Fifth Gear is a motoring program on the British TV channel currently known as "five".
They're comparing 4x4 cars.
They compared "Performance" solely on the acceleration to 60mph.
It maybe isn't so surprising that the Freelander missed the cut, but so far off-road capability hasn't had a look in, and they've been swanning around a circuit complaining about body roll...
And then they go into the mud to pick between the last two.
I suppose it's fair enough that they emphasise on-road performance, but I wonder if the off-road element was decided by the driver...
On or around Wed, 12 May 2004 19:56:44 +0100 (BST), snipped-for-privacy@zhochaka.demon.co.uk ("David G. Bell") enlightened us thusly:
Vicki B-H did a much more convincing job of it. Needell, in typically prattish manner, made a c*ck up and blamed the vehicle, and then claimed to be stuck on what appeared to be a fairly firm, steepish upslope. If he was even 30% competent, he'd have realised that he took it too slowly, backed down, and then made a faster run.
He was also making stupid remarks on their test track, whinging on about that fact that the vehicle was an auto. "If only we had a manual one"... well, I've news for you, Mr know-it-all Needell, on my 'auto box, at low speed, if I floor the throttle it jumps into 1st gear just as fast as I could do it manually, if not faster, and holds first well up the rev range unless I back off. Every other auto I've driven works the same way, it's called kickdown. 'most every auto I've driven also has the ability to lock the box "down" into selected lower gears, so if you want, you can pull it back to 1st before the corner, though there's not much point, unless the box is a very sluggish shifter. Frankly, I reckon Needell is an opinionated windbag who was a mediocre racer and reckons he's far better than he is; and if he didn't rate a vehicle I'd regard that as a good reason for buying one.
I wonder how many people, in the market for a mid-size 4x4, give a flying f*ck how it behaves on the limit in tight cornering?
and of course, while ranting about 5th gear (which is mainly a vehicle for the aforementioned Needell to show of his limited abilities as a driver and TV presenter) we should remember that they were the ones who made considerable efforts to tip a Range Rover, which they did eventually manage by driving it in a manner that no-one ever would, and then slated it and other 4x4s for instability. Plonkers.
I don't think it's invalid to test the limits, but one has to assume competent driving, and based on my own experience I doubt the driving was competent.
On or around Wed, 12 May 2004 23:02:39 +0100 (BST), snipped-for-privacy@zhochaka.demon.co.uk ("David G. Bell") enlightened us thusly:
It's not invalid to test the limits, but unless the limits are unduly low, it's not a major deciding factor in choice of car, either.
I've yet to find the limits in my 110, I did the other day get the disco to squeal a tyre in a tight corner at medium speed, but I suspect that it may need the pressures checking, as it doesn't normally.
the sort of people buying 4x4s such as they were testing isn't going to drive it like he was. In fact, almost nobody is going to drive it like he was. And the fact that he was pratting about with the manual lever for the auto box when he was already round the corner betokens either an exceptionally poor 'box (if so, he should have made a point about that) or a lack of appreciation of how the thing works.
It isn't Fifth Gear that has missed the point, its the motoring general public, the vast majority of who have no interest whatsoever in the off-road ability of their 4x4. Fifth gear was just following that.
Perhaps it's a blessing in disguise, who wants these dickheads off road anyway. The majority of drivers I come across on the road that drive like they do are usually so far up the a...se of my 110 you'd think they were after it's colon.
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