Stupid Noob Concerns :(
Discussion
First of all sorry about this, just need to ask a couple of planky questions.
I think I'm going to end up choosing a Griff over an RX7 now, mainly because the first 6 months of ownership is going to be done in Spain, and well it does have a drop down roof
My biggest concern about this, as you may have guessed is reliability.
I have NO idea what mechanics are like over here, and most people drive absolute crap diesels, I doubt a TVR has ever even entered the city im living in.
Obviously I want to buy a car that is going to be a gooden, and Im more than likely to get one from PH anyway but cars being cars, something can always need sorting out.
Hopefully I can rope somone who knows about TVR's in when I go to look for one, and I will definately have a service done as well.
Hopefully going to have around 12K for a black beauty.
I think I'm going to end up choosing a Griff over an RX7 now, mainly because the first 6 months of ownership is going to be done in Spain, and well it does have a drop down roof
My biggest concern about this, as you may have guessed is reliability.
I have NO idea what mechanics are like over here, and most people drive absolute crap diesels, I doubt a TVR has ever even entered the city im living in.
Obviously I want to buy a car that is going to be a gooden, and Im more than likely to get one from PH anyway but cars being cars, something can always need sorting out.
Hopefully I can rope somone who knows about TVR's in when I go to look for one, and I will definately have a service done as well.
Hopefully going to have around 12K for a black beauty.
Ah - where to start?
TVRs and reliability? Well I can say that in the last 6 years I have had an Audi (12 months at start) which has had three call outs to the RAC/Audi Warranty and about five call outs to TVRs. However, four of those five were flat batteries!
Moral: Use it or lose it!
Mechanics and Griffs? Well anyone who knows their way round a car shouldn't have too much difficulty finding their way round a Rover V8. I know nothing so I rely on a TVR independent specialist - but even if I didn't use him it couldn't be too difficult. It's even easier when you have the wealth of information on these fora!
A place not touched by TVRs? You'd be surprised but then again, that's a damn good reason to get one!
Lastly - if you're worried about a mechanic on a 50 year old engine design in the simplest of set ups, what on earth would you do with some Jap exotica????
Decision's a good 'un!
PS: You're based in Surrey - you are spoilt for choice with experts locally, so use them when having your potential purchase inspected: Dave Batty (I'd prefer), Austec, APM, Racing Green.... who have I missed out???
TVRs and reliability? Well I can say that in the last 6 years I have had an Audi (12 months at start) which has had three call outs to the RAC/Audi Warranty and about five call outs to TVRs. However, four of those five were flat batteries!
Moral: Use it or lose it! Mechanics and Griffs? Well anyone who knows their way round a car shouldn't have too much difficulty finding their way round a Rover V8. I know nothing so I rely on a TVR independent specialist - but even if I didn't use him it couldn't be too difficult. It's even easier when you have the wealth of information on these fora!
A place not touched by TVRs? You'd be surprised but then again, that's a damn good reason to get one!
Lastly - if you're worried about a mechanic on a 50 year old engine design in the simplest of set ups, what on earth would you do with some Jap exotica????
Decision's a good 'un!
PS: You're based in Surrey - you are spoilt for choice with experts locally, so use them when having your potential purchase inspected: Dave Batty (I'd prefer), Austec, APM, Racing Green.... who have I missed out???
Edited by beano500 on Monday 26th February 08:52
Yeah thats partly why I have decided to go for a Griff over a track based 450Bhp RX7, because I dont think they would know what to do if something needed fixing or upgrading.
Im fairly sure a TVR hasn't entered this city unless it was by mistake, hehe.
Yes there definately is a lot of people who can inspect the car after purchase as well.
I'm not sure for the money but I'd like to get one with better brakes and suspension as well before I take it out of the uk.
More importantly... one with an extremely loud, fire breathing, poping and crackling exhaust
Guess there's no point worrying about stuff at the moment until I get one !
Im fairly sure a TVR hasn't entered this city unless it was by mistake, hehe.
Yes there definately is a lot of people who can inspect the car after purchase as well.
I'm not sure for the money but I'd like to get one with better brakes and suspension as well before I take it out of the uk.
More importantly... one with an extremely loud, fire breathing, poping and crackling exhaust
Guess there's no point worrying about stuff at the moment until I get one !
Having lived with a Griff in Spain for best part of 5 years now, I'm probably in a unique position to respond. A few observations:
· I see your place of abode is/will be Santiago de Compostela: I'd be v surprised if no TVR has ever bin there. In fact there's a Spanish guy based not a million miles away in Vigo who's got his LHD Griff for sale in classifieds at present, I bet he's been to Santago on occasion. TVRs/Griffs are rare over here but not THAT rare.
· Re your roof-down comments, don't mean to put a 'damper' on things but if you don't know Galicia's climate yet, you'll soon find out that it has it's own micro-climate and statistically must be one of the rainiest parts of Spain. Even in high summer when it's scorching elsewhere it's ofetn raining up there. Rain aside, roof-down attitude in summer is pretty hazardous; in Madrid, for example, during the heat of the day it's impossible to go topless, you'd get fried alive. Early mornings & dusk-onwards is fine but roof on & air con full up is my typical summertime default setting.
· Echo Beano's comments about reliability/servicing. In my personal experience (& touch wood!) the Griff is basically a reliable machine. Any competent mechanic with a knowledge of the RV8 engine should be able to keep you sorted when 'issues' arise although I have tended to take mine back to UK once a year for full servicing. If on occasion you need to order some TVR-specific part from the UK (as I have recently) well that's not the end of the world either. The best way to allay your concerns is to due your 'due diligence' thoroughly at the outset & make sure you purchase a good'un.
tj
· I see your place of abode is/will be Santiago de Compostela: I'd be v surprised if no TVR has ever bin there. In fact there's a Spanish guy based not a million miles away in Vigo who's got his LHD Griff for sale in classifieds at present, I bet he's been to Santago on occasion. TVRs/Griffs are rare over here but not THAT rare.
· Re your roof-down comments, don't mean to put a 'damper' on things but if you don't know Galicia's climate yet, you'll soon find out that it has it's own micro-climate and statistically must be one of the rainiest parts of Spain. Even in high summer when it's scorching elsewhere it's ofetn raining up there. Rain aside, roof-down attitude in summer is pretty hazardous; in Madrid, for example, during the heat of the day it's impossible to go topless, you'd get fried alive. Early mornings & dusk-onwards is fine but roof on & air con full up is my typical summertime default setting.
· Echo Beano's comments about reliability/servicing. In my personal experience (& touch wood!) the Griff is basically a reliable machine. Any competent mechanic with a knowledge of the RV8 engine should be able to keep you sorted when 'issues' arise although I have tended to take mine back to UK once a year for full servicing. If on occasion you need to order some TVR-specific part from the UK (as I have recently) well that's not the end of the world either. The best way to allay your concerns is to due your 'due diligence' thoroughly at the outset & make sure you purchase a good'un.
tj
Heh, yes I know that the weather here is quite funky, haven't seen what a summer is like yet
Ok so thats roughly the good kind of answers I was expecting (the car being quite basic, fixing ect).
I would say that the roof down whilst its baking is going to be new for me, its not an essential thing for me as I actually prefer a stipped out tin box with a cage around me...(not sure why)
Well hopefully as long as the bank thinks Im ok for a loan, then I'll be in the Griff Gang for a while
Guess one decision I need to sort out is what model to look at.
Ok so thats roughly the good kind of answers I was expecting (the car being quite basic, fixing ect).
I would say that the roof down whilst its baking is going to be new for me, its not an essential thing for me as I actually prefer a stipped out tin box with a cage around me...(not sure why)
Well hopefully as long as the bank thinks Im ok for a loan, then I'll be in the Griff Gang for a while
Guess one decision I need to sort out is what model to look at.
Edited by RobPhoboS on Monday 26th February 10:20
beano500 said:
TVRs and reliability? Well I can say that in the last 6 years I have had an Audi (12 months at start) which has had three call outs to the RAC/Audi Warranty and about five call outs to TVRs. However, four of those five were flat batteries!
Moral: Use it or lose it! 4 or 5 callouts is damn good considering the mileage you used to do in the Griff
£12k ought to get a pretty good Griff, although it may have a few miles on it... Don't worry about that though - I have just seen the inside of the engine of mine (with 100k+ miles on it) and it looks in better shape that some with a mere 30k on them.
I'll second Dave Batty as being someone well worth knowing.
dnb said:
4 or 5 callouts is damn good considering the mileage you used to do in the Griff
....and did I mention that 3 of those have been the Tuscan! Yup, about 50,000 miles and the only "show-stopper" was coil packing up. That could happen on anything.
Good to hear that the inside's as good as the rest of the car!
I want to know why so many people think TVR's are really unreliable ?
(or was that just because of early Tuscan's or something?)
Bad stigma, like all Jap cars are for chavs (posh chavs!)
I've been in a few TVR's and the kind owners never said they had problems, I was just asking because I have no idea how complicated they would be to work on (now I can kind of tell it should be easy enough).
(or was that just because of early Tuscan's or something?)
Bad stigma, like all Jap cars are for chavs (posh chavs!)
I've been in a few TVR's and the kind owners never said they had problems, I was just asking because I have no idea how complicated they would be to work on (now I can kind of tell it should be easy enough).
One reason is the simple fact of a glassfibre body.
In years gone by the electrics were'nt brilliant (but then whose ever were?). Now when the cars were second- and third-hand you can imagine someone doing some special "adjustments" courtesy of Bodgitt & Scarper, can't you? You can get away with an awful lot if you can earth your circuit, but that won't happen in a plastic TVR. Hence people thought they were gremlin ridden.
Second reason is that too many are second or third cars that only come out once in a blue moon.
Nothing's reliable if you don't get it out and play with it regularly (Oo-er Missus, I've caught something off Podie)
Third point is that the TVR factory has never done its quality control in-house. The customer IS the quality control! They could have done it differently, but you'd probably end up paying twice as much for the car....
Next is the issue about owner consideration. It's all very well taking a Eurobox to the rev limiter by the end of the drive, but race engines need a bit of empathy. 'Nuf sed?
Next - there probably were and still are some reliability issues.
But let's not go there right now - you can spend a pleasant month or two reading away on these fora to tell you all you want to know. Suffice to say that plenty of highly strung exotica all have their issues at times and plenty of us believe that TVRs are not the unreliable heaps that some would have you believe
In years gone by the electrics were'nt brilliant (but then whose ever were?). Now when the cars were second- and third-hand you can imagine someone doing some special "adjustments" courtesy of Bodgitt & Scarper, can't you? You can get away with an awful lot if you can earth your circuit, but that won't happen in a plastic TVR. Hence people thought they were gremlin ridden.
Second reason is that too many are second or third cars that only come out once in a blue moon.
Nothing's reliable if you don't get it out and play with it regularly (Oo-er Missus, I've caught something off Podie)
Third point is that the TVR factory has never done its quality control in-house. The customer IS the quality control! They could have done it differently, but you'd probably end up paying twice as much for the car....
Next is the issue about owner consideration. It's all very well taking a Eurobox to the rev limiter by the end of the drive, but race engines need a bit of empathy. 'Nuf sed?
Next - there probably were and still are some reliability issues.
But let's not go there right now - you can spend a pleasant month or two reading away on these fora to tell you all you want to know. Suffice to say that plenty of highly strung exotica all have their issues at times and plenty of us believe that TVRs are not the unreliable heaps that some would have you believe Gassing Station | Griffith | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff