The road to TVR Tuscan ownership
Discussion
All back from its 20th service and annual MOT
Despite only doing 1,800 miles since its last service it has been serviced every year so I need to keep it going - adds to the provenance of the car and maintains a perfect service history
Its a real trek for me - 110 miles to drop it off and then a 4 train 4 hour journey back for me followed by the same to go and collect it.
There are other TVR specialists closer but car has been looked after by the same person for 14 years so it makes me sense to keep going there.
Full service including coolant change, MOT, ridding the clutch pedal of an annoying squeak, new battery, new rear number plate light and some reworking of a bit of wiring.
Car ran beautifully on the journey home which sweetened the bill (a little) and its good to know it has been thoroughly checked over
Despite only doing 1,800 miles since its last service it has been serviced every year so I need to keep it going - adds to the provenance of the car and maintains a perfect service history
Its a real trek for me - 110 miles to drop it off and then a 4 train 4 hour journey back for me followed by the same to go and collect it.
There are other TVR specialists closer but car has been looked after by the same person for 14 years so it makes me sense to keep going there.
Full service including coolant change, MOT, ridding the clutch pedal of an annoying squeak, new battery, new rear number plate light and some reworking of a bit of wiring.
Car ran beautifully on the journey home which sweetened the bill (a little) and its good to know it has been thoroughly checked over
Spent Saturday at the big classic car show at Tatton park on the TVR Car Club stand.
Huge attendance on Saturday, no doubt helped by the weather forecast being good for the Saturday and awful for the Sunday.
Never been to anything organised by this region of the club so knew no one on arrival but the usual very warm TVR welcome was offered along with free bacon rolls and teas / coffees
Stand was very busy all day and as is usual most of the owners were on hand to answer questions, let people sit on the cars etc, very different to most of the other club displays
Huge attendance on Saturday, no doubt helped by the weather forecast being good for the Saturday and awful for the Sunday.
Never been to anything organised by this region of the club so knew no one on arrival but the usual very warm TVR welcome was offered along with free bacon rolls and teas / coffees
Stand was very busy all day and as is usual most of the owners were on hand to answer questions, let people sit on the cars etc, very different to most of the other club displays
Yesterday was the second day of Peaks to the Beach, a drive out run by one of the regions of the TVR Car Club - and a fantastically well organised two days it is.
Day one I could not attend was a drive around the Peak district with about 75 cars turning up, yesterday was the second leg, from Nantwich, over to the Ponderosa then out to Bangor, up the A55 coast road (taking in the tunnels) and ending up in the arena at Rhyl. I believe just over 100 cars took part yesterday with no problems reported.
Forecast had not been good in the week but the day was dry and apart from at the Ponderosa (where it is always bitterly cold) it was quite warm.
Great mix of cars and the usual incredibly friendly TVR owners made it a great day.
First attempt at using the new Saramonic wireless mic I had purchased for the GoPro10, need to turn the sensitivity down a little as I mount it at the rear between the exhausts but ran all day with battery still left so a good first outing - so much easier going wireless
https://youtu.be/IiY6nHu7sL4
[url]
|https://thumbsnap.com/17ewxgcQ[/url]
Day one I could not attend was a drive around the Peak district with about 75 cars turning up, yesterday was the second leg, from Nantwich, over to the Ponderosa then out to Bangor, up the A55 coast road (taking in the tunnels) and ending up in the arena at Rhyl. I believe just over 100 cars took part yesterday with no problems reported.
Forecast had not been good in the week but the day was dry and apart from at the Ponderosa (where it is always bitterly cold) it was quite warm.
Great mix of cars and the usual incredibly friendly TVR owners made it a great day.
First attempt at using the new Saramonic wireless mic I had purchased for the GoPro10, need to turn the sensitivity down a little as I mount it at the rear between the exhausts but ran all day with battery still left so a good first outing - so much easier going wireless
https://youtu.be/IiY6nHu7sL4
[url]|https://thumbsnap.com/17ewxgcQ[/url]Edited by Andy665 on Monday 20th June 16:03
Edited by Andy665 on Monday 20th June 16:42
Awesome day out at Oulton Park Gold Cup on Sunday.
The day started wet and pretty unpromising so needs must and rear screen went in and roof panel on, totally changes the car, feels very much like a GT car and you hear much more of the engine and far less of the exhaust. Halfway there the rain stopped so pulled over and removed the roof panel, down to about 20seconds to do this now.
Arriving at Oulton park greeted by sunshine and already a good turn out of cars on the TVR club stand which had its customary great spot overlooking Cascades. As racing does not start until 12.05 on Sundays we had plenty of time to look around some of the cars gathered including a spectacular white Muira and there parked completely unnoticed was probably one of the most famous cars in British motoring history - 77 RW, the oldest surviving production E Type roadster, number 3 off the line and the car that Norman Dewes drove overnight to the 1961 launch at the Geneva motor show and also the car that Motor recorded at 150mph.
Long chart with the owner who bought it in 1966 for £400, car is on lifetime loan to the Jaguar Heritage Trust and displayed at Gaydon but owner can have the car whenever he wants it and much to Jaguars dismay he drives it regularly and hard on the road.
Not thinking the day could be topped, late afternoon Jonathan Palmer wandered over, saying he spotted the car as he was coming in to land his Bell Jet Ranger and wanted to get a closer look - chatted away about all things motoring and motosport related for about 20 mins - genuinely nice bloke who is still very much a petrolhead
https://youtu.be/vtEsufY84gA
[url]
|https://thumbsnap.com/6Vbmk5YN[/url
![](https://thumbsnap.com/sc/wmT1NJc7.jpg[/img]</a> <a href="https://thumbsnap.com/mhgc55Eb" Target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[img]https://thumbsnap.com/sc/mhgc55Eb.jpg)
The day started wet and pretty unpromising so needs must and rear screen went in and roof panel on, totally changes the car, feels very much like a GT car and you hear much more of the engine and far less of the exhaust. Halfway there the rain stopped so pulled over and removed the roof panel, down to about 20seconds to do this now.
Arriving at Oulton park greeted by sunshine and already a good turn out of cars on the TVR club stand which had its customary great spot overlooking Cascades. As racing does not start until 12.05 on Sundays we had plenty of time to look around some of the cars gathered including a spectacular white Muira and there parked completely unnoticed was probably one of the most famous cars in British motoring history - 77 RW, the oldest surviving production E Type roadster, number 3 off the line and the car that Norman Dewes drove overnight to the 1961 launch at the Geneva motor show and also the car that Motor recorded at 150mph.
Long chart with the owner who bought it in 1966 for £400, car is on lifetime loan to the Jaguar Heritage Trust and displayed at Gaydon but owner can have the car whenever he wants it and much to Jaguars dismay he drives it regularly and hard on the road.
Not thinking the day could be topped, late afternoon Jonathan Palmer wandered over, saying he spotted the car as he was coming in to land his Bell Jet Ranger and wanted to get a closer look - chatted away about all things motoring and motosport related for about 20 mins - genuinely nice bloke who is still very much a petrolhead
https://youtu.be/vtEsufY84gA
[url]
|https://thumbsnap.com/6Vbmk5YN[/urlAs the forecast was for sunshine and not too high temps and I had no plans for the weekend decided it was an opportunity to give the car a deep clean and chassis inspection (although it was checked over when serviced in May - always like to check for myself)
First job was a deep clean of the underside, copious amounts of Bilt Hamber Surfex, scrubbing brush and pressure washer saw the underside spotlessly clean with zero signs of any chassis issues - always reassuring
Second on the list was removing all of the wheels, cleaning the barrels and recoating with WoWos Crystal Sealant which I had on the shelf and had been advised made a very good wheel sealant. All wheelarches scrubbed clean and chassis rails cleaned, good to the see the Bilt Hamber still very much in evidence and still doing its job.
Into the engine bay and a good wipe over of everything and a clean of the oil and water tanks with the good old Britemax Twins, shame they have now gone out of business but got a few of the last remaining bottles so stocked up for a couple of years.
Windscreen was given a deep machine polish and sealed with the new Angelwax Exodus rain repellant, by far and away the easiest of its type I have ever used
Leather cleaned and conditioned, door shuts cleaned and interior metals polished
Finished off removing existing the wax that was on it and treated to a coat of my new Mitchell & King Haruko, left a lovely deep finish with lots of metallic pop, just needs another coat today and we are set until the Autumn
As much as I enjoy driving this its just as pleasurable spending time cleaning it, such a lovely shape to work on, always seeing new angles and reflections
[url]
|https://thumbsnap.com/gXqezMFL[/url]
[url]
|https://thumbsnap.com/goxCPNtz[/url]
First job was a deep clean of the underside, copious amounts of Bilt Hamber Surfex, scrubbing brush and pressure washer saw the underside spotlessly clean with zero signs of any chassis issues - always reassuring
Second on the list was removing all of the wheels, cleaning the barrels and recoating with WoWos Crystal Sealant which I had on the shelf and had been advised made a very good wheel sealant. All wheelarches scrubbed clean and chassis rails cleaned, good to the see the Bilt Hamber still very much in evidence and still doing its job.
Into the engine bay and a good wipe over of everything and a clean of the oil and water tanks with the good old Britemax Twins, shame they have now gone out of business but got a few of the last remaining bottles so stocked up for a couple of years.
Windscreen was given a deep machine polish and sealed with the new Angelwax Exodus rain repellant, by far and away the easiest of its type I have ever used
Leather cleaned and conditioned, door shuts cleaned and interior metals polished
Finished off removing existing the wax that was on it and treated to a coat of my new Mitchell & King Haruko, left a lovely deep finish with lots of metallic pop, just needs another coat today and we are set until the Autumn
As much as I enjoy driving this its just as pleasurable spending time cleaning it, such a lovely shape to work on, always seeing new angles and reflections
[url]|https://thumbsnap.com/gXqezMFL[/url][url]|https://thumbsnap.com/goxCPNtz[/url]Little to do today so decided to strip all wax off the car and try something else.
First time use of the Polish Angel Flockencreme Contour pre wax cleaner, applied with the rotary and what a wonderful product, very easy to work with and definitely changed something with the paint, left a warmer, richer colour.
Topped with Polish angel Blue Xilion, another wonderful product that was very easy to work with and finished off with a layer of Race Glaze Black Label
To my untrained eyes, its all left a better finish than I have ever achieved before - all ready for a run out to Portmeirion tomorrow, taking in one of my favourite roads, the B4391
First time use of the Polish Angel Flockencreme Contour pre wax cleaner, applied with the rotary and what a wonderful product, very easy to work with and definitely changed something with the paint, left a warmer, richer colour.
Topped with Polish angel Blue Xilion, another wonderful product that was very easy to work with and finished off with a layer of Race Glaze Black Label
To my untrained eyes, its all left a better finish than I have ever achieved before - all ready for a run out to Portmeirion tomorrow, taking in one of my favourite roads, the B4391
As I am rapidly closing in on 5,000 miles in my ownership thought I'd do a little recap
Purchase price on 9th Dec 2019 - £23,500
Total maintenance costs since new - £36,024.08
Total maintenance costs in my ownership - £11.103.56
Major costs - top end rebuild including throttle bodies rebuild and bottom end check - £6,260.68, running in service - £499.28, annual services - £465.26 and £880.38
Non-essential costs - approx £2,000
Insurance - now in 3rd year - £610 in total
Fuel used - 211.8 gallons
Total mileage - 4,614
Economy - 21.78 mpg
Has the car lived up to expectations - absolutely
Biggest disappointment - none
Biggest surprise - how practical and comfortable it is on longer journeys
What would I change - more readable instruments (they do look great though)
Chances of selling - not entered my head although it could be joined by a Cerbera at some point
Reliability - odd minor electrical gremlin always cured by switching off and on again and only been stranded once when a finger follower failed after its top end rebuild - a freak failure that was quickly dealt with at zero cost and only minor inconvenience
Plans - keep on driving it, enjoying it and maintaining it to the highest possible level
The car has lived up and exceeded most of my expectations and the social / club side of ownership is the best I have encountered from a one make club - friendly, welcoming and helpful in terms of advice, the number of meets / events is massive and the club magazine is a great read every month
As a car, let's be honest, it's not the best made, most refined, or most dynamically capable car but as an event and as something to enjoy driving and to look at I don't think anything comes close at the price
Purchase price on 9th Dec 2019 - £23,500
Total maintenance costs since new - £36,024.08
Total maintenance costs in my ownership - £11.103.56
Major costs - top end rebuild including throttle bodies rebuild and bottom end check - £6,260.68, running in service - £499.28, annual services - £465.26 and £880.38
Non-essential costs - approx £2,000
Insurance - now in 3rd year - £610 in total
Fuel used - 211.8 gallons
Total mileage - 4,614
Economy - 21.78 mpg
Has the car lived up to expectations - absolutely
Biggest disappointment - none
Biggest surprise - how practical and comfortable it is on longer journeys
What would I change - more readable instruments (they do look great though)
Chances of selling - not entered my head although it could be joined by a Cerbera at some point
Reliability - odd minor electrical gremlin always cured by switching off and on again and only been stranded once when a finger follower failed after its top end rebuild - a freak failure that was quickly dealt with at zero cost and only minor inconvenience
Plans - keep on driving it, enjoying it and maintaining it to the highest possible level
The car has lived up and exceeded most of my expectations and the social / club side of ownership is the best I have encountered from a one make club - friendly, welcoming and helpful in terms of advice, the number of meets / events is massive and the club magazine is a great read every month
As a car, let's be honest, it's not the best made, most refined, or most dynamically capable car but as an event and as something to enjoy driving and to look at I don't think anything comes close at the price
Edited by Andy665 on Saturday 3rd September 11:48
Edited by Andy665 on Saturday 3rd September 11:50
One of the first things I did when I got the Tuscan home after purchase was to replace the original Pioneer stereo with something a little more modern, opting to go for the Pioneer SPH-10BT, the headunit that uses your phone as the main operational interface (although still usable without it)
This was fine but I quickly realised that the phones screen size was just too small, I liked how subtle the headunit was when the cradle was pushed inside but eeded to do something about the screen size. A bit of research saw the purchase of a Samsung Tab A 8" tablet and a pair of magnets - these being required as the phone cradle would not expand enough to accommodate the tablet. The larger magnet fitted inside the cradle but crucially still allowed the crade to slide back into the headunit when not being used and one on the back of the tablet.
Initially this worked quite well, the tablet never flew off during spirited driving but the Pioneer SmartSync app (that provides most of the headunits functionality) seemed very flaky and the tablet itself took forever to boot up - so, whilst overall an improvement to the use of my phone it still did not really hit the mark.
This week has seen me make a big upgrade, I was initially looking at an Alpine Halo 9 but at around £900 I simply could not justify it. Still liking the idea of the tablet solution I checked dimensions and prices and ended up ordering a Samsung Tab S8 with 5G (Android 12, 128GB capacity with microSD slot and a lovely big 11" screen) - the price was good, sweetened by the £150 old tablet trade in deal and free keyboard / cover so it was ordered at 8pm on Sunday.
9.30am on Monday and the tablet arrived (fantastic service from Samsung and the courier), a quick charge, downloading of my preferred apps and went off to see how it looked / performed in the car. Lightning quick boot up speed, the extra processing capacity means the Pioneer SmartSync app runs perfectly - finally I have the solution I was looking for.
With trade in discounts the tablet has cost me £650, so a good £200-250 less than the Halo 9 would have cost and I have a fully fledged tablet that can be used for the 98% of the time I am not in the car,
This solution gives me everything I could possibly need in the car plus the ability for it to look very subtle with the screen detached.
Headunit with cradle not in use
Top screen
Main control screen with Pioneer SmartSync app
System running through Pioneer SmartSync app
This was fine but I quickly realised that the phones screen size was just too small, I liked how subtle the headunit was when the cradle was pushed inside but eeded to do something about the screen size. A bit of research saw the purchase of a Samsung Tab A 8" tablet and a pair of magnets - these being required as the phone cradle would not expand enough to accommodate the tablet. The larger magnet fitted inside the cradle but crucially still allowed the crade to slide back into the headunit when not being used and one on the back of the tablet.
Initially this worked quite well, the tablet never flew off during spirited driving but the Pioneer SmartSync app (that provides most of the headunits functionality) seemed very flaky and the tablet itself took forever to boot up - so, whilst overall an improvement to the use of my phone it still did not really hit the mark.
This week has seen me make a big upgrade, I was initially looking at an Alpine Halo 9 but at around £900 I simply could not justify it. Still liking the idea of the tablet solution I checked dimensions and prices and ended up ordering a Samsung Tab S8 with 5G (Android 12, 128GB capacity with microSD slot and a lovely big 11" screen) - the price was good, sweetened by the £150 old tablet trade in deal and free keyboard / cover so it was ordered at 8pm on Sunday.
9.30am on Monday and the tablet arrived (fantastic service from Samsung and the courier), a quick charge, downloading of my preferred apps and went off to see how it looked / performed in the car. Lightning quick boot up speed, the extra processing capacity means the Pioneer SmartSync app runs perfectly - finally I have the solution I was looking for.
With trade in discounts the tablet has cost me £650, so a good £200-250 less than the Halo 9 would have cost and I have a fully fledged tablet that can be used for the 98% of the time I am not in the car,
This solution gives me everything I could possibly need in the car plus the ability for it to look very subtle with the screen detached.
Headunit with cradle not in use
Top screen
Main control screen with Pioneer SmartSync app
System running through Pioneer SmartSync app
Edited by Andy665 on Wednesday 19th October 19:40
The car is just used and enjoyed although it is going in for a full repaint this winter, being done by a TVR specialist and seen plenty of their work so very comfortable that it will be in good hands
Serviced and MOT'd last week, full service so plugs, filters, coolant, gearbox and diff oil change - 1800 miles only since last service but want / need to maintain its service every year history but not too badly priced at just under £900.
Decided to splurge and bought a Powers Performance carbon airbox been waiting for them to be available and could not resist
Serviced and MOT'd last week, full service so plugs, filters, coolant, gearbox and diff oil change - 1800 miles only since last service but want / need to maintain its service every year history but not too badly priced at just under £900.
Decided to splurge and bought a Powers Performance carbon airbox been waiting for them to be available and could not resist
Edited by Andy665 on Thursday 8th June 08:52
robsco said:
I’d be interested to hear your views on the induction noise Andy. I saw this airbox advertised by Power in this month’s Sprint, and it does declare an increase in induction noise. If so I may well treat the Sag to one.
Had a short (20 mile) run out this morning.Throttle response seems a little crisper and the induction noise seems a little harder edged - be in a much better position to confirm first thoughts next Sunday after the Peaks to the Beach event
Great run out yesterday with in excess of 100 other TVRs on Sunday. doing Day 2 of the Peaks to the Beach event
Started just outside Whitchurch then across to Ponderosa Cafe and Horseshoe Pass, Ruthin, Bala, Betws Y Coed, Bangor and ending up at the Arena in Rhyl.
Someone managed to skirt some pretty torrential rain and thunderstorms.
Not sure if its the new carbon airbox, recent major service or combo of both but car is running super smooth and strong as well as returning nearly 26mpg over 270 pretty lively miles.
Some great cars out, difficult to pick a favourite
https://youtu.be/2imGJ0pgwUY
|https://thumbsnap.com/pYWDvuDN[/url]
[url]
Started just outside Whitchurch then across to Ponderosa Cafe and Horseshoe Pass, Ruthin, Bala, Betws Y Coed, Bangor and ending up at the Arena in Rhyl.
Someone managed to skirt some pretty torrential rain and thunderstorms.
Not sure if its the new carbon airbox, recent major service or combo of both but car is running super smooth and strong as well as returning nearly 26mpg over 270 pretty lively miles.
Some great cars out, difficult to pick a favourite
https://youtu.be/2imGJ0pgwUY
|https://thumbsnap.com/pYWDvuDN[/url][url]Did not want the Tuscan feeling unloved with the arrival of the Alpine so Saturday spent taking off all wheels and re-coating them, Lano Shield applied to all chassis rails (V70 and Vantage done last week) and a light polish.
Really impressed with the Lano Shield, seems to be very much like LanoGuard but noticeably cheaper. Developed for the marine industry so confident it will do the job intended and certainly very easy to apply, done the Vantage, V70 and Tuscan with about 1/2 of the 2 litres still left
Soon had her looking all smooth and shiny again, just in time for a TVR Car Club Breakfast Run I organised from Telford down to Ludlow Farm Food shop for breakfast this morning.
Shropshire really does have some superb driving roads and scenery with very low traffic levels - was expecting 3-4 cars to turn up, ended up with 12
Really impressed with the Lano Shield, seems to be very much like LanoGuard but noticeably cheaper. Developed for the marine industry so confident it will do the job intended and certainly very easy to apply, done the Vantage, V70 and Tuscan with about 1/2 of the 2 litres still left
Soon had her looking all smooth and shiny again, just in time for a TVR Car Club Breakfast Run I organised from Telford down to Ludlow Farm Food shop for breakfast this morning.
Shropshire really does have some superb driving roads and scenery with very low traffic levels - was expecting 3-4 cars to turn up, ended up with 12
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