First year of Tuscan ownership - The highs and lows
Discussion
There are loads of threads about whether someone should or shouldn't buy their first Tuscan, so I thought I would share my first year of ownership with you all.
Here goes.....
I wanted a weekend car and had previously owned a Griff and noticed Tuscan prices were starting in the £17k-£19k range (in Aug 06 before the Company collapsed). I only wanted to spend about £17k when I saw one in the colour I wanted for £15k. Heart ruling head, I negotiated and bought it on the spot for £14k. I hadn't heard of Pistonheads at the time so was unaware of potential speed 6 problems and assumed all would be OK as it had just had a major service at a well known TVR dealer.
So this is where the story starts....
Aug 06 - Bought one Chameleon Blue Tuscan, year 2000, 20,000 miles on the clock.
High - Pick car up, so excited. The colour, the noise. I can't stop smiling. Show it off to everyone, whether they know me or not!
High - Front seats look a bit tired and worn, take the car in to have them re-upholstered. Fantastic job done on them. Very happy.
Low- Driving back from picking the car up from the re-upholstering, get an EFI fault and decide to drop into Henley TVR to get it checked out. After an hour of testing get informed that there is oil sitting on top of the valves and its not good. Engine rebuild is required.
Low - get second opinion. Yes, engine rebuild required.
Low - Whilst engine is out get a phone call to say the clutch is knackered and should be replaced now to save cost and also the cats have crumbled and need replacing.
Oct 06 - High - Finally get the car back, everything done, just have to run it in.
Low - Stall it at a roundabout on the way home and can't restart it.
Flatbed takes it away again. Phone call, battery, starter motor and alternator all buggered and part of the wiring melted. All need replacing.
Nov 06 - High - Collect car again and go about chalking up the first 500 miles of running in before it needs a post rebuild check up. Great fun, no problems whatsoever.
Low - Take car in for 500 mile checkup, get told the reground crank isn't as good as it should be and have the crank replaced with a new one and have to run the car in again.
Jan 07 - High - get the car back and stick some CCC's on it. It feels great to drive, looks great and sounds great!!!
Mar 07 - MOT time. Fails. Something or other wrong with front suspension. Have it fixed but car gone for a few weeks.
Apr 07 - High - go for an early morning hoon to the cotswolds with a load of mates all in open top cars. Fantastic A and B roads, fantastic weather. This is why I bought the car!!!!!
May 07 Low - Jump in the car, put foot on clutch, it goes straight to floor. Find out there is a problem with one of the the parts used in the new clutch. Top it up with fluid and take it in. No car for 4 weeks whilst new part comes in.
July 07 High - Get car back and take it (and the good lady) away for the weekend. Fantastic weather once again, brilliant driving roads and all the problems are quickly forgotten.
Aug 07 High - Take it to Normandy for its first Eurohoon! The car gets so much attention. Everywhere I park it people are gathered around it, Bikers give me the thumbs up and the French people just love it. The 180 miles from Calais to Deauville are covered rapidly.....
Low - Driving back from Deauville, I see an M5 and Carerra 4 right up my arse. I grin and think 'I'll have some fun here', put my foot down and the back end snakes all over the road causing a brown trouser moment!!!. I pull onto the hard shoulder to see I only have 4 bolts holding the back wheel on not 5 and those 4 are only hanging on by half a turn each. I reflect and think how lucky I am to still be here. Scary stuff.
I do the bolts up tightly and take it easy back to England.
So, the car is going back into the dealer next week to check if any damage has been done to the wheel and to have some other bits and bobs done to it (mostly bits of trim which don't like staying put when tavelling quickly on foreign roads!).
Hindsight is a wonderful thing and if I had done the research I wouldn't have bought this particular Tuscan. I would have bought one which already had the engine and clutch done. However, I reckon I have spent about £26k on it now (£14k to buy it and £12k in bills)and I have a well sorted car. I plan on keeping it forever....it has just got right under my skin.
Happy tivving!
Here goes.....
I wanted a weekend car and had previously owned a Griff and noticed Tuscan prices were starting in the £17k-£19k range (in Aug 06 before the Company collapsed). I only wanted to spend about £17k when I saw one in the colour I wanted for £15k. Heart ruling head, I negotiated and bought it on the spot for £14k. I hadn't heard of Pistonheads at the time so was unaware of potential speed 6 problems and assumed all would be OK as it had just had a major service at a well known TVR dealer.
So this is where the story starts....
Aug 06 - Bought one Chameleon Blue Tuscan, year 2000, 20,000 miles on the clock.
High - Pick car up, so excited. The colour, the noise. I can't stop smiling. Show it off to everyone, whether they know me or not!
High - Front seats look a bit tired and worn, take the car in to have them re-upholstered. Fantastic job done on them. Very happy.
Low- Driving back from picking the car up from the re-upholstering, get an EFI fault and decide to drop into Henley TVR to get it checked out. After an hour of testing get informed that there is oil sitting on top of the valves and its not good. Engine rebuild is required.
Low - get second opinion. Yes, engine rebuild required.
Low - Whilst engine is out get a phone call to say the clutch is knackered and should be replaced now to save cost and also the cats have crumbled and need replacing.
Oct 06 - High - Finally get the car back, everything done, just have to run it in.
Low - Stall it at a roundabout on the way home and can't restart it.
Flatbed takes it away again. Phone call, battery, starter motor and alternator all buggered and part of the wiring melted. All need replacing.
Nov 06 - High - Collect car again and go about chalking up the first 500 miles of running in before it needs a post rebuild check up. Great fun, no problems whatsoever.
Low - Take car in for 500 mile checkup, get told the reground crank isn't as good as it should be and have the crank replaced with a new one and have to run the car in again.
Jan 07 - High - get the car back and stick some CCC's on it. It feels great to drive, looks great and sounds great!!!
Mar 07 - MOT time. Fails. Something or other wrong with front suspension. Have it fixed but car gone for a few weeks.
Apr 07 - High - go for an early morning hoon to the cotswolds with a load of mates all in open top cars. Fantastic A and B roads, fantastic weather. This is why I bought the car!!!!!
May 07 Low - Jump in the car, put foot on clutch, it goes straight to floor. Find out there is a problem with one of the the parts used in the new clutch. Top it up with fluid and take it in. No car for 4 weeks whilst new part comes in.
July 07 High - Get car back and take it (and the good lady) away for the weekend. Fantastic weather once again, brilliant driving roads and all the problems are quickly forgotten.
Aug 07 High - Take it to Normandy for its first Eurohoon! The car gets so much attention. Everywhere I park it people are gathered around it, Bikers give me the thumbs up and the French people just love it. The 180 miles from Calais to Deauville are covered rapidly.....
Low - Driving back from Deauville, I see an M5 and Carerra 4 right up my arse. I grin and think 'I'll have some fun here', put my foot down and the back end snakes all over the road causing a brown trouser moment!!!. I pull onto the hard shoulder to see I only have 4 bolts holding the back wheel on not 5 and those 4 are only hanging on by half a turn each. I reflect and think how lucky I am to still be here. Scary stuff.
I do the bolts up tightly and take it easy back to England.So, the car is going back into the dealer next week to check if any damage has been done to the wheel and to have some other bits and bobs done to it (mostly bits of trim which don't like staying put when tavelling quickly on foreign roads!).
Hindsight is a wonderful thing and if I had done the research I wouldn't have bought this particular Tuscan. I would have bought one which already had the engine and clutch done. However, I reckon I have spent about £26k on it now (£14k to buy it and £12k in bills)and I have a well sorted car. I plan on keeping it forever....it has just got right under my skin.
Happy tivving!
I just picked up my first Tuscan yesterday, did a little homework , reading the forums before deciding to take the plunge. Had it independantly inspected also, but there are no guarantees there. It has done 21,000 miles with no signs of a rebuild !!!!, but it looks and sounds gorgeous and drives great. So what the hell, the grin factor is worth it alone, if it needs a rebuild then I knew that when I bought it so will just get on with it.
A question for other members is there any way of accessing the ex TVR warranty system to find out what previous repairs may have been done ?
For me so far only one big high, long may it continue, hope you get to use yours now for some time.
Carl
A question for other members is there any way of accessing the ex TVR warranty system to find out what previous repairs may have been done ?
For me so far only one big high, long may it continue, hope you get to use yours now for some time.
Carl
Welcome iso where abouts in Essex are you?Hi Whitey
No, I didn't have to pay for the new crank I think they knew better than to try and charge me for that as well!!!
Still none the wiser about the nuts. I had new rear tyres in March this year and thought that maybe they hadn't been done up properly then but I have done at least 2000 miles since then plus the drive to Normandy was faultless (at speed).
I hate to think the car might have been sabotaged whilst parked up for a few days in France? it could have killed me.
No, I didn't have to pay for the new crank I think they knew better than to try and charge me for that as well!!!
Still none the wiser about the nuts. I had new rear tyres in March this year and thought that maybe they hadn't been done up properly then but I have done at least 2000 miles since then plus the drive to Normandy was faultless (at speed).
I hate to think the car might have been sabotaged whilst parked up for a few days in France? it could have killed me.
iso boy said:
Hi S6, live near Braintree, work Woodford Green.
Look out for orange car with black stripes,,
And you ?,
Just put two new rear tyres on it, so think I'll check my nuts in a week.
Up near Stansted. Look out for orange car with black stripes,,
And you ?,
Just put two new rear tyres on it, so think I'll check my nuts in a week.
That wouldn't be the orange Tuscan with black stripes from Sebrings would it?
Apologies for high-jacking the thread Tony
, when you had the front suspension problem did you fit any after market shocks or was it a structural failure?Don't worry about the thread, always good to spot fellow Tivvers.
It was a structural failure, I am not technical so can't tell you much more than that, however, new shocks and upgraded sound system are next on the shopping list. Top Cats are quite near so will give them a try for the shocks when I have saved a few more pennies.
I wish BigGriff hadn't posted those pictures of his stereo upgrade, I can feel a trip to Norwich coming on to the place he used.
It was a structural failure, I am not technical so can't tell you much more than that, however, new shocks and upgraded sound system are next on the shopping list. Top Cats are quite near so will give them a try for the shocks when I have saved a few more pennies.
I wish BigGriff hadn't posted those pictures of his stereo upgrade, I can feel a trip to Norwich coming on to the place he used.
I think I was just unlucky - I had only done about 500 miles from picking my car up when I got the EFI fault and was told the engine needed the rebuild. I guess me having the fault checked as soon as the warning came on meant I caught it before it actually went pop as there were no funny engine noises that I could hear although I had noticed more black smoke than usual out of the exhausts when starting it up that morning.
Ultimately the cause was that something had got into the engine that shouldn't have (told you I was technical!)and caused damage. I have one of the pistons on my desk as a memento, it is all pitted where whatever had got had marked it.
Its nice to see what £6000 of damage looks like!
Ultimately the cause was that something had got into the engine that shouldn't have (told you I was technical!)and caused damage. I have one of the pistons on my desk as a memento, it is all pitted where whatever had got had marked it.
Its nice to see what £6000 of damage looks like!
how dare you get a spotted after 1 day. It took me 2 years
Looks like we have hijacked this thread....
I did not buy the car from Sebring, saw it in May and e-mailed them but they had sold it. The car came up again on Pistonheads and I bought the car from the chap that bought it from them ( decent chap ). Went and looked at it in the flesh, loved it, then had it inspected by Rob Ingleby, got his details from a TVRCC mag.
I guess I just wanted one that really stood out and boy I have got it.
Spotted after one day !! , guess its just the noise that attracts attention , then it gets noticed, don't feel too bad
I did not buy the car from Sebring, saw it in May and e-mailed them but they had sold it. The car came up again on Pistonheads and I bought the car from the chap that bought it from them ( decent chap ). Went and looked at it in the flesh, loved it, then had it inspected by Rob Ingleby, got his details from a TVRCC mag.
I guess I just wanted one that really stood out and boy I have got it.
Spotted after one day !! , guess its just the noise that attracts attention , then it gets noticed, don't feel too bad
As mentioned before I like this thread and have been on here now for about 2 weeks daily. Are Tuscans really as bad as the threads make out?? I think so!! If its not majour engine failure its clutch, if not that, little piddly things that still cost the earth!! Please tell me I am wrong!
Erm no, they're not as bad as people make out, but they are expensive to run. However, they are no more expensive than any other cars which offer a similar combination of rocket ship performance, continent-crossing practicality and head-turning design. They just happen to cost only 1/3rd as much to buy as most of those competitors, and those cost savings had to come from somewhere.
If you're comparing running costs with 350Zs, Boxsters, M3s, Exiges and the like, then you're not comparing like with like. All of those sacrified at least one of my criteria to be affordable to build, buy and run. TVR opted for Ferrari / Lamborghini / Porsche turbo performance, and skimped on some of the engineering which would have made them more robust.
Check out my profile for my running costs over 2.5 years and 14,000 miles. Not too scary at all.
Pete
If you're comparing running costs with 350Zs, Boxsters, M3s, Exiges and the like, then you're not comparing like with like. All of those sacrified at least one of my criteria to be affordable to build, buy and run. TVR opted for Ferrari / Lamborghini / Porsche turbo performance, and skimped on some of the engineering which would have made them more robust.
Check out my profile for my running costs over 2.5 years and 14,000 miles. Not too scary at all.
Pete
Edited by pete on Monday 24th September 17:34
James
Don't be put off by the doom mongering, remember people don't post to say they have no problems and are happy. These threads are to provide an insight into what owning a TVR is all about. My story isn't unique but I bet there are loads of people out there that haven't had half the problems I have had. I didn't do my research first and got bitten.
I hope my story helps other potential purchasers to buy a well sorted car. There will always be niggles that need doing but you know that before you enter the TVR world, you don't necessarily expect £12k of expense in your first year.
I wouldn't touch another older Tuscan without a rebuild and new clutch, buts thats just me!
Don't be put off by the doom mongering, remember people don't post to say they have no problems and are happy. These threads are to provide an insight into what owning a TVR is all about. My story isn't unique but I bet there are loads of people out there that haven't had half the problems I have had. I didn't do my research first and got bitten.
I hope my story helps other potential purchasers to buy a well sorted car. There will always be niggles that need doing but you know that before you enter the TVR world, you don't necessarily expect £12k of expense in your first year.
I wouldn't touch another older Tuscan without a rebuild and new clutch, buts thats just me!
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