Chris Alexander

On Engineering

Fifth Gear, You Suck!

23rd January, 2010

The other evening I sat down to dinner, and with Big Brother making a right mess of E4 and E4+1 (my usual staple television while I’m eating and chilling out), I had to find something else on. This something else ended up being Fifth Gear.

I remember watching it while I was little, and then it was good but not sensational.

Now, having gorged on the wonder that was the last series of Top Gear, it seemed like Fifth Gear was the one you woke up to in the morning, not the one that looked like Top Gear did when you went to sleep (to use a metaphor you might expect of Jeremy Clarkson).

So, what was the problem with Fifth Gear then?

Presenters

How annoying can you get?!

I wished they would just say something sensible about the car.

One guy got to try out a Lamborghini Gallardo, and all he did was complain that he could not completely turn off the traction control! Is he mad?!

Presentation

I’ll cut to the point here: it looked terrible.

The talking bits were boring and around a trashed table in a messy office with a tiny reference screen in it.

The bits with cars in were poorly produced, with nothing innovative about the videography, which managed to make a Williams F1 car look tedious and boring (despite Tiff trying his best to deliver scripts while driving it).

To prove my point, check out this gorgeous shoot Top Gear did of the Lexus LFA.