Series 8

The trio wonder what how hard it is to create a convertible people carrier, after converting a Renault Espace into one and putting it through a number of challenges, including taking it into a safari park and subjecting it to a brand new car wash. Meanwhile, Hammond is embarrassed with driving a hot pink Nissan Micra C+C around Ledbury, Herefordshire, May looks at the newly restyled Honda Civic, Clarkson claims he's found a good way to give up smoking with the new £415,000 Koenigsegg CCX, and there's a new reasonably priced car in use - the old Suzuki Liana is gone, replaced with the Chevrolet Lacetti, so a new Lap Board is in use and several celebrities are invited to set a time in it.

The group take over hosting a 3-hour block for BBC Southern Counties Radio, to see how hard it is to host a Drive Time Radio Show, and things soon go downhill from the start. Meanwhile, Hammond is in Iceland to race a man with powered canoe against a specially prepped 4x4 Tomcat, Clarkson tests out the new Jaguar XK in Yorkshire and the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 on the track, while celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay returns to try out the Lacetti and the Stig sees shows how fast he is in the Liana.

The presenters are tasked turning a car into an amphibious vehicle and capturing the public's imagination—Hammond buys a 1983 Volkswagen T3 campervan and turns it into a houseboat, May converts a 1962 Triumph Herald into a sailing craft with a mast and some sails, and Clarkson uses a 1989 Toyota Hilux pick-up truck and plants a huge outboard motor on its back. The trio soon see how their creations fare on the road, before taking them onto the waters of Rudyard Lake near Leek, Staffordshire and crossing two miles of it, where one of the presenters has a sinking feeling about their amphibious car. Meanwhile, Clarkson reviews the Lotus Exige S on the Top Gear test track, and actor Philip Glenister is the latest star in the new reasonably priced car.

Clarkson has a look at what features will be present in cars in ten years time, that can be found on the new Mercedes-Benz S-Class, before tackling the issue of interior design on the S-Class by redoing the interior of an old 1996 Mercedes-Benz S-Class to be like his house, with Hammond and May helping by finding out how much it has changed the car's performance. Meanwhile, there's a test of how good the BMW Z4 M is on the track, Hammond races in a Porsche Cayenne Turbo S against a British army parachuter in Cyprus, Ewan McGregor talks about his car history before he sees how he fared in the Lacetti, and the Koenigsegg CCX is back to see if it is much faster after having been equipped with a rear spoiler, following its accident on the track at the beginning of the series.

"Captain Slow" is put through his paces, as Jackie Stewart attempts to prove he can cut May's best lap time around the Oulton Park circuit by 20 seconds. Meanwhile, Clarkson hopes the madness of the Citroën CX has rubbed off on the new Citroën C6 and tries out the Prodrive P2 concept car on the track, a team of Toyota Aygos defend their honour in a match of Car Football against a team of the new Volkswagen Fox, and Sir Michael Gambon returns to discuss his role as Albus Dumbledore in the Harry Potter films before seeing how he fared in the Lacetti.

The boys go on a caravan holiday in Dorset to try to find out more about caravaning, seeing if the Kia Cerato is a good tow car with their "home, away from home", the Elddis Shamal XL. It's not long before they find themselves having trouble getting to the caravan site, dealing with a sick dog, damaging a neighbouring caravan and struggling to have fun, before worse follows. Meanwhile, the Stig has a go at the nonexistent indoor world speed record with a Toyota TF105 F1 car and very nearly accidentally sets it in the Lacetti, Brian Cox talks with Clarkson about his roles as villains and his Toyota Prius's before setting a time in the Lacetti, and Clarkson tests out three hot saloons - Ford Mondeo ST220, Mazda 6 MPS, and Vauxhall Vectra VXR.

James reviews the new Peugeot 207 in Liverpool, England. He then challenges some parkour enthusiasts to a race across the city. Later on in the episode the trio have a very interesting race to see who can cross the start line first at the Knockhill Race Circuit near Edinburgh, Scotland. The Stig driving a Caterham from London to the race track in Scotland or the presenters who must build their Caterham from scratch first but are already on the race track and much much closer to the start line.

Currently a work in progress.