Back in ‘97 I had a Renault 5 GT Turbo, 118hp and 830Kg, that was an absolute rocket ship, a mini with 160 and around 680kg is fantastic, properly quick car.

I wonder how nostalgic Clarkson feels when he see these old reviews.

I miss Earl’s Court Motor Show. After seeing all the cars downstairs, used to love going upstairs buying stuff like model cars. Before the days of online shopping. Loved it. A good day out.

Jeremy Clarksons like what 6"5" and he fits in a mini

This is when they started letting Jeremy be Jeremy and the beginning of a beautiful thing!

I'm glad they didn't bring that shouty man over to new Top Gear.

Some people may scoff but this incarnation of the programme was a definite improvement on the William Woollard/Chris Goffey days. I remember one episode they talked for a full 10 minutes about the legroom in the back of a VW Passat.....

Watching this in 2020 is like waking up the morning after the night before....

It is quite funny looking at those pristine, newly presented 90's cars considering how they look like now...and what they cost

I love how the BBC were dishing out content that literally anybody can do now - 50 min coverage of the motor show? Mad how times change.

That mini was fab!!

In one of Clarkson books, he recalled the fun he had with Quentin, and laughing about what Steve Berry would crash that week. Remind you of the beloved TG?

I have a 1969 restored Mini Cooper S in Perth Australia... done about 50,000 miles from new.

Loved it with Quinton Clarkson and Tiff, good old fashioned car reviewing , Jeremy was a bit posher in those days lol not the big hooligan he is now, still love the big guy, straight talker, that will do for me

Great episode. More real-world than the modern episodes, but with plenty of humour from JC.

Clarkson getting excited over 160hp. Unheard of 😂

This car is awesome. I am blinded by love.

Love the old minis and love the old top gear

Still the cutest little car on earth Is the original mini despite its age

This is like where I used to work. We had a fellow that weighed extensively. He drove a Geo Metro. I told him if he had an accident, they would have to peel the car like a banana to get him out of it. It was amazing to see him get into the thing. That dude filled it up on the inside. We all told him to please get a bigger car.

The format is old but I used to like TG when it was like this.

That guy reviewing the Astra... is that Richard Hammond's dad? LOL

160 hp go cart... im in!

5:26 Awwww I miss my old Xsara. It was such a good car :'(

8:02 Couldn't have agreed more, especially with modern cars of today have way too much electronic sensors. Here in Malaysia, it's a common sight seeing 1990's and 2000's car still being driven on the road.

At the Ford Ka, the steering wheel, the bumpers and the tires didn't rust.

Steve Berry, the most irritating presenter in Top Gear history...

Nice to see more folk uploading these old clips, far more informative than the newer show, not that the new programmes bad, but I personally prefer the older format, call me old fashioned, all it really needed was some of the new shows wit and funny events.

I really wanna go back to the time where you could buy a new rover

I miss my Mini, and if I had had that Mini then I would have been missing it even longer because I would have totalled it a lot sooner than I did.

That mini is so cool

thanks for uploading these videos .

I didn't know aby car was capable of nav in 1997!

It's funny to think 20 years ago they have the opposite problem as we do now

That Astra was probably a better car than the current one. Nobody aspires to driving a Vauxhall these days, and thats where the company is failing. Too much competition with more desirable brands. Everyone seems to be worried about their own image these days, and obsessed with being seen in the right labels, or having the right badge on the car. An obsession with trying to live up to a certain lifestyle they see on TV, in magazines and on the internet, instead of being happy in themselves. Sheep, following everyone else. In the old days, British car buyers would, in the main, traditionally buy Ford, Vauxhall, Rover etc, with a few buying imported French, German and Japanese cars. Saloons and hatchbacks, only the wealthy bought 4x4s. The SUV/crossover segment didn't exist, so it was easy for the likes of Vauxhall to get the bulk of the sales. No its all about trends, fashion and lifestyle. For a lot of people, a car is more than just a means of getting from A to B. Its an extension of their own personality, and convincing themselves they are living a better lifestyle by driving a certain brand, where in reality, nobody else gives a shit.

LOVE THE GREEN MINI........ PERFECT SET UP

agreed. a REAL mini. what started it all. ( well for minis anyways. and a FAST mini to boot. these things are FUN to drive. ive always disliked tiny cars, but got my hands on a smart car and what appeared to be a mini, pickup. weird looking thing but fast , fun, and handled great.

"What the customer wants is their old Golf, but a little bit better". Truer words have rarely been spoken. Well, what I really want is an Audi S5 GC, but I can't afford to pay twice as much.

Wish I were born in the 80s

The shift gate on that Mini is fucking brilliant.

a friend of mine has one of those Golf s there and he kinda brags with in 2020. Mindblowing

1997,when Clarkson could fit in a mini...

Top gear when it was a car program for real people with real world budgets

Brings back memories to the shows earlier years and Jeremy Clarksons career

RIP TOP GEAR.

Always thought he looked like Dougal from Father Ted... That would have been sooooo funny having him as presenter.

The plate on that old mini now sits on a 2020 John Cooper Works mini!

The Golf still holds up

I want that mini. I want it now.

I.. I honestly don't know. 160 is a lot for a go kart. I think I just found the way he says it, like it's a Bugatti, that cracked me up. You know how you sometimes can't sleep at night because you can't stop thinking about that embarrassing thing you said to that girl at the dance like ten years ago.. this is one of those moments.

the Isuzu Vehicross honestly looks great today, it's like the world got weird enough to suit it.

THANK YOU for this!!!!!!!

I actually thought that Mini was a micro Mini, even smaller than the original, until I realised it's just that Jezza is huge!

his voice never changed

Old Top Gear, back when Clarkson's head wasn't so big that he couldn't fit it inside The Albert Hall.

2:35 1.4 liter engine, 160 horsepower engine... that’s exactly what my Fiat 500 Abarth has. Crazy how revolutionary this was back in the day, and now we have mass produced city cars with this power everywhere.

I really don't see how that "new" Astra looks similar to the one before it,. I know Top Gear likes that sort of joke but it needs to make sense when used.

Did he just say Vauxhall Ashtray?

"There's also a triple-denim disaster of a Clarkson"

Cars have certainly changed since this video. so has Clarkson.

Mr.Bean is drooling when he saw that. But alas he can't buy one of these.

Clarkson in that Mini hits the nail on the head EXACTLY explaining what's wrong with these 'ricers'. Removing the interior and adding solid shocks might take off a tenth of a second to your 0-60 time or your laptime, but in the process you have now made a car that you can;t possibly live with.

Whatever happened to Top Gear? It morphed into 3 blokey blokes having a laugh in daft vehicles all round the globe, at vast expense. Now it's worse than ever. Am I getting old? Clearly!

august the 1st is that time of the year when the next year of registration kicks in. for instance if this video is from 1997, ( after august 1st ) the new vehicle registration in the showrooms will be a P plate..... what the presenter was pointing out was that a surplus of cars that DOES NOT sell by august 1st the following year, can not be sold as brand new, but nearly new surplus

Liking the little Mini

I want that fast mini

2:32 Air filter goals : D.... 1 air filter per cylinder!

2:51 this sounds like my grandmother .

Top gear should go back to making episodes like this because they're trying to be what they used to be with the trio but it just ain't happening. A show like this reviewing cars properly would be better

It’s like a very restrained Jeremy

I want that Mini!

car salesman must of loved this

May 2022 still MOT'd and on the road.

1997 looks like what I imagine 1977 looked like.

Jeremy ‘oh wow’ Clarkson

Awesome!

Should kept the mini original interior like a sleeper.

Its crazy 30 years ago 0 to 60 in 6 seconds was mind blowing and now standard off the floor family sedans do that and the powerful cars do it in under 3.

the Corvette is not ugly, few cars are as sleek and smooth

Luckily enough Morris marinas all came with a complimentary bus timetable,,

so cool! mini

the hamsta looks diferent

5:46. VW was absolutely right - and everyone that didn't trade in their 1st gen Ford Focus on a 3rd gen (we never got the 2nd gen in the U.S. with a Ford badge on it) knows exactly what they meant. There were 15 or so of us in my high school in a Focus racer's club (none of them were more modified than having painted brake calipers), now of the 12 that I still talk to, 8 of us own Mazda3s and 3 have Chevy Sonics because they are exactly that, the same but better than our Focuses.

Wonder how the 160 hp 1380cc 16v Twin-Cam engine would perform in a Midas or an MG Midget.

Jeremy looks huge standing outside the mini and then small when inside it wtf

It is nice seeing the Astra there in showroom condition, they are all rusty now, driving around... :(

Thanks!

That MX-5 tho And my god they were still making the Mini. Imagine buying one in 2000

Old TG great.

was that burgundy mini ever produced? looks so nice, that interior is so perfect

Anyone know if that fabulous 50K Mini is still knocking around somewhere?

Back when satellite navigation was still two words.

2.49 jeremy clarkson face XD

At the start of that bit I thought someone had hand-built a 2/3 scale mini.

The guy at the convention seriously disturbs me.I feel like he haves some serious medical condition by the way he talks and his body launguege suggest that he is a serial killer.

Back in the days when 160hp was much :D

i rang the number at the end, there's a guy crying saying something about losing Clarkson over hot food.

MCM's mini would *SMOKE* that turd.

Damn so strange seeing them so young and innocent

New vauxhall, my nipples tingle with excitement!! Only interesting part of Jezza's bit on the mini.