Possible New T350 Owner

[justin220]

Morning all! Very Early morning!

Anyways, I am thinking about going for a T350C or T soon, not sure which? Probably a C. Do they come with Aircon? Or is it not really Necessary? Currently I have a Lotus Exige, and had a tuned VXT before.

Sorry if its been asked before but what are the main things to look for when buying? I would be trading the Exige in at a garage, and hoping for some sort of warentee?

Also what are they like on the motorway? Its currently a 250mile round trip to see the misses until the summer, but its all motorway miles.. I guess comfier than the Lotus?

Have a friend with a Tuscan, are the running costs similar? 20mpg? £500 normal service? £150-£200 a tyre?

Thanks for any advice! Scared I drive one, and buy it!

[carsarecool]

Air Con - not standard, but essential!

Buy on condition and how the car has been maintained. Late 2004 cars had engine niggles sorted out and were slightly revised (sun visors etc etc).

Car is fine on the motorway, very comfy, did a trip from Le Mans to Berlin in a day last year.

You'll get nearly 30mpg on a gentle motorway run,half that if you give it some beans though!
Tyres £ 130 a pop, service £450 for 6000 miler,double that for a 12,000 service.

I went from an Elise 111s to a T350C. You'll miss the handling but love the grunt.

Get one with a sports exhaust and nitrons fitted and enjoy

[KillerJim]

Sounds about right, I get around 20mpg for motorwarys (alot less if I`m enjoying the pop's and bangs..)

You *will* need air-con in the summer, I don`t know how anyone would drive a Sagaris/T350 without it. Mine gets hot inside and the air-con struggles (maybe a re-gas thing) and its only May!

James

[Mr John]

carsarecool said:

Air Con - not standard, but essential!

Buy on condition and how the car has been maintained. Late 2004 cars had engine niggles sorted out and were slightly revised (sun visors etc etc).

Car is fine on the motorway, very comfy, did a trip from Le Mans to Berlin in a day last year.

You'll get nearly 30mpg on a gentle motorway run,half that if you give it some beans though!
Tyres £ 130 a pop, service £450 for 6000 miler,double that for a 12,000 service.

I went from an Elise 111s to a T350C. You'll miss the handling but love the grunt.

Get one with a sports exhaust and nitrons fitted and enjoy

Echo the above.
Went from a couple of Elises Mk1 and 2, to a T350t.
Still wanted an open top type car.
Air con not a necessity in a T.
If I get double figures (MPG) I'm happy, but I do like to give it some beans.
It will do alot better on a run.
Servicing costs vary but aim around that mark.
Handling comments spot on, I do miss that about the Lotus. The standard T350 set up is very average, to be polite.
Had Protechs fitted and full geometry set up which improved things alot.

[justin220]

Thanks for the replies! Another question, does the targa parts from the roof fit into the boot? In fact how big is the boot? Bigger than the lotus i hope! I have seen one i want to go and see, and it does have aircon, thankfully..

[grumbledoak]

Hi Justin

Air-con seems to be a plus point for re-sale, but I live without it for most of the year; I like having the windows open. MPG, as said, can be close to 30 on a gentle run, though I suspect you can push it down to single figures if you try. I don't think about it, TBH - I never expected her to be frugal. Servicing can be reasonable, e.g. see http://www.tvrpower.co.uk/servicing.php, but these are never going to be cheap to run. She's a great GT car, I've comfortably driven mine to Holland and back for a weekend. And the T's panels will easily fit in the back, though it is more a 'back' than a 'boot', it is spacious.

If I was looking, now, I'd aim for as late a car as you can afford - TVR constantly improved all of it's models, and the Smolenski push for quality control (about '04 on) does seem to have been real, at least in part.

Care to give us a budget? Or an example for sale?

[Targarama]

Yes, they fit in to two bags, loads of space in the boot - its a hatchback. Slightly less space than an Audi TT with the seats folded down, more than a TT with the seats up (we used to have a TT).

[grumbledoak]

To add: Do read the FAQ: http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0...

[justin220]

thanks guys. Budget wise, I was looking at just over the £20k mark, maybe up to 23k? Though the two main ones i am looking at are the black ones in the for sale sections, both 2003 models.. Is this a major problem?

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/507253.htm
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/461996.htm

Not totally sure what my exige is worth but I think it would be around the 25k mark

[Targarama]

justin220 said:

thanks guys. Budget wise, I was looking at just over the £20k mark, maybe up to 23k? Though the two main ones i am looking at are the black ones in the for sale sections, both 2003 models.. Is this a major problem?

http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/507253.htm
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/461996.htm

Not totally sure what my exige is worth but I think it would be around the 25k mark

They do look good in black don't they! Both look like nice examples. The higher mileage one has a full rebuild and new clutch - so mechanically is probably a slightly safer bet than the other one. However, that doesn't mean the other one is bad, I wouldn't bet money on either one going wrong first. I see it has a 'WU' registratation - this means it probably came from the same dealer as mine - David Hendry TVR. Give Andrew in service a call - he'll give you the skinny on the car and what has been done to it (assuming it was serviced there).

[justin220]

Thanks mate, i was thinking the same thing, will hopefully be going to see it next week when i get back onshore!

[toobin]

Ahh missed this thread. The black one is my old car and is perfect in everyway.. to be honest I'm a bit gutted I sold it..I did have a well priced saggy lined up which fell through

Good luck with the test drive Justin and feel free to call me if you have any questions.

[justin220]

yeah thanks mate, you might regret that! ha ha.. seeing it on saturday and hopefully will be driving it home the same day

[puckrup]

Hi Justin, missed this thread too, you will love the T350. The Exige will be better in the corners though. Just back from SIDC track day at KH this weekend, Exige/Elise all over me in the twisty bits but not a look in on the straights....

Servicing is not cheap but acceptable. I use Hexham Horseless Carriages nr Newcastle. Only other alternative in Scotland is Dreadnought Garage @ Callander

Question - did you take the pics of the Exige in your profile? Superb....

Give me a bell once you buy the car, there are a few Tiv owners in the Aberdeen area

Neil

Edited by puckrup on Monday 19th May 13:28

[TvrT350t]

Just caught up with this topic. If your interested in a T350t 2004 pop me an email. It just's done over 14,000 miles and its Reflex Charcoal. TVR service history and one owner. If you are interested just pop me a line and i'll send all the info. I will be placing the car in the Pistonheads Ads this week.

Cheers
Jon

[justin220]

puckrup said:

Hi Justin, missed this thread too, you will love the T350. The Exige will be better in the corners though. Just back from SIDC track day at KH this weekend, Exige/Elise all over me in the twisty bits but not a look in on the straights....

Servicing is not cheap but acceptable. I use Hexham Horseless Carriages nr Newcastle. Only other alternative in Scotland is Dreadnought Garage @ Callander

Question - did you take the pics of the Exige in your profile? Superb....

Give me a bell once you buy the car, there are a few Tiv owners in the Aberdeen area

Neil

Edited by puckrup on Monday 19th May 13:28

Yeah i know what you mean about the twisties, but as I said, the Lotus just isnt getting enough track action, more motorways/country roads..

Dreadnought garage is where im planning on using, a work mate uses them for her Tuscan and couldnt speak highly enough of them.. You might have seen it, purpley blueish colour in aberdeen. Yeah I took those pics, think it was the first month I had the car thanks!

Hopefully will get it on Saturday, so will give you a shout then! I'm sure I will have plenty of questions!