The Grand Tour pitches its travelling studio in Kakslauttanen, Finland, deep within the Arctic Circle. In this show, Richard Hammond is very excited by the UK arrival of the very first Ford Mustang to be made in right-hand-drive and then very annoyed when Jeremy Clarkson turns up with a Ford Focus RS loudly claiming that it's better. Meanwhile, James May recounts the epic battle between Ford and Ferrari for supremacy in the Le Mans endurance race of the 1960s. Plus, the presenters have some Christmas gift suggestions for the car enthusiast.

In the first of two special shows, The Grand Tour abandons its usual travelling tent for a road trip across Namibia as Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May attempt to demonstrate the brilliance of that great '60s throwback, the beach buggy. Grand Tour boss man Mr Wilman has declared that beach buggies are terrible, and its up to the hosts to prove him wrong as they saddle up three examples built to their own specifications and set off on an epic journey across the deserts of south west Africa.

In the second show of a two-part special, Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May continue in their epic trip across Namibia as they attempt to prove that beach buggies are brilliant. Having escaped the challenging desert at last, the trio must now face the rough roads of the Namibian bush and the constant malfunction of Clarkson's V8-powered buggy. As their arduous journey nears its conclusion, the hosts camp out in style and embark on their own version of rhino conservation before coming up with an unusual and potentially perilous way to reach their finish point.

The Grand Tour travelling tent arrives Stuttgart, Germany, the home of Porsche and Mercedes-Benz. In this show, James May takes the new Honda NSX supercar to the Eboladrome to push its cutting-edge hybrid technology to the limit and Richard Hammond immerses himself in the world of doomsday preppers as he constructs a 'bugout' vehicle that will allow him to survive a bleak future of nuclear winters, alien invasions and massed herds of zombies. Meanwhile, in a less realistic attempt at engineering, Jeremy Clarkson invents a new kind of fashionable SUV. Also in this show, the hosts attempt to meet the future demands of electric cars by harnessing power from the currently untapped actions of everyday life.

The Grand Tour travelling tent arrives in Nashville, Tennessee from where Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May introduce their attempt to save the world's coral reefs using only a selection of car body shells and some extremely inept boat driving. Also in this show, Jeremy finally indulges his series-long Alfa Romeo obsession with a test of the new, 500 horsepower Giulia Quadrifoglio and AC/DC singer Brian Johnson comes to the tent to try his hand at Celebrity Brain Crash.