First impressions of Tuscan 2...
Discussion
As a newbie Tuscan owner, I thought I'd share some of my first impressions after driving the Speed six 3.6L belter home from Italy for some 1300km's.
When doing a short test drive with the first (and uptill a few days ago, only) owner I immediately noticed the lack of torque.
As a gentlemen does when test driving I didn't push it too hard, at least in my view...
So first thoughts were a bit of a disappointment, at least power wise, price wise I really couldn't drive away without this rare LHD version, so after a bit of a discussion we came to an agreement, much to my relief.
I reckoned that I could always upgrade to 4.3L or even 4.5L... And at night before closing the deal I surfed the Internet checking the prices of a respray and refurbished interiors as the colour combo wasn't really what I would have specked when buying new...
When driving home it was within the first 5 miles that the car let me down mechnically... it stalled when not revved above 3000rpm and started to throw all kind of error codes at me, even smelled weird...
There I was, on left hand lane on the "autopista" by then completely immobile and unable to get here going again...
Ok, called the wife in the car a few miles ahead of me to check whether I had bothered to get some kind of get me home cover... The answer was not convincing really.
My mate behind me helped me push the car on the hard shoulder and I started to feel a bit depressed... So much lovely Tarmac ahead waiting to be covered in a ...... Recovery truck, mama Mia!!!
But then the TVR gods started to interfere and I don't know how I did it but the engine barked into life again. When I say barked, it really was more a dead rattle but optimism also gets you a long way I convinced myself.
By then there was some heavy traffic and doing 3000-3500rpm (to prevent her from stalling) for hours without moving is a recipe for killing and speed six engine, so I had to take some action...
The only action I could take was driving over the brake down lane and receive all kind of insults and gesticulations from every Italian I passed by at 4000rpm in first gear...
Apparently the problem was down to the battery as the car started to behave better and better the longer I kept enraging Italians on "recovery-lane".
I decided to keep driving as long as possible and finally made it too our hotel. I made some inquiries and found a new battery that I fitted the next day hoping it would be an easy ( well, sort of) cure.
I know it has become quit a post by now but hold on, here it comes brothers and sisters:
Next day, plenty of sun, speed six 3.6L behaving ok and I found myself heading to the autopista again to cover the rest of the 1300km's.
The car being mine by now and running incredibly well after all the horror of the previous day I started pushing it a little bit.
Ok, still the torque of a falling leaf compared the the concrete brick falling amounts of low down torque in my chimaera, but that I knew allready.
What I didn't know however is what must be the greatest aspect of a 3.6L speed six compared to the 4.xL's and that is it's unrivalled revviness.
You really must try a 3.6L if you get a chance. I can't find the words to describe my amazement.
My lord does it rev, o boy o boy o boy, I mean it doesn't just go up the revrange, it rockets and flies beyond 7500rpm like it doesnt seem to have any flywheel...
I couldn't help laughing my eyes out, and shifting down again, not just one gear as you would do in a sag but right to gears down and then flooring it like there was no tomorrow, ... Those gears seemed endless!
Jesus this is a pleasant thing to drive, maybe not as fast as a sag in the real world but the feel of it is out of this world, never driven anything like it except maybe a two stroke dirt bike when I was a little chap.
You might have gotten it by now that I buried the plans to put a bigger engine in it by now and even the colour is growing on me ...
It isn't a myth after all, the blue ones ARE faster!
When doing a short test drive with the first (and uptill a few days ago, only) owner I immediately noticed the lack of torque.
As a gentlemen does when test driving I didn't push it too hard, at least in my view...
So first thoughts were a bit of a disappointment, at least power wise, price wise I really couldn't drive away without this rare LHD version, so after a bit of a discussion we came to an agreement, much to my relief.
I reckoned that I could always upgrade to 4.3L or even 4.5L... And at night before closing the deal I surfed the Internet checking the prices of a respray and refurbished interiors as the colour combo wasn't really what I would have specked when buying new...
When driving home it was within the first 5 miles that the car let me down mechnically... it stalled when not revved above 3000rpm and started to throw all kind of error codes at me, even smelled weird...
There I was, on left hand lane on the "autopista" by then completely immobile and unable to get here going again...
Ok, called the wife in the car a few miles ahead of me to check whether I had bothered to get some kind of get me home cover... The answer was not convincing really.
My mate behind me helped me push the car on the hard shoulder and I started to feel a bit depressed... So much lovely Tarmac ahead waiting to be covered in a ...... Recovery truck, mama Mia!!!
But then the TVR gods started to interfere and I don't know how I did it but the engine barked into life again. When I say barked, it really was more a dead rattle but optimism also gets you a long way I convinced myself.
By then there was some heavy traffic and doing 3000-3500rpm (to prevent her from stalling) for hours without moving is a recipe for killing and speed six engine, so I had to take some action...
The only action I could take was driving over the brake down lane and receive all kind of insults and gesticulations from every Italian I passed by at 4000rpm in first gear...
Apparently the problem was down to the battery as the car started to behave better and better the longer I kept enraging Italians on "recovery-lane".
I decided to keep driving as long as possible and finally made it too our hotel. I made some inquiries and found a new battery that I fitted the next day hoping it would be an easy ( well, sort of) cure.
I know it has become quit a post by now but hold on, here it comes brothers and sisters:
Next day, plenty of sun, speed six 3.6L behaving ok and I found myself heading to the autopista again to cover the rest of the 1300km's.
The car being mine by now and running incredibly well after all the horror of the previous day I started pushing it a little bit.
Ok, still the torque of a falling leaf compared the the concrete brick falling amounts of low down torque in my chimaera, but that I knew allready.
What I didn't know however is what must be the greatest aspect of a 3.6L speed six compared to the 4.xL's and that is it's unrivalled revviness.
You really must try a 3.6L if you get a chance. I can't find the words to describe my amazement.
My lord does it rev, o boy o boy o boy, I mean it doesn't just go up the revrange, it rockets and flies beyond 7500rpm like it doesnt seem to have any flywheel...
I couldn't help laughing my eyes out, and shifting down again, not just one gear as you would do in a sag but right to gears down and then flooring it like there was no tomorrow, ... Those gears seemed endless!
Jesus this is a pleasant thing to drive, maybe not as fast as a sag in the real world but the feel of it is out of this world, never driven anything like it except maybe a two stroke dirt bike when I was a little chap.
You might have gotten it by now that I buried the plans to put a bigger engine in it by now and even the colour is growing on me ...
It isn't a myth after all, the blue ones ARE faster!
Edited by Filos Hippos on Tuesday 31st July 20:38
Edited by Filos Hippos on Tuesday 31st July 20:39
Glad you're enjoying the 3.6 Tuscan- just sold mine after 2 and a half years and agree about the engine characteristics, it's just like a big motorbike and I love the way it kicks again at about 6000rpm. Just keep your eye out for the red change up lights when in the sunny climes of Italy, not always obvious with the roof off and the day light all around- they come up pretty rapidly.
![](http://thumbsnap.com/sc/gsQD80hU.jpg[/img]</a> <a href="http://thumbsnap.com/KTKooj4o" Target="_blank">[img]http://thumbsnap.com/sc/KTKooj4o.jpg[/img]</a> <a href="http://thumbsnap.com/DYH9Ire4" Target="_blank">[img]http://thumbsnap.com/sc/DYH9Ire4.jpg[/img]</a> <a href="http://thumbsnap.com/FOqo2IlG" Target="_blank">[img]http://thumbsnap.com/sc/FOqo2IlG.jpg[/img]</a> <a href="http://thumbsnap.com/YKH5v2P1" Target="_blank">[img]http://thumbsnap.com/sc/YKH5v2P1.jpg)
Looks good! My favourite of the Tuscan dashboards, and I like the colour combo, striking without being outlandish.
I have gloss black wheels (pic in profile), easier to look after, but you know I think I prefer the alloy colour with your blue.
I have gloss black wheels (pic in profile), easier to look after, but you know I think I prefer the alloy colour with your blue.
Edited by deeen on Friday 3rd August 11:48
Nice one and very shiny indeed!
In an ideal world I'dd have bought myself an "S" in reflex charcoal with black leather interior, dark green carpets and stitching but when buying a LHD version one can't be too picky...
However, repainting and all new interior would be in the region of 7000£ which is not too bad for having the car exactly as you like.
In an ideal world I'dd have bought myself an "S" in reflex charcoal with black leather interior, dark green carpets and stitching but when buying a LHD version one can't be too picky...
However, repainting and all new interior would be in the region of 7000£ which is not too bad for having the car exactly as you like.
Cats said:
Go for shadow chrome - I may be biased
Please feel free to ask over here.
Elysian111 said:
Dear Filos Hippos, please sent me an empty mail to my address:
uneeq77@gmail.com. I would like to ask you some personal questions on the Tuscan, the integrated e-mail function here doesn't seem to work properly, at least not for me.
Thanx a lot, best regards, Marc
uneeq77@gmail.com. I would like to ask you some personal questions on the Tuscan, the integrated e-mail function here doesn't seem to work properly, at least not for me.
Thanx a lot, best regards, Marc
First of all, congrats on buying the Tuscan, this is the one from San Miniato near Pisa (Invidia Motors). I was looking into buying it myself, but I guess you were faster than me. This car sat there for a couple of years and the price dwindled down from 40000 to around 29000 when I last checked. I am curious for much how you finally got it. But this is not a matter to discuss openly.
Is this a collector's machine for you, or are you expecting to sell this a some point in the future.
Enjoy the Tuscan, it is a stunning car!
Is this a collector's machine for you, or are you expecting to sell this a some point in the future.
Enjoy the Tuscan, it is a stunning car!
As a matter of fact the car was first advertised at 75.000€ some time ago...
apparently because the previous (and first) owner paid more then 100.000€ (strong pound at that time) new and didn't want to loose too much...
I don't buy my cars as an investment though and I I've never sold any TVR... Sorry...
Why didn't you start negotiating earlier?
apparently because the previous (and first) owner paid more then 100.000€ (strong pound at that time) new and didn't want to loose too much...I don't buy my cars as an investment though and I I've never sold any TVR... Sorry...
Why didn't you start negotiating earlier?
Elysian111 said:
First of all, congrats on buying the Tuscan, this is the one from San Miniato near Pisa (Invidia Motors). I was looking into buying it myself, but I guess you were faster than me. This car sat there for a couple of years and the price dwindled down from 40000 to around 29000 when I last checked. I am curious for much how you finally got it. But this is not a matter to discuss openly.
Is this a collector's machine for you, or are you expecting to sell this a some point in the future.
Enjoy the Tuscan, it is a stunning car!
Is this a collector's machine for you, or are you expecting to sell this a some point in the future.
Enjoy the Tuscan, it is a stunning car!
Thanx for your fast answer.
75000€, holy cow! Then you really got a good price on the "final offer".
As for myself, I discovered the car on the facebook site from Invidia Motors in May (I think it took themi some time to put it on mobile.de later on), but my work didn't allow me to travel to Italy only until August, and approximately 3 days before I visited Rome and had also planned a trip to Invidia Motors, well I saw your post here and knew that this was the Tuscan in question. Tough luck, because this is the second Tuscan I have "lost" by a couple of days to another buyer... :-( and this one had caught my interest in particular because of it being LHD and in my budget range at the same time.
I can't blame you, I would hold onto it too, but if for any reason at some point should you decide otherwise, just let me know! :-)
In the meanwhile, enjoy the car and the rest of your fleet!
Best regards, Marc
75000€, holy cow! Then you really got a good price on the "final offer".
As for myself, I discovered the car on the facebook site from Invidia Motors in May (I think it took themi some time to put it on mobile.de later on), but my work didn't allow me to travel to Italy only until August, and approximately 3 days before I visited Rome and had also planned a trip to Invidia Motors, well I saw your post here and knew that this was the Tuscan in question. Tough luck, because this is the second Tuscan I have "lost" by a couple of days to another buyer... :-( and this one had caught my interest in particular because of it being LHD and in my budget range at the same time.
I can't blame you, I would hold onto it too, but if for any reason at some point should you decide otherwise, just let me know! :-)
In the meanwhile, enjoy the car and the rest of your fleet!
Best regards, Marc
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