South Wales Garages & Servicing
Discussion
Having just sold my pride & joy I am now left with the dilemma of what to get for around 15k as a second car - god life is hard!
Current thinking is elise/vx/tvr/boxtster. All have pros and cons and I need to get out and see some to narrow down my options.
However, a big factor is the availability of good main dealers / specialists within 50 miles of Cardiff - in my experience that can make all the difference to successful car ownership.
Lotus - Is the new cardiff lotus dealership as pretentious as it looks? Expense?
VX - Swansea FRF - Usual Vaux dealership? Any nightmare experiences?
TVR - Is newton Cambria any good / still there?!
Is the Roath garage a proper specialist and do they come recommended?
Porsche - Seem to remember there is a specialist in Bridgend? Any ideas?
Any feedback would be most welcome. Feel free to abuse my wide choice of vehicle too...
Current thinking is elise/vx/tvr/boxtster. All have pros and cons and I need to get out and see some to narrow down my options.
However, a big factor is the availability of good main dealers / specialists within 50 miles of Cardiff - in my experience that can make all the difference to successful car ownership.
Lotus - Is the new cardiff lotus dealership as pretentious as it looks? Expense?
VX - Swansea FRF - Usual Vaux dealership? Any nightmare experiences?
TVR - Is newton Cambria any good / still there?!
Is the Roath garage a proper specialist and do they come recommended?
Porsche - Seem to remember there is a specialist in Bridgend? Any ideas?
Any feedback would be most welcome. Feel free to abuse my wide choice of vehicle too...
i mate dont know how much i can help but for a start newtown motors now noble not tvr dealers,from my experience v8 much more reliable than the 6 .boxster best all round car but with 15k only 2.5 available these are known to drop liner,engine scrap if this occurs had 3 never had any problems but who knows! elise/vx most fun probably best second car !!
nothing to expensive to fix either
rgds greg
nothing to expensive to fix either
rgds greg
£15k hey!Some good toys out there for that sort of money.
I used to have a VX220 turbo. A fantastic little car, but because i used it as a daily driver it gave me a bad hip. As for servicing, I would not touch FRF with a big stick. They were terrible. I took mine to the main dealer in Cheltenham, they were excellent and cheap, average service costed around the £125 mark.
I now own a TVR Griffith 500 which is serviced and maintained by Peter at Roath Garage, Moy Road, Cardiff. He is a TVR specialist and very good. My only advice on TVR is be VERY careful what you buy. I bought a bit of a lemon and I've spent the best part of a year, and a few grand, sorting it out.
As for a Porsche
..................NO NEED !!
Happy shopping
I used to have a VX220 turbo. A fantastic little car, but because i used it as a daily driver it gave me a bad hip. As for servicing, I would not touch FRF with a big stick. They were terrible. I took mine to the main dealer in Cheltenham, they were excellent and cheap, average service costed around the £125 mark.
I now own a TVR Griffith 500 which is serviced and maintained by Peter at Roath Garage, Moy Road, Cardiff. He is a TVR specialist and very good. My only advice on TVR is be VERY careful what you buy. I bought a bit of a lemon and I've spent the best part of a year, and a few grand, sorting it out.
As for a Porsche
..................NO NEED !! Happy shopping
Thanks for the replys thus far...Boxster wise, Ive driven a tiptronic 2.7 and wasnt overly impressed so would probably be aiming for at least a man 2.7 but pref an 's' pushing my budget upto 20k - not something I really want to do.
Always wanted a TVR but the idea of the chassis rusting at 6-7 years worries me greatly and main dealer servicing costs look horrific. I take it if I know what Im looking at on the chassis when I buy I should be ok and I can look after it from there - fiddly faults dont bother me and reliability not critical. Love the idea but dont want the huge disappointment. Local specialist is a BIG plus tho so I will probably pop in and see them soon - anyone else use them?
Elise would be good but everyone I know with std k series engine has had HGF and skimmed heads etc. Probably most likely option but still curious on servicing cost and location
VXT for 16k just about manageable now and only seems to suffer niggles, rather than major failures. Perf. should be impressive and, coming from an impreza the handling should be fun enough, even if not as sharp as an elise...cheltnham a pain in the ass as work in port talbot tho.
Keep em coming...
Always wanted a TVR but the idea of the chassis rusting at 6-7 years worries me greatly and main dealer servicing costs look horrific. I take it if I know what Im looking at on the chassis when I buy I should be ok and I can look after it from there - fiddly faults dont bother me and reliability not critical. Love the idea but dont want the huge disappointment. Local specialist is a BIG plus tho so I will probably pop in and see them soon - anyone else use them?
Elise would be good but everyone I know with std k series engine has had HGF and skimmed heads etc. Probably most likely option but still curious on servicing cost and location
VXT for 16k just about manageable now and only seems to suffer niggles, rather than major failures. Perf. should be impressive and, coming from an impreza the handling should be fun enough, even if not as sharp as an elise...cheltnham a pain in the ass as work in port talbot tho.
Keep em coming...
rb5_180 said:
VXT for 16k just about manageable now and only seems to suffer niggles, rather than major failures. Perf. should be impressive and, coming from an impreza the handling should be fun enough, even if not as sharp as an elise...cheltnham a pain in the ass as work in port talbot tho.
Keep em coming...
Used to have a vxt, i used the bristol dealer behind templemeads station (quite easy to get there & back from cardiff). They were ok, petty the car was so badly made & had to go in so many times.
Also used roath garage loads of times peter has always been A+
Just sat in a Chimeara in a back street garage to get a feel for it. Felt at home in it but def feels like a 'new' classic car. Even the dealer was trying to persuade me that the car would be nothing but trouble - seemed a strange selling angle to me! He had used peter for some work on the car and also recommended him. Was touch and go whether missus could reach the peddles tho (they look like they adjsut a bit tho?) - 5'2"
Sat in s2000 - seems too 'normal'
Now to find an elise?! Anyone service one locally?
Sat in s2000 - seems too 'normal'
Now to find an elise?! Anyone service one locally?
Peter at Roath Garage is selling his 
VERY NICE Griff 500. Might be worth a look. Not sure what he's asking for it. If I didn't already have one I'd certainly buy his
.Stratstones are a bit pricey for servicing at £100 an hour but if you get a quote for servicing from another main dealer they will match the price.
www.elise-faq.info/
www.elises.co.uk/
If you are buying a second hand elise you probably wouldnt take it to a main dealer anyway. I dont see why you couldnt take it to the roath garage and get peter to service it, as they are easy enough to work on.
www.elise-faq.info/
www.elises.co.uk/
If you are buying a second hand elise you probably wouldnt take it to a main dealer anyway. I dont see why you couldnt take it to the roath garage and get peter to service it, as they are easy enough to work on.
Thanks for the lotus info - £100/hr is pretty vicious to be honest. Best you told me when I was sitting down. Always been a bit of a stickler for Main Dealer SH but might need to give that one serious thought.
Car I sat in was the Thornhill cars one. Cant really judge it as its the first Ive seen and I didnt ask any car specific questions. Looked a bit ropey to me and soaking carpets so smelled a tad off.
Any recognised lotus specialists around as would like to keep some form of valid history in the book?
Car I sat in was the Thornhill cars one. Cant really judge it as its the first Ive seen and I didnt ask any car specific questions. Looked a bit ropey to me and soaking carpets so smelled a tad off.
Any recognised lotus specialists around as would like to keep some form of valid history in the book?
rb5_180 said:
Car I sat in was the Thornhill cars one. Cant really judge it as its the first Ive seen and I didnt ask any car specific questions. Looked a bit ropey to me and soaking carpets so smelled a tad off.
Hmmmm doesn't surprise me - had a very cursory look around it when my son spotted "a TVR like Daddy's"...and wasn't very impressed....looked like some poor respray work had been done on it....
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