On an action-packed Top Gear, a Knight took to our reasonably priced
car, Maserati's coupe tried out our track, white van men battled for
supremacy, and we turned a Lada into a Lotus.
As the programme was all about performance, we started to wonder -
can any car be a driver's car? Is it something a car is born with, or
can it be bolted on? To find out we 'borrowed' an ageing Lada and gave
it to Lotus, whch spent 1,000 hours tweaking it in an attempt to turn it
into a decent track car. Did we manage it? Of course we did, although
the car did still look like a Lada, which ruined the effect slightly.
We also tried to find the fastest white van man. We had over 1,500
applications and picked five to race around our track in a tuned
Transit. Predictably, one got lost and two crashed. The winner was a
chap called dave, who drives a van for NTL.
Richard lined up five superminis to test as an antidote to all this
power: the Ford Fiesta, Citroen C3, Honda Jazz, Nissan Micra and MG ZR.
His verdict? If you want practicality, it's got to be the Jazz. But if
it's fun you're after, choose the MG.
Sir Michael Gambon, one of Britain's finest actors, was determined to
set a fast lap in our reasonably priced car. He managed 1.55, which
isn't a bad time. Although it was worrying that he nearly killed both
the Liana and himself in the process.
First shown on: 08/12/2002
