December 5th, 2004

[andyhui01]

Originally Posted by idletask

Whaaa *gulp* 30 grand for a Civic? Are you sure these are US dollars?

I'm 100% sure... I did the conversion on my own... zyran would agree with me

[MixtriX]

about the porches....

out of the 3, which is the better car? i woulda thought the 944, but when JC arrived with the 928, all three presenters seemed suprised that he got it within the £1500 budget...

[Thanatos]

928 is the better, bigger, more powerfull and more expencive of the three, thats why may and hammond were suprised he got it so cheap.

[SPG900]

Yes they were surprised, but at the same time that meant the car was going to be in horrible shape. I'm pretty sure the 924 was in the best condition. Until Richard spiced it up a bit.



(EDIT: indeed @ Thanatos)

[Mischief007]

Originally Posted by JacquesCough

[flame]I just read through the first couple pages of this thread, and it made me sick.

WTF, all of these no-posters only show up when there is a problem? That's gratitude for ya: take advantage of a service someone provides for the common good, with no gain for himself, and at the first sign of anything less than perfection, all of these leechers emerge from the woodwork whining about the sound.

Viper, Sith and Zenon: thanks for everything you do. Viper, if I were you, I'd tell everyone to go fuck themselves, and share future episode torrents with only those who don't look a gift horse in the mouth. I'd also kill their pets and burn their house down, but that's just me; I've been told I have an anger problem.

At least with the leechers emerging like this you have an idea of the number of people who utilize your efforts, even though they don't appreciate it.

Thanks to Viper, Sith, and the rest: what you did was great back when the episodes were 200mb, now it's even better, so who cares if the sound is .5 seconds off?
[/flame]

Very well said. Although it doesn't count because it is only my 2nd post...lol. I've always loved the quality that has been brought by these folks here.

Onto the episode: Loved it. I love how Top Gear can bring out such wonderful ideas with the show. I just bought the magazine ($13 CDN..ouch) and can't wait to read it.
I loved the 944. I think James got a pretty good deal but what exactly happened to the engine?? I saw the oil but where did it come from??? It looked like something let go. Would like to know exactly what happened.

[Daniel]

I did the same thing to my dads motorbike. I blew some oil thing because was going to high on the revs. Maybe that wasthe problem. Old car - Angry Stig = Oil everywhere

[Bimmer]

I'm gonna buy a Golf GTI for sure now, I want something for everyday use and it gives me a chance to sell my Blazer which is not usefull ne more to me and I took good care of it and it took good care of me . I'm gonna go with the VR6 option, and try to get that double clutch Jeremy talked about, so hot!

[topgear]

As for the whole encoding/reencoding thing I just took the original torrent and ran it through Virtual Dub and reencoded it as divx5.1. Only 384mb, and the sound's fixed. And it looks good. Another couple hours' wait was worthwhile. I recommend Virtual Dub for anyone who wants to reencode these files.

The latest xvid switch has been frustrating, the VLC media player does a decent job, but the sound was out of sync- or windows media player had terrible video artifacts but good sound. I have the correct codecs, but I'd need to do a fresh media player install.

I can torrent my copy, but I've got a pathetic adsl upload pipe.

I'll look at our bandwidth limitations at work, since this is a slow time of the year for us, maybe I can crank it up off-hours (6pm-8am PST)

[SiR_dude]

Originally Posted by andyhui01

I'm 100% sure... I did the conversion on my own... zyran would agree with me

I've got a great idea, I'll sell you mine for 20k USD, and you can sell it for 30!! Deal??

[MacBeth]

Originally Posted by Bimmer

I'm gonna buy a Golf GTI for sure now I'm gonna go with the VR6 option, and try to get that double clutch Jeremy talked about, so hot!

as far as i know there will be no such thing as a golf gti mk5 with a vr6 engine. there will be only the 2l fsi turbo engine. maybe they make next year a diesel version.

[andyhui01]

Originally Posted by Sir_dude

I've got a great idea, I'll sell you mine for 20k USD, and you can sell it for 30!! Deal??

well... after taxes it would cost me more than 30k... ... the malaysian governement allows every citizen to bring 1 car back in their lifetime without taxes... haven't decided what that would be yet... I just know it wouldn't be a civic... would be something alot more exotic and something I would keep for a while

[topgearfiend]

Originally Posted by SiR_dude

^ You're absolutely right, I forgot that I was watching Clarkson

But the question still persists: what is VW's image vs. Honda's image in Europe? Over where I live, well, it's like I described above. You don't buy a VW or Honda for an image, except in a few cases (or unless you're a big fan of the F&F movies )

Like Jason Plato said, "The GTI is the only hot hatch I'd take my girlfriend to a posh hotel in".

I think over there there's a discernable difference still between the image between Hondas and VW's. However in general I'd say the gap is closing because of great motors like the new diesel Accord (our TSX).

I think what JC was referring to was specifically the Civic v. Golf. It is widely accepted in the British motoring press that the CTR is brilliant, and is everybody's "favourite hot hatch" (despite all of the great competition they have over there), but the Golf is just something that transcends image.

The Golf in Europe is a classless car, a car that everybody from a pauper to a prince (quite literally in the case of Prince William) can drive and look okay in. I think that's why the Honda is "just a Honda", it's still a great piece of kit, just not at the same status as a Golf.

P.S. Some of that image difference is noticeable here too. VW's may get riced out, but their owners still have a air of smug superiority about them (I can say that since I used to be one--not a ricer, a VW owner).

[Bimmer]

Hey Macbeth I just built my car in the VWUSA website and it had the option for the VR6 heres what it said: 200hp 2.8L DOHC 24 valve V-6 engine with variable valve control, variable intake length, SMPI heres the link: http://vw.autodatadirect.com/ASC/wal...VC&LeadSource=

[SiR_dude]

Originally Posted by andyhui01

decided what that would be yet... I just know it wouldn't be a civic... would be something alot more exotic and something I would keep for a while

Are you saying my car isn't exotic!? Maybe I should add some stikkerzz.....

And to topgearfiend, yeah, I think you're right about the Honda vs. Vw...

[MacBeth]

Originally Posted by Bimmer

Hey Macbeth I just built my car in the VWUSA website and it had the option for the VR6 heres what it said: 200hp 2.8L DOHC 24 valve V-6 engine with variable valve control, variable intake length, SMPI heres the link: http://vw.autodatadirect.com/ASC/wal...VC&LeadSource=

i know but this is the mk4. the gti in top gear was a mk5.
but if you want a vr6 then you should go for the r32 240hp, 3.2l v6, 4motion and the the double clutch (dsg).
http://www.vw.com/r32/flash/flash.htm

[andyhui01]

Originally Posted by Sir_dude

Maybe I should add some stikkerzz.....

if you do... good luck selling it ... ever think about switching to the RSX Si... over here... I've heard from friends the Integra type R (pretty much the same as the RSX Si, just without brembo brakes) is a great car to drive... 210hp N/A

[SiR_dude]

Stickers will never appear on my car. Over here, it's the RSX-S. I've never been in one, but if I could afford something in that price range, I'd probably get a used BMW 3-series. I really want one.

As far as Integra Type R vs. RSX-S, I'd take the ITR any day. Great car, IMO.

[andyhui01]

anyone would take the ITR... but the RSX-S is very similar... just like the Subaru Impreza WRX and STi

EDIT: *WOOT* POST 1000

[Buba]

I just tried that file on my DVD Playa and it worked...
So, please VUK, don't go an change the encoding... Its really fine that way it is... Please NO Quaterpixel and GMC...

Buba

[empowah]

I wonder why a blind man needs a watch...