Top Gear (US) s06e09 Episode Script
City Saviours
- Here we go! In three two one.
Go! - All right, let me in, Adam! - That was close.
- Come on, Adam! - Nope.
- No, no.
Oh, my gosh, you totally blocked me out of there.
- Uh-oh, sorry, Adam! Coming through! - The American city.
In 1800, only 5% of Americans lived in cities.
Now, it's over 80%.
Millennials, the largest generation in U.
S.
history, are accelerating this trend.
But dense traffic, lack of parking, and high cost, make owning a city car almost impossible.
Is the American dream of four-wheel freedom dying? Or is there a perfect car nimble enough to navigate the urban gauntlet, tough enough for close-quarter combat, and thrilling enough to make you still feel alive? Well, we're gonna find out.
- So he went with a Jeep? - Well, he went Jeep-ish.
- I have a Renegade.
I have 83 CJ-7.
The Renegade package was an option on Jeep's legendary CJ-7 during the entire ten-year run from 1976 through 1986.
And on the CJ-7's replacement: the Wrangler.
I didn't put together that they used the Renegade name for that.
But this Renegade is an entirely new model, based on the Fiat 500 chassis.
- You thought you were getting a Wrangler, not the Liberty replacement.
- Okay, here's what l do know about this.
It's small enough to find parking, but it's got 18 1/2 cubic feet of cargo space.
This has the bigger 2.
4 liter engine and the Trailhawk package-- Four-wheel drive, skid plates, and tow hooks.
The 31-degree approach angle and 34-degree departure angle should be able to chew up curbs, stairs, whatever.
And this is Los Angeles.
Roads aren't the best.
- You believe any of that stuff you just said? - Not yet.
It did go through the Rubicon Trail.
- Wow.
I am just really surprised by that one.
- I'll at least be above the potholes and not in them.
- This is the perfect city vehicle.
Gentlemen, I give you the BMW i3.
This is designed for a city.
170 horsepower, 184 pound feet of torque push it to 60 in under seven seconds.
It gets 81 miles per charge, but this car has the range extended, which adds another 70.
The frame is made of carbon fiber, sourced from a factory that uses hydroelectric power, so you're saving the planet, coming and going.
- This is a great car, like, if you're a hipster that's also really, really arrogant.
You put it together, and you have a really expensive car.
- Speaking of hipsters, beardy.
How's your skinny jeans and your FR-S? - You're talking about the 2016 Scion FR-S.
You know what FR-S stands for? Front engine, rear-wheel drive sport.
Its four-cylinder boxer engine makes 200 horsepower, and like the i3, it goes 0 to 60 in under seven seconds.
But with a six-speed manual transmission, it's way more fun to drive.
Now, if you're unsure about the Scion brand, you're not alone, which is why Toyota shut it down.
But don't worry--they're gonna keep making the car and plan to call it the Toyota 86.
And how do I know it's perfect for a city? Oh, yeah.
'Cause I raced one of these-- - Oh.
- In the Toyota Pro Celebrity Race of Long beach, which is a city where we raced through the city, and I won it.
For the record, I do want to drive that Alfa Romeo 4C.
- So do I.
- Okay.
So whoever has the best city car out of all of this gets to rip around in that puppy, huh? - I'm in.
- Deal.
- First things first.
Follow me.
I've ripped through this city in some of the coolest, craziest cars on the planet.
But I will say, the Renegade is fairly low stress.
The problem with having a sport car in the city is any bump in the road, any pothole in the road, any stick that's fallen across the road suddenly becomes drama.
- Oh, boy.
Oh, oh! Oof.
- It's like a girlfriend that always wears miniskirts, tons of makeup, and 4-inch pumps.
There's benefits, but drama.
- City driving can be a little bit annoying.
A lot of bumps, the roads are in terrible shape, which is why I'm bouncing all over the place.
I mean, you know you're in a sports car the moment you start driving.
But, to me, that's what I want.
I want to feel connected to the road.
Now, if you want to talk about a lot of car for the money, this is it.
If you want to talk about a lot of money for a car, that would be the i3.
- Totally silent.
Which, I don't know if it's good or bad for a city, because you want people to hear you coming.
'Cause it's almost "Death Race 2000" In downtown L.
A.
'Cause there's a lot of cars, and the lines on the road are just a suggestion to these people.
What're you honking at? It's a city! There's traffic! You don't want any traffic, move to Utah.
I will tell you what l like about this car-- Instant torque.
You step on the gas and you're gone.
It also has that regenerative braking, so when you lift, you're pretty much hitting the brakes.
So if you time it right, you really don't have to use the brakes at all.
Okay, red light? Lift, no brake.
No brake no brake.
There you go.
Not as fun as you think it is.
- I give you the Convention Center.
At 720,000 square feet, the Los Angeles Convention Center is the perfect urban playground to test out the compact maneuverability of our city cars in a little game of automotive hide-and-seek.
- Here's the deal.
- Okay.
Hide-and-seek's perfect to test a city car, because you got to be quick, you got to be small, you got to fit into small spaces.
Two people count to 30, one person hides.
- Great.
- Whoever lasts the longest before getting trapped by the other two wins.
- Not it! - Not it! - You're it.
- Okay.
- You're gonna go, we're gonna count to 30, and we're gonna come find you.
- 1-- - Wait, right now? - Yeah.
- Oh! - 2, 3 - Oh, you're--oh, shoot! - 4, 5 - Okay.
- 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12.
- 13.
- 14.
- 15.
Why do I feel like I'm in a boy band now? - Come on.
I just need something to hide me here.
- Okay, 30! All right, if you see him, let me know on the radio.
- Go get him, big daddy.
- I got to find a good place to hide.
How about in here? Got to find a place that's long enough to get the whole car in.
- I know where he is.
Aha! No.
- Tanner, you see him anywhere? - No.
I'm gonna look over the bridge here.
I'm gonna check under the stairs.
- I'm far enough in this little hallway that I think they'll-- yep, drive right by.
- You know he's hiding somewhere and he's talking to himself.
Oh, I remember when I won the Toyota Celebrity Pro Race.
I was in a car just like this.
- Car hide-and-seek is fun.
But like a shark, if you want to survive, you have to keep moving.
- How we doing on time, Tanner? - We're at 45 seconds.
Check the cafeteria.
He's probably parked somewhere and he's in there eating lunch.
- No sign.
I mean, he's low, so he could be along that wall that's kind of half a floor up.
- They're looking over there.
Just sneak right over this way.
Cat and mouse.
- I got him! - Oh, all right.
- We got him! I'm on the way.
- All right, they got a visual on me.
I need a easy place to hide now.
Hmm.
That works.
- Adam, I think I see An FR-S back end hanging out outside those boxes.
- Let's get him.
- I'll hit 'em.
You get him.
- Copy.
- Okay--okay.
Great.
Yeah.
- Just gonna inconspicuously hide behind these boxes.
- Wow! How stealthy are you? Not a bad time, l think.
- What is it? - 1:41.
- All right.
- Okay.
- The bar is set.
- Now, the big advantage of hiding in an i3-- It's totally silent.
I'm a ninja! They are never gonna find me in here.
- Come on, where is he? He's got to be around here somewhere.
I mean, we both know he is sneaky.
Keep that in mind.
Oh, I think I see him.
- Where? Where, where, where, where? - Coming up - What's he dong? - He's molesting the bear.
- Rut takes a teddy bear for a ride.
- Oh, watch it.
- How long has he been away from his wife? - We're at the L.
A.
Convention Center testing our choices for the perfect city car.
The first challenge is hide-and-seek, and Tanner and I are on the hunt.
Oh, I think I see him.
- Where? Where, where, where, where? - Nope.
Nope, sorry.
It was a golf cart.
It was electric and white.
I was close.
You know he's like a fart: silent, but deadly.
- They are never gonna find me in here.
The elevator gives me more hiding spots and a good view of those two idiots.
You guys can't find me! You guys can't find me! - Hey, Adam.
Key word was "silent.
" - Sneaky little electric bastard.
- You looked in the elevator? - No, I'll check the elevator.
I'll check the elevator.
First time I've ever driven in an elevator, though.
It's pretty cool.
- Let me know if you find anything, bud.
- Roger that.
I got my eyes peeled.
- The beard's too close.
I'm heading out.
I don't see 'em.
I don't see them.
And more importantly, they don't see me.
- No way he went down there.
Rut, I see him! Over by those glass windows.
- I am gonna back in right here under the stairs and no one's gonna find me.
Perfect! Well, there goes plan A.
- Busted! That only took about two weeks.
- Yup! Couldn't hear me, could you? - Well-- - Stealthy, baby! - What was the time? - Well, he came in at a 2:03.
- I'm in the lead! - With one to go.
- You know what? Start the timer.
- Certainly will.
- You got 30 seconds! - What do you mean start the timer? - Yeah, that's what you did to me! - Go! - Do you think we should give him the full 30 seconds? - No, let's go now.
- Okay.
- The thing about the Jeep is that I should be able to go places no ordinary car can go.
- I just got to look for a Jep with a miserable little race car driver in it.
Where is he? Where is he? - I'm just back right on up in here.
Look at that.
Trail Rated.
- Rut, you got anything? - So I'm checking down all these little stairwells and stuff.
If that Jeep actually has some Jeep lineage, it might actually be able to crawl over some stuff.
I can't figure it out yet, though.
- I'm going up the ramp.
- Okay, Adam is right there.
Gotta go.
- Gents, I can see you.
You can't see me? - Oh, all right.
You throwing out a challenge? - Maybe that wasn't the best idea.
Let's do something else.
I bet we can find another place.
- I got nothing up here, Rut.
- He was not down here.
- Oh! Oh, there he is! I got him, I got him, l got him! Come down the ramp.
- Oh, he thinks he's got me boxed in.
But he doesn't! Because I have got a tiny little flight of stairs which should be absolutely no problem for the Jeep.
Here we go.
And there's Adam! Oh, no.
Here comes the cavalry, son! - Oh, no! - Adam, block him in up top, block him in up top.
No go! No go! You're officially trapped.
- Did you-- did you hear that? - You see how I centered? All: Oh! - Gosh, don't do that again.
Yeah, it's crazy.
Uh, you are high-centered, which is really interesting.
'Cause it's a Jeep.
- Yeah.
- I guess it's Trail Rated.
It's just not stair rated.
- What was my time? - 1:27 - What? - Yeah.
- 1:27, 1-- - 41.
- 2 - 03.
- Aha! I win.
- Tell you what.
Why don't you move the BMW out of the way, I'll move the Scion and we'll just get you out of here lickety-split.
- Thank you, l appreciate that.
- All right, yeah, Just give me a quick second.
Let's just--let's go.
- Of course, my so-called friends leave me high centered and dry.
Where you going? I can't open the door, and I can't go forward, and I can't go back, and you suck.
But I know the next challenge is a race, so vengeance will be mine.
I want to get my hands on that Alfa.
A little help? - My '83 Renegade is just the toughest little machine ever.
This one is different.
- I think that Jeep got up those stairs higher than I thought it would.
I really feel like the Trail Rated thing on there, that's a bit of a stretch.
- That's trail mix rated.
- Leaving me on the stairs was not the nicest thing.
- We wanted you to be able to get out by yourself.
We're teaching you to fish.
- You know how many security guards it took to push me off the top of those stairs? - Urban decay creates a minefield of potholes, debris, gravel, and other road hazards.
And with the fast pace of urban life, a city car needs to run the gauntlet in record time.
- There's no way he meant to take us here.
- We meet in an abandoned lot that's not unlike a rally cross course-- The closest thing I'll get to home field advantage.
- Oh, good.
Ruins.
We're in ancient Greece.
- This looks nice.
- This looks perfect, actually.
I mean, this is, like, the ideal weird little playground-- - For a ransom drop.
- No, it's to simulate, like, city driving.
- What city? Beirut? - Maybe.
- I say we make a loop here around the lot.
- How are you guys gonna get through all that dirt over there? - How are you gonna get through that dirt? - Trail Rated.
- Oh, it's "Trail Rated.
" - Yeah.
- Yeah.
- I forgot.
You hadn't told us 100 times.
- The course is a 1/4-mile sprint, starting with a tight squeeze under an abandoned overpass, followed by a hard left that only fits one car at a time, then it's a slalom through a minefield of debris and a race to the finish.
First one there wins.
- It's a tight fit.
Sure that, uh, big FR-S is gonna make it? - Listen, this car was made for the city.
Come on, baby.
You and me, we've had a good run in this city.
Huh? Let's show these guys who's boss.
- Here's the thing, Rutledge has performance in handling when there is grip, and there isn't any grip.
It's all rocks and bumps.
I don't want to sound cocky or anything, but this is probably the most stacked race I've ever been in.
- I have instant torque.
So off the line, I'll be able to take Rut and hopefully get in front of him.
Then, if I can just stay in front of Tanner, I might be able to survive this thing.
- What I've got going for me here is rear-wheel drive.
If I can get that 200 horsepower down to the ground, I'm gonna do pretty well.
- All right, gentlemen, you ready? - Ready! - Let's do this.
- Here we go.
In three, two, one go! The four-wheel drive Adam is right there! - All right, let me in, Adam.
Come on, Adam! - No, no, no.
- Oh, my gosh, you totally blocked me out of there.
Uh-oh! Sorry, Adam! - Inside over-- - Coming through.
That's a big hole! - All right, let me in, Adam.
Come on, Adam! - No, no, no.
Sideline, race boy! - Oh, my gosh, he totally blocked me out of there.
Uh-oh! - Oh, sorry, Adam! Coming through.
That's a big hole.
- What's he doing? - There's no wedging.
It doesn't go through.
How the hell do I get out of here? - Yeah! Yeah! Whoo-hoo! - Damn it! Where-- Where's Tanner? Is he lost? Oh, look at that.
That's better.
- Wow! The only time we get to race, and you got to cheat? - What cheat? That's racing! You taught us that.
Gentlemen, this was fun.
But the most important thing for a city car, believe it or not--parking.
Yes.
- I love that you're proposing parking.
Let's do it.
- Gentlemen, these are your three classic city parking challenges.
Your first one, straight in.
However, it is very tight.
Here's your classic parallel parking.
And this is what I like to call the whip around.
You go down past that old Hyundai, rip around, and park behind the Saturn.
Don't hit the fence.
There's a ten-second penalty for each car you bump.
To make sure there's no cheating, we're using stickers that turn red when they get wet, and the parking spots are rigged with water cannons that are triggered if you hit another car.
Fastest overall time wins.
I have a great shot at winning this, 'cause I do have the backup cameras and the side sensors.
- It doesn't matter what sensors you have telling you what to do, he's gonna crash it.
- All right, fellas, you ready? - In three, two, one, go! Wow, that is not as fast as a Tesla.
- Does he know we're timing this? - I don't know if I'm gonna need to do this.
But I - Folding his mirrors in.
Very nice.
- I'm in.
Now we back up.
- Yeah, no way he's fitting in there.
- Get in there, little car.
- Oh, oh Oh! - Oh! Okay, here he comes.
- Run for your lives! - Okay, okay! Holy cow! - Come on! - Get it.
- So he's hit at least one water cannon and - Time! - 3:35.
Plus ten seconds for hitting the car gives you a total time of 3:45.
- All right.
- How is this "Trail Rated Jeep" gonna do? - I'll show you.
- Yeah, just don't go up a flight of stairs.
- In order to be Trail Rated, a Jeep has to go through a pretty strict maneuverability test.
Not just off-road ability test.
And that is gonna be the strongest key here.
- And go! - Oh! Oh, gosh.
I think he's gonna rip the paint off of it.
- Oh, oh, left side.
Yeah, that's tighter than you think.
There you go-- Oh! He just hit-- He just hit the bumper! - Clean! - Oh, oh.
- Hey, ay! - And we're in.
Stop the clock! Huh? - What was that? - What? That was-- - You missed the whole thing! - I was in deep.
- You weren't in-- - That's as deep as it goes.
- You hit the Saturn and there was no water.
What happened to the water? - I never hit the Saturn.
- We saw you hit the Saturn! - Reverse camera.
- You don't have a reverse camera.
- Yes, I do.
- You told me you didn't have one! - Well, I was lying.
- But your time was impressive.
2:21.
- Yes! Now I'm gonna show you guys what a real car can do.
- All right, take the FR-S and go get a real car.
- This is where the FR-S shines.
It's got 200 horsepower, it only weighs 2,700 pounds, so it's light, it's nimble, and I'm gonna use the power as much as I can.
- 2:21 is the time to beat, my man.
In three, two, one.
Go! - There it is.
Nice and easy, nice and easy-- Oh, sh-- - Crunch! Crunch! All right, so it's narrow.
Big deal, it's skinny.
- Okay, back-up camera, l need you right now.
Nice and easy - He's actually going to try to fit that thing in there.
- Aw, this is gonna be impossible! Oh, no, I'm gonna hit it! All right, all right.
Come on, just-- oh-- - Oh, he-- - Yes! He got-- l mean, that sucks.
- All right, yup.
Good.
- There he goes.
Okay, he's in.
- I'm in! - Pull up more.
More-- you're not even there.
- Oh! Come on! - Stop the time! - You're soaking wet.
- Why did you keep saying to go further? I was trying to make sure I didn't knock the fender off.
- I was trying to make sure you were in the parking spot.
- How was my time? - 2:26.
- Oh! - Race boy won.
- Even without the penalties, by a second! - I guarantee I had more fun than you guys did.
- What do know, though, is everything is tied up.
There's got to be more to living in the city than racing light to light, parking cars, and hide-and-seek.
- Let's find out.
It's a three-way tie in the battle for the best city car.
So we head across town to settle the score.
- Why the hell did you bring us here? - Just to an alley someplace? This is where we finally get murdered, huh? - Listen, the perfect way to figure out what's the best city car since it's all tied up is to make a little move.
So there's a bunch of stuff in that truck, like normal things you'd find in an apartment.
We're gonna start here, we're each gonna race down there, grab the stuff, and bring it in there.
The person who does it the quickest, without damaging anything, wins.
- You do know this is practically an SUV-- Perfect for this kind of stuff.
It's like unfair.
- Mm.
- All right, I'll go first.
- You're not going first.
I'll go first.
- You go first, then, fine.
- This is ridiculous, 'cause people in the city don't go out and get stuff.
They go on the internet and have stuff sent in.
Trust me, l live in the city.
People bring me food.
- Here we go, in three, two, one.
Go! - Okay.
It's pretty fast.
Does your golf cart sound like that? - Oh, even my golf cart at home totally does.
You know, when you move in New York City, you have to have someone that watches the truck.
Like, their whole job is just make sure no people walk up and steal your stuff while you're moving.
- Bear? Really? A giant bear.
That's what I need.
Come on, bear.
- Oh, my gosh.
His head's stuck in the ass of that bear.
- All right, the bear is here.
Mattress? 'Cause a bear needs a bed.
- Oh.
Oh, is that a mattress? - Oh, my gosh.
That's why the Jeep's gonna be perfect for this.
A mattress and a giant bear? - Why a bear needs a TV, l have no idea.
- Is that a TV? - That's a TV.
That's a TV riding in the passenger seat.
He's going back in.
- Hmm.
- Oh, a lamp.
- Oh.
- Hmm, I'm not sure that's street legal.
- Oh! - Ugh! Got to hold on to the mattress.
- Oh, oh.
- Oh, look out! - Wait, but he's going that way.
- Yeah, I know where he's going! Oh.
- Okay.
- Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, that's good if it's not in one piece anymore.
- Come on, bear.
- Look at the size of that bear.
Careful.
- Come on, TV.
- Nice interior.
- TV Time! - You man-handled that bear.
- You don't show the bear who's boss, it'll bite you.
- 4:01.
- Is that good? - I don't know.
- Seemed like a lot of stuff to move in four minutes.
- Okay.
- I'll go next.
- No, no, no.
I'll--I'll go next.
- Wow.
- This is all about speed.
I've got to get there quickly, I've got to be really fast putting everything on and in the car, and then I got to get back here as quick as I can.
- Did you see the bear? - Yeah, I saw the bear.
- Did you see the mattress? - Yeah, I saw the mattress.
- Where's it gonna go? He'd be quicker shipping it down here than putting it in that car.
- So I just need to beat your time.
I got this.
- Here we go! In three, two, one.
Go! - Coming up to punch you in the face.
- Really? Punch me in the face if it makes you drive quicker! - We're testing our choices for the perfect city car.
It needs to be small and agile enough for tight city spaces but big enough to help you move when the landlord jacks up the rent.
Now it's Rut's turn to move the world's strangest collection of objects.
L got this.
- Here we go.
In three, two, one.
Go! - There he goes.
- Who is that guy? There he goe.
Does he go for the bear first? That's the question.
Oh, no.
TV.
- TV.
- TV in the back.
- There's the bear.
- He's got the bear.
- All right, the bear-- - Oh! - Oh! - Head-first is not a good idea.
- Oh! What's he doing? - He's molesting the bear.
Don't watch it.
- Ugh.
How long has he been away from his wife? - Yeah, that seems like a good place for the bear.
- Oh, he just stuck a mattress on top of the bear.
That's fairly rude.
Now he's got a lamp.
- And he's holding the lamp.
- There we go.
Okay! - Here he comes.
Look at this-- l can see great.
- The bear is dismounting, for sure.
- He can't see a thing! - Nope, now I can't see so good.
- The bear's spreading his legs.
- Which way is he going? - I don't-- - Don't be in front of me! I can't see ya.
- There's the lamp.
- How's my time? - You got about 40 seconds.
- Come here, buddy.
Come here, come here.
- See, that's considerate.
He put the bear on the mattress.
- Watch the TV! - Impressive work, I think.
- Well done.
- So what's my time? You say it.
- 3 minutes and 54 seconds.
- Yeah! - That puts you in the Alfa seat.
For just a minute longer.
Oh, yeah, car's over there.
- Yeah, your car's over there.
I don't know-- that's cool, though, if you want to go that way.
- The time to beat is 3:54.
- I'm gonna move some stuff! Let's do it.
- Three, two, one.
Move! - There he goes.
- Yup, that'll do it.
I can't wait to see this-- the bear's bigger than him.
- Oh, look at the jump-- - Oh, look at that! - Impressive.
- You're a big fella, aren't ya? - Here he comes.
That's it.
- I got to get one of those bears for my daughter.
She loves that.
- Don't do that.
- No? Too--you think that bear's too big? - Too big.
And they're gonna confuse it with daddy.
You'll have to shave your beard.
- All right, TV in the back.
- Don't forget the lamp! - Here we go.
- Here he comes.
- Hang on, be-- hang on, bear! Here we go! Hang on! Hang on! - Boy, the car did not like that.
- It went right into neutral.
- Here he comes.
- Okay, oh-- - Oh! - Oh, you almost ran over the bear's head! - Oh! - Stop running over the bear! - Ugh, for a second there, I thought I might have damaged it.
- You were really fast, take your time.
- Take your time, don't rush.
- Get up there! - There's a-- there's a bent lamp.
- Are you guys worried, is that what it is? - Oh! - Oh, did you just drop the TV? - Oh, sorry, kids, you're gonna have to read books.
- That's a penalty.
- It's got to be.
Oh! - It might be broken now, though.
What's my time? - Well, first we got to talk about the penalties.
- Yeah, penalties were big.
- What penalties? - The lamp, the TV, you scorched the mattress.
- Yeah, that feels like, what--15, 10, 15 seconds apiece? - At least.
- 2 seconds - What kind of penalty is that? You broke this guy's TV.
- Fine, 5 seconds apiece.
- Okay.
- The time to beat is 3:54.
- Yeah.
- Your time is terrible.
It was 5 minutes and 5 seconds.
- What? - Yeah, it was awful.
- Is the Scio FR-S is the best city car, that means that not only have I won racing that car in Long Beach, now, it really means I've won racing it in L.
A.
That makes me the best city racer ever.
Not bad for a country boy from Georgia.
My superior city skills also mean I'm the one driving the Alfa Romeo 4C.
- I got a race for ya.
How about we do an actual race, one end of the city to the other.
Any vehicle goes.
Besides an airplane or helicopter.
And none of this road closed stuff.
None of this drive 100 yards and deliver a 70-pound teddy bear.
- Open road.
- Open roads.
- With the public at danger? - Yeah.
Real speed limits, real red lights.
- You wanna race me in the Alfa? - Yeah.
I do.
- Challenge accepted.
- Coming up A race across L.
A - All right, he's going that way, we're heading right.
- Is crashed by the Stig.
- We're in Los Angeles, testing our choices for the perfect city car.
Somehow, Rut is the winner in his FR-S.
Now, even though Scion's not a company anymore, we're still letting him claim his victory.
- Yeah! - Now he gets to drive the 2016 Alfa Romeo 4C.
But it really pisses off Tanner.
So we're racing again.
- Now, that FR-S was fun to drive, but this is on a totally different level.
They might seem similar, but this has about 25% more power per pound.
The FR-S has a power-to-weight ratio of 13.
8 pounds per horsepower.
In this, it's about 10.
4.
That means the FR-S has to moe almost 3 1/2 pounds more weigt for every horsepower-- a huge difference.
Mid-engine, lightweight.
This is a sports car.
The acceleration on this car is fantastic.
And in the city, this is a car you get noticed in.
From the D-shaped suede-covered steering wheel, to the panels to the stitching, everything about the interior of this car says it is an Italian race car.
This is the all-new Alfa Romeo 4C Spider The first car for sale in the U.
S.
from Alfa in over 20 years.
And it's about to ruin Tanner's day.
The Alfa is super focused on light weight, giving it a lot of speed.
And that's because the tub of the car is made of carbon fiber, so it's super lightweight and really rigid.
In fact, the tub only weighs 114 pounds.
And by comparison, a set of wheels from a new Hellcat weighs 120 pounds.
Now, the car's fun to drive, and it looks great in the city, but at $77,000 in fire engine red, I'm not sure I would want to park mine in the city.
But today is not about parking.
Today is about a race.
And all I got to do is beat Tanner, and that's why l brought a witness.
- You know, usually, I didn't see nothing.
- Mm.
- But for you, I'll make an exception, my friend.
Where is the little fella? - I don't know.
Check your pockets.
What--what is that? - This is the 2015 HPC Revolution.
HPC stands for "Hi- Power Cycles," Made in America electric bikes.
6,000 watts.
This thing hauls, and it'll go 100 miles at 20 miles an hour, and it'll do this.
Yeah, yeah.
We're talking about city transport.
You guys have traffic.
Remember how frustrating that was? - Mm-hmm.
- Split lanes.
Go right on sidewalks.
- You're gonna deliver every paper on your route, aren't you? - Pretty quick.
- Hey, hey.
- Oh.
- What is he doing here? - Well, the fastest way across town is public transportation.
I'm guessing he's taking the fastest way.
- Kind of creeps me out.
We're gonna race from here to the Venice Pier-- 10 miles.
This race is up for grabs.
The Venice Pier is across town on the Pacific Ocean.
There's a metro line, but it only goes part of the way.
In a car, the most direct route is the surface streets, but the freeway's faster if there's no traffic, which is never.
Los Angeles has the worst traffic in the country.
Last year, the average commuter spent 81 hours idling on the freeways, and public transportation isn't much better.
Los Angeles only has 108 miles of metro line, compared to New York City's 660 miles of subway line, and separate bike lanes can be a challenge to find.
So we all have to deal with the dreaded L.
A.
traffic, me on my bike, Rut and Adam in the Alfa Romeo, and the Stig on public transportation.
God help us.
- First person to Venice Pier wins.
- Yes.
- Three, two, one, go.
Come on.
Get in the car.
- Later! - Nice bike, chump.
- All right, this is, like, a half-hour drive, right? But we need to knock some time off.
- Okay, so go on a sidewalk.
- I can't drive on the sidewalk.
- Chicken.
- All right, what's the fastest way to Venice? - The 10 is a straight shot.
Traffic is gonna be a nightmare.
I want to try to avoid it if we can.
- Why do they call it the 10? Why don't they say, like, "I'm on I-10.
" - 'Cause they do that out here.
It's the 10.
It's the 405.
It's the 5.
The 210, the 110.
It's just the way they do it.
- The 101 - Yeah, but you don't need any of that.
Just go-- - Oh, there he goes! - That was him? - Yeah.
- Go, go! - Look at him go.
Why is he even pedaling if that bike's electric? He's flying! Let's go right.
- Go down here, two blocks, make a left.
We'll cut him off.
- There's a bus; got to get in front-- Don't--don't pull out, bus.
- Good, stay, stay, stay, stay, stay.
- I'm coming in there.
- Stay, bus.
Sorry, bus.
- Thank you.
All right, now here's what's helping us.
This car only weighs 2,500 pounds.
- Okay.
- 1.
7-liter turbo four-cylinder, right? So we got weight on our side.
What that means is, we need some momentum.
- Okay.
- Which means we need speed.
- Oh, good, look who's here.
- Hey.
- Oh, look, light's green.
See ya.
- Oh.
- Clip him, clip him! Cut off the guy on the bike.
- He's so fast.
- Whoo! Open road now.
There's no way they're going this fast.
- This is the most frustrating thing ever.
A cool car in the city, and we can make it one traffic light.
Awesome.
Bumper-to-bumpe.
You know what would be great is if a billion people moved to this one part of the country.
"l can beat you.
I can beat you in a race.
" - "I'ma wear my bike pants and my helmet.
" - But I bet he's moving.
- Oh, my God, this thing is quick.
I was only on the medium setting.
There's still more on the plate.
Whoa! - Is that the metro right there? - It is.
- There's the Stig.
There's the Stig.
He's getting on the train.
- Oh, he's getting on the train.
And look, there's Tanner, waiting for the train to pass.
He's gonna take off ahead of us.
Dang it.
Here it goes.
This is ridiculous.
How is it possible that these two are beating us right now? We're gonna have to get on the freeway.
Lt's gonna kill us.
- No, it's just-- we're gonna have to get on the freeway for a second.
- I'm telling you, there's gonna be traffic.
- There's traffic everywhere! - Coming up - Go, son, go.
Oh.
- We're in a race across Los Angeles, pitting a car against the alternatives: Public transportation and Tanner on a bike.
The Alfa 4C is super light and fast as hell and corners like it's on rail, when it's not stuck in traffi.
- We're gonna have to get on the freeway for a second.
- Oh, this is gonna suck.
- I don't wanna get on the freeway either, but what choice do we have? This has got to e the fastest way to Venic, traffic or not.
- Okay.
Ooh, we are aboe the speed limi! Nailing i! - This traffic makes me wanna punch you in the face.
- Really? Yeah, punch me in the face if it makes you drive quicker! We got a lane.
Go! Go! There ya go.
That's it.
Go, son, go! - Dude, dude.
- Yeah? - Slow dow! - Ooh.
- Got it.
Message received.
Okay.
- Thank you.
- Well, speeding up was a great idea! - Okay, I'm sorry.
I thought we were in a race.
- Finally, Venice is in my sights.
I must be destroying those guys.
- There ya go.
- Ha ha! Hey.
This is it, we're here! - Yes! - There we go, baby.
- That's it.
- Oh, now we gotta park.
- How do you pak in this tow? - My kingdom for a parking spot! - Okay, this is the Venice Pier.
I don't see him! Yeah-ha-hah! What? - How do? - Come on! - Are you kidding me? I was flying through there.
I never got traffic.
Did you get any traffic? - We just zipped right through it.
Did you really think you on a fancy bicycle could beat us? - You know what it was? You didn't shave your legs.
That body hair was slowing you down.
- Big time.
- That's not funny.
Where's the Stig? - I-l don't know.
- Actually haven't seen him.
I thought he was with you.
Go! - All right, let me in, Adam! - That was close.
- Come on, Adam! - Nope.
- No, no.
Oh, my gosh, you totally blocked me out of there.
- Uh-oh, sorry, Adam! Coming through! - The American city.
In 1800, only 5% of Americans lived in cities.
Now, it's over 80%.
Millennials, the largest generation in U.
S.
history, are accelerating this trend.
But dense traffic, lack of parking, and high cost, make owning a city car almost impossible.
Is the American dream of four-wheel freedom dying? Or is there a perfect car nimble enough to navigate the urban gauntlet, tough enough for close-quarter combat, and thrilling enough to make you still feel alive? Well, we're gonna find out.
- So he went with a Jeep? - Well, he went Jeep-ish.
- I have a Renegade.
I have 83 CJ-7.
The Renegade package was an option on Jeep's legendary CJ-7 during the entire ten-year run from 1976 through 1986.
And on the CJ-7's replacement: the Wrangler.
I didn't put together that they used the Renegade name for that.
But this Renegade is an entirely new model, based on the Fiat 500 chassis.
- You thought you were getting a Wrangler, not the Liberty replacement.
- Okay, here's what l do know about this.
It's small enough to find parking, but it's got 18 1/2 cubic feet of cargo space.
This has the bigger 2.
4 liter engine and the Trailhawk package-- Four-wheel drive, skid plates, and tow hooks.
The 31-degree approach angle and 34-degree departure angle should be able to chew up curbs, stairs, whatever.
And this is Los Angeles.
Roads aren't the best.
- You believe any of that stuff you just said? - Not yet.
It did go through the Rubicon Trail.
- Wow.
I am just really surprised by that one.
- I'll at least be above the potholes and not in them.
- This is the perfect city vehicle.
Gentlemen, I give you the BMW i3.
This is designed for a city.
170 horsepower, 184 pound feet of torque push it to 60 in under seven seconds.
It gets 81 miles per charge, but this car has the range extended, which adds another 70.
The frame is made of carbon fiber, sourced from a factory that uses hydroelectric power, so you're saving the planet, coming and going.
- This is a great car, like, if you're a hipster that's also really, really arrogant.
You put it together, and you have a really expensive car.
- Speaking of hipsters, beardy.
How's your skinny jeans and your FR-S? - You're talking about the 2016 Scion FR-S.
You know what FR-S stands for? Front engine, rear-wheel drive sport.
Its four-cylinder boxer engine makes 200 horsepower, and like the i3, it goes 0 to 60 in under seven seconds.
But with a six-speed manual transmission, it's way more fun to drive.
Now, if you're unsure about the Scion brand, you're not alone, which is why Toyota shut it down.
But don't worry--they're gonna keep making the car and plan to call it the Toyota 86.
And how do I know it's perfect for a city? Oh, yeah.
'Cause I raced one of these-- - Oh.
- In the Toyota Pro Celebrity Race of Long beach, which is a city where we raced through the city, and I won it.
For the record, I do want to drive that Alfa Romeo 4C.
- So do I.
- Okay.
So whoever has the best city car out of all of this gets to rip around in that puppy, huh? - I'm in.
- Deal.
- First things first.
Follow me.
I've ripped through this city in some of the coolest, craziest cars on the planet.
But I will say, the Renegade is fairly low stress.
The problem with having a sport car in the city is any bump in the road, any pothole in the road, any stick that's fallen across the road suddenly becomes drama.
- Oh, boy.
Oh, oh! Oof.
- It's like a girlfriend that always wears miniskirts, tons of makeup, and 4-inch pumps.
There's benefits, but drama.
- City driving can be a little bit annoying.
A lot of bumps, the roads are in terrible shape, which is why I'm bouncing all over the place.
I mean, you know you're in a sports car the moment you start driving.
But, to me, that's what I want.
I want to feel connected to the road.
Now, if you want to talk about a lot of car for the money, this is it.
If you want to talk about a lot of money for a car, that would be the i3.
- Totally silent.
Which, I don't know if it's good or bad for a city, because you want people to hear you coming.
'Cause it's almost "Death Race 2000" In downtown L.
A.
'Cause there's a lot of cars, and the lines on the road are just a suggestion to these people.
What're you honking at? It's a city! There's traffic! You don't want any traffic, move to Utah.
I will tell you what l like about this car-- Instant torque.
You step on the gas and you're gone.
It also has that regenerative braking, so when you lift, you're pretty much hitting the brakes.
So if you time it right, you really don't have to use the brakes at all.
Okay, red light? Lift, no brake.
No brake no brake.
There you go.
Not as fun as you think it is.
- I give you the Convention Center.
At 720,000 square feet, the Los Angeles Convention Center is the perfect urban playground to test out the compact maneuverability of our city cars in a little game of automotive hide-and-seek.
- Here's the deal.
- Okay.
Hide-and-seek's perfect to test a city car, because you got to be quick, you got to be small, you got to fit into small spaces.
Two people count to 30, one person hides.
- Great.
- Whoever lasts the longest before getting trapped by the other two wins.
- Not it! - Not it! - You're it.
- Okay.
- You're gonna go, we're gonna count to 30, and we're gonna come find you.
- 1-- - Wait, right now? - Yeah.
- Oh! - 2, 3 - Oh, you're--oh, shoot! - 4, 5 - Okay.
- 6 - 7 - 8 - 9 - 10 - 11 - 12.
- 13.
- 14.
- 15.
Why do I feel like I'm in a boy band now? - Come on.
I just need something to hide me here.
- Okay, 30! All right, if you see him, let me know on the radio.
- Go get him, big daddy.
- I got to find a good place to hide.
How about in here? Got to find a place that's long enough to get the whole car in.
- I know where he is.
Aha! No.
- Tanner, you see him anywhere? - No.
I'm gonna look over the bridge here.
I'm gonna check under the stairs.
- I'm far enough in this little hallway that I think they'll-- yep, drive right by.
- You know he's hiding somewhere and he's talking to himself.
Oh, I remember when I won the Toyota Celebrity Pro Race.
I was in a car just like this.
- Car hide-and-seek is fun.
But like a shark, if you want to survive, you have to keep moving.
- How we doing on time, Tanner? - We're at 45 seconds.
Check the cafeteria.
He's probably parked somewhere and he's in there eating lunch.
- No sign.
I mean, he's low, so he could be along that wall that's kind of half a floor up.
- They're looking over there.
Just sneak right over this way.
Cat and mouse.
- I got him! - Oh, all right.
- We got him! I'm on the way.
- All right, they got a visual on me.
I need a easy place to hide now.
Hmm.
That works.
- Adam, I think I see An FR-S back end hanging out outside those boxes.
- Let's get him.
- I'll hit 'em.
You get him.
- Copy.
- Okay--okay.
Great.
Yeah.
- Just gonna inconspicuously hide behind these boxes.
- Wow! How stealthy are you? Not a bad time, l think.
- What is it? - 1:41.
- All right.
- Okay.
- The bar is set.
- Now, the big advantage of hiding in an i3-- It's totally silent.
I'm a ninja! They are never gonna find me in here.
- Come on, where is he? He's got to be around here somewhere.
I mean, we both know he is sneaky.
Keep that in mind.
Oh, I think I see him.
- Where? Where, where, where, where? - Coming up - What's he dong? - He's molesting the bear.
- Rut takes a teddy bear for a ride.
- Oh, watch it.
- How long has he been away from his wife? - We're at the L.
A.
Convention Center testing our choices for the perfect city car.
The first challenge is hide-and-seek, and Tanner and I are on the hunt.
Oh, I think I see him.
- Where? Where, where, where, where? - Nope.
Nope, sorry.
It was a golf cart.
It was electric and white.
I was close.
You know he's like a fart: silent, but deadly.
- They are never gonna find me in here.
The elevator gives me more hiding spots and a good view of those two idiots.
You guys can't find me! You guys can't find me! - Hey, Adam.
Key word was "silent.
" - Sneaky little electric bastard.
- You looked in the elevator? - No, I'll check the elevator.
I'll check the elevator.
First time I've ever driven in an elevator, though.
It's pretty cool.
- Let me know if you find anything, bud.
- Roger that.
I got my eyes peeled.
- The beard's too close.
I'm heading out.
I don't see 'em.
I don't see them.
And more importantly, they don't see me.
- No way he went down there.
Rut, I see him! Over by those glass windows.
- I am gonna back in right here under the stairs and no one's gonna find me.
Perfect! Well, there goes plan A.
- Busted! That only took about two weeks.
- Yup! Couldn't hear me, could you? - Well-- - Stealthy, baby! - What was the time? - Well, he came in at a 2:03.
- I'm in the lead! - With one to go.
- You know what? Start the timer.
- Certainly will.
- You got 30 seconds! - What do you mean start the timer? - Yeah, that's what you did to me! - Go! - Do you think we should give him the full 30 seconds? - No, let's go now.
- Okay.
- The thing about the Jeep is that I should be able to go places no ordinary car can go.
- I just got to look for a Jep with a miserable little race car driver in it.
Where is he? Where is he? - I'm just back right on up in here.
Look at that.
Trail Rated.
- Rut, you got anything? - So I'm checking down all these little stairwells and stuff.
If that Jeep actually has some Jeep lineage, it might actually be able to crawl over some stuff.
I can't figure it out yet, though.
- I'm going up the ramp.
- Okay, Adam is right there.
Gotta go.
- Gents, I can see you.
You can't see me? - Oh, all right.
You throwing out a challenge? - Maybe that wasn't the best idea.
Let's do something else.
I bet we can find another place.
- I got nothing up here, Rut.
- He was not down here.
- Oh! Oh, there he is! I got him, I got him, l got him! Come down the ramp.
- Oh, he thinks he's got me boxed in.
But he doesn't! Because I have got a tiny little flight of stairs which should be absolutely no problem for the Jeep.
Here we go.
And there's Adam! Oh, no.
Here comes the cavalry, son! - Oh, no! - Adam, block him in up top, block him in up top.
No go! No go! You're officially trapped.
- Did you-- did you hear that? - You see how I centered? All: Oh! - Gosh, don't do that again.
Yeah, it's crazy.
Uh, you are high-centered, which is really interesting.
'Cause it's a Jeep.
- Yeah.
- I guess it's Trail Rated.
It's just not stair rated.
- What was my time? - 1:27 - What? - Yeah.
- 1:27, 1-- - 41.
- 2 - 03.
- Aha! I win.
- Tell you what.
Why don't you move the BMW out of the way, I'll move the Scion and we'll just get you out of here lickety-split.
- Thank you, l appreciate that.
- All right, yeah, Just give me a quick second.
Let's just--let's go.
- Of course, my so-called friends leave me high centered and dry.
Where you going? I can't open the door, and I can't go forward, and I can't go back, and you suck.
But I know the next challenge is a race, so vengeance will be mine.
I want to get my hands on that Alfa.
A little help? - My '83 Renegade is just the toughest little machine ever.
This one is different.
- I think that Jeep got up those stairs higher than I thought it would.
I really feel like the Trail Rated thing on there, that's a bit of a stretch.
- That's trail mix rated.
- Leaving me on the stairs was not the nicest thing.
- We wanted you to be able to get out by yourself.
We're teaching you to fish.
- You know how many security guards it took to push me off the top of those stairs? - Urban decay creates a minefield of potholes, debris, gravel, and other road hazards.
And with the fast pace of urban life, a city car needs to run the gauntlet in record time.
- There's no way he meant to take us here.
- We meet in an abandoned lot that's not unlike a rally cross course-- The closest thing I'll get to home field advantage.
- Oh, good.
Ruins.
We're in ancient Greece.
- This looks nice.
- This looks perfect, actually.
I mean, this is, like, the ideal weird little playground-- - For a ransom drop.
- No, it's to simulate, like, city driving.
- What city? Beirut? - Maybe.
- I say we make a loop here around the lot.
- How are you guys gonna get through all that dirt over there? - How are you gonna get through that dirt? - Trail Rated.
- Oh, it's "Trail Rated.
" - Yeah.
- Yeah.
- I forgot.
You hadn't told us 100 times.
- The course is a 1/4-mile sprint, starting with a tight squeeze under an abandoned overpass, followed by a hard left that only fits one car at a time, then it's a slalom through a minefield of debris and a race to the finish.
First one there wins.
- It's a tight fit.
Sure that, uh, big FR-S is gonna make it? - Listen, this car was made for the city.
Come on, baby.
You and me, we've had a good run in this city.
Huh? Let's show these guys who's boss.
- Here's the thing, Rutledge has performance in handling when there is grip, and there isn't any grip.
It's all rocks and bumps.
I don't want to sound cocky or anything, but this is probably the most stacked race I've ever been in.
- I have instant torque.
So off the line, I'll be able to take Rut and hopefully get in front of him.
Then, if I can just stay in front of Tanner, I might be able to survive this thing.
- What I've got going for me here is rear-wheel drive.
If I can get that 200 horsepower down to the ground, I'm gonna do pretty well.
- All right, gentlemen, you ready? - Ready! - Let's do this.
- Here we go.
In three, two, one go! The four-wheel drive Adam is right there! - All right, let me in, Adam.
Come on, Adam! - No, no, no.
- Oh, my gosh, you totally blocked me out of there.
Uh-oh! Sorry, Adam! - Inside over-- - Coming through.
That's a big hole! - All right, let me in, Adam.
Come on, Adam! - No, no, no.
Sideline, race boy! - Oh, my gosh, he totally blocked me out of there.
Uh-oh! - Oh, sorry, Adam! Coming through.
That's a big hole.
- What's he doing? - There's no wedging.
It doesn't go through.
How the hell do I get out of here? - Yeah! Yeah! Whoo-hoo! - Damn it! Where-- Where's Tanner? Is he lost? Oh, look at that.
That's better.
- Wow! The only time we get to race, and you got to cheat? - What cheat? That's racing! You taught us that.
Gentlemen, this was fun.
But the most important thing for a city car, believe it or not--parking.
Yes.
- I love that you're proposing parking.
Let's do it.
- Gentlemen, these are your three classic city parking challenges.
Your first one, straight in.
However, it is very tight.
Here's your classic parallel parking.
And this is what I like to call the whip around.
You go down past that old Hyundai, rip around, and park behind the Saturn.
Don't hit the fence.
There's a ten-second penalty for each car you bump.
To make sure there's no cheating, we're using stickers that turn red when they get wet, and the parking spots are rigged with water cannons that are triggered if you hit another car.
Fastest overall time wins.
I have a great shot at winning this, 'cause I do have the backup cameras and the side sensors.
- It doesn't matter what sensors you have telling you what to do, he's gonna crash it.
- All right, fellas, you ready? - In three, two, one, go! Wow, that is not as fast as a Tesla.
- Does he know we're timing this? - I don't know if I'm gonna need to do this.
But I - Folding his mirrors in.
Very nice.
- I'm in.
Now we back up.
- Yeah, no way he's fitting in there.
- Get in there, little car.
- Oh, oh Oh! - Oh! Okay, here he comes.
- Run for your lives! - Okay, okay! Holy cow! - Come on! - Get it.
- So he's hit at least one water cannon and - Time! - 3:35.
Plus ten seconds for hitting the car gives you a total time of 3:45.
- All right.
- How is this "Trail Rated Jeep" gonna do? - I'll show you.
- Yeah, just don't go up a flight of stairs.
- In order to be Trail Rated, a Jeep has to go through a pretty strict maneuverability test.
Not just off-road ability test.
And that is gonna be the strongest key here.
- And go! - Oh! Oh, gosh.
I think he's gonna rip the paint off of it.
- Oh, oh, left side.
Yeah, that's tighter than you think.
There you go-- Oh! He just hit-- He just hit the bumper! - Clean! - Oh, oh.
- Hey, ay! - And we're in.
Stop the clock! Huh? - What was that? - What? That was-- - You missed the whole thing! - I was in deep.
- You weren't in-- - That's as deep as it goes.
- You hit the Saturn and there was no water.
What happened to the water? - I never hit the Saturn.
- We saw you hit the Saturn! - Reverse camera.
- You don't have a reverse camera.
- Yes, I do.
- You told me you didn't have one! - Well, I was lying.
- But your time was impressive.
2:21.
- Yes! Now I'm gonna show you guys what a real car can do.
- All right, take the FR-S and go get a real car.
- This is where the FR-S shines.
It's got 200 horsepower, it only weighs 2,700 pounds, so it's light, it's nimble, and I'm gonna use the power as much as I can.
- 2:21 is the time to beat, my man.
In three, two, one.
Go! - There it is.
Nice and easy, nice and easy-- Oh, sh-- - Crunch! Crunch! All right, so it's narrow.
Big deal, it's skinny.
- Okay, back-up camera, l need you right now.
Nice and easy - He's actually going to try to fit that thing in there.
- Aw, this is gonna be impossible! Oh, no, I'm gonna hit it! All right, all right.
Come on, just-- oh-- - Oh, he-- - Yes! He got-- l mean, that sucks.
- All right, yup.
Good.
- There he goes.
Okay, he's in.
- I'm in! - Pull up more.
More-- you're not even there.
- Oh! Come on! - Stop the time! - You're soaking wet.
- Why did you keep saying to go further? I was trying to make sure I didn't knock the fender off.
- I was trying to make sure you were in the parking spot.
- How was my time? - 2:26.
- Oh! - Race boy won.
- Even without the penalties, by a second! - I guarantee I had more fun than you guys did.
- What do know, though, is everything is tied up.
There's got to be more to living in the city than racing light to light, parking cars, and hide-and-seek.
- Let's find out.
It's a three-way tie in the battle for the best city car.
So we head across town to settle the score.
- Why the hell did you bring us here? - Just to an alley someplace? This is where we finally get murdered, huh? - Listen, the perfect way to figure out what's the best city car since it's all tied up is to make a little move.
So there's a bunch of stuff in that truck, like normal things you'd find in an apartment.
We're gonna start here, we're each gonna race down there, grab the stuff, and bring it in there.
The person who does it the quickest, without damaging anything, wins.
- You do know this is practically an SUV-- Perfect for this kind of stuff.
It's like unfair.
- Mm.
- All right, I'll go first.
- You're not going first.
I'll go first.
- You go first, then, fine.
- This is ridiculous, 'cause people in the city don't go out and get stuff.
They go on the internet and have stuff sent in.
Trust me, l live in the city.
People bring me food.
- Here we go, in three, two, one.
Go! - Okay.
It's pretty fast.
Does your golf cart sound like that? - Oh, even my golf cart at home totally does.
You know, when you move in New York City, you have to have someone that watches the truck.
Like, their whole job is just make sure no people walk up and steal your stuff while you're moving.
- Bear? Really? A giant bear.
That's what I need.
Come on, bear.
- Oh, my gosh.
His head's stuck in the ass of that bear.
- All right, the bear is here.
Mattress? 'Cause a bear needs a bed.
- Oh.
Oh, is that a mattress? - Oh, my gosh.
That's why the Jeep's gonna be perfect for this.
A mattress and a giant bear? - Why a bear needs a TV, l have no idea.
- Is that a TV? - That's a TV.
That's a TV riding in the passenger seat.
He's going back in.
- Hmm.
- Oh, a lamp.
- Oh.
- Hmm, I'm not sure that's street legal.
- Oh! - Ugh! Got to hold on to the mattress.
- Oh, oh.
- Oh, look out! - Wait, but he's going that way.
- Yeah, I know where he's going! Oh.
- Okay.
- Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, that's good if it's not in one piece anymore.
- Come on, bear.
- Look at the size of that bear.
Careful.
- Come on, TV.
- Nice interior.
- TV Time! - You man-handled that bear.
- You don't show the bear who's boss, it'll bite you.
- 4:01.
- Is that good? - I don't know.
- Seemed like a lot of stuff to move in four minutes.
- Okay.
- I'll go next.
- No, no, no.
I'll--I'll go next.
- Wow.
- This is all about speed.
I've got to get there quickly, I've got to be really fast putting everything on and in the car, and then I got to get back here as quick as I can.
- Did you see the bear? - Yeah, I saw the bear.
- Did you see the mattress? - Yeah, I saw the mattress.
- Where's it gonna go? He'd be quicker shipping it down here than putting it in that car.
- So I just need to beat your time.
I got this.
- Here we go! In three, two, one.
Go! - Coming up to punch you in the face.
- Really? Punch me in the face if it makes you drive quicker! - We're testing our choices for the perfect city car.
It needs to be small and agile enough for tight city spaces but big enough to help you move when the landlord jacks up the rent.
Now it's Rut's turn to move the world's strangest collection of objects.
L got this.
- Here we go.
In three, two, one.
Go! - There he goes.
- Who is that guy? There he goe.
Does he go for the bear first? That's the question.
Oh, no.
TV.
- TV.
- TV in the back.
- There's the bear.
- He's got the bear.
- All right, the bear-- - Oh! - Oh! - Head-first is not a good idea.
- Oh! What's he doing? - He's molesting the bear.
Don't watch it.
- Ugh.
How long has he been away from his wife? - Yeah, that seems like a good place for the bear.
- Oh, he just stuck a mattress on top of the bear.
That's fairly rude.
Now he's got a lamp.
- And he's holding the lamp.
- There we go.
Okay! - Here he comes.
Look at this-- l can see great.
- The bear is dismounting, for sure.
- He can't see a thing! - Nope, now I can't see so good.
- The bear's spreading his legs.
- Which way is he going? - I don't-- - Don't be in front of me! I can't see ya.
- There's the lamp.
- How's my time? - You got about 40 seconds.
- Come here, buddy.
Come here, come here.
- See, that's considerate.
He put the bear on the mattress.
- Watch the TV! - Impressive work, I think.
- Well done.
- So what's my time? You say it.
- 3 minutes and 54 seconds.
- Yeah! - That puts you in the Alfa seat.
For just a minute longer.
Oh, yeah, car's over there.
- Yeah, your car's over there.
I don't know-- that's cool, though, if you want to go that way.
- The time to beat is 3:54.
- I'm gonna move some stuff! Let's do it.
- Three, two, one.
Move! - There he goes.
- Yup, that'll do it.
I can't wait to see this-- the bear's bigger than him.
- Oh, look at the jump-- - Oh, look at that! - Impressive.
- You're a big fella, aren't ya? - Here he comes.
That's it.
- I got to get one of those bears for my daughter.
She loves that.
- Don't do that.
- No? Too--you think that bear's too big? - Too big.
And they're gonna confuse it with daddy.
You'll have to shave your beard.
- All right, TV in the back.
- Don't forget the lamp! - Here we go.
- Here he comes.
- Hang on, be-- hang on, bear! Here we go! Hang on! Hang on! - Boy, the car did not like that.
- It went right into neutral.
- Here he comes.
- Okay, oh-- - Oh! - Oh, you almost ran over the bear's head! - Oh! - Stop running over the bear! - Ugh, for a second there, I thought I might have damaged it.
- You were really fast, take your time.
- Take your time, don't rush.
- Get up there! - There's a-- there's a bent lamp.
- Are you guys worried, is that what it is? - Oh! - Oh, did you just drop the TV? - Oh, sorry, kids, you're gonna have to read books.
- That's a penalty.
- It's got to be.
Oh! - It might be broken now, though.
What's my time? - Well, first we got to talk about the penalties.
- Yeah, penalties were big.
- What penalties? - The lamp, the TV, you scorched the mattress.
- Yeah, that feels like, what--15, 10, 15 seconds apiece? - At least.
- 2 seconds - What kind of penalty is that? You broke this guy's TV.
- Fine, 5 seconds apiece.
- Okay.
- The time to beat is 3:54.
- Yeah.
- Your time is terrible.
It was 5 minutes and 5 seconds.
- What? - Yeah, it was awful.
- Is the Scio FR-S is the best city car, that means that not only have I won racing that car in Long Beach, now, it really means I've won racing it in L.
A.
That makes me the best city racer ever.
Not bad for a country boy from Georgia.
My superior city skills also mean I'm the one driving the Alfa Romeo 4C.
- I got a race for ya.
How about we do an actual race, one end of the city to the other.
Any vehicle goes.
Besides an airplane or helicopter.
And none of this road closed stuff.
None of this drive 100 yards and deliver a 70-pound teddy bear.
- Open road.
- Open roads.
- With the public at danger? - Yeah.
Real speed limits, real red lights.
- You wanna race me in the Alfa? - Yeah.
I do.
- Challenge accepted.
- Coming up A race across L.
A - All right, he's going that way, we're heading right.
- Is crashed by the Stig.
- We're in Los Angeles, testing our choices for the perfect city car.
Somehow, Rut is the winner in his FR-S.
Now, even though Scion's not a company anymore, we're still letting him claim his victory.
- Yeah! - Now he gets to drive the 2016 Alfa Romeo 4C.
But it really pisses off Tanner.
So we're racing again.
- Now, that FR-S was fun to drive, but this is on a totally different level.
They might seem similar, but this has about 25% more power per pound.
The FR-S has a power-to-weight ratio of 13.
8 pounds per horsepower.
In this, it's about 10.
4.
That means the FR-S has to moe almost 3 1/2 pounds more weigt for every horsepower-- a huge difference.
Mid-engine, lightweight.
This is a sports car.
The acceleration on this car is fantastic.
And in the city, this is a car you get noticed in.
From the D-shaped suede-covered steering wheel, to the panels to the stitching, everything about the interior of this car says it is an Italian race car.
This is the all-new Alfa Romeo 4C Spider The first car for sale in the U.
S.
from Alfa in over 20 years.
And it's about to ruin Tanner's day.
The Alfa is super focused on light weight, giving it a lot of speed.
And that's because the tub of the car is made of carbon fiber, so it's super lightweight and really rigid.
In fact, the tub only weighs 114 pounds.
And by comparison, a set of wheels from a new Hellcat weighs 120 pounds.
Now, the car's fun to drive, and it looks great in the city, but at $77,000 in fire engine red, I'm not sure I would want to park mine in the city.
But today is not about parking.
Today is about a race.
And all I got to do is beat Tanner, and that's why l brought a witness.
- You know, usually, I didn't see nothing.
- Mm.
- But for you, I'll make an exception, my friend.
Where is the little fella? - I don't know.
Check your pockets.
What--what is that? - This is the 2015 HPC Revolution.
HPC stands for "Hi- Power Cycles," Made in America electric bikes.
6,000 watts.
This thing hauls, and it'll go 100 miles at 20 miles an hour, and it'll do this.
Yeah, yeah.
We're talking about city transport.
You guys have traffic.
Remember how frustrating that was? - Mm-hmm.
- Split lanes.
Go right on sidewalks.
- You're gonna deliver every paper on your route, aren't you? - Pretty quick.
- Hey, hey.
- Oh.
- What is he doing here? - Well, the fastest way across town is public transportation.
I'm guessing he's taking the fastest way.
- Kind of creeps me out.
We're gonna race from here to the Venice Pier-- 10 miles.
This race is up for grabs.
The Venice Pier is across town on the Pacific Ocean.
There's a metro line, but it only goes part of the way.
In a car, the most direct route is the surface streets, but the freeway's faster if there's no traffic, which is never.
Los Angeles has the worst traffic in the country.
Last year, the average commuter spent 81 hours idling on the freeways, and public transportation isn't much better.
Los Angeles only has 108 miles of metro line, compared to New York City's 660 miles of subway line, and separate bike lanes can be a challenge to find.
So we all have to deal with the dreaded L.
A.
traffic, me on my bike, Rut and Adam in the Alfa Romeo, and the Stig on public transportation.
God help us.
- First person to Venice Pier wins.
- Yes.
- Three, two, one, go.
Come on.
Get in the car.
- Later! - Nice bike, chump.
- All right, this is, like, a half-hour drive, right? But we need to knock some time off.
- Okay, so go on a sidewalk.
- I can't drive on the sidewalk.
- Chicken.
- All right, what's the fastest way to Venice? - The 10 is a straight shot.
Traffic is gonna be a nightmare.
I want to try to avoid it if we can.
- Why do they call it the 10? Why don't they say, like, "I'm on I-10.
" - 'Cause they do that out here.
It's the 10.
It's the 405.
It's the 5.
The 210, the 110.
It's just the way they do it.
- The 101 - Yeah, but you don't need any of that.
Just go-- - Oh, there he goes! - That was him? - Yeah.
- Go, go! - Look at him go.
Why is he even pedaling if that bike's electric? He's flying! Let's go right.
- Go down here, two blocks, make a left.
We'll cut him off.
- There's a bus; got to get in front-- Don't--don't pull out, bus.
- Good, stay, stay, stay, stay, stay.
- I'm coming in there.
- Stay, bus.
Sorry, bus.
- Thank you.
All right, now here's what's helping us.
This car only weighs 2,500 pounds.
- Okay.
- 1.
7-liter turbo four-cylinder, right? So we got weight on our side.
What that means is, we need some momentum.
- Okay.
- Which means we need speed.
- Oh, good, look who's here.
- Hey.
- Oh, look, light's green.
See ya.
- Oh.
- Clip him, clip him! Cut off the guy on the bike.
- He's so fast.
- Whoo! Open road now.
There's no way they're going this fast.
- This is the most frustrating thing ever.
A cool car in the city, and we can make it one traffic light.
Awesome.
Bumper-to-bumpe.
You know what would be great is if a billion people moved to this one part of the country.
"l can beat you.
I can beat you in a race.
" - "I'ma wear my bike pants and my helmet.
" - But I bet he's moving.
- Oh, my God, this thing is quick.
I was only on the medium setting.
There's still more on the plate.
Whoa! - Is that the metro right there? - It is.
- There's the Stig.
There's the Stig.
He's getting on the train.
- Oh, he's getting on the train.
And look, there's Tanner, waiting for the train to pass.
He's gonna take off ahead of us.
Dang it.
Here it goes.
This is ridiculous.
How is it possible that these two are beating us right now? We're gonna have to get on the freeway.
Lt's gonna kill us.
- No, it's just-- we're gonna have to get on the freeway for a second.
- I'm telling you, there's gonna be traffic.
- There's traffic everywhere! - Coming up - Go, son, go.
Oh.
- We're in a race across Los Angeles, pitting a car against the alternatives: Public transportation and Tanner on a bike.
The Alfa 4C is super light and fast as hell and corners like it's on rail, when it's not stuck in traffi.
- We're gonna have to get on the freeway for a second.
- Oh, this is gonna suck.
- I don't wanna get on the freeway either, but what choice do we have? This has got to e the fastest way to Venic, traffic or not.
- Okay.
Ooh, we are aboe the speed limi! Nailing i! - This traffic makes me wanna punch you in the face.
- Really? Yeah, punch me in the face if it makes you drive quicker! We got a lane.
Go! Go! There ya go.
That's it.
Go, son, go! - Dude, dude.
- Yeah? - Slow dow! - Ooh.
- Got it.
Message received.
Okay.
- Thank you.
- Well, speeding up was a great idea! - Okay, I'm sorry.
I thought we were in a race.
- Finally, Venice is in my sights.
I must be destroying those guys.
- There ya go.
- Ha ha! Hey.
This is it, we're here! - Yes! - There we go, baby.
- That's it.
- Oh, now we gotta park.
- How do you pak in this tow? - My kingdom for a parking spot! - Okay, this is the Venice Pier.
I don't see him! Yeah-ha-hah! What? - How do? - Come on! - Are you kidding me? I was flying through there.
I never got traffic.
Did you get any traffic? - We just zipped right through it.
Did you really think you on a fancy bicycle could beat us? - You know what it was? You didn't shave your legs.
That body hair was slowing you down.
- Big time.
- That's not funny.
Where's the Stig? - I-l don't know.
- Actually haven't seen him.
I thought he was with you.