What a funny show, and quite entertaining, but not really informative. I think they made the RX-8 lose by overdriving it in every corner. The cornering was not precise, did not hit apex points several times while oversteering the car, and everyone knows that sliding the car around, while fun, is not fast. My money says that, properly driven on TG's course, the RX-8 would be a 1:30 car, not 1:32.

 

That was the worst episode of Top Gear ever. Seriously.

And I like the show.

 

In the past season there were much worse episodes, like the one were they make boats of old cars and others...

 

Hehe. I actually like Ben Stein's character because there's showmanship in his dryness. Ferris Bueller's Day Off wouldn't be the same without him.

 

I thought the comparison was entertaining. I've always hated the TT and this one is no exception. It's plain and simple, ugly. The tradition lives on. It was ever so slightly faster than the RX-8 around the track. I could come up with excuses for this but then again that can go both ways. On their track, they are probably fairly close to each other with a god driver. The TT with it's front wheel drive should be a less balanced and harder car to get to go fast around a track for the average person though.

I agree that the RX-8 isn't what I would call a piece of art in the looks department. I would say that the engine is an artform though in it's simplicity and smoothness.

The Brera has far more to look at than the RX-8 or the TT. That doesn't mean I like it though. It's slow. Damn slow but that's not the only thing you judge a car by so that I may actually let slide. Keep in mind that the new Jetta diesel that will be here next year will match it in a drag race and even my stock Civic could give it a run for it's money. It's looks are good from some views but terrible from others. The front end looks like someone combined a new Camaro with a Subaru and then tried to refine it. Like the Subaru front styling, it's terrible looking in the center. The lights and outer edges look nice though. The rear end looks a little funny to me as well. I think it would look better if it weren't a hatchback but rather had a trunk back there to complete the car. Much of the car's lines are nice though.

I don't buy into the hype about the Brera personally. It's a bit odd looking in places and by no means an artform. It's a cute little car but for the money, it's not much of a value. The TT, well... I just don't like it. It's ugly. I like Audi when it comes to their R10 LeMans car but the TT is terrible. The RX-8 is just a good overall car. It may not be the best looking thing out there. It may not be the fastest thing out there and for some it may not be the most practical car out there. It's definitely not the most fuel efficient but it trades this off for other things. As far as this comparison was concerned I think it is the most practical of the group and being rear wheel drive probably the most fun to drive. It's not a perfect car but then again what is? They picked the Brera overall for reasons other than their comparison results so it's really hard to tell what truly is a better car. At least we agree that the TT is not the car to have! It really depends on what you want out of a car though.

Not a bad review and as always fun to watch.

 

As usual I thought that the show was very funny. They all agreed that they liked the Alfa the most but would not recommend it to anyone. They also all agreed that the Alfa was the worst car of the bunch. With a conclusion like that I don't see how anyone could be upset. Hugh Grant was funny and overall I was entertained for the duration of the episode. I wish I could watch it on TV and not have to download the episodes but we live in a far from perfect world. Oh well.

P.S. The TT was front drive with the 2.0 liter engine.

 

Also, the TT had the optional (and very cool) 2000$+ magnetic suspension. I think that with a Mazdaspeed suspension setup the RX-8 could have done a better time than the TT.

 

yeah i agree for that extra money you spend on the other cars you could tune an 8 nicely and i'm not sure why people talk about the resale value of the 8 i personally knew what i was getting into when i got mine and im happy with it 100% and wont sell it.

 

I want them to test the V6 version....

But then they will be over the price of the 8

Nice to see the "******" engine as Hamster suggested - listen to the intro carefully.

 

The TT 3.2 is 49.000€ here (63.000$).

 

So basically I could buy a corvette and smoke the **** out of the TT???? LOL

 

Yes, except the Corvette is 60.000€ here.

I guess the TT will be cheaper there to match the market prices.

 

that veyron was amazing....made me forget about the art school nonsense

 

kinda funny when the guys says "if you want power heres the rx-8" ..


lafffffff haha

 

"alum-in-i-um" when hes talking bout the audi how its made of two diff materials.. ahhaa.. i dont like that guy. at all.

 

That is how most of the world pronounces it. As usual, America had to be different and pronounced is "A-lu-mi-num".

American : a·lu·mi·num

English : al·u·min·i·um
Danish: aluminium; aluminiums-
Dutch: aluminium
Estonian: alumiinium
Finnish: alumiini
French: aluminium
German: das Aluminium; Aluminium-…
Indonesian: aluminium
Italian: alluminio
Norwegian: aluminium
Polish: aluminium, aluminiowy
Portuguese (Brazil): alumínio
Portuguese (Portugal): alumínio
Swedish: aluminium
Turkish: aliminyum

 

oh my god....dbb

that is funny.

How have you been old fellow.

 

There's absolutely no way you can know that by watching 10 seconds of a lap run on tv. It's very possible that they are oversteering those corners to keep the revs up to help out with the relatively long straightaways. My guess is that after dozens and dozens of runs they've figured that's the fastest way around that particular track with that particular car.

Quoting track times is stupider than quoting 0-60 times. Every single track is different and can only give you a very basic idea of what a car will do. I would much rather trust the qualitative analysis of a car than the quantitative numbers obtained by some dude on some track on some day. Clarkson saying that the RX-8 is one of the easiest cars to drive fast he's ever driven is much more profound than some .8434564565354 difference in lap times.

 

So....are you getting one saturn? Or are you still a rotary-less n00b?

 

People in different countries speaking different languages say words differently? I absolutely refuse to believe it.

Oh I forgot to mention, USA! USA!

 

It is not the best laps on Sunday but the car has been on the TG track before and got 1.31.8. Does anyone here doubt how the Stig drives! as if you can drive the car under 1:32 photomunkey... lol.

I have to say the magnetic suspension prob helped the TT getting a 1 31.4.

 

Still n00b-ish. Commuting to a small town with lots of traffic during the day and riding around flat, straight Delaware at night isn't exactly a perfect fit for a rotary. Plus I need to be saving up for a house. For now I'll just watch the original Top Gear review of the 8 like the rest of the wannabe's and think what might have been.

 

Still drinking my dark ale. Developed a fetish for Herradura Anejo tequila to go with my Islay single-malt fetish, traded the red rx8 on a stormy blue one, working for my Californian overlord-masters instead of their Australian deputies, flying off to Limerick in a couple of weeks, currently eating some roasted cashews and browsing the Interweb instead of being productive , thinking about going to a pub, listening to some Martin Solveig on iTunes, and generally taking it easy. You know, the usual stuff.

/* end serious thread deviation */

 

ok i have to take my prev comments back (under dupa12345) - that the show was great .. it was but when i watched it the first time i completely skipped over the interview with hugh grant

holly ****** of god .. was he re-gay-tarded .. he killed the show .. now i know what you guys are talkink about .. top gear never ever have him on .. what a pathetic drag

 

From video, it is interesting how much the Brera reminds me of Mazda's Mazda3 hatchback. One of these, plus a Mazda3 hatchback, plus a Mini Cooper would happily live together in the same garage. Two reasons the hosts gave for Brera being visually appealing are: headlights and doorhandles. They have picked out minor detailing over the big overall picture which is the shape of the vehicle and what that communicates about itself. These same people consider the Exige ugly. They have an odd sense about style.