Synopsis

Nostalgia is the order of the day as Top Gear looks at yesterday’s road sweepers, fire engines, steam lorries and buses. William Woollard takes part in this year’s London to Brighton run of historic commercial vehicles. Frank Page tests the latest in ‘hot’ hatchbacks, the Peugeot 309 GT and the Vauxhall Astra 2000 GTE. Sue Baker drives two versions of a new small car from Japan, the Daihatsu Charade — one very fast, the other very economical. Chris Goffey rides in the new taxi, the Metrocab, and asks taxi drivers if it will replace the familiar ‘London taxi’. And Top Gear forsakes the town to examine the particular problems of road safety in the countryside.