kidmarc

Germany --

Kabel 1, Abenteuer Auto

The Mazda RX-8 places second to the Audi TT -- problem with tires breaking loose, especially in wet (same as spoken about in the Top Gear video).

Scroll down to Video zum Vergleich, choose your speed (DSL, Modem), and hit the play button (arrow) after window changes. [Real Video]

Peace
marcus

Tamas

iTrader: (1)

Ah well... this was expectable - after all, the Germans will sure have a soft spot for their beloved Audi :p
Just kidding... the TT is a great car- but I'm wondering how all those handling-tests would look if the RX-8 had all-wheel-drive as well. Not sure if the Audi would come out on top then :D
It was interesting that on the wet circle, the Crossfire was judged to be better than the RX-8 - that's a surprise for sure.

RX8FanMan

is it a video? because i try watching it, and it will just be like a shot (a picture) of the car and you would hear sound. Is it suppose to do this or what?

zoom44

you probaly need a new codec

rxeighter

The TT is an expensive Beetle. I've driven it on a road coarse, and I wasn't impressed. Kind of like sitting in a bathtub, lots of understeer, and turbo lag. There are a lot of cars out there that handle better, and IMO, the RX-8 does.

Tamas

iTrader: (1)

Well, the one they had in this test is a V6 and if I'm not mistaken, naturally aspirated instead of turbo. The understeer is probably greatly reduced by the all-wheel-drive. Was the one you drove a quattro too, or just the base, plain-jane turbo 2WD version? That would make a huge difference and the RX-8 will certainly handle and perform better than the 1.8 turbo 2WD Audi TT.

rxeighter

225hp quattro. I haven't driven the V6, but they say its better.

MEGAREDS

Sound is good, video is like watching a slide show. Others are seeing smooth video?

Tamas

iTrader: (1)

Yep.
Get a new computer or a faster connection :p

kidmarc

That's cold...

Anyways... the RX-8's tires are twitching in the wet. If that were not the case, it would have made a strong showing for 1st. The TT is too costly for its feature set. [Currently price has become a major factor in Germany.] While the reviewers have a soft spot for Audi, they also have one for the late Dr. Felix Wankel. They did have a celebration for his 100th birthday last year.

As for the video... the streaming is at approx. 75 Kbps - 128 Kbps and upward on the Modem/ISDN side. Check your speed or internet routing for hang-ups.

Peace
marcus

Xlorn

A good codec pack if anyone needs:

Windows Codec Pack (for all versions of windows)

May want to read up on how to uninstall any previous codecs, the pack above should fit all your codec needs.

DemonRX-8

Will this codec pack help with Quick Time videos? I have cable modem and WMP video's download very well, but Quick Time videos are butt slow to download.

Ike

This may as well have been a tire comparison. I hate when publications do performance tests (especially when the conditions are less than ideal) and don't have a control tire. Tamas, understeer is usually a product of AWD, so who knows what rxeightr drove until he tells us. But I will say I've driven both of the turbo TTs and they were very unimpressive to me from a driving standpoint. Nice cars, but more fluff than performance IMO.

Xlorn

This may not solve your problem, but would be a good place to start. I would remove all codecs and free players, real player, quicktime etc.. You remove codecs through the device manager on most versions of Windows that I'm aware of. As a last step you may want to boot into Windows in safe mode, check the device manager again for codecs and remove any you find.

Install the codecs, check for Windows media player updates at www.microsoftupdates.com, install minimal versions (and be sure to choose "custom" installation for Real Player and Quicktime. Have Realplayer only play real player audio, and Quicktime only view quicktime movies. Keep an eye out for having the player automatically start with windows, you don't want it to. Check for driver updates for your Video and Audio card if you haven't in a while. Update Direct X if you have the bandwidth and aren't current.

Install Ad-aware (ad-aware)

Install Spybot Search and destroy Spybot Search Destroy Be sure to scan and "immunize" with this program.

Check registry for programs starting up. Start-->Run, Type "regedit" Win2k/XP/NT look here:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, Software, Microsoft, Windows, Current Version, RUN. These keys list the programs that start up with Windows automatically. You can do searches on Google for suspicous files. Delete the keys (in the right pane) that you don't want starting up.

Do all that on most computers and performance will improve in substantial ways. Hope it helps your video problem. Quicktime movies load as fast as others for me and I'm on cable as well.

Good Luck.

FamilyGuy

If you head over to edmunds.com, they did a review recently on the new TT. They also didn't like the previous one but are quite impressed with the new one.

So maybe the 3.2 V6 with AWD and a few upgrades really is a lot better. Or maybe they're just prejudiced in favor of the home team :D

Ike

They must have done some serious suspension work, because the turbo models handled like snot.

zerobanger

OMG, they picked a beetle over the rx-8, amazing. I dont put credibility in any magazine that doesn't rank the rx-8 #1.

FamilyGuy

Be serious now. If everyone said "I don't give credibility to any magazine except for one that says that my favorite car is the best" there would be no point to making or reading magazines, would there?

But I do have to agree... the 350Z and RX8 are both faster and better handling, so unless the writeup was called "entry level boulevard cruiser with soft handling comparison test" I don't see how the TT (or the Crossfire, for that matter) could have come even close.