Marcos Returns
Author
Discussion

piper

Original Poster:

298 posts

284 months

Wednesday 10th July 2002
quotequote all
Another great name returns, hopefully for good this time, check out the press release www.saxby01.freeserve.co.uk/ts250-pr.htm

castex

5,007 posts

289 months

Wednesday 10th July 2002
quotequote all
Hooray!
What's more, it looks great! Viper green, pefect for slithering around in.

dan

1,068 posts

300 months

Wednesday 10th July 2002
quotequote all
Hmm Not sure that I'm keen on the new front lights, makes it look a bit like an angry MX5.

Twin Turbo

5,544 posts

282 months

Wednesday 10th July 2002
quotequote all


Excellent news. I remember seeing a (very) pre-production version of this car in a magazine article ages ago. This was not long before the company bit the dust.

Good to see it back. I assume the 2.5l V6 is the Mondeo unit?

Good luck Marcos!

smeagol

1,947 posts

300 months

Wednesday 10th July 2002
quotequote all
Are they going to continue producing the LM500 lovely car.

JonRB

78,124 posts

288 months

Wednesday 10th July 2002
quotequote all
From the one and only picture on that page, it looks like a Chimaera with a different headlight treatment to me.

However, its unfair to judge a car on just one picture so I'll reserve judgement for a while.

shok

133 posts

280 months

Wednesday 10th July 2002
quotequote all
Great news, looks like Marcos are getting back to the more traditional styling of the Mantara......not sure about the headlights or the name (Marcasite?). No mention of price tag either.
Good to see them back though, I hope it lasts this time.

Twin Turbo

5,544 posts

282 months

Wednesday 10th July 2002
quotequote all
They look like Peugoet headlamps, just as on the new Ascari. Quite like them myself.

Lets hope Marcos don't price themselves out of the market. Low to mid thirties should do it, sort of middway between top line MX-5s and TVR's Tamora.

I'd like to see them re-introduce the coupe body to the range (as they had in the sixties). Always looked great to my eyes.

Imelda

793 posts

282 months

Wednesday 10th July 2002
quotequote all
quote:

Great news, looks like Marcos are getting back to the more traditional styling of the Mantara......
quote:


And what's wrong with the Mantis then?

Looks like a mildly face-lifted Mantaray. No mention of performance or prices. 180bhp is not exactly going to scorch the asphalt though. If it's priced above 30K I think they may struggle. An extra 7K would buy you a Tamora with twice the power. The previous Mantaray was about 40K with the 4.6 V8 and this must have contributed to their downfall. Slower but more expensive than the equivalent TVR.

I really hope they succeed. Not sure they will.

Sorry - I must be in a pessimistic mood today.

viperman

956 posts

281 months

Wednesday 10th July 2002
quotequote all
this is great news, hopefuly they can get a sucsesful car going

Roadrunner

2,690 posts

283 months

Wednesday 10th July 2002
quotequote all
What happened to the supercharged 4.7 litre v8 with 450odd ponies?

Whoozit

3,848 posts

285 months

Wednesday 10th July 2002
quotequote all
quote:

Lets hope Marcos don't price themselves out of the market. Low to mid thirties should do it, sort of middway between top line MX-5s and TVR's Tamora.



Er - top whack MX-5 is around £17k from the dealer, I think. Although coincidentally I was about to say that it looks like a grown-up MX5 and if it handles as well, it would be a lot of fun. I'm even more annoyed I'm not going to Goodwood now.

gnomesmith

2,458 posts

292 months

Wednesday 10th July 2002
quotequote all
How long before the V8 is reintroduced?

It is impossible to keep Jem Marsh out of the industry for any length of time, the world of sports cars would be a poorer place without him and his ilk.

Nightmare

5,272 posts

300 months

Wednesday 10th July 2002
quotequote all
Interesting...but also interesting that the only 2 Marcos owners on here both own Mantises (Manti? Mantis? christ knows ) and an earlier owner did too...dont think Ive ever met an owner of a mantaray....wonder if they can compete in this sector? I think Imedla maybe right on this one...it doesnt exactly scream 'competitive advantage' does it?

ginettag27

6,568 posts

285 months

Wednesday 10th July 2002
quotequote all
If you follow the Marcos Engineering links ultimately they take you to :

www.marcos-eng.com/launch.html

Which shows the rear quarter and profile of the car...

Hmmm... Just can't see it working myself, unless it's quite cheap. Like the rest of the market, you either go for something small and quick (Lotus Seven Replica and so on) or something big and quick, but these days you're looking for comfort and reliability... the Boxster and even the Elise put paid to a lot of those cars...

It will be interesting to see where they aim it (pricewise and therefore who they'll be competing against) and what it drives and handles like, plus the quality of the workmanship and comfort...

PS

Imelda

793 posts

282 months

Wednesday 10th July 2002
quotequote all
Well now, lets see:

BMW Z3 2.2 - £22,020 - 170bhp
Honda S2000 - £25,995 - 237bhp
Alfa Spider 3.0 - £26,340 - 218bhp
BMW Z3 3.0 - £27,030 - 231bhp
Porsche Boxster 2.7 - £31,450 - 220bhp
TVR Chimaera 4.5 - £35,165 - 285bhp
BMW Z3 M - £36,000 - 325bhp
TVR Tamora - £36,385 - 350bhp

So where is a 180bhp Marcos gonna fit in that list? I know there's more to this than bhp figures, but that's pretty stiff competition.

Build quality and reliability are unknown quantities, looks are subjective, performance will be less than electrifying, marketing has ,so far, been non-existent. Prospective buyers must be given a good reason to spend their hard-earned on this, and I'm struggling to find one.

I'd love to be proved wrong on this one.

smeagol

1,947 posts

300 months

Thursday 11th July 2002
quotequote all
You're missing what Marcos actually did. They built cars to your specification BMW, Porche don't you choose from a list. When I looked at Marcos their luxury was second to none on the market ie full leather interiors, wooden dash and becuase they took longer to build I would say more relieble than a tiv.

The other thing that Marcos did was do very well in GT2 championships, they were always up there.

I think there is room for this car compared to the list you mention. Good luck to them.

Nightmare

5,272 posts

300 months

Thursday 11th July 2002
quotequote all
Smeagol...all fair points...but so far two of the biggest 'questionners' over this car are actual Marcos owners....and we're a rather dying breed You obviously really liked the one you saw, but didn't buy it....why? (if you dont mind me asking)

Night

smeagol

1,947 posts

300 months

Thursday 11th July 2002
quotequote all
Several reasons: They are quite far away (compared to the Lotus dealer down the road), talking to some of my friends in car industry the trade-in values were not particulaly good (at the time I was borrowing money to buy the car so if everything went pear shaped I needed to recoup most money back)

Finally the Elan was a better deal with the money I had compared to what I could buy from Marcos. I must say though that the Marcos was very high on the list.

Nightmare

5,272 posts

300 months

Thursday 11th July 2002
quotequote all
think that's part of the problem...they tend to get high on lots of peoples lists, and then fall down due to too great exclusivity, onership inconvenience and fear over buying an effectively 'unknown' brand.....hmm.... well I REALLY hope this car comes off, cos I think Marcos are great