Top Gear (series 13)

If Top Gear had been aired in 1949, there would have likely have been a debate as to whether the car would be the fastest way to get from London to Edinburgh, Scotland, or if it would be either the motorbike or the train. The trio decide that they will find out exactly which would have been best in 1949 with a race to the north, with Hammond riding the fastest bike at the time and his boyhood dream, the Vincent Black Shadow, and May driving the "Bugatti Veyron" of the time, the Jaguar XK120, while Clarkson finds himself shovelling coal into the boiler of a Peppercorn Class A1 Tornado locomotive. Starting from King's Cross, Hammond and May find themselves sticking to the A1 Road (because motorways have not been invented yet), while Clarkson deals with soot and heat, as the train thunders him to victory, with all three vying to be first to reach the finish line at the bar of the Balmoral Hotel. Elsewhere, Jeremy is testing out the Lotus Evora around the track, while the Stig takes the Ferrari FXX for a power lap before coming into the studio and finally revealing who he is.

The presenters find themselves going out and buying a car that would be perfect for 17-year-olds, as well as their parents and the insurance companies, with a budget of £2,500 to cover their purchase plus the insurance for it. For Clarkson, he believes the perfect car is the Volvo 940 Turbo Estate he bought, yet Richard argues that it is the Hyundai Scoupe he picked because of it being a coupé, while May reasons that the small and cheap Volkswagen Golf Mk III he chose is the best. To find out who did well, the trio face a series of challenges, including modifying their cars in the way that 17-year-old would do to attract girls, packing up a camp site and leaving, sneaking back to their parents' house without making too much noise, repairing their cars after they have been rolled over, and then completing a speed challenge while both smashing into things a teenager would hit and performing a handbrake turn. Elsewhere, Stephen Fry is the latest star in the reasonably priced car, while Hammond is in Abu Dhabi to see if the new Lamborghini Murciélago LP670-4 SV is a hypercar in a race against a Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren 722 Edition, before taking on the Stig in a drag race to see which car of their decade, is the fastest in the world - the McLaren F1 (driven by The Stig) and the Bugatti Veyron (driven by Richard).

To beat the recession, the trio take to the streets of London in three small cars that they hate and that bankers will be forced to use - the Proton Satria Neo, the Chevrolet Aveo, and the Perodua Myvi - before heading to the track with three small cars they like - the Škoda Roomster for Clarkson, the Alfa Romeo MiTo for Hammond, and the Toyota iQ for May - and testing them on a challenge devised by each presenter. Meanwhile, Clarkson tests out the new face-lifted Mercedes-Benz SL65 AMG Black Series, May meets meets professional American stunt driver Ken Block and gets taken for a ride around Ken's own gymkhana and his tuned Subaru Impreza and a race with motocross legend Ricky Carmichael, and comedian Michael McIntyre steps into the reasonably priced car.

The team wonder what Classic Car Rallys are like, so the producers send them off to a classic car auction and task them with buying a pre-1982 car on a budget of £3,000, for a Classic Car Rally in Majorca - Hammond goes in early and buys a 1953 Lanchester LJ 200 with no service history and possible connection to his family, Clarkson pays more than he should for a 1969 Austin-Healey Sprite, and May gets with a 1976 Citroën Ami. After getting the cars prepped, they arrive to find themselves late for the "Rally Clásico Isla Mallorca" (Majorca Classic Car Rally). With no chance of winning it, the trio decide to see whose car is best, and, with the help of a unique assistant driver chosen for them, are soon off trying to hit an average speed on closed roads and doing four laps around a rack track as consistently as possible, to see which classic car is a real winner. Meanwhile, there are reviews of some ferocious dinosaurs on the track, in the form of the new BMW Z4 and the replacement of the Nissan 350Z, the Nissan 370Z, while AC/DC front man, Brian Johnson, sets out to make a quick lap with the Lacetti.

Clarkson and May take on the challenge of creating a simple but effective TV advertisement for the new VW Scirocco TDi, but, as is true with Top Gear, their ambitious ideas of what it should be are truly rubbish and unimpressive for the advertising execs. Elsewhere, Hammond takes a look at a modified version of the VXR8, the Vauxhall VXR8 Bathurst Edition, and the Maloo E Series, while Clarkson drives a car he feels will be consigned to the history books - the Aston Martin V12 Vantage. Meanwhile, the Lacetti gets driven around the track by American talk show host, Jay Leno, who recounts an interesting story with how he avoided being done for speeding while showing off a car.