TVR is as reliable as other performance cars
Discussion
You often read that Astons have entertaining electrics and can be very good at crapping out their charge in a couple of days, Lambos and Ferraris can be fragile (and catch fire if they use glue even TVR wouldn't touch...) and Ferraris also still use timing belts that have to be replaced every 5 minutes.
So I decided to head over into the Porsche forum to see how the un-imaginative half live. Now I know Boxster discs rust for fun and Porsche advise drying them by hand after a wet run and that they also had some issues with their first gen water cooled engines, but what I wasn't prepared for were the myriad of little (and expensive) problems they suffer and some bigger ones too.
The engine in the 997 makes the speed 6 look bomb proof, apparently they have a known cooling problem which causes where on several cylinders which eventually fail spectacularly, lots of quotes for new engines and 15K bills on low mileage cars.
At least if your speed 6 gets a rattle you can get it sorted by an expert for a few thou to a standard better then before. Porsche will flog you a new engine with the exact same fault still present!
All comes down to perception of reliability and maintenance costs. You might need balls of steel to run a speed 6, but you need Jupiter and Saturn clanging around in your pants to run a modern Porsche
So I decided to head over into the Porsche forum to see how the un-imaginative half live. Now I know Boxster discs rust for fun and Porsche advise drying them by hand after a wet run and that they also had some issues with their first gen water cooled engines, but what I wasn't prepared for were the myriad of little (and expensive) problems they suffer and some bigger ones too.
The engine in the 997 makes the speed 6 look bomb proof, apparently they have a known cooling problem which causes where on several cylinders which eventually fail spectacularly, lots of quotes for new engines and 15K bills on low mileage cars.
At least if your speed 6 gets a rattle you can get it sorted by an expert for a few thou to a standard better then before. Porsche will flog you a new engine with the exact same fault still present!
All comes down to perception of reliability and maintenance costs. You might need balls of steel to run a speed 6, but you need Jupiter and Saturn clanging around in your pants to run a modern Porsche
i agree - having owned an Esprit, 911, Boxster they were all far more problematic than the TVR's BUT the TVR has an image problem wrt reliability......Porsche just don't.Have an acquaintance with an Aston - its know as "the pit" as in money pit.
the reputation is stuck forever or at least until TVR's are reborn (or pass from memory!)
the reputation is stuck forever or at least until TVR's are reborn (or pass from memory!)
To be honest, I've had TVRs for 15 years and simply haven't found them to be remotely unreliable. In that time I have had 2 AA trips, one when I thought I had buggered the Griff by selecting 1st instead of 3rd so had it loaded home for safety and the second was when the clutch wore out on the T350.
I genuinely believe that the vast number of the problems are down to unsypathetic driving and poor maintenance.
There is one other bugbear and that is the buggering of cars by garage mechanics. I'm constantly amazed at how many things break after a 'professional' mechanic has been buggering around with upgrades etc.
Driven sympathetically and not like an AstraMax van as so many I see on the road are being driven and maintained properly then unless you have a genuine lemon which any British built vehicle can be prone to because the wrong labourer was on your car there just shouldn't be the issues that many seem to come across.
I genuinely believe that the vast number of the problems are down to unsypathetic driving and poor maintenance.
There is one other bugbear and that is the buggering of cars by garage mechanics. I'm constantly amazed at how many things break after a 'professional' mechanic has been buggering around with upgrades etc.
Driven sympathetically and not like an AstraMax van as so many I see on the road are being driven and maintained properly then unless you have a genuine lemon which any British built vehicle can be prone to because the wrong labourer was on your car there just shouldn't be the issues that many seem to come across.
I once attended a rolling road session with my Tuscan as a 'filler' to make up numbers and ensure that my friend, the organiser, wasn't out of pocket. All of the cars were ST Focii except an Aston who was there before their session started. To save having to flip everything round again to accomodate FWD then back to RWD for me they put me on first.
As I drove off someone picked up what looked suspiciously like an undertray securing bolt and made a great show of telling everyone it had fallen off my car. How they laughed. Ten minutes later having jacked my car up I returned the bolt to the gobby one (ensuring it was quiet enough for others to hear) and suggested he might want to return it to the Aston owner if he could catch him. I may also have suggested that as he obviously couldn't I'd do it for him
As I drove off someone picked up what looked suspiciously like an undertray securing bolt and made a great show of telling everyone it had fallen off my car. How they laughed. Ten minutes later having jacked my car up I returned the bolt to the gobby one (ensuring it was quiet enough for others to hear) and suggested he might want to return it to the Aston owner if he could catch him. I may also have suggested that as he obviously couldn't I'd do it for him
Most unreliable car I had was an old Renault, but it was old. My Focus had to be trailered home once after the fuel pump burnt out and I was alway replacing electrical parts, they just didn't last.
Most reliable car I ever had (and I sold it going strong at 115K miles) was my Fiat Coupe 20VT. Still miss it.
My Trevor enjoyed the commuter traffic today and even though it was raining I didn't spin off on corners or roundabouts. I must be doing something wrong
Most reliable car I ever had (and I sold it going strong at 115K miles) was my Fiat Coupe 20VT. Still miss it.
My Trevor enjoyed the commuter traffic today and even though it was raining I didn't spin off on corners or roundabouts. I must be doing something wrong
TBF, it's the public perception that's the issue, not the owners. The Porsche owners i know all acknowledge their reputation for reliability is ill-deserved. Broken engines, gearboxes, clutches, etc. are quite common. Most of us with Tivs lavish ridiculous amounts of time and money ensuring they never go wrong, way more so than our daily drives.
My brother nearly wet himself laughing when I bought the T350 - he being of the 911 C2 clan. Usual jokes about RAC vans, birthday cards with broken down cars on the front. You know the story.
Changed his mind once he drove them back to back.
I was delighted when his broke down earlier this year and needed a new battery.
He is now trying to hide his glee that my is currently having its steering rack rebuilt (by Ian at Sportmotive).
You pays your money ..........
Changed his mind once he drove them back to back.
I was delighted when his broke down earlier this year and needed a new battery.
He is now trying to hide his glee that my is currently having its steering rack rebuilt (by Ian at Sportmotive).
You pays your money ..........
I think your title is wrong. TVR's don't seem to be inherently unreliable for a performance car.
Title should be TVR is as reliable as other performance cars
Calling a TVR unreliable is too negative phrase IMO
They all have their issues, in fact many everyday cars do, eg Seat Leons leak, Audi Diesels have injector problems, Volvo V70s (previous shape) eat wheel bearings etc
The problems with the electronics in my Tuscan pale into insignificance when compared to the problems with electronics in my Audi, and don't get me started on my heap of junk 5 Series
Title should be TVR is as reliable as other performance cars
Calling a TVR unreliable is too negative phrase IMO
They all have their issues, in fact many everyday cars do, eg Seat Leons leak, Audi Diesels have injector problems, Volvo V70s (previous shape) eat wheel bearings etc
The problems with the electronics in my Tuscan pale into insignificance when compared to the problems with electronics in my Audi, and don't get me started on my heap of junk 5 Series
That's the thing, any performance car will need care and cash lavishing on it, the TVR specialists all seem to be enthusiasts and several have significantly improved over original spec. They're also significantly cheaper than other marques.
I'll be interested to see if Monkey Harris in Evo keeps his 911 long term and sticks a few miles on it. I remember looking into 1980s carreras before the Tiv and in general they were good but could have issues on the box, the galvanised bodies were starting to rust (and that was expensive to sort) and the numerous oil leaks were often pricey to sort - as were the heat exchangers
I'll be interested to see if Monkey Harris in Evo keeps his 911 long term and sticks a few miles on it. I remember looking into 1980s carreras before the Tiv and in general they were good but could have issues on the box, the galvanised bodies were starting to rust (and that was expensive to sort) and the numerous oil leaks were often pricey to sort - as were the heat exchangers
I was at a TVR main dealer (possibly Dream Machines), talking to two of the mechanics. Both had worked at Ferrari and Porsche main dealers. I asked them how TVRs compared to other sports cars they'd worked on and they said that TVR were more or less equivalent to Porsche and much better than Ferrari for major faults. However, and it is a big however.
They said that one punter brought in a nearly new Porsche with a defective engine. That was Thursday. On Saturday the chap picked the car up and drove it away. The next time the chap came in with a similar, and probably identical, fault, they replaced it by the next day.
Ferraris were much worse, breaking down frequently. The difference was that most did hardly any mileage and what they did do was long distance. So two breakdowns a year and their car replaced whilst it was being worked on. Plus the visit to Maranello and being treated like they mattered.
So some differences there with TVR.
They said that one punter brought in a nearly new Porsche with a defective engine. That was Thursday. On Saturday the chap picked the car up and drove it away. The next time the chap came in with a similar, and probably identical, fault, they replaced it by the next day.
Ferraris were much worse, breaking down frequently. The difference was that most did hardly any mileage and what they did do was long distance. So two breakdowns a year and their car replaced whilst it was being worked on. Plus the visit to Maranello and being treated like they mattered.
So some differences there with TVR.
robsco said:
I need to read more positive stories. I'm so tantalisingly close to buying a Cerbera but I'm struggling to push myself over the edge. This is the kind of thread I need to be reading.
Hold your nose and jump in with both feet. Neither of mine have left me stranded. Sure, there are always 'things' one could be doing to them but nothing ever major.Just take a look when on the road, look at recovery trucks, certainly in my experience most of them are graced by a German marque being transported somewhere. And it's nothing to do with volume of sales, I'm talking rep-mobiles. I honestly can't say I've seen a Mundano or Vectra (There's a nee one isn't there?) on the back of one, nearly all BMW.
Get a Cerbera, before they are all gone and you regret it forever.
.Mark said:
There is a very well known TVR guru who also works on Donkeys. He once said to me "You think TVR are badly put together, Ferrari make them look great"
Funny enough, I was told that by the owner of a TVR specialist garage about three weeks ago.There was a programme on TV some years ago showing Ferrari builds and there were a line of new cars just waiting for their bodies to be leaded in places. And there was a chap with a hammer whose job it was to make the chassis fit the body.
However, the best looking sports car I've ever seen is the Scaglietti-bodied SWB 250. I saw Moss drive one at Brands, blue with a yellow stripe if memory serves, and it looked stunning. Everything a sports car should be. Mind you, on the grid was the Ferrari 'breadvan', everything a sports cars shouldn't. Some you win . . .
Other half is looking at replacing her MR2 and really wants a Z3M coupe (another breadvan), don't you just love her! So I had a look into the things to watch out for and discovered the VANOS problems that these high output straight sixes had, most were replaced or heavily modified so not entirely dissimilar to TVRs speed six issues when trying to squeeze big HPs out
Agree with the earlier point about the title of the thread, if I knew how to change it I would
Agree with the earlier point about the title of the thread, if I knew how to change it I would
.Mark said:
robsco said:
I need to read more positive stories. I'm so tantalisingly close to buying a Cerbera but I'm struggling to push myself over the edge. This is the kind of thread I need to be reading.
Hold your nose and jump in with both feet. Neither of mine have left me stranded. Sure, there are always 'things' one could be doing to them but nothing ever major.Just take a look when on the road, look at recovery trucks, certainly in my experience most of them are graced by a German marque being transported somewhere. And it's nothing to do with volume of sales, I'm talking rep-mobiles. I honestly can't say I've seen a Mundano or Vectra (There's a nee one isn't there?) on the back of one, nearly all BMW.
Get a Cerbera, before they are all gone and you regret it forever.
That said, I'm not put off. The car has been on my mind constantly. Have a look, and let me know what you think (its been valeted since these photos were taken). By the way, its not a trade/fleet car as the website suggests, the owner is selling it on behalf of his brother-in-law.
http://www.fleetcars.autoweb1.co.uk/details.asp?cd...
Porches aren't too bad. My girl friend's one has only had two engine rebuilds now in three or so years and the ceramic brake discs that chip very easily only cost about 10k to replace.
I thought that was normal for them surely
And yes, I'm not overly fond of them...
I thought that was normal for them surely
And yes, I'm not overly fond of them...
Edited by alex_gray255 on Thursday 26th May 22:13
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