tiff Needell test-drives it over the tracks and lanes round its new home at Beaulieu. In the car of the decade series, it’s the 50s and a car whose shape and engineering would make it remarkable 30 years later; the Citroen DS.

Traditional car design in Eastern Europe has lagged decades behind the west, but with the new Lada Samara, the Russians seem to have caught up. Sue Baker visits the Togliatti factory in Central Russia to drive one of the first right-hand drive versions of the new hatchback. This week’s car of the decade is the Austin Mini, a symbol of the 60s. Chris Goffey samples the cheaper end of the 4x4 market — how useful are they as transport for families in rural areas?

William Woollard tests the new right-hand-drive version of the Honda Civic hatchback. Sue Baker returns to Birmingham’s ‘Wheels’ project to see how the scheme to give people real experience of driving before they go on the road is working. The 70s saw the birth of the ‘hot hatchback’. Tiff Needell drives the nominated ‘Car of the Decade’, the Alfasud. In ten days’ time, the Lombard RAC Rally gets under way in Chester. Tony Mason visits a rally school to see aspiring drivers improve their technique.

In this final programme of the autumn series, William Woollard puts the spotlight on more complaints made by Top Gear viewers about car design and performance. Sue Baker looks at the way photographer David Bailey goes about selling a new model as he directs his first car commercial. The MOT test: should Great Britain adopt the Northern Ireland solution of government-run testing stations? With the start of Britain’s premier rally three days away, Tony Mason sees how Ford whittled down 15,000 aspiring drivers to find a single winner to be given an entry in the Lombard RAC Rally. Plus the final ‘Car of the Decade’: the rally-bred Audi Quattro is the Top Gear car of the 80s.