Bill and Gary are back for another adventure! They attempt to take Ruby from San Felipe to the beach the hard way: across 100 kilometres of the harshest desert in Mexico. Temperatures can soar to more than 40 degrees Celsius and it gets so hot, Ruby catches fire and only Gary's quick thinking can save her from a fiery death. After sleeping in hammocks strung from the largest cacti on the planet, the guys’ problems get worse the next day when Ruby's brakes fail. Although Bill has a fix, they face a dangerous night drive to make up time. Finally, the toughest challenge of all – descending a 70-metre deep canyon. They must suspend Ruby on the end of a climber’s rope to reach the beach.
Bill, Gary and Ruby now take on the Sierra Juarez mountains in southern Mexico, a staggering 1,800 metres above sea level. Following a Native American foot route to a sacred rock platform, our heroes are greeted by a maze of granite boulders that threatens to topple, wedge, or crush them at every turn. Later, lost in the dense mountain forest, Gary scales a 20-metre pine tree using Ruby's winch as a tree elevator to scout a way out. Finally, the guys get to the base of the sky platform, but the 500-metre high natural rock staircase leading up to it could prove to be a challenge too far.
In Baja, Mexico, Gary and Bill point Ruby to a valley so remote that it has no name and has never been entered by a vehicle before. To get there, the trio has to cross the treacherously unpredictable Rio Hardy. Too deep to ford, their only hope is to partially sink Ruby and pray she can go the distance. They must cross the scorching mud trap that is the million-acre Laguna Salada salt plain to get to the valley entrance. But their way in is barred by a 35-metre high rock wall. Can Ruby scale it?
Bill, Gary and Ruby head to a massive crater so alien, it was used by NASA to train for the moon landings. Its central volcanic peak has never been climbed by a car before, but they have made it too far to turn back now. Bill faces some of the sharpest and strangest rock driving of his life as he takes on lava walls, cinder cones and collapsed volcanic tunnels. As Ruby’s tyres shred, he creates ingenious tyre “gloves” to keep them rolling and protect Ruby. But there is no protection from the desert heat, which soars to almost 50 degrees Celsius. After spending the night in a unique “spatter bubble” cave, the guys attempt to scale an incredible volcanic peak inside a massive crater. It is one of Gary and Bill's biggest ever challenges.
Bill, Gary and Ruby head towards a sacred lagoon that has never been visited by a car before. To get there, they must travel up the winding, dangerous rivers of the Los Tuxtla jungle – which according to local legend, is guarded by supernatural forces. Taking on rivers is challenging enough, but driving through and up one will need a new level of skill. Facing water in Ruby’s engine block, snakes, caves of bats and deep lagoons, the trio will have to come up with some extreme solutions. The wheels will need to come off to get down steep valleys and Ruby will need to swing like a pendulum around boulders to make it to the remote lagoon ahead.
Bill, Gary and Ruby set off into the dense Mexican jungle to be the first to drive a car to a volcanic crater lake, rumoured to have been a site of human sacrifice. Gary plans to use the jungle as his supermarket to gather all their food and shelter, while Bill sees the forest as an opportunity to use the vines and trees as swings to push Ruby through the unforgiving terrain – Tarzan-style. But the combination of vicious plants, 5-metre long crocodiles, venomous snakes, insects and hidden rocks prove an unending tropical nightmare.
Bill, Gary and Ruby follow the Pirate Coast of Mexico, heading for a pirate lighthouse which was used for wrecking ships and previously only accessible by boat. The coast is rich in history, from battles to buried gold, but the duo’s greatest foe is the terrain – fast flowing and deep river estuaries and quicksand beaches as well as impenetrable mangroves and 150-metre high jungle clad cliffs. Gary must risk everything to keep an anchor buried to pull Ruby from the ocean’s waves. Before they reach their destination, they must avoid being pulled into the Atlantic ocean by a breathtaking headland crossing to reach the beach that houses the legendary rock.
Bill and Gary want to smash the record of getting Ruby to be the highest car ever on the Pico De Orizaba, Mexico’s highest mountain standing at more than 4,260 metres. This volcano has a fearsome reputation as a killer peak – not everyone who goes up this mountain comes down. Landslides, 300-metre sheer drops, ash and forests line the route, but the biggest danger is the extreme altitude they will face on the climb – literally sapping Bill and Gary of their strength. When Ruby gets stuck in a deep gully, the boys must use the roof rack as an anchor to pull her free. In amazing feats of Bill Wu ingenuity Ruby climbs a tree, gets winched sideways out of a forest and finally, strips naked to her bare engine to make the final, agonising ascent.
In this special edition, Bill and Gary look back on 10 gruelling weeks in the mountains, rivers, jungles and deserts of Mexico. The guys relive the series’ most brutal challenges that tested Bill’s driving and Gary’s survival skills, all while pushing Ruby to near breaking points. From Gary's close call while submerged in the fast-flowing, bone-chilling Rio Hardy, to Bill's craziest plan to remove Ruby's back wheels before descending a seriously steep hillside, the boys provide a personal take on their heart-stopping experiences and determine who emerged the winner: car or wild.
In a special behind-the-scenes episode, Bill, Gary, and Ruby give an insider’s perspective to their extreme adventure in Mexico. After leaping down a waterfall to the depths of a jungle bat cave, follow the trio from the start of their journey, with unprecedented access to unseen footage. As Ruby struggles to swing down a jungle slope, Bill and Gary prove that you cannot always predict what will happen. Finally, we turn the cameras on the crew as they attempt to keep up with and survive the wettest, hottest and most dangerous locations in Mexico.
