Fifth Gear Tonight: Porsche Boxster S, Ford Focus ST & the new Audi S8 (video)

A new series of Fifth Gear starts tonight with Vicki B-H racing a French Jet in a new Porsche Boxster S, Jason Plato testing the new Audi S8 & Jonny in the Ford Focus ST.

Those nice people at Fifth Gear have been in touch asking if we’d like to run trailer information for the new Fifth Gear Series, just as we do for Top Gear. Why not, we thought?

We know that many who have a predilection for the antics on Top Gear find Fifth Gear more car focused and a refreshing extra fix of petrol (even if you have to pay Murdoch’s shilling to see it), so we guessed you’d quite like a heads-up on what’s going on with the first episode of the new series of Fifth Gear.

Tonight, Vicki Butler-Henderson takes the new Porsche Boxster S to an airfield and enlists the world’s biggest civilian jet display team on a closed airport in a race between the new Porsche Boxster and a jet. Does Ms B-H have a chance in Porsche’s ‘It’s not a 911′ against a 500mph jet?

Also on offer is Jason Plato – a man who doesn’t need a driving stand-in when things get lively – getting to grips with the new Audi S8, and pits it against the R8 to find out just how quick it is.

The new Audi S8, which arrived at the Frankfurt Motor Show in 2011, comes with the new Audi/Bentley V8 delivering a little north of 500bhp and a 0-62mph of 4.2 seconds. Fun though having all that oomph in something close to a limo is, in the real world most who can afford £80k for a new S8 would probably choose the softer A8 and get something fun for the weekends. Still, an impressive car.

Jonny gets to grips with the new Ford Focus ST and takes it along an incredible mountain road that should thrill the senses and reveal any weaknesses in the ST, and Tiff plays with tyres to find what difference the price you pay makes.

The new series of Fifth Gear starts tonight at 8pm on Discovery. But it will be repeated. Endlessly.

By Cars UK