Season 15
Get ready for more thrills, spills and mayhem as television's most daring trio return for the 15th season of the world's biggest car show.
In the first episode, Jeremy Clarkson asks why there aren't more three-wheeled cars in the world, and investigates the issue with a closer look at the 1980s comedians' favourite, the Reliant Robin.
Meanwhile, James May gives Top Gear's favourite warhorse, the Toyota Hilux pick-up, one final assignment as he attempts to drive one up an active volcano in Iceland, and the Stig rips up the track in the new Bentley Continental Supersports.
Plus, Richard Hammond gives the old Chevrolet Lacetti a dignified send off before he and Jeremy host a star studded tea party to welcome in a shiny new Reasonably Priced Car.
Elsewhere in the season, Jeremy, Richard and James attempt to find a trio of cars which are equally at home on the race track as they are at transporting a family to the shops, all for a budget of £5,000. They then put them through their paces in Europe's home of speed; Germany.
James makes a rare visit to the Top Gear track to test the Porsche 911 Sport Classic and Boxster Spyder, and the boys embark on a road trip across the South of England and end up undertaking a rather special chauffeuring job.
Stars in the all-new Reasonably Priced Car in this series include ex-Labour spin doctor Alistair Campbell, Harry Potter star Rupert Grint and F1 ace Rubens Barrichello.
Format
The show often features the following segments, amongst others:
Races
The show has featured a number of races where Jeremy Clarkson races a car against other forms of transport, usually involving Richard Hammond and James May taking the same journey by any combinations of plane, train, ferry or bus.
Reviews
Top Gear normally reviews one new car, or group of cars, each week. It's became hugely influential with motor manufacturers, since a critical word from the Top Gear team could have a severely negative effect on sales.
The Top Gear reports are not based on facts or figures, but the opinions of the presenters. Group tests normally involve the three presenters debating the merits and weaknesses of each car.
Star in a Reasonably-Priced Car
In each programme, a celebrity is interviewed by Jeremy Clarkson, and focuses usually on car-related topics and often on cars owned by the celebs themselves.
The guest is whisked off to the Top Gear race track where he/she tries to get the fastest lap time in a Chevrolet.
The fastest lap time is held by The Stig, and guests who have attempted to beat his time have included Simon Cowell, Jamie Oliver and Sanjeev Bhaskar.
Power Laps
In the Power Laps segment, The Stig completes a lap around the Top Gear test track to determine the performance of various cars. The car tested is usually the car that's been reviewed in that episode, but occasionally it can be a car from a previous episode.
The Cool Wall
The Cool Wall is a board where Jeremy Clarkson and Richard Hammond decide which cars are cool, and which aren't, and has nothing to do with how good or bad a car is. The categories are Sub Zero, Cool, Uncool and Seriously Uncool.
Initially, part of that "coolness" factor rested on the extent to which the presenters believed each car would impress English actress Kristin Scott Thomas.
BBC newsreader Fiona Bruce replaced Kristin as their notional judge, after Kristin stated in an interview that she owned a Honda, which was deemed to be "Uncool".