RE: Supercharged MG TF | Spotted

[RWDan]

All that power and still a terrible driving position!
My wife had a TF then a mk3 mr2. Shes not very tall and even she felt that driving the TF, you were sat on it, rather than in it, the opposite to the mr2 .

Edited by RWDan on Thursday 5th September 20:27

[Mikebentley]

Just did some searching and apparently not for sale anymore. The cafe has an “association “ with MG cars.

[996GT3_Matt]

The appeal in this car is obviously very niche, but for a turn-key conversation (by a well respected outfit no less) the price seems pretty reasonable to me.

Professional installation of a supercharged K20 in an Elise is £16k inc VAT outlay. A half decent Elise is going to start at £12k? Maybe £15k for a nice example.

As with any conversion of this nature, unexpected costs will arise;
An old Elise will probably require a new alloy radiator and hoses, a new steering rack, 8 x ball joints etc etc. Having owned a an S1 Elise for 5 years I speak from experience.

Upgrade your Elise’s suspension and brakes in-line with this car and you’ll easily surpass £25k Easily..

The Elise is very different driving proposition however..

[Ex X Power]

The Handling must be absolutely petrifying with all that power... These things are twitchy enough as standard, I run a couple of race MGF/TF's with approx 200bhp and thats about all the power they need..... They run on slicks too rather than Toyo ditch finders

[lotuslover69]

a conversion kit and fitting for an elise would be about 12k which means you are paying over 10k for an mgf

[ezi]

£25k fk off

[CDP]

I have an MG TF.

It's a great little car for a couple of grand, inexpensive to run and lots of fun. As are the MX5 and the MR2.

None of them are worth £25,000, pretty much regardless of how fast you make them.

All the better stuff you could get with that kind of cash.

It's similar to the Max Power Brigade some of whom could spend 20K on fancy paint, large wheels and a radio with big speakers. Their money and if they enjoy it splendid but...

[Water Fairy]

For my 25K I'll have something with 2 wheels that this thing wouldn't see for dust and a E46 M3 please........

[blue al]

Most of you are missing the point, you need to look past the price tag

The "value" is in owning a car that shouldn't be that fast ...
What is more "fun" is an MG overtaking a lotus, rather than the other way round

Perhaps unless until you have done something similar, you won't begin to understand
Owning a mini that would embarrass most E46 M3 is my sort of thing

Edited by blue al R53 supercharged Thursday 5th September 21:36

Edited by blue al on Thursday 5th September 21:37

[s m]

Yep, as above - this is going to really only appeal to a TF fan who hasn’t got the time/ability/patience to build one himself. I’m sure there’s some haggling money built in anyway if they’re serious on selling it rather than keeping it as a rolling ad of what can be done. Not for me but I like the ethos although I’d go for something with 4 seats

[J4CKO]

Haggling money ?

Would need to be twenty grand of haggling money, don’t get me wrong, it looks alright and it’s pretty nifty bit of work but 25 grand on an MG TF ? It’s like Baldricks four hundred grand dream Turnip in car form.

What it cost to do will have been significant but just can’t see anyone paying that for it, stranger things have happened but that’s a very narrow market, nice Cayman or that ?

[s m]

J4CKO said:

Haggling money ?

Would need to be twenty grand of haggling money, don’t get me wrong, it looks alright and it’s pretty nifty bit of work but 25 grand on an MG TF ? It’s like Baldricks four hundred grand dream Turnip in car form.

What it cost to do will have been significant but just can’t see anyone paying that for it, stranger things have happened but that’s a very narrow market, nice Cayman or that ?

I’ve seen things like this come up before - either get kept by the company and forgotten about or someone puts in a bid of say 15k and takes it away - no matter how awful it looks to most on here

Some of the Max Power/Fast Car feature cars look/go far worse but surprisingly they often get bought up

Not for me at 25k....but wouldn’t pay that for a Cayman either

[InitialDave]

blue al said:

Most of you are missing the point, you need to look past the price tag

The "value" is in owning a car that shouldn't be that fast ...
What is more "fun" is an MG overtaking a lotus, rather than the other way round

Perhaps unless until you have done something similar, you won't begin to understand
Owning a mini that would embarrass most E46 M3 is my sort of thing

I don't think anyone has an issue with going into your shed to build something ridiculous that frankly doesn't make any sense whatsoever.

Paying £25k for a TF someone else has built just doesn't appeal to many of us, even if the concept of big power in one would.

[cerb4.5lee]

I like the idea of this one. Are the standard cars as terrible to drive as everyone says? I'd like a go in one because they seem a nice cheap entry into open top motoring. Or are you just better off going for the MX-5 instead.

[kambites]

lotuslover69 said:

a conversion kit and fitting for an elise would be about 12k which means you are paying over 10k for an mgf

Now add the cost of a set of Nitrons; rose-joints (including all the machine work to make the control arms suitable to take them); uprated discs, calipers and lines;... you can buy a good supercharged Elise for £25k but the seller is making a hefty loss on it. Plus the Elise kits sell in small but significant numbers whereas this is (presumably) a one-off.

I'm not saying this is worth £25k, precisely because you can buy a good supercharged Honda Elise for that; but I'm pretty sure whoever built it has made a loss on the whole thing even if they get £25k for it.

[kambites]

cerb4.5lee said:

I like the idea of this one. Are the standard cars as terrible to drive as everyone says? I'd like a go in one because they seem a nice cheap entry into open top motoring. Or are you just better off going for the MX-5 instead.

Does anyone say they're terrible to drive? They won all sorts of awards for their handling when they were new, and not just from the UK press. The problem is the driving position is more "Metro" than "sports car"; the assembly quality, especially of the later cars, was woeful; and the K-series ate head gaskets when abused (and sometimes when not).

If you can live with the driving position and are willing to fix niggles you get a lovely car for your money precisely because most people aren't.

Edited by kambites on Friday 6th September 08:10

[cerb4.5lee]

kambites said:

cerb4.5lee said:

I like the idea of this one. Are the standard cars as terrible to drive as everyone says? I'd like a go in one because they seem a nice cheap entry into open top motoring. Or are you just better off going for the MX-5 instead.

Does anyone say they're terrible to drive? They won all sorts of awards for their handling when they were new, and not just from the UK press. The problem is the driving position is more "Metro" than "sports car"; the assembly quality, especially of the later cars, was woeful; and the K-series ate head gaskets when abused (and sometimes when not).

I guess that was just my perception of them and they aren't especially liked on here either. A Girl I used to work with loved hers and I've always found them interesting. There is a garage on the A1 that sells loads of them and I always think I'd quite fancy one when I see it.

[kambites]

I'd imagine 99% of people who speak out against them on here have either never driven one or have owned one which fell to bits. Probably more of the former than the latter.

[cerb4.5lee]

kambites said:

I'd imagine 99% of people who speak out against them on here have either never driven one or have owned one which fell to bits.

[robemcdonald]

Lately I’ve been looking at early MGFs with rose tinted glasses and increasing affection.
£24k for a TF though is absolutely bonkers.