Tuesday 11th February 2003

Marcos TS250

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There’s really only one way to drive a British sports car, and even in winter the TS250 can provide civilised top down motoring, the curved screen and side windows keeping wind buffeting to negligible levels while the heater has no trouble keeping the cockpit warm. As with many soft top sports cars, driving with the hood down means less wind noise - and it gives you more chance to appreciate the sound coming from the twin exhausts, which though not in the same league as a Rover V8 is still a suitably deep purposeful note.

The TS250 wouldn’t be a proper Marcos if the underside didn’t occasionally come into contact with what’s beneath it, which happened once at walking pace over one of those plastic bolt-down speed humps and once at high speed when it grounded out at the bottom of a big dip. Still, nothing fell off, which along with a notable absence of rattles tends to indicate that it’s well screwed together.

Prices

With prices starting at £34,950 the TS250 isn’t cheap, costing almost the same as the faster TVR Chimaera and around £5,500 more than a mechanically similar FBS Census of equivalent spec. However, the Marcos reputation and driving experience obviously still count for a lot, with around 60 serious enquiries at the Motor Show so far producing four sales and plenty of test drive bookings for later this year.

When it was shown on Driven, Jason Plato said he couldn’t understand why anyone would buy the TS250 instead of a Boxster. I can sum that up in one word - individuality. Owning a Marcos means driving an exclusive sports car hand-built in small numbers, not some common mass-produced thing driven by tens of thousands, and even from my brief drive it’s obvious that the TS250 turns heads in a way that a Boxster wouldn’t.

It might look a bit tame compared to some of its V8 powered ancestors, but the TS250 scores as a practical package with respectable performance, a useful amount of luggage space and well proven mechanical parts that should provide both reliability and reasonable economy. But if that’s not enough for you don’t worry, because now they’ve got their latest model into production Marcos are looking at ways to make it go faster.

Nothing new there then...

 Prev

[kevinday]

This looks absolutely fabulous, I wish them well, though I think the price should be southerly side of £30K. For an extra few £K you could have a Tamora.....

[Podie]

Always had a soft spot for Marcos... s'pose it's because it's British if nothing else. I sincerely hope they succeed, but given the attitude and general brush off that I was given at the Motorshow, I would think twice about buying one... shame.

[shok]

Come on Jem, put a V8 in it - you know it makes sense!

[Marcos maniac]

It hasn't got the same looks and appeal as a Mantis though




:stillsufferingwithdrawlsymptoms:

[apache]

this car is crying out for the LS1 engine

[jpf]

Drop the price 10K and bring that Marcos badge!

[harley]

I like the old badge too.

TopGear thinks the TS250 is overpriced by 5K.

Since I'm in the USA, it doesn't make any difference to me, but I wish Marcos mucho success.

[smele]

Not covinced the new headlights look right. Think I would like to see it in the flesh, but an improvment over the old car.

Few more BHP would make it seem less over priced.

[v8thunder]

Duratec v6, Mondeo tail-lights, small British company producing traditional-style sports car for quite a bit of cash, Noble M12 anybody? I'd like to see a comparitive track-test, as the specifications make these two sound like front- and mid-engined variations on each other. Looks great, btw.

[kevinday]

Except that the Noble has a pair of turbos added.

[chimtvr999]

Nice car but nothing really appealing compared to TVR or Morgan cars these days. This car is 10 years to late, 1,5 l and 2 cylinders too short. This is a bad Chimaera look alike. You have to be crazzy to put 35 K£ for this. I will not trade my old 1995 chim for it.
Philippe
Reg plate TVR999 in Belgium

[shok]

chimtvr999 said: This is a bad Chimaera look alike.

I dont think so - it may be a little different but it's still got the Marcos look (IMHO). Marcos cars have always had their own identity, unreliable maybe, but definately not TVR look-alikes.

[sublimatica]

Err.... Bad Chimera look-alike? I think Marcos have been making cars that followed the same styling cues as this one since well before the Chimera was born. So who's the original?

Although it's only my opinion, I think this is a beautiful machine, and practical enough too. I just wish they'd chosen rear light clusters that weren't fitted to the most recognisably ubiquitous cars on our roads six years ago. It spoils a lot of the individuality of the Marcos marque, and makes me think 'kit car'. The headlights are ace though - not instantly recognisable as Peugeot types.

[Phil r]

Rumour has it that the prototype is off the road while Marcos are experimenting with superchargers to give 290bhp, now thats a bit better!

[grahambell]

Phil r said: Rumour has it that the prototype is off the road while Marcos are experimenting with superchargers to give 290bhp, now thats a bit better!

This was indeed one of the options Marcos were considering for more power as there's apparently a Ford approved set-up for the Duratec in the US. Looks like they've made a decision since my visit.

Yet another reason to buy a Marcos instead of a Boxster...

[shok]

Don't know why they dont just fit the ST220 engine - it's from the same vehicle (Mondeo) as the engine they currently use (so must be a similar size) and has 50 more horses.

[grahambell]

shok said: Don't know why they dont just fit the ST220 engine - it's from the same vehicle (Mondeo) as the engine they currently use (so must be a similar size) and has 50 more horses.

Depends on Ford actually making the engine available to companies such as Marcos - something they did NOT do with the ST200 engine. As you say though, obvious option if they do.

[shok]

Depends on Ford actually making the engine available to companies such as Marcos - something they did NOT do with the ST200 engine.

I thought the ST200 was the old Mondeo - didnt Marcos use V8's only in those days (before they went out of business)? Anyway they made the 4.6 V8 available.

[grahambell]

shok said: I thought the ST200 was the old Mondeo - didnt Marcos use V8's only in those days (before they went out of business)? Anyway they made the 4.6 V8 available.

Yes the ST200 engine was from the old Mondeo, and no Marcos didn't just use V8s in those days (they used the Rover 2 litre turbo too). I wasn't meaning that Ford didn't make the ST200 engine available to Marcos, I meant that they didn't make it available to anybody.

Noble, FBS and Kamala all use the Duratec as well, and Phantom were looking at using it, but there was a question mark over whether Ford would sell the 3-litre ST220 version as well as the standard 2.5 litre.

Obviously the extra torque and horses make the bigger engine more desirable for sports car use.

[Demolition Man]

Call me pickey, but isn't this just a Mantaray with different headlights? I owned an LM500 for 3 years...THIS NEW CAR NEEDS A V8! There's nothing sweeter than the sound of a V8.