TVRs and Smolenski

[jezzaaa]

Chaps - haven't been over here for a while, because I defected a few years ago to Porsche (hides behind fence)......but, I'm thinking of dabbling again....would love a T350T and even tempted by a Saggy. I would very much appreciate your thoughts. I had a Chimaera 400 and then a 500, sold it in 2000 and bought a Boxster cos i could no longer stomach the servicing costs. Never had any reliability issues with either of them, and loved owning them. Do they still insist on 6000 mile service intervals, and are they still the thick end of £800-1000 a shot? or have they introduced fixed price servicing and longer intervals??

Cheers all,

J.

[jezzaaa]

By the way, forgot to mention.....I went down to the new showroom at Chiswick today, and Mr Smolenski was there, plus reps from all the dealers in the country. He was fielding questions about model changes, warranty claims, reliability concerns. Things that were mentioned were price changes, with a lower starting point. More standard kit (air con etc). Said they'd been testing the Sagaris, Tuscan 2 and T350T in drives across Europe. Mentioned that the 3.6 engine is probably being phased out, and various tunes of the 4.0 litre will be used instead because it demonstrated better economy etc than the 3.6. Mr Smolenski was extremely articulate, and gave me hope. He was very customer focused in his replies, saying that they will be doing a TVR managed central break down recovery for owners of new cars etc. Hire cars provided etc. Encouraging stuff.

[manc dwarf]

Jezzaaa,

I do not yet own a TVR but am also looking into buying one (hopefully in the next 12 months). I checked out servicing with my local(ish) dealer and also with TVR Power who I have seen get mentioned a lot on here. For the speed 6 engined cars you are looking at around £480 for a 6000 mile service and £630 for a 12000 mile service. Its slightly different for the V8s depending on which variant you have.

[gazzab]

manc dwarf said:

Jezzaaa, I do not yet own a TVR but am also looking into buying one (hopefully in the next 12 months). I checked out servicing with my local(ish) dealer and also with TVR Power who I have seen get mentioned a lot on here. For the speed 6 engined cars you are looking at around £480 for a 6000 mile service and £630 for a 12000 mile service. Its slightly different for the V8s depending on which variant you have.

A service with a TVR is rarely just the basics - the niggles often double it.

[jezzaaa]

gazzab said:

A service with a TVR is rarely just the basics - the niggles often double it.

Hi Gazzab - yeah, that was my experience too. I used to stick the Chimaera in for it's service at Mole Valley.....and the price for the service was £700-odd. But it always ended up at £1000. That is compared to £340 and £500 at 10,000 mile intervals on my Boxster.

Having said all that, I was delighted to see the 3 year warranty being added to the new ones. The Boxster only has two years, and it has been far more unreliable than either of my Trevors. One of the key differences though is the after sales, which with Porsche is superb. Collected from road side within 30 minutes. Given a loan car. Work completed, problems resolved and no arguments at all.

Actually, the other thing they discussed briefly at the meeting yesterday was competition from non-franchised TVR Specialists (mostly from the dealers who gave up their dealerships in the last few years). They were talking about TVR Approved used car schemes. I'm guessing that the current dealers won't want to change the service intervals or service prices, but if they did i think it would make people take a closer look at buying a TVR. My main issues are: -

-Servicing Costs
-No safety equipment available as options
-Depreciation
-Dealer warranty 'arguments'
-Engine faults having to be dealt with by the factory for Speed 6 and AJP8 engines

Now I know I'm going to get shouted at for item 2 above (and before I had my crash, I would probably have joined in!), but I had a serious smash in my second Chimaera, and it was because I am not a hugely skilled driver....and the car does nothing to help you out when you make a mistake. I don't mean airbags, but I do think ABS should be at least an option. And probably traction control too. If I bought one now, i would definitely have harnesses fitted. I know the T350 has a roll cage already in situ, which is cool.

J.

[DJC]

jezzaaa said:

I had a serious smash in my second Chimaera, and it was because I am not a hugely skilled driver....and the car does nothing to help you out when you make a mistake. I don't mean airbags, but I do think ABS should be at least an option. And probably traction control too. If I bought one now, i would definitely have harnesses fitted. I know the T350 has a roll cage already in situ, which is cool. J.

Then dont buy one.

Pretty simple really.

[civicboy28]

If TVR started putting ABS and Traction Control in their cars it would seriously put me off. But thats just me, I see TVR's as having traction control anyway, its called your right foot. and abs is your left foot (if your inclined to left foot brake).

[the pits]

I agree. I like my driving pleasure neat. There's enough nannying around as it is these Blairite days. I don't want my car joining in too!

[MarkoTVR]

Isn't traction control an optional extra on new TVRs?

[richb]

los angeles said:

jezzaaa said: Mr Smolenski ... customer focused in his replies, saying that they will be doing a TVR managed central break down recovery for owners of new cars etc. Hire cars provided etc. Encouraging stuff. Anyone care to comment on this little gem?

I thought you already had

[jezzaaa]

DJC said:

Then dont buy one. Pretty simple really.

But surely this is exactly the point - TVR need people like me to buy one. They can't survive making 500 cars a year - Smolenski said this in the meeting yesterday. He said to make the figures work and just to break even, they will need to sell AT LEAST 20 cars per week - that's doubling current production. They need to sell even more cars so they can spend money on development.

I'm not saying fitting things as standard, but the option would be nice. And I don't see how it would affect any of you who don't want driver aids - just don't spec them on your car if you don't want them. Even more simple.

[jezzaaa]

I guess the only blight on this is legislative issues.....i.e. at the moment, I gather TVR are exempt from having to fit air bags etc because they are low volume. I don't know what the threshold is, but given they are wanting to get into new markets abroad, and given that they want to increase production, presumably they might start being inside the wrong end o the threshold. And there might come a time when new cars have to have certain driver aids by law. Which is, I agree, a nightmare. Freedom of choice should be paramount over safety IMHO.

[Graham B]

jezzaaa said:

By the way, forgot to mention.....I went down to the new showroom at Chiswick today, and Mr Smolenski was there, plus reps from all the dealers in the country. He was fielding questions about model changes, warranty claims, reliability concerns. Things that were mentioned were price changes, with a lower starting point. More standard kit (air con etc). Said they'd been testing the Sagaris, Tuscan 2 and T350T in drives across Europe. Mentioned that the 3.6 engine is probably being phased out, and various tunes of the 4.0 litre will be used instead because it demonstrated better economy etc than the 3.6. Mr Smolenski was extremely articulate, and gave me hope. He was very customer focused in his replies, saying that they will be doing a TVR managed central break down recovery for owners of new cars etc. Hire cars provided etc. Encouraging stuff.

All very interesting and very positive stuff - nice to hear. Seems steps are being taken in the right direction. How did you manage to attend this are TVR doing customer/dealer forums or something?

[richb]

los angeles said:

richb said: I thought you already had Then you are clearly mistaken.

Nope... 1st comment on this thread not from Jezzaaa is by.... YOU

[jezzaaa]

Graham B said:

All very interesting and very positive stuff - nice to hear. Seems steps are being taken in the right direction. How did you manage to attend this are TVR doing customer/dealer forums or something?

As with all these things, quite by accident! i gate crashed basically. I went down there cos i was bored in the office and fancied going and looking at some Trevors. They have very recently opened the London showroom so thought I'd better have a look. Parked down stairs in the underground car park, and saw TVR demonstrators with various dealership logos and blurb on them. Got in the lift, pressed 1, the door opened, and there they were. Standing around a T350C, and asking Mr Smolenski questions! i didn't know it was happening....just blind luck. No one objected to my presence so I sat and listened.

It was very interesting!

[richb]

los angeles said:

richb said: Nope. 1st comment on this thread not from Jezzaaa is by.... YOU No idea what you're trying to prove. I've made no comment on Smolenski's alleged proposal to institute a breakdown service. Have you?

Forget it, it was a leg-pull, a quip, a one-line joke like you are fond of posting. Nothing to prove, don't give a toss - just a minor jibe that's all. Just seemed funny that you were the first to post a remark about Smolensky after Jezaaa's post and then you asked if anyone wanted to comment.
Rich...

[richb]

Indeed

[19560]

jezzaaa said:

My main issues are: - -Servicing Costs -No safety equipment available as options -Depreciation -Dealer warranty 'arguments' -Engine faults having to be dealt with by the factory for Speed 6 and AJP8 engines If I bought one now, i would definitely have harnesses fitted. I know the T350 has a roll cage already in situ, which is cool.

IMHO:
You know about servicing costs and they are worse than your V8TVR.
I think that a harness and rollcage are more important than ABS and airbags.
Depreciation is quite good compared to other new £40K cars.
Engine faults issue is mind boggling.
So I think that you are left with servicing, dealer and engine worries. You may get a good dealer but if the other two will spoil your enjoyment of the car then sadly:

DJC said:

Then dont buy one.

[anonymous-user]

los angeles said:

So, strictly on topic: anyone care to comment on the overheard remark Smolenski intends to institute a breakdown service? For example, how will such a service cover its costs?

Seems pointless. All new TVRs already come with RAC cover.