1 00:00:11,770 --> 00:00:15,197 Tonight, I drive around a field, 2 00:00:15,690 --> 00:00:21,450 James measures a runway, and Richard lays a cable. 3 00:00:31,410 --> 00:00:35,680 Hello and good evening. Thank you so much. 4 00:00:35,780 --> 00:00:42,400 Now, as we know, James May lives in 1956. 5 00:00:42,500 --> 00:00:47,240 So he maintains that you can have more fun in a small, simple car 6 00:00:47,340 --> 00:00:50,920 like an Austin A35 or a Wolseley Hornet, than you 7 00:00:51,020 --> 00:00:53,440 can in the big, fire-spitting super-cars 8 00:00:53,540 --> 00:00:56,680 that Hammond and I thump round the track every week. 9 00:00:56,780 --> 00:00:59,880 Yes, so we said to him, "All right, as a special treat this week, 10 00:00:59,980 --> 00:01:01,520 "why don't you do the power test? 11 00:01:01,620 --> 00:01:04,360 "Get yourself down to the track because we have found a car 12 00:01:04,460 --> 00:01:08,209 "that could have been made specifically with you in mind." 13 00:01:12,890 --> 00:01:17,520 When I arrived at the track, everything looked promising. 14 00:01:17,620 --> 00:01:21,170 That is... a Vauxhall Corsa. 15 00:01:23,570 --> 00:01:25,090 There's a note. 16 00:01:26,610 --> 00:01:28,520 It's from Pinky and Perky. 17 00:01:28,620 --> 00:01:31,960 "Dear James, hope you enjoy taking this to the max. 18 00:01:32,060 --> 00:01:34,880 "PS, it was developed at your most favourite place 19 00:01:34,980 --> 00:01:36,610 "in the whole wide world." 20 00:01:47,723 --> 00:01:50,400 This wasn't what I had in mind. 21 00:01:50,500 --> 00:01:53,637 But since I was here and the camera crew were paid for, 22 00:01:54,090 --> 00:01:56,010 I had no choice but to get on with it. 23 00:01:58,890 --> 00:02:03,010 Well, it's certainly quick. 0 to 60 in 6.5 seconds. 24 00:02:04,490 --> 00:02:08,009 And a top speed of 145 miles an hour. 25 00:02:08,403 --> 00:02:10,290 Hell, this is a Vauxhall Corsa. 26 00:02:12,850 --> 00:02:17,837 The engine is a beefed-up version of the standard 1.6-litre turbo. 27 00:02:18,203 --> 00:02:21,320 And it's now been coupled with a new sports exhaust, 28 00:02:21,420 --> 00:02:26,050 as a result of which, it produces 202 horsepower. 29 00:02:27,250 --> 00:02:31,240 202 horsepower is a huge amount put through the front wheels 30 00:02:31,340 --> 00:02:33,000 of a small car like this. 31 00:02:33,100 --> 00:02:37,360 And the results ought to be pretty dramatic. 32 00:02:37,460 --> 00:02:41,680 And by dramatic, I mean, of course, appalling in the bends. 33 00:02:41,780 --> 00:02:45,560 So let's see if that's true with the aid of our senior 34 00:02:45,660 --> 00:02:47,920 cornering solutions consultant. 35 00:02:57,210 --> 00:03:00,360 Now, on paper, this really ought not to work, 36 00:03:00,460 --> 00:03:03,160 all that power in the front wheels should just make it 37 00:03:03,260 --> 00:03:07,000 plough straight on in the corners and consume its own tyres. 38 00:03:07,100 --> 00:03:08,690 But actually, it doesn't. 39 00:03:10,483 --> 00:03:14,800 The reason for that is they've given this car a bespoke suspension, 40 00:03:14,900 --> 00:03:18,680 especially set-up for this and they've developed a clever diff, 41 00:03:18,780 --> 00:03:22,890 which manages the way the power is fed to the wheels. 42 00:03:27,090 --> 00:03:28,490 It's good, isn't it? 43 00:03:32,530 --> 00:03:34,200 It's actually better than good. 44 00:03:34,300 --> 00:03:37,440 And I have to admit, that its time on the Nurburgring has made this 45 00:03:37,540 --> 00:03:40,570 one of the best-handling hot hatchbacks you can buy. 46 00:03:43,410 --> 00:03:48,240 So it was developed on a track. And it's brilliant on a track. 47 00:03:48,340 --> 00:03:50,320 But on the road... 48 00:03:52,340 --> 00:03:55,440 Well, I'm very pleased to be able to report that my prejudices 49 00:03:55,540 --> 00:03:56,960 remain completely intact. 50 00:03:57,060 --> 00:04:00,560 When you add the word Nurburgring to the name of a car, 51 00:04:00,660 --> 00:04:02,560 it's really just code for "ruined", 52 00:04:02,660 --> 00:04:05,640 because the ride is absolutely rock hard. 53 00:04:05,740 --> 00:04:08,240 It's ridiculous. 54 00:04:09,460 --> 00:04:12,600 Car makers become obsessed with making their cars 55 00:04:12,700 --> 00:04:15,280 go around this irrelevant historic... 56 00:04:15,380 --> 00:04:18,360 German racetrack as fast as possible, 57 00:04:18,460 --> 00:04:21,000 without realising that they're ruining the car 58 00:04:21,100 --> 00:04:23,320 for those of us who live in the real world. 59 00:04:23,420 --> 00:04:26,450 It's utterly hopeless. 60 00:04:30,250 --> 00:04:34,000 It's not just ruined, it's expensively ruined, 61 00:04:34,100 --> 00:04:37,200 because this car costs ?22,000. 62 00:04:37,300 --> 00:04:39,920 With a few options, like leather seats and sat nav, 63 00:04:40,020 --> 00:04:42,410 it's over ?24,000. 64 00:04:43,610 --> 00:04:47,610 This isn't what I meant when I said small cars can be fun. 65 00:04:51,163 --> 00:04:55,680 What I meant was this - the new Fiat Panda. 66 00:04:55,780 --> 00:05:00,360 It doesn't have a yobbo body kit or a map of a track on the dash 67 00:05:00,460 --> 00:05:03,800 and although its engine IS turbocharged, 68 00:05:03,900 --> 00:05:06,317 it's only a 0.8-litre two-cylinder 69 00:05:06,483 --> 00:05:10,160 that makes a modest 84 horsepower. 70 00:05:10,260 --> 00:05:15,650 Yet, I believe this car is more fun than the Corsa. 71 00:05:22,780 --> 00:05:25,960 It's not actually about how much power you have, 72 00:05:26,060 --> 00:05:28,920 it's about how much power you can use. 73 00:05:29,020 --> 00:05:33,970 And in this, you can use pretty much all of it, all of the time. 74 00:05:40,220 --> 00:05:45,240 'Look, I like sitting 5mm above the road in a 500 horsepower supercar 75 00:05:45,340 --> 00:05:46,721 'as much as anybody else.' 76 00:05:48,620 --> 00:05:51,600 'But skinny tyres and a roly-poly body, that's fun.' 77 00:05:51,700 --> 00:05:55,080 The lack of grip means that, more of the time, 78 00:05:55,180 --> 00:05:58,240 you are driving this car at the edge, even at quite normal speeds 79 00:05:58,340 --> 00:06:02,290 and it's at the edge where things become absolutely tremendous. 80 00:06:05,170 --> 00:06:07,040 Bit of squirrelling. 81 00:06:07,140 --> 00:06:11,410 And as for that engine, well, it may be tiny but it packs a punch. 82 00:06:12,890 --> 00:06:16,120 And it sounds just brilliant. 83 00:06:16,220 --> 00:06:20,200 I love that thrumming noise. 84 00:06:20,300 --> 00:06:23,040 It's such a happy sound. 85 00:06:23,140 --> 00:06:26,240 It's a bit like a dog running round with a frisbee in its mouth going 86 00:06:26,340 --> 00:06:28,410 "Come on, come on, throw the frisbee." 87 00:06:30,850 --> 00:06:33,000 And the cost of this bundle of fun? 88 00:06:33,100 --> 00:06:35,280 Around ?11,000. 89 00:06:35,380 --> 00:06:38,250 Half the price of the Corsa. 90 00:06:39,890 --> 00:06:45,250 However, there is a potential problem with a small-engined car. 91 00:06:46,450 --> 00:06:49,210 Here's the Stig, taking the Panda from 0... 92 00:06:53,410 --> 00:06:55,930 ... to 70 and back to nought again. 93 00:06:59,890 --> 00:07:05,080 He did that, according to the wheel o'distance, 94 00:07:05,180 --> 00:07:07,120 in 305 metres. 95 00:07:07,220 --> 00:07:12,040 But the big question is, how does a small-engined car like this cope 96 00:07:12,140 --> 00:07:14,490 when it's weighed down with people? 97 00:07:16,290 --> 00:07:19,520 Now, if it's just the Stig, then it makes no odds, 98 00:07:19,620 --> 00:07:20,961 as you can see quite clearly. 99 00:07:21,061 --> 00:07:23,040 But if it's normal members of the public, 100 00:07:23,140 --> 00:07:25,610 then I think we may have a problem. 101 00:07:26,930 --> 00:07:29,560 You see, according to the newspapers, 102 00:07:29,660 --> 00:07:32,800 more than a quarter of adults are now obese. 103 00:07:32,900 --> 00:07:35,080 And in just a few years' time, 104 00:07:35,180 --> 00:07:39,920 over 50% of the population will be absolutely enormous. 105 00:07:40,020 --> 00:07:42,400 So, what could a typical family of the future 106 00:07:42,500 --> 00:07:45,610 do to this car's performance? 107 00:08:14,890 --> 00:08:15,970 320... 108 00:08:17,410 --> 00:08:19,200 325... 109 00:08:19,300 --> 00:08:24,200 Right, so with just the Stig, it was 305 metres. 110 00:08:24,300 --> 00:08:25,554 With our family on board, 111 00:08:25,654 --> 00:08:30,240 it took an extra 177 metres, 112 00:08:30,340 --> 00:08:32,170 more than half as much again. 113 00:08:35,290 --> 00:08:37,120 So, if you buy this car, 114 00:08:37,220 --> 00:08:40,010 you might want to think about going easy on the pasties. 115 00:08:42,490 --> 00:08:45,050 But trust me, it's worth it. 116 00:08:48,410 --> 00:08:51,080 James Hunt was once famously asked, 117 00:08:51,180 --> ...
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