Feedback please...

[JonGwynne]

I hired a 4.0 Tuscan for a week a while back and am seriously besotted. I'm thinking seriously about trying to pick one up second hand but I have a few reservations that I hope some helpful Tuscan owners could offer some feedback on...

1. Heat soak. The one I hired didn't have A/C and while I would never seriously consider buying one without it, I don't have any experience with how well the air-con can deal with the intense heat generated by the engine on long trips. Anyone have any thoughts on this? Also, does anyone have any experience with the shifter getting too hot to handle and are there any clever solutions?

2. Clutch weight. I've driven cars with very heavy clutches before so it isn't really a problem but if there was a way to lighten it up a bit, I'd be very interested. Anyone know anything about this? I took a test drive in a Tamora and the clutch seemed much lighter. Is it the difference between the 3.6 and the 4.0 engine? On a related note, anyone know the bore and stroke of the two engines?

3. Cooling system. Anyone have any experience with how this car behaves in hot weather and traffic with the air-con going full blast? Can the cooling system keep up? If not, are there upgrades (e.g. radiator or cooling fans) available?

4. Performance upgrades. Not that there's anything wrong with the stock vehicles, but I found myself thinking that the 97.5 bhp/liter that the Speed Six engine delivers is actually somewhat conservative compared to the 120 bhp/liter delivered by the Honda S2000, the 136 bhp/liter delivered by the Lotus Esprit S4s (or, as long as we're going in this direction, the 150+bhp/liter from the Jaguar XJ220 or Bugatti EB110). It seems to me that it should be fairly easy to extract another 50-100bhp from the Speed Six without losing much user-friendliness or engine durability.

[JonGwynne]

bertie said: Unles I'm very much mistaken the Esprit S4 engine is also a turbo, and they go pop more often than a well known breakfast cereal.

Based on what I've read and heard from people who have owned them... if they're properly cared for and regularly driven, the 2.2l Lotus turbo unit should be good for 80k-100k before needing a rebuild. Not exactly Merc-level longevity but pretty respectable.

As for the Speed Six's widely-reputed fragility, apart from problems caused by defective components (and it seems that TVR does learn from these incidents if not as quickly as some of us think they should), are probably related to ignorance and abuse.

In other words, not every TVR owner knows how to care for their cars like the people here - i.e. running the engine in properly and understanding the importance of letting it warm up before exercising it.

[JonGwynne]

phil1 said: 1. Early gear levers weren't heat shielded, but this was soon fixed and retro fitted so shouldn't get too hot. However I find the metal gets hotter from direct sunlight than through heat soak...

2. I find the clutch lighter than in my old Chimaera so can't complain.

3. My aircon is able to keep up with the heatsoak in stop start traffic, keeping the cabin nicely cool. However the aircon does have to do a lot of work to get rid of heat from already hot parts of the transmission tunnel before cooling down the cabin on a hot day when turning it on. It's also noticeably colder when on the move, but then its' competing with less heat soak.

Basically give it a bit of time to get going and and it should keep the cabin cool. Don't expect Eurobox type aircon where the air is immediately cold... it's got a lot more work to do.

4. Don't mention 'durability' in reference to the Speed 6 engine. Mine has been fine and not required a rebuild, but people have suffered and are understandly annoyed about the current level of durability in the engine, let alone after further tuning!

Thanks for the info.

A couple of follow-up questions if I may...


1. Is there any way to tell if the retrofit has been done on an older car?


3. Have you ever had your engine overheat in traffic? Have you ever driven the car on a hot day in traffic? Any problems with overheating?

[JonGwynne]

Saw a nice W-reg the other day. I didn't have time to take it for a spin but I did notice that the clutch is a lot lighter than the one in the car I hired (which was an older model). That's one worry gone.

Anyway, I have heard that the 2000 models are still from the "dark times" of engine reliability. The bloke selling it showed me a sticker in the boot and said this means the car has been back to Blackpool for recall servicing and that I shouldn't worry about problems with the valves or followers or whatever it was that the S6 suffered from serious problems with. Anyone have any thoughts on this? Sound reasonable or should I hold out for a newer/different car? Is there some sort of inspection that can be done which will reveal anything about the state of the engine?

I understand I'm not going to get Japanese/German-level build quality and that I'm going to have to pay close attention to things like keeping the oil-level right and making sure the beast warms up properly before flexing my right foot. I'm used to having to give my cars a little TLC. My last car was a Delorean and my current car is a M-reg Jaguar XJR.

There are several sports-car rental places around that stock Tuscans. I figure they can't be universally fragile if they can survive the sort of flogging that hire cars get.

Also, what's the story with extended warranties from TVR? I'm told that they don't sell Speed-Six engine components to outsiders so if you want the lump rebuilt it has to come to Blackpool, and the cost for this can go above £5,000 if the warranty has expired. I'd be willing to pay a little "protection money" to insulate myself from this. Anyone know how much it would be or whether it is worthwhile?

Thanks.

J