Episode 10

From the Top Gear Team

On the-night-before-the-night-before-Christmas Top Gear, series ten reached a noisy climax as we set out to find the best German V8 super saloon. Elsewhere, James May went for a ride in Jaguar's last-chance saloon, Richard Hammond turned a humble G-Wiz into every child's dream Christmas present and David Tennant became a Time Lord in a reasonably priced car.

For years now, Audi, BMW and Mercedes-Benz have been locked in a literal power struggle as they've attempted to shoehorn ever larger engines into their model ranges. Happily, all this Teutonic one-upmanship has resulted in three rather excellent cars - the BMW M3, the Mercedes-Benz C63 AMG and the Audi RS4. All perfectly respectable small saloons armed with thumping great V8 engines pumping out more than 400 brake horsepower. But which is best?

After exhaustive scientific tests involving the Stig, a series of confusing graphs, the Top Gear cock-o-meter and lots of arguing, it was decided that they're all brilliant.

As you've probably heard, Jaguar has hit hard times lately. The new XF saloon is a last-ditch attempt to drag the venerable British brand into the 21st century. James May donned his string-backed driving gloves to find out if it was any good.

What he found was surprising. Gone are the retro-styling cues and chintz from Jaguars of old. Instead, the XF is a thoroughly modern sports saloon with an interior that wouldn't look out of place in a trendy vodka bar. Fingers crossed, this should be the car to save Jaguar.

The G-Wiz electric car is preposterously small, slow and seems to be made from recycled tape cassette cases. On the plus side, it's easy to turn one into a giant radio-controlled car. Richard Hammond raced his against a Ford Shelby GT500 Mustang and the Stig, before blowing it up in a huge fireball.

Also on the show, Dr Who star David Tennant swapped the TARDIS for a Chevrolet Lacetti as he took to our test track.

First shown on: 23/12/2007