Top Gear — Season 18

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.