Sagaris month 4
Discussion
As I write this the car is tucked away in a smart underground car park in Paris. The journey here yesterday was a complete joy.
I packed an unreasonably large amount of stuff into the hatchback and was able to travel with the mrs in complete comfort (well considering the sort of hardcore car that it is anyway). It took two of us two goes to get it all into my new flat!
The car just purred away and effortlessly dispatched the miles. Not a squeak, didn't miss a beat. Very stable at high speed (unlike the bonnet!) It was really wet for the first 45minutes in france. Accelerating away from tolls in the streaming rain taught me how little traction there can be in the wet. But the car never snapped sideways just felt beautifully balanced and communicative. But a very useful warning nonetheless.
The mpg continues to amaze me for a 400bhp car. It must be down to the lightweight of the car but I got from central london to within 90 kms of Paris on one tank. Gieves wasn't sparing the horses either and the car was properly fully loaded.
Despite the scene the car causes around london I wasn't prepared for the way it affects Parisiens. They simply went nuts. To be honest it was a little embarassing. They simply had no idea what the hell it was or whether or not it was allowed. I even got daggers from a group of rollerblading eco protestors. But in Iced titanium and anthracite wheels all I can say is that the car looks like some sort of military experiment, very 'stealth' and very seriously designed to do something serious, probably involving lots of speed. It really looks quite different in Paris, bring yours here and you'll see what I mean.
Only complaint is the sat nav system. Gatwick tvr diligently replaced the aerial to above the rear view mirror. It's improved things but not enough. It still gets easily confused and I just can't work out how to programme destinations in France. In the end I reverted to old fashioned map reading which is annoying after spending over a grand on the system. It's an avic x1 and would just be so great with it's retractable touch screen and all if it could only work better. I should ad this is something I put in the car, and not a TVR option (although I believe it is now). Maybe I've got a duff one.
I'd like also to thank and praise Gatwick TVR publicly for the preparation of the car, it was simply stunning when I picked it up on Saturday morning. They did an immaculate job and went through my list of things without complaint or hesitation - and some were more than a little fussy. Not one mention of 'they all do that sir', a first in my experience! Included in my list was rotating the exhaust cans forward by 45 degrees (not a fussy one). It makes the back end look a lot better and something I'd recommend doing. Similarly I'd recommend giving Gatwick TVR a call if you're looking to buy a TVR. Good service is important for any car. For a TVR it's essential.
600 miles up in mine.
Had her over the ton for the first time at the weekend.
Easy as pie motoring.
More time I spend in this car, the more I love it.
One quality issue has shown itself...water ingress around the front of the doors into the cabin. Only minor leak, will have it sorted at first service. My bonnet seals/rubber piping is starting to do the comming loose thing, Ill have sorted at first service down at DM also.
Petrol gauge can be a little irritating as it can vary wildly at times.
Had her over the ton for the first time at the weekend.
Easy as pie motoring.
More time I spend in this car, the more I love it.
One quality issue has shown itself...water ingress around the front of the doors into the cabin. Only minor leak, will have it sorted at first service. My bonnet seals/rubber piping is starting to do the comming loose thing, Ill have sorted at first service down at DM also.
Petrol gauge can be a little irritating as it can vary wildly at times.
Hi the pits,
Out of interest, how are your bonnet seals? I see (above) that DJC’s are coming off after only 600m miles.
I had mine refitted 500 miles ago at the factory and they’re already starting to come off again round the access bonnet. I did ask the factory to use some proper glue, but it appears they didn’t.
TSS
Out of interest, how are your bonnet seals? I see (above) that DJC’s are coming off after only 600m miles.
I had mine refitted 500 miles ago at the factory and they’re already starting to come off again round the access bonnet. I did ask the factory to use some proper glue, but it appears they didn’t.
TSS
Same issue here: it appears that the strip and glue may not have had QA/QC quite weighed off. I'm checking with a company re the correct type rubber strip / glue for GRP/paint coat, waiting on an answer. It flapped around within an hour of leaving the dealership.
Door is OK, the monsoon I drove through after picking up the car brought no leak issues as such, but the driver side door catch is loose - not badly, but enough that there is a slight whistle. I'll be in Newcastle for a fortnight end of this week, so over to Hexham for that one.
Other than that, excellent. Just keeps on getting better.
Door is OK, the monsoon I drove through after picking up the car brought no leak issues as such, but the driver side door catch is loose - not badly, but enough that there is a slight whistle. I'll be in Newcastle for a fortnight end of this week, so over to Hexham for that one.
Other than that, excellent. Just keeps on getting better.
rpa.janwell said:
I'm checking with a company re the correct type rubber strip / glue for GRP/paint coat, waiting on an answer.
Please post back if you find any good glue. It will need to be quite heat resistant - my bonnet gets too hot to touch sometimes. I’ve previously re-glued a bits of mine with B&Q’s own brand Rubber Glue which did seem to last a bit longer that the factory stuff but still isn’t durable enough.
DJC said:
One quality issue has shown itself...water ingress around the front of the doors into the cabin.
If it's not going in to be fixed for a while...just have to watch it's not getting into and damaging the front speaker.
Ours was a demo car...the leak had gone unnoticed and the speaker just fell to bits when Castles took it out, even they were surprised
Fixed the leak at the same time obviously....no trouble since.
YP
yellow peril said:
One quality issue has shown itself...water ingress around the front of the doors into the cabin.
If it's not going in to be fixed for a while...just have to watch it's not getting into and damaging the front speaker.
Ours was a demo car...the leak had gone unnoticed and the speaker just fell to bits when Castles took it out, even they were surprised
Fixed the leak at the same time obviously....no trouble since.
YP
Drove to Stanstead and back to pick the lass up last night in the rain. No water leaks, no problem
Did get caught up in a traffic jam/accident though, so had 15 mins of sat idling. Engine was a pussy cat, no spiking temps. Turned her off in the end and got out. A cpl of chaps came up and said lovely car, one middle age guy said his son and him were admiring as I came past a mile or so back, they heard me before they saw me
No water ingress afaik on my car. It really was peeing down with rain on the autoroute to Paris on Sunday. I got cool spray plumes flying out from the front wheelarches and it helped keep the bugs off but other than that no problems. As mentioned the traction was interesting but the long travel throttle and communicative steering made very light work of it. Certainly big acceleration in low gears is not happening in the wet. I reckon this thing will wheelspin in 3rd, maybe 4th in the wet with a heavy right foot. It's a wonder it puts it all down in the dry. 2nd gear (CR box) foot to the floor, no wheelspin in the dry at all. Incredible.
As for bonnet rubber seals, that's one thing I asked Gatwick tvr to tidy up. Mine never came loose but were never that lovingly put on at the factory. One of the reasons I was impressed with Gatwick tvr is that they clearly replaced every inch of bonnet rubber and put it back like so neatly it could be a motorshow car. The main bonnet and service bonnet is now perfectly flush. The effect is considerable and makes the whole thing look much better built.
I simply cannot wait to get it out of it's lair and unleash it on some smooth french b-roads. Pistonhead nirvana!
ps kick plates now attached - nice!
>> Edited by the pits on Wednesday 24th August 10:34
As for bonnet rubber seals, that's one thing I asked Gatwick tvr to tidy up. Mine never came loose but were never that lovingly put on at the factory. One of the reasons I was impressed with Gatwick tvr is that they clearly replaced every inch of bonnet rubber and put it back like so neatly it could be a motorshow car. The main bonnet and service bonnet is now perfectly flush. The effect is considerable and makes the whole thing look much better built.
I simply cannot wait to get it out of it's lair and unleash it on some smooth french b-roads. Pistonhead nirvana!
ps kick plates now attached - nice!
>> Edited by the pits on Wednesday 24th August 10:34
Don't think I mentioned it but french supergreen goes in at full speed.
I simply can't fill up in the UK without the thing spitting back at me, which is ok, but can get a little tiring. For whatever reason the french nozzles can squirt the stuff in at full tilt.
Anyone else found this? I can't work out what the difference is unless the french pump was super low pressure compared to the uk, but it didn't seem so.
I simply can't fill up in the UK without the thing spitting back at me, which is ok, but can get a little tiring. For whatever reason the french nozzles can squirt the stuff in at full tilt.
Anyone else found this? I can't work out what the difference is unless the french pump was super low pressure compared to the uk, but it didn't seem so.
With regard to the accuracy of the X1 have you
got the speed pulse wire connected and is the
hideaway box that has the electronic gyroscope
in it sitting somewhere where it could suffer
from excessive vibration? I had this problem and
fitted a small layer of rubber under the box and
this greatly improved the accuracy of the unit.
Col
got the speed pulse wire connected and is the
hideaway box that has the electronic gyroscope
in it sitting somewhere where it could suffer
from excessive vibration? I had this problem and
fitted a small layer of rubber under the box and
this greatly improved the accuracy of the unit.
Col
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