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.

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 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...

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.