Top Gear Season 32

In the first programme of the autumn series Jeremy Clarkson test drives the £180,000 Bentley Continental R to find out if it’s just a stately home on wheels, while Quentin Willson takes the new Mazda 323 out to see if its performance matches its good looks. And Steve Berry takes a nerve-shattering trip with motorcycle stunt rider Gary Rothwell.

On tonight’s programme, Jeremy Clarkson is in the Highlands to test drive the new Jaguar XJ series, including the supercharged four-litre XJR, which was unveiled only yesterday. Tiff Needell puts the first all-new Range Rover to be launched for nearly a quarter of a century through its paces on a 350-mile trip from Solihull to Scotland. Tony Mason peers at the Perthshire scenery through the mud on the lens during the third round of the Top Gear British Rally Championship, as contenders speed around Scone Palace near Perth, race up to Inverness, pass imposing lochs and cross over the Forth Bridge before finishing at Perth.

The work of an almost forgotten design genius is reviewed on tonight’s programme when Jeremy Clarkson drives four million dollars’ worth of some of the most beautiful cars ever built — the three BAT cars created for Alfa Romeo by styling genius Franco Scaglione back in the 50s. Plus Quentin Willson looks at the new Mazda MX-5 “a proper mess-your-hair-up sports car”. At £17,000 it’s not affordable for everyone, but if it’s your type of car why not invest in a secondhand one — a G registration will cost about half the new price.

On tonight’s programme, Jeremy Clarkson tests the new ultra-light aluminium-bodied Audi A8. And Steve Berry meets the Pre-50 American Car Club and drives some of the most stylish US models from before the era of fins and chrome.

Jeremy Clarkson and Quentin Willson run the rule over the star exhibits at Britain’s biggest motoring event — the British International Motor Show at the NEC in Birmingham. Expect Ford’s controversial new Scorpio, Volkswagen’s long-awaited Polo and new challengers from Korea in the shape of the Hyundai Accent and a car from Daewoo, better known to date as manufacturers of TVs, video recorders and microwaves. Away from the crowds, Tiff Needell gets to grips on road and track with a car that’s got Formula 1 pedigree.

Jeremy Clarkson hands over the driving seat to Michael Schumacher, who pushes the new Ford Mustang to the limit round Silverstone. Ford don’t think it will sell in Britain. Jeremy begs to differ. He thinks it’s one of a growing number of cars that would find eager buyers if only their manufacturers’ marketing “boffins” would let them into the country. Plus Steve Berry on the latest motorcycle from MZ, formerly an East German company regarded in motorcycling circles with about the same degree of enthusiasm that Lada and Škoda generate among car buffs. But their new British-designed bike, the Skorpion, is set to change all that.

Volkswagen’s Beetle and Golf were trendsetters in their day but the Polo was always the runt of the litter — it’s not been a top seller in the small car market for years. Stephen Bayley decides whether the re-born Polo, launched in Britain at the end of last month at prices from £7,000 to £11,750, will fare better. Plus Tony Mason in the Manx Rally, the final round of this year’s British Rally Championship.

Jeremy Clarkson drives Alfa Romeo’s interesting and odd-looking 145, and Steve Berry visits this week’s Bike Show at the NEC, Birmingham, looking at what’s new in the world of the designer moped and testing Britain’s best-selling bike, the sporty Honda Fireblade, against its rivals.

Tony Mason follows the careers of two drivers taking part in next week’s RAC Rally, Britain’s round of the world championship. Bradford sisters Stephanie and Rachael Simmonite, who first appeared on Top Gear last year, have progressed over the last 12 months from complete novices to their first RAC entry. Jeremy Clarkson drives new road going versions of two rally-bred sports cars, the Toyota Celicia GT-Four and the latest Ford Escort Cosworth.

Steve Berry visits the East Los Angeles Car Show for the low-down on Lowriders — a youth movement which embraces thousands of people from the city’s large Hispanic community. In this unique form of car culture American cars from the 1940s to the present day are extravagantly decorated with ornate gold-plated wheels, acres of velour and custom-designed murals. Deep-marine batteries are loaded in the boot and the suspension is ripped out and replaced with hydraulic jacks that mean the cars can bunny hop down the road on demand. And it’s not just the cars — there’s the lifestyle, clothes and music to match. Plus, Tony Mason reporting on the RAC Rally.

Quentin Willson tests BMW’s new Compact — at £13,000 something of a step downmarket for the company, which reckons it can compete with small sporting hatchbacks like VW’s Golf GTi or Citroën’s ZX Volcane. Will it open up the pleasures of BMW motoring to a wider clientele or simply cheapen a highly respected brand? Also, Jeremy Clarkson finds out what it’s like to drive a full racing-spec touring car when he takes Tiff Needell’s Nissan Primera for a high-speed drive around the Oulton Park race circuit.

Within the next decade, South Korea could be making many of our basic cars. Marques like SsangYong, Daewoo, Hyundai and Kia may not be big names on the British car market in 1994 but they seem to be poised for massive expansion. They already make nearly two million vehicles a year between them, significantly more than Britain’s motor industry, and even the mighty Japanese are worried by Korea’s manufacturing potential. But this rapidly advancing nation has some quaint ways of doing business — like the way customers are actually encouraged to do their own repairs. Top Gear road tests the Hyundai Accent and looks at some of the extraordinary ways Koreans use cars.

Would James Bond approve of the new DB7? At £80,000 it is cheap for an Aston Martin, but it now has to compete with “mass-produced” luxury sports cars like the Porsche 928 and BMW 850 — cars which are not merely for special occasions but serious everyday transport. Jeremy Clarkson looks back at classic Aston Martin models and tests the new one.