From TVR to MX5
Discussion
Hi Guys
Finally picked her up & drove home on Sunday. Weather was apalling & I had 260 miles of motorway to look forward to but she was great. No leaks, no fuss. In the Griff I would have been a nervous wreck by the end (If I had actually made it!)
Initial thoughts:-
I love driving her & just want to go for a blat. I think this is because she just seems 'right' for me - small, light, revvy & easy to drive.
Everything works! Unlike most TVRs I've owned
Throttle response is amazing, so little inertia. I guess down to the lightened flywheel
She is as flat as a pancake under 4k. hopefully advancing the timing will help here
I love the fruity exhaust note - down to the after market rear section
Things that need sorting:-
Full service & cambelt change booked in with Freelance Mazda. mark is going to check her over top to bottom. Also having Diff & geargox oils changed.
Door to window trim on N/S rusty so needs replacing
Radio crap & CD not working - must contact Lawrence
Battery banging about in boot - no clamp
Ride is harder than I was hoping for. Combination of 12 yr old bilsteins, 50 profile tyres I guess.
Tyres are such a mix. 2 X Mich pilot Exalto, 1 X Bridgestone potenza RE01, 1 X Continental Prem Contact. All part worn but with loads of tread. This obvously needs sorting & may even help the ride quality. Now do I replace them all with 4 new Toyos or do I keep the 2 Pilots & buy 2 new ones to match? Any experience of the Pilots? Any market for the existing tyres if I replace them all?
4 wheel set up- any rec's in the kent area?
Cheers
Simon
Finally picked her up & drove home on Sunday. Weather was apalling & I had 260 miles of motorway to look forward to but she was great. No leaks, no fuss. In the Griff I would have been a nervous wreck by the end (If I had actually made it!)
Initial thoughts:-
I love driving her & just want to go for a blat. I think this is because she just seems 'right' for me - small, light, revvy & easy to drive.
Everything works! Unlike most TVRs I've owned
Throttle response is amazing, so little inertia. I guess down to the lightened flywheel
She is as flat as a pancake under 4k. hopefully advancing the timing will help here
I love the fruity exhaust note - down to the after market rear section
Things that need sorting:-
Full service & cambelt change booked in with Freelance Mazda. mark is going to check her over top to bottom. Also having Diff & geargox oils changed.
Door to window trim on N/S rusty so needs replacing
Radio crap & CD not working - must contact Lawrence
Battery banging about in boot - no clamp
Ride is harder than I was hoping for. Combination of 12 yr old bilsteins, 50 profile tyres I guess.
Tyres are such a mix. 2 X Mich pilot Exalto, 1 X Bridgestone potenza RE01, 1 X Continental Prem Contact. All part worn but with loads of tread. This obvously needs sorting & may even help the ride quality. Now do I replace them all with 4 new Toyos or do I keep the 2 Pilots & buy 2 new ones to match? Any experience of the Pilots? Any market for the existing tyres if I replace them all?
4 wheel set up- any rec's in the kent area?
Cheers
Simon
I used to have Pilots on mine, and I quite liked them, had no problem with them at all. As well as the Toyo's the other popular ones are the Goodyear Eagle F1's, which is what I have on at the momentand were actually cheaper than the Michelins. I'm pretty impressed with them.
Tony Bones at Wheels in Motion is the only place to go for your alignment, over in Hemel Hempsted. Ok, a bit of a distance, but worth every penny. If it is too far then you want to phone him, sometimes he can recommend a place and give you an idea of set-up. He's been known to contact other places that people have taken their cars to and talk them through what needs to be done. He's a top bloke who knows his stuff when it comes to 5s.
Tony Bones at Wheels in Motion is the only place to go for your alignment, over in Hemel Hempsted. Ok, a bit of a distance, but worth every penny. If it is too far then you want to phone him, sometimes he can recommend a place and give you an idea of set-up. He's been known to contact other places that people have taken their cars to and talk them through what needs to be done. He's a top bloke who knows his stuff when it comes to 5s.
I've had Exaltos too (PE2) but I hated them. They seemed to grip well enough but the sidewalls were too squidgy - made the cornering feel a bit vague. Even the notoriously soft sidewalled Toyo's were better!
I'd go with a full set of GY F1 GSD3. Stiffer tyres but the handling is SO much better, especially in the wet! (any performance tyre will be rubbish on cold/frosty tyres but you'll already know that!).
I'd put the hard ride down to the 12 year old Bilsteins. They were stiffer than normal shocks when new! Upgrade to P5 Puredrive
I'd go with a full set of GY F1 GSD3. Stiffer tyres but the handling is SO much better, especially in the wet! (any performance tyre will be rubbish on cold/frosty tyres but you'll already know that!).
I'd put the hard ride down to the 12 year old Bilsteins. They were stiffer than normal shocks when new! Upgrade to P5 Puredrive
SIMON67 said:
Radio crap & CD not working - must contact Lawrence
Good to see you are enjoying the MX5.
I have recently had 4 wheel laser alignment done at Torque Developments International in Dartford. They are connected to Wheels In Motion. I spoke to Tony Bones and he suggested what set up i go for and then phoned TDI to let them know what to do to my car.
You pay for the time it takes to adjust everything. My car had some major adjustments made at the rear. It took a good while to do and only cost £100 with VAT. I'd suggest spraying some penetrating fluid on all the suspension bits that look adjustable. This will save you some labour time.
I'd definitely recommend TDI as they were very prfofessional and had a really nice waiting area with loads of things to read. The quality of some of the cars they had in the workshop was amazing.
Matt
I have recently had 4 wheel laser alignment done at Torque Developments International in Dartford. They are connected to Wheels In Motion. I spoke to Tony Bones and he suggested what set up i go for and then phoned TDI to let them know what to do to my car.
You pay for the time it takes to adjust everything. My car had some major adjustments made at the rear. It took a good while to do and only cost £100 with VAT. I'd suggest spraying some penetrating fluid on all the suspension bits that look adjustable. This will save you some labour time.
I'd definitely recommend TDI as they were very prfofessional and had a really nice waiting area with loads of things to read. The quality of some of the cars they had in the workshop was amazing.
Matt
Flintstone said:
SIMON67 said:
Unlike most of the TVRs that I have owned I'm looking forward to fun, cheap & trouble free motoring!
So you bought badly, went soft and have gone for a lesser car? Lightweight 
Went soft - yes
gone for a lesser car - no, just gone for a car that is properly designed and manufactured.
Seems a bit of a provactive post to me - maybe though you're the one TVR owner who has a car that spens more of its time on the road than in the garage (not being funny here - most owners seem disappointed by the reliability).
Mazda vs TVR chalk and cheese - Mazda put millions into making a top selling, reliable car for the mainstream, TVR put what development they could into a specialist car, in my opinion they did a bit of a 'Rover' kept releasing old tech in new clothes too many times.
Some cars are exciting to drive, and very challenging. Others, (i.e. the 5) - may not have the performance to pull the numbers, but you can;t find a device to measure how much they flatter you when you're driving one. You probably won't get out of it impressed with how well you survived the drive/how far you pushed it, but you won't get out feeling you weren't involved in your journey. Every time.
Mazda vs TVR chalk and cheese - Mazda put millions into making a top selling, reliable car for the mainstream, TVR put what development they could into a specialist car, in my opinion they did a bit of a 'Rover' kept releasing old tech in new clothes too many times.
Some cars are exciting to drive, and very challenging. Others, (i.e. the 5) - may not have the performance to pull the numbers, but you can;t find a device to measure how much they flatter you when you're driving one. You probably won't get out of it impressed with how well you survived the drive/how far you pushed it, but you won't get out feeling you weren't involved in your journey. Every time.
skinny said:
and if i could have a TVR for the cost of my 5, i'd have one 
Cough coughhttp://www.pistonheads.com/sales/291735.htm
K
Kinky said:
Having had both - you really can't compare them as such.
I'll be honest - if I could have the TiV with the reliability of the '5' then I'd have one please
K
You could if I were selling mine but I'm not. Use them, don't lock them away in the garage until the sun comes out and they're great. There are three cars in the Flintstone family fleet. A BMW, VW and a TVR. Guess which one is the only one not to have broken down in the last two years?I'll be honest - if I could have the TiV with the reliability of the '5' then I'd have one please
K
I've driven a (supercharged) MX5 and it was fantastic but it still doesn't quite give me the same thrill as driving the Chimaera. Horses for courses. Even those who buy a bad car and then whinge about it on an open forum
Paul V said:
The MX5 is huge fun, I love mine but wouldn't be without a TVR.
The MX5 is very easy to drive, although I find it rather underpowered (mines a early 1.6) its a capable car but you can't really compare the 2, ok a Griff might be a handful but that's half the fun.
I run a TVR Griffith 500, and am just about to get an MX-5 (Mk III Roadster 2.0i Sport) - pick it up later in the week.The MX5 is very easy to drive, although I find it rather underpowered (mines a early 1.6) its a capable car but you can't really compare the 2, ok a Griff might be a handful but that's half the fun.
The logic is that the Griff remains a fun car for weekends, trackdays and events/shows, whilst the MX5 is an everyday car I can use for work, and get some roof-down fun during the working day.
I hope they ARE very different - as the Griff is probably not the ideal everyday car, unless you are rich! To get the most fun from a TVR it is (IMHO) important to do much of your own maintenance (though some jobs may NOT seem like fun at the time!). This is much easier if you can take the car off the road for a period whilst you do the work.
But to be fair, the Griff 500 is quite refined when driven at normal speeds, and with so much mid-range torque it is a lazy drive. Pressing on on less-than-perfect b/c roads is another matter - the MX5's composure in this particular area was very impressive (test drove the Sport model with the 17" 45 profile tyres & Bilstein dampers).
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