TVR are unreliable – really? It does not have to be!
Discussion
So I came back from the Le Mans Classic trip almost 1700 kms in my 1996 TVR Chimaera 500 (1050 miles) in 5 days of including 2 hours traffic jam the M25 on Thursday, 2hours traffic jam on the Thursday afternoon on the French motorway at over 30 degrees heat (a part was closed due to a lorry accident), many, many kms at between 160 – 200 km/h (on private roads of course) and 25 minutes of total spanking on the Le Mans Tracks… and guess what, no issue at all.
All other people in my party 2008 Lamborghini, 2008 Aston Martin, 1967 Porsche 912 & 1968 Porsche 912 all had some kind off issues / break down… The Triumph motorbike had not issue at all either.
P222TVR has now done 3 x Le Mans Classic Trips (2012, 2014 & 2016) without having any issue.
Morality of the story:
- A well looked after (she only has 40k miles / has full TVR service history and usually change what Str8Six tells me to change / she is garaged when not driven / does only 2 – 3k miles a year, but newer stays more than 2 month without being used, even in the winter) TVR can be reliable.
- In 3 Le Mans Classic trips, the most “unreliable brand of car” on paper (urban myth) in our party has always been more reliable in practice.
- My TVR is not the shiniest one, but she’s pretty fast and amazingly reliable.
On the other hand, we had a comprehensible set of tools end consumables, 2 French guys in the party (me & another one: useful when looking for parts (spark plugs / fuel lines / filters / jubilee clips…) and always take a mechanic with you: we had our really own fellow Chimaera own Dave Byron, who as usual, saved the day and got all cars to Le Mans and Back the way they should: driven by their owners (and not on the back of a flatbed truck).
Another successful Le Mans Classic trip,
Frenchie!
PS:
- I have now jinxed it, you’ll see me broken down on the side of the road on one of the next outings (hopefully not)
- 5 years of ownership, 12,000 miles and only one break down (she did not start due to a dead battery & tried to set herself alight: split fuel hose, but quick reaction & fire extinguisher saved the bacon with only the fuel line to replace and a god old clean up (she really was full of white powder…)
All other people in my party 2008 Lamborghini, 2008 Aston Martin, 1967 Porsche 912 & 1968 Porsche 912 all had some kind off issues / break down… The Triumph motorbike had not issue at all either.
P222TVR has now done 3 x Le Mans Classic Trips (2012, 2014 & 2016) without having any issue.
Morality of the story:
- A well looked after (she only has 40k miles / has full TVR service history and usually change what Str8Six tells me to change / she is garaged when not driven / does only 2 – 3k miles a year, but newer stays more than 2 month without being used, even in the winter) TVR can be reliable.
- In 3 Le Mans Classic trips, the most “unreliable brand of car” on paper (urban myth) in our party has always been more reliable in practice.
- My TVR is not the shiniest one, but she’s pretty fast and amazingly reliable.
On the other hand, we had a comprehensible set of tools end consumables, 2 French guys in the party (me & another one: useful when looking for parts (spark plugs / fuel lines / filters / jubilee clips…) and always take a mechanic with you: we had our really own fellow Chimaera own Dave Byron, who as usual, saved the day and got all cars to Le Mans and Back the way they should: driven by their owners (and not on the back of a flatbed truck).
Another successful Le Mans Classic trip,
Frenchie!
PS:
- I have now jinxed it, you’ll see me broken down on the side of the road on one of the next outings (hopefully not)
- 5 years of ownership, 12,000 miles and only one break down (she did not start due to a dead battery & tried to set herself alight: split fuel hose, but quick reaction & fire extinguisher saved the bacon with only the fuel line to replace and a god old clean up (she really was full of white powder…)
I can also confirm their reliability, Le Mans and back 1238 Miles. In one of the oldest Chimaeras ever made. With 72k miles on her and 12 previous owners, so shes by no means a garage queen. I took the usual spares and tools but managed 7 days away from home without any issues whatsoever.
They are as reliable as the response you'll get from someone who "knows best" gets into a conversation with you about cars and you mention tvr. You can almost hear, tic tic tic, then "So how often has it broken down then" You plant your head in your hands and wanna answer, "probably a lot less than your...something German"! But you smile politely and say, actually I've only had it xx years and it's only broken down (a very small number of times) and in many cases you will say actually it's never broken down on me yet. Oh and a dead battery is not a break down, it's simply routine maintenance or being left too long in poor conditions which wouldn't help any battery therefore nothing tvr about it! My Dad's 2009 audi had a problem with all of the electrics after just 58000 miles so how reliable is that? 
I agree. We get an unfair bad name..
3 cars,1999 TT, 2004 Astra, 1982 Wedge. In the last two years, and all looked after equally, although the astra is the wifes daily and does more miles and the TT and TVR are my toys.
TT has broken down twice, ABS both times
Astra twice, fuel pump and EGR
WEDGE, never (touch wood).
But most 34 year old cars will have had any manufacturing faults fixed by now.
All depends on the custodian and how well they look after the car.
But Blackpool rocks, better than germany or Ellesmere.
Marcus
3 cars,1999 TT, 2004 Astra, 1982 Wedge. In the last two years, and all looked after equally, although the astra is the wifes daily and does more miles and the TT and TVR are my toys.
TT has broken down twice, ABS both times
Astra twice, fuel pump and EGR
WEDGE, never (touch wood).
But most 34 year old cars will have had any manufacturing faults fixed by now.
All depends on the custodian and how well they look after the car.
But Blackpool rocks, better than germany or Ellesmere.
Marcus
We Took 5 cars down 216 years between them in age we had one exhaust ripped off on a navigation rally on the Friday 2 hours later all welded back and re fitted and back in the pack.
A fuse and a throttle cable made and fitted one evening as we noticed it was fraying on the daily checks we did 5000 miles between us and the Tuscan did the 340 miles back to Calais in 4 hours 10 you do the maths
all I will admit to is going over 2? as to the average speed with 35 miles on small roads.
Emigration when we handed in our passports said thank you for not coming in a Porsche which made us smile.
At the start of the Rally I heard one cheeky B say nice to see 5 TVRs this far from home and still running he is now in a cold room awaiting Burial
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4FSiL2LHXA
A fuse and a throttle cable made and fitted one evening as we noticed it was fraying on the daily checks we did 5000 miles between us and the Tuscan did the 340 miles back to Calais in 4 hours 10 you do the maths
all I will admit to is going over 2? as to the average speed with 35 miles on small roads.Emigration when we handed in our passports said thank you for not coming in a Porsche which made us smile.
At the start of the Rally I heard one cheeky B say nice to see 5 TVRs this far from home and still running he is now in a cold room awaiting Burial
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4FSiL2LHXA
All this hype and slaying of tvr being unreliable is true in it's early days as with all manufactures after all if it wasn't for progress we would still be using steam so if anyone says tvr is unreliable just look at he history of other car manufactures stop putting british made at fault we still are the best .
I have toured Europe on a number of occasions in my Griff and T350t. No major problems.
When people ask me ( tell me ) about the unreliability, I tell them that my cars have been fine, but I do ask them ' what Your experience with your own TVR ? '
Needless to say, most have never sat in one, never mind owned one and driven it across Europe......
When people ask me ( tell me ) about the unreliability, I tell them that my cars have been fine, but I do ask them ' what Your experience with your own TVR ? '
Needless to say, most have never sat in one, never mind owned one and driven it across Europe......
Can't remember the last time I posted - possibly 2010, I suspect... when I did a France trip in my early (built Sept '93) Chim 400, with no reliability issues (crosses fingers). Since then I've been to LMC (2012) - no issues (crosses fingers again).
Since I got the car in 2009 I've averaged around 3k mls. a year. Car is serviced annually by HHC and two biggest jobs have been suspension rebushing + ancillary necessities, which haven't been cheap... but HHC work inspires confidence, I find.
Am prompted to add to this topic as I've just come back, unscathed, from a marathon France-Germany-Holland trip, the car loaded to the gunwhales with camping gear for two plus spacesaver wheel, emergency oil and coolant supplies, spare fanbelt and throttle cable and basic toolkit.
In three weeks (and crossing fingers still) we did 3,050 mls at an average 30+ mpg, used no coolant and added half a pint of oil; no other maintenance needed, although at Besancon we encountered a waywardness of the alarm/immobiliser systems which did result in embarrassingly loud noises (even after I disconnected the battery) which freaked me out so much that I left the car unlocked overnight for the rest of the trip (those who have experienced the rigour of German campsite regs. may give an understanding nod, here...
We got as far east as Weimar and the Chim loved the unrestricted autobahns, though I didn't take it over 110mph and was generally doing 80/90, as I was rather interested in fuel economy (Brexit uncertainties causing the £ in my pocket to plummet day by day...) Had a good couple of quickish convoys with Porsche types along the way and had the doors blown off a couple of times by terminal velocity Porsche and Skoda seemingly appearing from nowhere...
I was surprised at how much interest the car got on the highways - particularly in Germany and Holland. Virtually no-one (with the exception below) appeared to know what we were driving and we got many curious stares at the bonnet badge and lots of thumbs-up; I was able to explain the importance of the TVR marque to the uninitiated, on a number of occasions!
Only disappointment was turning up at the Nurburgring Nordschleife at noon last Thursday, hoping for some laps (at 29E a pop). I'd Emailed the 'Ring a couple of times beforehand, to ascertain if this would be possible and received vague replies; on this day, BMW fanciers seemed to have booked the track for prototype testing, so a couple of German bikers and I stooged around briefly, having been told that the public wouldn't be allowed in until 5.30 that afternoon. So be aware, people... the website is actually pretty accurate about which days are going to be free, but to be on the safe side, on such days, play safe by turning up late afternoon. I hadn't the time to wait, so we motored on.
Funny thing was that an hour or so later, we'd pulled over at a rest area between Bonn and Cologne for a sandwich or two. This biker pulled in and after a few moments sauntered over to us, saying 'nice car'... and so a new conversation began: he told me he has a '94 lhd Chimaera which he'd bought back in '97 after falling in love with the model which he'd seen at Le Mans. It turns out that he is the President of the German TVR Club. Some coincidence, eh? He tells me that there are 740 TVRs of all models in Germany, and that this may be more than in any country apart from GB. A really nice guy; he left me his phone number in case we need any assistance on this, or future trips.
In summary, I'd say the Chim is a car for long, fast hauls with bags of luggage, providing fun and interest for all at minimal expense. Can't wait for our next sally-forth!
Tim.
Since I got the car in 2009 I've averaged around 3k mls. a year. Car is serviced annually by HHC and two biggest jobs have been suspension rebushing + ancillary necessities, which haven't been cheap... but HHC work inspires confidence, I find.
Am prompted to add to this topic as I've just come back, unscathed, from a marathon France-Germany-Holland trip, the car loaded to the gunwhales with camping gear for two plus spacesaver wheel, emergency oil and coolant supplies, spare fanbelt and throttle cable and basic toolkit.
In three weeks (and crossing fingers still) we did 3,050 mls at an average 30+ mpg, used no coolant and added half a pint of oil; no other maintenance needed, although at Besancon we encountered a waywardness of the alarm/immobiliser systems which did result in embarrassingly loud noises (even after I disconnected the battery) which freaked me out so much that I left the car unlocked overnight for the rest of the trip (those who have experienced the rigour of German campsite regs. may give an understanding nod, here...
We got as far east as Weimar and the Chim loved the unrestricted autobahns, though I didn't take it over 110mph and was generally doing 80/90, as I was rather interested in fuel economy (Brexit uncertainties causing the £ in my pocket to plummet day by day...) Had a good couple of quickish convoys with Porsche types along the way and had the doors blown off a couple of times by terminal velocity Porsche and Skoda seemingly appearing from nowhere...
I was surprised at how much interest the car got on the highways - particularly in Germany and Holland. Virtually no-one (with the exception below) appeared to know what we were driving and we got many curious stares at the bonnet badge and lots of thumbs-up; I was able to explain the importance of the TVR marque to the uninitiated, on a number of occasions!
Only disappointment was turning up at the Nurburgring Nordschleife at noon last Thursday, hoping for some laps (at 29E a pop). I'd Emailed the 'Ring a couple of times beforehand, to ascertain if this would be possible and received vague replies; on this day, BMW fanciers seemed to have booked the track for prototype testing, so a couple of German bikers and I stooged around briefly, having been told that the public wouldn't be allowed in until 5.30 that afternoon. So be aware, people... the website is actually pretty accurate about which days are going to be free, but to be on the safe side, on such days, play safe by turning up late afternoon. I hadn't the time to wait, so we motored on.
Funny thing was that an hour or so later, we'd pulled over at a rest area between Bonn and Cologne for a sandwich or two. This biker pulled in and after a few moments sauntered over to us, saying 'nice car'... and so a new conversation began: he told me he has a '94 lhd Chimaera which he'd bought back in '97 after falling in love with the model which he'd seen at Le Mans. It turns out that he is the President of the German TVR Club. Some coincidence, eh? He tells me that there are 740 TVRs of all models in Germany, and that this may be more than in any country apart from GB. A really nice guy; he left me his phone number in case we need any assistance on this, or future trips.
In summary, I'd say the Chim is a car for long, fast hauls with bags of luggage, providing fun and interest for all at minimal expense. Can't wait for our next sally-forth!
Tim.
I have been across europe in my tuscan a couple of years ago, it never missed a beat. It could fit 2 weeks worth of luggage etc in the boot plus the roof and screen. It also made you feel like a rock star everywhere you stopped, the attention at times gets a little uncomfortable. Not that that's anything to complain about.
Going again in September, can't wait.
Going again in September, can't wait.
In 2014, I took the Tuscan on the Rally for Heroes - 3,000 miles through Europe in a week. No issues at all. Had a great time and planned a driving holiday for this year as a result.
Listened carefully to SWMBO and took her Porsche Boxster on the holiday - her argument being that it would be "so much more reliable" than the Tuscan - which, incidentally, has never let me down save a flat battery...
Well it wasn't more reliable. As I was enjoying driving through the hills between Pisa and Genoa, it died. The Porsche is still in Italy - we came back last Monday in a Ford Fiesta we hired in Genoa, leaving her Boxster at the mercy of the insurance company. Estimated return date, 1 August (they didn't say which year..)
In 2 weeks time, I'm off on the 2016 Rally for Heroes. Another 3,000+ miles through Europe. In the Tuscan this time. Fingers crossed, but I'm quietly confident all will be well.... (12K service this week, just to be sure..)
Who'd have thought that a Mk1 Tuscan would be more reliable than a 2004 Porsche Boxster with a full service history including recent full service? Probably only a TVR owner, to be fair..
(Hope I haven't just jinxed the Rally....)
Listened carefully to SWMBO and took her Porsche Boxster on the holiday - her argument being that it would be "so much more reliable" than the Tuscan - which, incidentally, has never let me down save a flat battery...
Well it wasn't more reliable. As I was enjoying driving through the hills between Pisa and Genoa, it died. The Porsche is still in Italy - we came back last Monday in a Ford Fiesta we hired in Genoa, leaving her Boxster at the mercy of the insurance company. Estimated return date, 1 August (they didn't say which year..)
In 2 weeks time, I'm off on the 2016 Rally for Heroes. Another 3,000+ miles through Europe. In the Tuscan this time. Fingers crossed, but I'm quietly confident all will be well.... (12K service this week, just to be sure..)
Who'd have thought that a Mk1 Tuscan would be more reliable than a 2004 Porsche Boxster with a full service history including recent full service? Probably only a TVR owner, to be fair..
(Hope I haven't just jinxed the Rally....)
TVR's are basically very simply engineered with pretty much nothing in the way of electronic Tom foolery therefore nothing much to actually go wrong. I've heard in the past that a solid engine well maintained really should last "forever" whereas a Porsche is full of loads of electronic giggery pokery and is therefore set up to fail, not mechanically, but electronically so I'm guessing this is where her porsche went wrong? And indeed where most modern engineered cars will fail?
Danattheopticians said:
No! But why do you say? The AJP8 is a fantastic engine from what I understand? Even if it does need to be warmed up well as is more of a race tuned engine. I'm sure it'll still eat up the miles on a run across Europe but I have to admit I'm guessing as have no experience of one.
I was referring to the 'electrical tomfoolery'! Buttons where you'd expect switches and ECUs for every function imaginable, 4 steering wheel switches... I mean buttons, infinitely variable heater fanS (note the S), electrically cancelling indicators with a self centering stalk and the hazard switch ... I mean button on the end, a master switch no one dares touch... need I go on? All very brave/advanced/too damn clever for the time. The engine is the most conventional bit of it!Sorry to spoil the party with all these uplifting tales of reliability but the one and only time I have been recovered on a breakdown truck was last year in my Chim when the fuel pump died. Previously my only other breakdown was in the Cerb when a relay failed but got around that to get me to Burghley.
And in direct contrast to some of the above stories of other makes failing, all I can say is that none of my BMWs or Toyotas has ever let me down.....yet......
And in direct contrast to some of the above stories of other makes failing, all I can say is that none of my BMWs or Toyotas has ever let me down.....yet......
frenchie TVR said:
So I came back from the Le Mans Classic trip almost 1700 kms in my 1996 TVR Chimaera 500 (1050 miles) in 5 days of including 2 hours traffic jam the M25 on Thursday, 2hours traffic jam on the Thursday afternoon on the French motorway at over 30 degrees heat (a part was closed due to a lorry accident), many, many kms at between 160 – 200 km/h (on private roads of course) and 25 minutes of total spanking on the Le Mans Tracks… and guess what, no issue at all.
All other people in my party 2008 Lamborghini, 2008 Aston Martin, 1967 Porsche 912 & 1968 Porsche 912 all had some kind off issues / break down… The Triumph motorbike had not issue at all either.
P222TVR has now done 3 x Le Mans Classic Trips (2012, 2014 & 2016) without having any issue.
Morality of the story:
- A well looked after (she only has 40k miles / has full TVR service history and usually change what Str8Six tells me to change / she is garaged when not driven / does only 2 – 3k miles a year, but newer stays more than 2 month without being used, even in the winter) TVR can be reliable.
- In 3 Le Mans Classic trips, the most “unreliable brand of car” on paper (urban myth) in our party has always been more reliable in practice.
- My TVR is not the shiniest one, but she’s pretty fast and amazingly reliable.
On the other hand, we had a comprehensible set of tools end consumables, 2 French guys in the party (me & another one: useful when looking for parts (spark plugs / fuel lines / filters / jubilee clips…) and always take a mechanic with you: we had our really own fellow Chimaera own Dave Byron, who as usual, saved the day and got all cars to Le Mans and Back the way they should: driven by their owners (and not on the back of a flatbed truck).
Another successful Le Mans Classic trip,
Frenchie!
PS:
- I have now jinxed it, you’ll see me broken down on the side of the road on one of the next outings (hopefully not)
- 5 years of ownership, 12,000 miles and only one break down (she did not start due to a dead battery & tried to set herself alight: split fuel hose, but quick reaction & fire extinguisher saved the bacon with only the fuel line to replace and a god old clean up (she really was full of white powder…)
I was just wondering if you was the same group we passed on the way back to Calais. Yellow Chimaera, Purple Cerbera and a Reflex Charcoal Tuscan. I came back from Le Mans with a cracked windscreen but no reliability problems. All other people in my party 2008 Lamborghini, 2008 Aston Martin, 1967 Porsche 912 & 1968 Porsche 912 all had some kind off issues / break down… The Triumph motorbike had not issue at all either.
P222TVR has now done 3 x Le Mans Classic Trips (2012, 2014 & 2016) without having any issue.
Morality of the story:
- A well looked after (she only has 40k miles / has full TVR service history and usually change what Str8Six tells me to change / she is garaged when not driven / does only 2 – 3k miles a year, but newer stays more than 2 month without being used, even in the winter) TVR can be reliable.
- In 3 Le Mans Classic trips, the most “unreliable brand of car” on paper (urban myth) in our party has always been more reliable in practice.
- My TVR is not the shiniest one, but she’s pretty fast and amazingly reliable.
On the other hand, we had a comprehensible set of tools end consumables, 2 French guys in the party (me & another one: useful when looking for parts (spark plugs / fuel lines / filters / jubilee clips…) and always take a mechanic with you: we had our really own fellow Chimaera own Dave Byron, who as usual, saved the day and got all cars to Le Mans and Back the way they should: driven by their owners (and not on the back of a flatbed truck).
Another successful Le Mans Classic trip,
Frenchie!
PS:
- I have now jinxed it, you’ll see me broken down on the side of the road on one of the next outings (hopefully not)
- 5 years of ownership, 12,000 miles and only one break down (she did not start due to a dead battery & tried to set herself alight: split fuel hose, but quick reaction & fire extinguisher saved the bacon with only the fuel line to replace and a god old clean up (she really was full of white powder…)
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