Discussion
I have to agree with all of the above and add that in my opinion Ben Samuelson is a t****r. It is a fairly well known fact, in marketing circles, that finding new customers is a lot more expensive than retaining and keeping your current ones happy! not Mr Samuelson though, he actually told me, in a round about way, at the '99 London motorshow that he wasn't interested in keeping me as a customer, having owned a chimp & 2 Cerbies, because he had people queueing up to buy new cars...........will he live to regret that?
I agree with a lot of what's been said in this column. The reliability issue is an important one, and I must admit I've got a bit fed up with the niggling faults on my Chimaera - but that's a car with 8-9 years development behind it, so the idea of progression doesn't seem to apply. I also agree that Mr. Wheeler needs to listen to both his customers and dealers a lot more. There are some excellent TVR franchises out there, though I may be spoilt since my local dealer has had many years as a mainstream Mitsubishi dealer before taking on TVR - but they are enthusiasts for the marque, and have been quite vocal in asking for a cheaper roadster to compete with the Elise, Z3, Boxter etc. BUT... the V8 cars are dead ducks. Their time has passed, and they do not have the feel of the Tuscan, or even CerbieSS. That's where TVR have made progress, though I too would have preferred a lower priced roadster. The new engines, whilst expensive, are streets ahead of the V8, in terms of refinement and driveability, and the V8 is thirsty, relatively of low specific output, and will fail most upcoming emissions testing in the near future.
I think TVR are only following market trends with the TAMORA anyway..... After all the boxster, and Z3 are heinously ugly, and a bit girlie too! I bought an aluminium case for my hammer drill, which, if you put four wheels on it,(the case, not the drill!) would be an Elise! With no development costs! All this sounds horribly familiar, and maybe PW is taking the history of TVR too seriously - let's hope he doesn't repeat the mistakes of the past, and lead the company into the wilderness, through blinkered obduracy. Tvr is not just here to fund his racing dreams...or is it? PS can we have ABS, please.
Edited by dhwilson on Wednesday 17th January 09:56
My "other car" a Mondeo has ABS and when ever the ABS comes on it makes a horrible grinding noise and a thumping vibration on the brake pedal. As someone not used to ABS this is all quite strange - happened 3 times over the snowy Christmas Christmas break and still not used to it.
ABS - All Bo$$ocks Sir
I was so glad when the snow had gone down to only 3 inches deep and I could get the Cerbie out 
quote:Electronic extra's will a) push the price up further (a topic which started this tread) and b) move the car further away from a road racer. If one is after ABS, AirBags, and othe poof pack items, surely a different manufacturer is what's needed? (Cue ABS thread again....)
Why not?
Just a thought on ABS: I'm the idiot that wrote off his Cerbera on the way back from Le Mans last year. While I am not 100% sure exactly what happened I think that I tried to corner too fast, hit the brakes and lost the back end. Result was the car ended up upside down in a ditch (thank god it wasn't a Chimp or a Griff) and I ended up in a French hospital for a week.
Now, ABS probably would not have prevented the accident but I remain convinced that it would have lessened the blow. I know the argument - race drivers prefer to turn the ABS off, but I am not a race driver and never will be. If ABS means that I am less of a menace on the road to myslef and others I'll buy it.
One last thought - as it is now standard on most 'average' cars and has not dramatically increased the cost why should it in a TVR?
Start firing the arrow, I'll fetch me flak jacket!
MP (C4RO P)
ABS debate -- what about an on-off switch as fitted to the original Audi quattro! I agree that ABS set for all road novice drivers may not be the best thing at all times on the track, but the reason it isn't fitted to F1 cars (not really poofy IMHO) is that it was banned for being too good! Surely the only rational argument against airbags is the complexity/weight factor. I for one would rather have airbags than 'leccy doors and over complex instruments in a car I use all the time.
quote:I meant that the cost of keeping them on would be about £20K per annum to TVR, not that they got a handout.
£20K? Doubt it. It's been alleged that they've been laid off with £75 for the first week only and left to claim Jobseeker's allowance. That means they have to look for work to support themselves. If they then get a job TVR won't have to pay redundancy.
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