MGF Trophy 160
Discussion
I have been trying for ages now to strike the right balance & get & keep a car that is both right for my circumstances & still gives me a certain pride of ownership & gives me motoring enjoyment, given my health problems & thus my financial status. I have fibromyalgia, sciatica, carpal tunnel syndrome, amongst other problems, which limit my mobility & comfort to a great degree, & to that end first had to change my much loved RX7, which was heavily modified & far too harsh a ride with coilovers & polybush suspension..........
First attempt was a Mitsubishi 3000GT twin turbo, which was ok comfort wise but I could never shake the feeling that a big bill was going to drop in my lap...
So I turned to a famously comfortable car, the Jaguar XJR. Beautiful car & cosseted my body in style, but I soon found out that I couldn't really afford to maintain the car as it should be, I was aware that just because it was a car that is cheap to buy & doesn't follow that it is cheap to run, & although nothing went wrong at all, a pair of tyres were around £600 so moved the car on & continued my search.....
Next up was, well not the most sensible of choices on the face of it, but when the opportunity to own a TVR came along I just couldn't resist. She was a beautiful Chimaera 4.6, & although I knew I would not have her long I just had to have the experience. She was very comfortable ride wise, but no power steering meant that there were many days that I wanted, or needed, to go out, but physically I couldn't manage. Great shame, I mean just look at her............
So then I went for all out comfort again with another jag, this time an S type V6 manual. Again it was perfect for what I wanted a vehicle for, & again big bills cut short the experience of ownership.
I was getting pretty fed up by now, partly with myself for choosing cars with my heart rather than my head, & I really didn't want to acknowledge just how compromised my condition had made me become. So now I had to find something I liked, was comfortable, cheap spare parts & relatively ecomonical, not hard then!
I thing I had learned from my TVR experience was that a rag top was preferable to a tin top, because with the roof down it was so much easier to get in & out of the car, & anyway, I live at the seaside, so a convertible is practically demanded
So I bought a cheap MGF VVC, which has the easiest & quickest system of getting the roof up & down outside of an electric one. Parts really are for nothing, the steering is very light yet direct, I found that the hydogas suspension was comfortable, plus, as I found out later, fuel comsumption is good, I was averaging 40mpg. It was fun to drive too, always a plus.
I enjoyed it so much, in fact, that I decided I wanted a better one, & for me that meant finding a decent Trophy 160. So a few weeks of looking around led me to this, my current car, which fingers crossed I will be able to enjoy for many years to come. Of course once I had bought it I realised that the Trophy doesn't have hydrogas suspension, but thankfully the ride, while it isn't as comfy as the VVC, is not exactly rock hard, just firm, & I can cope with that. I better, I dread to think how much my car swapping had cost me over the last three years, & hopefully this car will be the end of it. The only thing I don't like are the Lexus lights the previous owner fitted, but I will change them for standard lights when funds allow. The colour is Liquid Yellow, a Renault pearlescent colour that looks great to me. On that note here she is.....
Oh, & if anyone is interested in a really sweet MGF VVC my green one is for sale
Edited for punctuation error.
First attempt was a Mitsubishi 3000GT twin turbo, which was ok comfort wise but I could never shake the feeling that a big bill was going to drop in my lap...
So I turned to a famously comfortable car, the Jaguar XJR. Beautiful car & cosseted my body in style, but I soon found out that I couldn't really afford to maintain the car as it should be, I was aware that just because it was a car that is cheap to buy & doesn't follow that it is cheap to run, & although nothing went wrong at all, a pair of tyres were around £600 so moved the car on & continued my search.....
Next up was, well not the most sensible of choices on the face of it, but when the opportunity to own a TVR came along I just couldn't resist. She was a beautiful Chimaera 4.6, & although I knew I would not have her long I just had to have the experience. She was very comfortable ride wise, but no power steering meant that there were many days that I wanted, or needed, to go out, but physically I couldn't manage. Great shame, I mean just look at her............
So then I went for all out comfort again with another jag, this time an S type V6 manual. Again it was perfect for what I wanted a vehicle for, & again big bills cut short the experience of ownership.
I was getting pretty fed up by now, partly with myself for choosing cars with my heart rather than my head, & I really didn't want to acknowledge just how compromised my condition had made me become. So now I had to find something I liked, was comfortable, cheap spare parts & relatively ecomonical, not hard then!
I thing I had learned from my TVR experience was that a rag top was preferable to a tin top, because with the roof down it was so much easier to get in & out of the car, & anyway, I live at the seaside, so a convertible is practically demanded
So I bought a cheap MGF VVC, which has the easiest & quickest system of getting the roof up & down outside of an electric one. Parts really are for nothing, the steering is very light yet direct, I found that the hydogas suspension was comfortable, plus, as I found out later, fuel comsumption is good, I was averaging 40mpg. It was fun to drive too, always a plus.
I enjoyed it so much, in fact, that I decided I wanted a better one, & for me that meant finding a decent Trophy 160. So a few weeks of looking around led me to this, my current car, which fingers crossed I will be able to enjoy for many years to come. Of course once I had bought it I realised that the Trophy doesn't have hydrogas suspension, but thankfully the ride, while it isn't as comfy as the VVC, is not exactly rock hard, just firm, & I can cope with that. I better, I dread to think how much my car swapping had cost me over the last three years, & hopefully this car will be the end of it. The only thing I don't like are the Lexus lights the previous owner fitted, but I will change them for standard lights when funds allow. The colour is Liquid Yellow, a Renault pearlescent colour that looks great to me. On that note here she is.....
Oh, & if anyone is interested in a really sweet MGF VVC my green one is for sale
Edited for punctuation error.
Thanks for the comments guys.
dragonheart, fortunately I like the stripes, makes a change for me, & anyway I have to like them, they are painted on not vinyl.
C.A.R. yes the brakes are very, very good, almost too sharp. The head gasket issue was not fixed by the time this model was introduced, but it is not the issue that people make it to be. Mine hasn't had it done & I am comfortable with that. Coolant level needs to be checked often & water pump needs to be changed with cambelt at correct intervals, & this car has reached 91k miles on original HG.
tbc, well you only live once, & besides the Chim was perfect during my ownership, didn't have a thing do wrong & she was my daily driver too
davey sprocket, I will lookout for you too if you tell me the colour of your 205GTi
dragonheart, fortunately I like the stripes, makes a change for me, & anyway I have to like them, they are painted on not vinyl.
C.A.R. yes the brakes are very, very good, almost too sharp. The head gasket issue was not fixed by the time this model was introduced, but it is not the issue that people make it to be. Mine hasn't had it done & I am comfortable with that. Coolant level needs to be checked often & water pump needs to be changed with cambelt at correct intervals, & this car has reached 91k miles on original HG.
tbc, well you only live once, & besides the Chim was perfect during my ownership, didn't have a thing do wrong & she was my daily driver too
davey sprocket, I will lookout for you too if you tell me the colour of your 205GTi
Speedracer329 said:
davey sprocket, I will lookout for you too if you tell me the colour of your 205GTi
It's cherry red... well, cherry orange actually! :-(Saw you tonight... I was sat at the Oakdale crossroads, you came across heading into town, 17:15! I knew it wouldn't be long before I spotted you!
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