Top Gear — Season 15

How fast can your car accelerate from 0-60 mph? Well, whether it's fewer than seven seconds, or slightly more than 30, it's the one magic figure which manufacturers sell and motorists believe is the true test of a car's potency. But is it all that important? How do the testers achieve such dazzling figures; do the results accurately reflect what average motorists can expect from their cars? Chris Goffey reports. One hundred years on, Top Gear looks at the pioneering achievements of Karl Benz and how to give accident victims a safer ride in Britain's ambulances.

Peter Burgess drives one of the newest entrants in the hot hatch race, the Renault 5 turbo, and compares it with the Peugeot 205 GTI. Why don't they teach them something useful at school? William Woollard discovers that you can do motor mechanics and road traffic studies at CSE; and in 1988 there will be a new exam - but could he pass? All cars will soon have rear seat belts as standard; but as yet there is no compulsion to wear them. Chris Goffey looks at Volvo's dummy back seat drivers, and the tortures they endure for research.

Rallying's governing body FISA has reacted quickly to curb the power of the super cars following the tragic death of Henri Toivonen in the Corsican Rally. Following its earlier report into rally safety, Top Gear looks at the dramatic effects the new rules will have on the sport. Chris Goffey test-drives the new Alfa 75 and drives safely among pedestrians in Holland. When is a spare not a spare? Sue Baker examines the phenomenon of the 'skinny' spare tyre - are they safe or merely convenient for manufacturers?

Supermarket shopping in Britain takes on a new look this week when you'll be able to add saloon cars to your shopping list. William Woollard goes to London's Isle of Dogs to see an experiment started yesterday by one major supermarket chain to sell cars to its customers. Sue Baker road tests a convertible from Eastern Europe, the Skoda Rapide, and Frank Page reports on the concerned mum whose interest has led to a baby-seats-for-hire scheme which encourages young mothers to belt up their new babies from the moment they leave hospital.