Running costs

[cdt]

Have been thinking about buying a Griffith for a while now (been a member here for far too long without a TVR).

I know an average is a hard thing, but what is the difference in running costs between a pre-cat 92 and a 99 or 2000 Griff?

Been told £1200/year as running costs/servicing (excluding petrol) for a newish Griffth. How does this compare with what people pay?

[groucho]

I've been running a 98 Griff for just under 2 yrs. I have just paid the normal service prices so far and that's it (touch wood), so quite a bit under your budget of £1200 a year for maintenance.

[rude girl]

Chris

Mail me through my profile, and I'll send you my spreadsheet with my costs on it

[scruffy]

cdt said:

excluding petrol

excluding tax, insurance, brake fluid, oil, new tyres, servicing, breakdown cover, TVRCC subscription, travel tickets to LeMans/Castle Coombe/Snetterton/etc and of course meals/drinks etc at meetings, maybe the odd battery - it's an old car, bulbs, whimsical upgrades (brakes/suspension/chip/rolling road, those daft little leven stalk and button things), camping fee's, racing, advanced driving lessons, more Autoglym stuff, tents, sleeping bags, umbrellas, BBQ's, new friends, driving for the sake of it, moonlight, music, ....

>> Edited by scruffy on Tuesday 12th April 08:21

[jon h]

for my '92 4.3 over the past 12 months:

Service/MOT (good indie) £350
Tax £170
Insurance £360
2 toyo front tyres £178
Leven gear lever surround & washer upgrade £61

Consumables such as oil and polish, on the shelf (same stuff for all our cars)

Petrol: Does not count!

So all in all, pretty reasonable, I reckon.

Jon H

[rude girl]

scruffy said:

cdt said: excluding petrol excluding tax, insurance, brake fluid, oil, new tyres, servicing, breakdown cover, TVRCC subscription, travel tickets and lots of other things]

And in my case, add a not inconsiderable sum of money for a whole garage makeover - totally white, special towels just for the car (Tescos value 85p each), pale grey floor, inspection lighting, false ceiling so I can store stuff.... lol

[mrmaggit]

I can beat that!

We've had to buy a new house with double garage.

Next!

[GarryM]

The costs can escalate if you have to do more than just service/tyres etc. Things like alarms failing and ECU faults etc can end up being pretty expensive and they're not the sort of thing you're likely to be able to identify when you buy (unless they've already failed). Even more can be spent if you take the opportunity to upgrade components when they wear out. Very easy to spend £2k a year or more (I have).

[griffter]

cdt said:

Have been thinking about buying a Griffith for a while now (been a member here for far too long without a TVR). I know an average is a hard thing, but what is the difference in running costs between a pre-cat 92 and a 99 or 2000 Griff? Been told £1200/year as running costs/servicing (excluding petrol) for a newish Griffth. How does this compare with what people pay?

There shouldn't be much difference between like costs for cars in like condition. But of course you're more likely to find a late car that needs less doing. Insurance on a pre-cat may be cheaper as it'll qualify for more cherished/classic policies. If you factor in the cost of maintenance/restoration as well as running, then the newer car will probably be cheaper, but if you factor in depreciation it may fare less well. The later cars may or may not fall in value - the pre-cats seem to have bottomed out. The most important consideration is how well the car's been looked after. A young car gives careless owners less opportunity to cock things up. An older car may have had work done (wishbones, shocks, rad recore etc) which might be around the corner on the newer car.

If you can attend small things yourself (minor electrics and simple mechanicals) you'll save a lot (because a lot can need doing!). £1200 a year sounds like the kind of cost involved in running a car which gets everything done at a dealer/indie but never needs anything major - or a car which the owner uses his own hands on and makes gradual imnprovements. Restoration costs can be huge as the chassis degrades with inattention. Bodywork is specialist but generally uncomplicated. Parts are generally cheap - especially given the performance.

Sorry it's a wooly answer. I chose a precat to run on a budget because there's (ever so) slightly less to go wrong and it has already attained classic status. They're not expensive cars to maintain if

a) you buy well
b) you do a bit yourself
c) you're not unlucky

[thomr]

Hi Chris,

The difficulty is knowing when expensive bits might need replacing.

An older car is more likely to have had parts replaced already, but on the other hand, if they haven't been, they are more likely to need replacing.

So I agree with grifter's 3 points.

[RAW-SEWedge]

Think my profile is up to date with most stuff relating to my Griff 500 costs

...appart from the small matter of needing to buy a second car to get to work reliably

[saf]

rude girl said:

And in my case, add a not inconsiderable sum of money for a whole garage makeover - totally white, special towels just for the car (Tescos value 85p each), pale grey floor, inspection lighting, false ceiling so I can store stuff.... lol

Or in my case a complete NEW DOUBLE GARAGE - well we had to tuck the sonett up as well

[cdt]

Thanks for all the replies.

Never seen a sonett before, found a photo of a nice red one, looks amazing - what colour is yours?

Have briefly driven a pre-cat Chimaera with a ford V8 and my dad's 500 SE. Had a passenger ride in a Saragis at the weekend, just wish I had 50K ... but the V8 sounds better.

Is there a big difference in how the pre-cats and the later Griffiths in the way they drive, handle and brake?

[saf]

Ours is Yellow - Bright Yellow (bring on the shades) not sure if its original colour though.