1 00:00:29,744 --> 00:00:32,316 Hello, thank you everybody, thank you. 2 00:00:35,744 --> 00:00:40,316 Now, there are lambs in the fields and there are bugs in the trees. There's a whiff of spring in the air 3 00:00:41,356 --> 00:00:48,644 So, the producers gave each of us ã2,000 and told us we have to spend it on a convertible, four-seater, car. 4 00:00:49,356 --> 00:00:53,644 And then, they said, we have to take cars we'd bought down to the Top Gear test track 5 00:00:53,684 --> 00:00:59,768 where we'd be given a number of challenges. 6 00:00:59,808 --> 00:01:02,240 This is what I bought. 7 00:01:02,280 --> 00:01:06,832 It's a 1987 BMW 325i convertible. 8 00:01:06,872 --> 00:01:10,204 According to the mileometer it's done 94,000 miles which means the one 9 00:01:10,244 --> 00:01:14,736 thing you can be sure of is it hasn't done 94,000 miles. 10 00:01:14,776 --> 00:01:17,240 But on the face of it, pretty solid car. 11 00:01:17,280 --> 00:01:20,736 Best of all, it only cost ã1,600. 12 00:01:20,776 --> 00:01:23,424 CAR HORN HONKS Oh! 13 00:01:23,464 --> 00:01:26,172 Oh, no. 14 00:01:26,212 --> 00:01:29,488 That's awkward. 15 00:01:29,528 --> 00:01:31,844 That is a 3... Yes. 16 00:01:31,884 --> 00:01:33,000 32... Yeah. 17 00:01:33,040 --> 00:01:34,472 325? Yes. 18 00:01:34,512 --> 00:01:36,784 325. Yes. 19 00:01:36,824 --> 00:01:38,092 How old? 20 00:01:38,132 --> 00:01:41,048 '87. '88. How much? 1,600. 21 00:01:41,088 --> 00:01:43,504 19,950! 22 00:01:43,544 --> 00:01:45,316 How many miles? 23 00:01:45,356 --> 00:01:47,092 94, it says. And? 24 00:01:47,132 --> 00:01:50,608 This "says" 137,000 miles. 25 00:01:50,648 --> 00:01:54,908 I'm pretty pleased with this, at least they didn't fit stupid after-market wheels on it unlike... 26 00:01:54,948 --> 00:01:59,248 Mine. Yours comes from a good area, I can tell. Anyone who's got these. 27 00:01:59,288 --> 00:02:02,752 Extra locks. They don't live in Bourton-on-the-Water, do they? 28 00:02:02,792 --> 00:02:05,000 It's not a Cotswoldian feature, no. 29 00:02:05,040 --> 00:02:07,284 More St Pauls in Bristol, I'm thinking. Yeah. 30 00:02:07,324 --> 00:02:10,564 This is, well, just superb. 31 00:02:10,604 --> 00:02:13,624 So many different shades of black on there, it's unbelievable. 32 00:02:13,664 --> 00:02:16,064 He's taken care of his car. 33 00:02:16,104 --> 00:02:19,128 Oh ho ho! There, you need that. 34 00:02:19,168 --> 00:02:21,936 Was he delivering paving slabs one at a time? No. 35 00:02:21,976 --> 00:02:25,220 Why is that there? Because it improves handling. 36 00:02:25,260 --> 00:02:29,624 'At this point, James arrived in his four-seater convertible.' 37 00:02:29,664 --> 00:02:35,500 Oh, dear. Oh! 38 00:02:35,540 --> 00:02:40,284 Oh, God! I don't suppose by any happy chance that's the 318, is it? 39 00:02:40,324 --> 00:02:43,408 It's a 325, sir. Yours? 40 00:02:43,448 --> 00:02:45,880 325. Is it? Yes. 41 00:02:45,920 --> 00:02:47,408 325, yes. 42 00:02:47,448 --> 00:02:49,656 What year is yours? 1989. 43 00:02:49,696 --> 00:02:51,624 How much did you pay? ã1,900. 44 00:02:51,664 --> 00:02:55,500 Yours looks pretty standard. It is.- Except for the rust obviously. 45 00:02:55,540 --> 00:02:57,316 Mine's nice. 46 00:02:57,356 --> 00:02:59,880 Don't do that! I've just fixed that. 47 00:02:59,920 --> 00:03:02,956 I barely touched it! 48 00:03:02,996 --> 00:03:07,908 'So none of us had bought an Audi or a Ford or a Merc and that looked like a cock-up. 49 00:03:07,948 --> 00:03:11,528 'But then I realised that actually,- it wasn't.' 50 00:03:11,568 --> 00:03:13,564 I think this is brilliant. 51 00:03:13,604 --> 00:03:15,908 Well, not really. We've got the same car. 52 00:03:15,948 --> 00:03:18,880 We're always being asked, people come up to us and say is a Golf 53 00:03:18,920 --> 00:03:22,220 a good used purchase, or a Volvo or whatever and we always say it depends. 54 00:03:22,260 --> 00:03:24,752 So what we've got here are three cars, 55 00:03:24,792 --> 00:03:27,888 they were made in the same factory by the same robots 56 00:03:27,928 --> 00:03:32,220 at roughly the same time and they've all been driven in the same- country by the same sort of people. 57 00:03:32,260 --> 00:03:35,248 So they should be the same. Ah. 58 00:03:35,288 --> 00:03:39,248 But I bet you, I bet you they aren't. 59 00:03:39,288 --> 00:03:43,812 'So we decided to bin the challenges the producers had devised 60 00:03:43,852 --> 00:03:47,188 'and dream up some of our own.' 61 00:03:47,228 --> 00:03:48,936 Where's Hammond? 62 00:03:48,976 --> 00:03:51,128 Don't know, I think we've lost him already. 63 00:03:51,168 --> 00:03:54,812 CAR IGNITION FAILING,CAR ALARM SOUNDS 64 00:03:54,852 --> 00:04:00,408 JEREMY AND JAMES LAUGH 65 00:04:00,448 --> 00:04:03,596 No, listen, it's... Let me hear that sound again. 66 00:04:03,636 --> 00:04:05,472 CAR ALARM SOUNDS 67 00:04:05,512 --> 00:04:08,880 Oh, dear. It keeps doing that. 68 00:04:08,920 --> 00:04:11,784 JEREMY AND JAMES LAUGH 69 00:04:11,824 --> 00:04:15,160 Stop doing that! 70 00:04:15,200 --> 00:04:20,188 'Hammond's cheap after-market alarm matched his cheap after-market wheels.' 71 00:04:20,228 --> 00:04:22,880 They leach into dry rot, they leach into the system. 72 00:04:22,920 --> 00:04:26,172 There's wires going everywhere. Can't you just take it all off? 73 00:04:26,212 --> 00:04:30,064 No. No, because otherwise you could've stolen a car by just taking the alarm off. 74 00:04:30,104 --> 00:04:32,092 They weren't that stupid in the '80s. 75 00:04:32,132 --> 00:04:35,216 CAR ALARM SOUNDS That's got it. 76 00:04:35,256 --> 00:04:38,468 'Jeremy and I decided to abandon Hammond and have a race. 77 00:04:38,508 --> 00:04:42,112 'From nought to 100 and then back to nought again, 78 00:04:42,152 --> 00:04:45,936 'so that we could test our cars' power and brakes.' 79 00:04:45,976 --> 00:04:50,344 Here are the vital statistics. 2.5 litre straight-six, 170hp, 80 00:04:50,384 --> 00:04:52,688 at least when it was new, it may have lost a few. 81 00:04:52,728 --> 00:04:56,936 Jeremy has a 2.5 litre straight-six with 170 horsepower, 82 00:04:56,976 --> 00:04:59,656 or at least when it was new, he may have lost a few since then. 83 00:04:59,696 --> 00:05:05,656 The difference, he's got a big slab of concrete in the boot. 84 00:05:05,696 --> 00:05:08,092 It's not the paving stone in the back I'm worried about, 85 00:05:08,132 --> 00:05:10,328 it's the automatic gearbox. 86 00:05:10,368 --> 00:05:21,216 Doing a drag race with an auto is like doing a 100 metre sprint in wellies. Full of tadpoles. 87 00:05:21,256 --> 00:05:24,656 Yes! 88 00:05:24,696 --> 00:05:28,032 Bit of steering wheel wobble coming in. 89 00:05:28,072 --> 00:05:31,688 No concrete is the answer. 90 00:05:31,728 --> 00:05:36,624 There we go, nought to 60, that was about 25 seconds. 91 00:05:36,664 --> 00:05:45,596 RICHARD'S CAR ALARM SOUNDS,FAILS TO START 92 00:05:45,636 --> 00:05:49,936 90! 93 00:05:49,976 --> 00:05:55,528 Must be able to do 100. 94 00:05:55,568 --> 00:05:58,000 And there it is. 95 00:05:58,040 --> 00:06:00,528 There it is. 96 00:06:00,568 --> 00:06:04,092 No brakes, no brakes. 97 00:06:04,132 --> 00:06:06,780 It's just not stopping. 98 00:06:06,820 --> 00:06:11,188 Please, stop! 99 00:06:11,228 --> 00:06:16,624 'The gap between our supposedly identical BMWs was staggering.' 100 00:06:16,664 --> 00:06:21,064 77, 78, 79, 80, 81. 101 00:06:21,104 --> 00:06:24,752 281 yards. 102 00:06:24,792 --> 00:06:27,440 There is another conclusion we can draw from this. Which is what? 103 00:06:27,480 --> 00:06:30,188 That as you'd expect, I've done this properly and I've 104 00:06:30,228 --> 00:06:33,656 proved myself to be better than you at buying second-hand BMWs. 105 00:06:33,696 --> 00:06:36,408 Well, your brakes are better. 106 00:06:36,448 --> 00:06:39,312 And my engine's better and my gearbox is better. 107 00:06:39,352 --> 00:06:41,216 Speed isn't everything. 108 00:06:41,256 --> 00:06:43,216 Is it not? 109 00:06:43,256 --> 00:06:46,280 RICHARD'S CAR ALARMCONTINUES TO SOUND 110 00:06:46,320 --> 00:06:51,656 After the race, we got Hammond's car going again. 111 00:06:51,696 --> 00:06:54,704 And went to a Waking The Dead-style- forensics lab 112 00:06:54,744 --> 00:07:00,468 to find out in great detail what sort of life our cars had had. 113 00:07:00,508 --> 00:07:04,624 You know the company we're using to do this... Mm-hm. 114 00:07:04,664 --> 00:07:07,596 ..Are called Manlove Forensics. 115 00:07:07,636 --> 00:07:09,688 Are they? They are. No, they are. 116 00:07:09,728 --> 00:07:11,344 Why are they called that? 117 00:07:11,384 --> 00:07:14,032 Yeah, the boss is called John Manlove. 118 00:07:14,072 --> 00:07:17,484 Oh. Not many fond school-day memories for him, I bet. 119 00:07:17,524 --> 00:07:22,264 They've actually already discovered- that your car used to belong to a Muslim man from Birmi...
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