Is McLaren the modern day TVR?

[12pack]

Just as a counterpoint and risking jinxing it now - but no major issues on my 14k-miler 650s.
Super stiff lightweight CF tub, billionaire doors, amazing suspension, mid-engine agility and year round ability to get the power down, CCBs, fantastic forward visibility - this isn’t a TVR. Makes my front engined / rear drive V12 manual feel fat, slow and under-engineered.

[davek_964]

12pack said:

Just as a counterpoint and risking jinxing it now - but no major issues on my 14k-miler 650s.

Actual owner vs crap I read on the internet from non-owners that put me off........

After 4 years / 23k miles across two cars - I guess my unreliability and constant electrical problems must be due to start soon..... I guess I'm doing something wrong, since I frequently just "get in and drive it", and haven't found either car to be remotely high maintenance.

[RSbandit]

My 570s had its fair share of issues but was one of the earlier cars so maybe that was the reason …my 600LT on the other hand has been much better in the 14 months I’ve had it. The McLaren product offering is on a different planet to TVRs tech wise, much more complex cars so some issues are to be expected I suppose . I think the thing they really need to get on top of is the body panel stuff that’s seems to be an issue with many models and after 5 yrs old they won’t cover repairs.

[mrpseudonym]

Panamax said:

TBH I think McLaren is more the modern day Lotus.

For a relatively modern TVR-like sportscar you'd be looking at something like the Corvette C7 Stingray. V8 at the front and rear wheel drive.

I'd struggle to name many front engine V8 sportscars in current production. Certainly nothing equivalent to the classic TVRs, either wedge or Chim generations.

I was surprised to find out that my 2015 650s is 156kg lighter than my friend’s 2023 Lotus Emira

[Streetbeat]

mrpseudonym said:

I was surprised to find out that my 2015 650s is 156kg lighter than my friend’s 2023 Lotus Emira

Ive literally no idea how they managed to make that so heavy, not Lotus like at all.

[ChocolateFrog]

I think this is the anthisis of TVR and that's before you even discuss the cars.



I remember someone asked what the Cd was of a certain car. I think it was to so with a dissertation.

Most people laughed because you couldn't imagine any TVR ever going near a wind tunnel let alone them bothering to calculate the drag.

[NCE 61]

ChocolateFrog said:

Most people laughed because you couldn't imagine any TVR ever going near a wind tunnel let alone them bothering to calculate the drag.

I think TVR used the M55 to see if the aero worked. I have not seen a lot of McLarens around, but the ones I have seen appeared to be very well made, the same could not be said of the TVR’s I owned.

[bennno]

Panamax said:

TBH I think McLaren is more the modern day Lotus.

For a relatively modern TVR-like sportscar you'd be looking at something like the Corvette C7 Stingray. V8 at the front and rear wheel drive.

I'd struggle to name many front engine V8 sportscars in current production. Certainly nothing equivalent to the classic TVRs, either wedge or Chim generations.

Closest recent is F Type, v8 is very much like a modern chimera or Griffith

[Davyt]

I’ve been to Mclaren HQ at Woking , what a place,, I think in comparison TVR HQ in Blackpool looked more like this …..

[targarama]

I'm not sure there is a modern-day TVR. I had TVRs for many years, and they were great cars. They were nothing like a McLaren apart from being British and seen as an underdog (OK McLaren is not British-owned but YKWIM).

Lotus has lost the plot these days, look at the electric things they have brought out. The new Emira is a new skin on an old car with so much hype, lord knows why.

[bomb]

Davyt said:

I’ve been to Mclaren HQ at Woking , what a place,, I think in comparison TVR HQ in Blackpool looked more like this …..

I think you're making TVR look a little more sophisticated than it actually was ! I did the full factory tour when buying my T350t, and it was a bloody miracle how a car came off the end of the production line.

fascinating stuff, but any H and S guy would have sleepless nights about how they worked in the factory.

[r o n n i e]

targarama said:

I'm not sure there is a modern-day TVR. I had TVRs for many years, and they were great cars. They were nothing like a McLaren apart from being British and seen as an underdog (OK McLaren is not British-owned but YKWIM).

Lotus has lost the plot these days, look at the electric things they have brought out. The new Emira is a new skin on an old car with so much hype, lord knows why.

I think it’s reasonable to see McLaren as a British car manufacturer even if foreign owned.

I think of Ferrari as Italian and not Dutch.

Even Lamborghini with the Audi R8 / Huracán and the Audi RS8 / Urus connections, most people would reasonably think of Lambo as Italian and not German.

The list goes on… Rolls Royce, Bentley, Aston Martin… British.

Going the other way, Honda and Nissan are Japanese, even though they actually manufacture more cars in the UK than the above “British” ones combined.