Volvo XC60 and Alfa Romeo Star in Insane Top Gear Off-Road Race

Based on the short trailer from Season 25, we can deduce that Matt LeBlanc (in the Stelvio challenged Chris Harris (XC60) to an off-road race.

The XC60 comes from Volvo, a company that's built a reputation for safety, not seat-of-the-pants excitement. This SUV just won 2018 Car of the Year, and it appears to be capable of anything, including driving sideways with full opposite lock.

Of course, it helps to have one of the craziest drivers in show business behind the wheel. In fact, Harris makes it seem like the XC60 is faster when the specs actually suggest otherwise. Both cars can be fitted with 2-liter turbocharged gasoline engines, but in most situations, the Stelvio should be faster.

Just to give you an example, the 310 horsepower XC60 T6 is slower to 100 km/h (5.9 seconds) than the Stelvio Ti with 280 horsepower (5.7 seconds). There's also a ridiculous weight difference of over 200 kilograms between the two SUVs. But these two are probably diesel-powered.

But Harris is like adding 20 racing stripes (they say racing stripes are worth five hp).

Of course, the William Tell Overture does a great job of making the race seem more exciting. But you genuinely never see off-road vehicles being treated like this, not unless they've been tuned for rallycross or the Dajar rally.

What is a furlong? Good question mister Harris. A furlong is the measure of distance in imperial units that equals one eight of a mile, equivalent to 660 feet, 220 yards or about 201 meters. It sounds like something you talked about on a fox hunt but was used in Old English when referring to agriculture.