PH Blog: the spirit of TVR
Alex thinks he's found the spirit of TVR alive and well - and not where you might think...
But all is not lost. There is a glimmer of hope. Last week, I drove a new car that, I thought, genuinely felt like a TVR. It made the same monstrous noise, a mass of angry snarling and thunderous crackles. It had the same desire to wag its tail and sense it'd just as soon pitch you into the undergrowth if you didn't give it enough respect. In short, it had the same exhilarating brutality of the TVRs we all fell in love with back in the late 90s.
This was no low-volume British sportscar, though. It was, in fact, a Merc SLS AMG Roadster. And although there are certain caveats to this opinion, there was nothing it put me in mind of more than a Chimaera or Griffith. Oh sure, it was much newer, more technologically advanced, and slightly less insane. The doors opened using actual door handles, for example. And no self-respecting TVR would ever be seen dead with a semi-automatic gearbox, even a pretty good one like the SLS's. But leave those caveats to one side, and in every other way, with the SLS, I reckon Merc has re-invented the V8 Tiv.
Of course, all this comes at a distinctly un-Tiv-like price: £176,925. It's steep, I know. But a delivery mileage example in the PH Classifieds has already shaved £20,000 off that, and year-old coupes are now dropping close to the £100,000 mark, suggesting that the prices of these beasts might fall to more reasonable levels in a few years' time. OK, so they'll never be shed money, but they might at least become accessible to many of us. And the fact remains that, I reckon, there's simply nothing else out there at the moment that can come quite so close to replicating the thrill of TVR in a new or nearly-new package.
But I'm open to suggestions. And if there's a new car that I've forgotten about, that does the TVR thing even better, then please feel free to enlighten me!
Alex
How can you compare an honest simple product of a defunct company to something that is 6 times the cost??
Such a shame because you were on the verge of an interesting story with the moulds; and a bit of investigative journalism might find out about them or their demise, and then you would have a story worth reading.
I have to agree with the poster above who mentioned the Corvette which is probably the closest in spirit to the concept of a TVR, big engine, few driver aids, plastic body and above all cheap\affordable for mere mortals.
No, these comparisons are not intended to be based on price, spec, construction, market position, intended customer or anything like that. Purely spirit and the sense of fun you get at the wheel. And the noise.
I think the point is that for all the SLS's price point and status AMG has, at heart, made it into a bit of a lairy V8 roadster with the same sense of fun as Blackpool's finest. Which is a good thing and good on 'em! And probably not what you'd have expected, having just clambered into a £200K supercar.
Play nice!
Dan
He is building an initial run of six next year, then they'll be build-to-order after that. He's keeping production capacity deliberately small in order to avoid running into the problems so many low-volume car producers do - ie overambition and overcapacity.
I like it:
Also - 'Titan' - well it's a whole lot more 'TVR'-sounding than 'SLS AMG'.
http://www.cwrcars.com/showroom/index.php/news
He is building an initial run of six next year, then they'll be build-to-order after that. He's keeping production capacity deliberately small in order to avoid running into the problems so many low-volume car producers do - ie overambition and overcapacity.
I like it:
Also - 'Titan' - well it's a whole lot more 'TVR'-sounding than 'SLS AMG'.
http://www.cwrcars.com/showroom/index.php/news
OT: 406 coupe rear lights?
and ps, sorry PH but really don't get the comparison in the blog. Pretty poor. I bet the rest of this thread talks about TVR's and doesn't mention anything about the SLS
This all added up to the fact that on the very rare occasion on the right road at the right time everything just fell into place and you appreciated it. More soulful than any 3 pointed star machine.
Admittedly mind, I've never owned a TVR, so... Correct me at will.
He is building an initial run of six next year, then they'll be build-to-order after that. He's keeping production capacity deliberately small in order to avoid running into the problems so many low-volume car producers do - ie overambition and overcapacity.
I like it:
Also - 'Titan' - well it's a whole lot more 'TVR'-sounding than 'SLS AMG'.
http://www.cwrcars.com/showroom/index.php/news
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