First time TVR?

[anissut]

Hi Chaps,

I have always hankered after a TVR from the old Griffith days and only in recent years I have been able to afford one. Basically, I can't afford to run 2 cars so the TVR would need to be my everyday car which would cover 10k miles a year. I think the Sagaris is a work of art and has performance to match and it seems to me there are some good deals out there. BUT is it an everyday car? I own an M3 CSL at the moment which is a wonderful car which I use daily. Some people wouldn't regard that as a daily car but I have no issues with it.

So a few questions to you all:

1) What is the reliability like with the Sagaris?
2) What are the worthwhile options to have above standard?
3) What's the warranty situation, is it 3 years manufacturers?
4) What are TVR dealers like? Specifically in London
5) Is servicing etc. expensive or similar to any other performance car, ie: like my CSL.

My biggest concern is the car breaking down on me and having to constantly go back to the dealer as with work and needing the car daily I could not handle not having the car on the road for days on end.

Any help would be much appreciated?

Cheers,

Anis

[bogie]

1) What is the reliability like with the Sagaris?

my other half has used hers daily since March...done 12K miles so far with no issues, other than a few niggles (new door trim, adjust window etc)

2) What are the worthwhile options to have above standard?

HID headlamps for a daily driver are useful I guess...there wernt that many options IIRC

3) What's the warranty situation, is it 3 years manufacturers? it was ..not sure now

4) What are TVR dealers like? Specifically in London

dunno - we use Castle TVR at Stansted - top service and reasonable price

5) Is servicing etc. expensive or similar to any other performance car, ie: like my CSL.

yep - about the same I reckon although intervals are more often e.g. every 6K miles ...minor service is about £450 and the 12K one (tappets etc) about £800 ish - other than that then just consumables

[george 500]

1) What is the reliability like with the Sagaris?

A whole heap better than previous TVRs as the quality inprovements have now been fed down the line

2) What are the worthwhile options to have above standard?

Would suggest that in order to avoid the initial depreciation hit that you look for a newly registered car. There are ones out there for substantial discounts off of list. Furthermore the factory is all packed up now and moving which means no new cars are currently being constructed. On top of this I would probably advise against getting one of the first to built in Italy due to inevitable early niggles

3) What's the warranty situation, is it 3 years manufacturers?

Is TVR going to be here in three years? Who knows, certainly there are reports on here of the warranties being less than comprehensive.

4) What are TVR dealers like? Specifically in London

There are no dealers (other than the Kings Cross service centre) actually in London but there are a bevy of TVR specialists in the surrounding area. Depends where you live really.

5) Is servicing etc. expensive or similar to any other performance car, ie: like my CSL.

Refer to above post

The only other thing I would say is that these cars are not ideal around town. They are fairly highly geared and hefty. Hence if you live in London and mostly drive in trafic it would certainly be worth trying one in an urban environment.

Having said all of this they are hugely improved from what the nay-sayers would have you believe and SO much more interesting than any of the generic alternatives. Go for it!

[rpa.janwell]

YHM.

[funky]

1) What is the reliability like with the Sagaris?

I can't comment on this one so far as i've only had it for about 500 miles But the interior looks bomb proof to me!

2) What are the worthwhile options to have above standard?

It comes pretty much fully loaded, only thing i did was get a shiny new sat nav and a reversing camera.

3) What's the warranty situation, is it 3 years manufacturers?

Noone's been able to answer if the warrenty will be backed up now. I would think it's 50/50, i wouldn't give up hope yet, we should know more in the first week of Jan!

4) What are TVR dealers like? Specifically in London

I know racing green Tvr, outside London have amazing reports. That's where i'll be going to.

george 500 said:

The only other thing I would say is that these cars are not ideal around town. They are fairly highly geared and hefty. Hence if you live in London and mostly drive in trafic it would certainly be worth trying one in an urban environment.

I was actually very surprised by how good it was in traffic. I expected it to be a bit more shaky but i find it quite easy to get purring along

[george 500]

I will confess that I have only driven one breifly but in terms of control weightings it was fairly similar to those on the Chim, ie. manly! Didn't have the low rev shunt though which makes mine an absolute pig in crawling traffic

[anissut]

Funky your post over on Talkmorgan actually inspired me to start researching the Sagaris. Congrats on your purchase. I am a friend of Simon's BTW, hence why I'm on there as well. Congrats on the Aero as well. Lovely cars. Will check out Racing Green TVR.

[funky]

I thought i recognized your name I'll be posting about how it's going in about a month when i've had the proper chance to drive them. One warning when i looked into the unregistered sagaris' about two months ago there were 10 brand new ones. Right now there seems only to be 4 left. Best of luck with researching and looking, they are a stunning car!

[TSS]

1) What is the reliability like with the Sagaris?

Not too bad, but expect a few niggles. Mine is a daily driver and they are generally more reliable if used often.

2) What are the worthwhile options to have above standard?

Definitely get the Close Ratio gearbox (60mph in 1st, 100mph in 2nd) - it is the best option I have ever spec'ed on a car. It makes the car far more “driveable” and with one gear change to 100mph there is very little that will keep up with you.

Also get air-con if it is going to be your only car. It works pretty well compared to older the air-con on older TVR’s and is essential if you don’t want to melt in traffic.

3) What's the warranty situation, is it 3 years manufacturers?

3 years manufacturer’s, although an update on the current TVR company situation might be useful here. If you buy second hand from a dealer many will give you a year of their own warranty in addition to the TVR one.

4) What are TVR dealers like? Specifically in London

Another vote for Castle TVR, and Racing Green have a good reputation.

5) Is servicing etc. expensive or similar to any other performance car, ie: like my CSL.

It is expensive, but not in comparison to the performance you get.