Tuscan advice

[jasongtr]

so what i am thinking now is bin the beemer get an old diesel to run about to work in and perhaps a tuscan for the weekend etc...

But having read many threads here there seems to be more 'problem' threads in TVR than most other places on PH.

Is it beeter to buy a car with a rebuild or without as common sense could tell me both, i.e its been done already or it is a problem car so needed it sooner.

I gather the tuscan has an almost race spec engine so its underdtandable that it doesnt last 100k miles like many euro boxes, but now i see TVR has chassis problems and all manner of other things ranging from niggles to serious problems.,

Is it just what you have to go through to own a TVR or am i being paranoid (i understand that good news doesnt travel well and bad news is everywhere)

The other thought is without traction/abs are these cars a nightmare to drive and as i have seen in one thread i'll probably crash it before i blow it up.

They are stunning cars but i dont want to spend 15k ish on a car that sits nicely in my garage and cannot afford to repair it, i may as well buy a Lotus elise or something else for the weekend blast

Thanks in advance for your thoughts

Edited by jasongtr on Sunday 2nd March 17:41

[davido140]

I have done exactly what you described. Old pug diesel for daily drive and Tuscan for fun drives.

Buying a car with a recent rebuild and warranty remaining on it would be a good idea, I paid a bit of a premium for mine as it still had 18 months left of warranty on the rebuild. A recent clutch wouldnt go amiss too.

I budgetted 3000 per year for servicing, tyres and other "problems". Im still in my first year of ownership and have spent about 1200 so far including a service and non essential stuff (fixing electric window that didnt close every time, hardly a show stopper), that said I have a couple of little probs at the moment which may bump that up when it gets to the garage!!

It isnt lost on me I am driving an 8 year old high performance car, things are going to go wrong from time to time, Im sure an 8 year old example of ANY performance car will have stuff go wrong, elise no exception.

Elise is a fantastic car, handles better than a tuscan on the limit too. depends how fast you want to go though, and if you want to be a bit more unique, there are lots of elises (eliseses? elli? what the plural?) around.

Tuscan is no more of a handful in the wet than an elise, they will send you into a ditch just as quick if you drive like a moron! rear wheel drive powerful car + wet road = arse out antics! (having said that the later model I hear are a bit better, not driven one of those though)

go and look at some (although dont kick private sellers tyres, it gets annoying if your just coming to have a look, thats what dealers are for!!) check out some eliseseseses too, maybe book a test drive or two.

Im sure the choice will be a lot easier to make once you have done that! (i'll be surprised if your heart prefers the elise, head might say go for the slightly cheaper to run option!!)

Good luck!

p.s TVRCC meets are a great place to meet some owners, introduce yourself, someone will probably offer to take you for a run out as a passenger, or you could ask, no one will take offence, probably welcome the chance to show thier Pride and joy off!!

[jasongtr]

i realise its your budget but £3k a year seems too far out of my reach (i know you are at 1200 so far) the insurance is around 2x that of an elise/exige too, glad to hear its not a wild animal in the wet though, i must admit turning off TC in my 330 in the wet can get hairy if you boot it, but i guess thats the same with any rwd car with reasonable power.

i guess il have to just drool lots but acknowledge that i may not own a TVR for some time to come, i need to come up with a cheap quick car that preferably has a removable roof/convertable - did someone say VX220.........

[S6 Devil]

Have you thought about a Chimaera or Griffith. Good bulletproof V8 and cheaper running costs and insurance.

[jasongtr]

chim - no dont like the looks - too dated and not as quick unless you go 5 ltr, griff again looks dont do it for me as much as the tuscan/T350, guess i may as well give up on the TVR ownership for a while until i can afford the problems that come with ownership.

[davido140]

jasongtr said:

i realise its your budget but £3k a year seems too far out of my reach (i know you are at 1200 so far) the insurance is around 2x that of an elise/exige too, glad to hear its not a wild animal in the wet though, i must admit turning off TC in my 330 in the wet can get hairy if you boot it, but i guess thats the same with any rwd car with reasonable power.

i guess il have to just drool lots but acknowledge that i may not own a TVR for some time to come, i need to come up with a cheap quick car that preferably has a removable roof/convertable - did someone say VX220.........

I think 3k is about as low as you'll get for tuscan maintenance, some years will be less and all you need is the service, others may be a bit higher though. Im sure I'll come in under budget this year. If you do any amount of mileage I wouldnt have thought an elise would come in under 2k a year, servicing and parts can be as expensive as TVR stuff(IIRC the pub conversations with my elise owning chum!)

VX220's are good too (if you can live with the stigma of the badge!), there is an owners club website out on the interweb somewhere!


Accelerator isnt an on/off switch you know!

Can be "fed" in when its wet!

Not trying to be condescending but if you think your 330 gets hairy in the wet with TC turned off yet yourself on a ride-drive (driver training company) day as soon as you get an elise! you'll stop wanting to punch me in the nose and start thanking me when you've done it, Honest!!

Edited by davido140 on Sunday 2nd March 19:39

[jasongtr]

david

when i say hairy i mean i gets out of shape, nothing that cant be controlled, its the 1st rwd car i have had so it still makes me laugh when i do it, obviously in the bmw i can keeo the TC on when i want, a luxury i cannot have in a TVR, but as in the post above, i cannot aford to have any problems and that is what TVRs seem to come with, and id rather have a lesser car i can have fun in than one thats broke and stuck in the garage - cheers anyway, maybe i will do this training wheels driving thingie

[davido140]

jasongtr said:

david

when i say hairy i mean i gets out of shape, nothing that cant be controlled, its the 1st rwd car i have had so it still makes me laugh when i do it, obviously in the bmw i can keeo the TC on when i want, a luxury i cannot have in a TVR, but as in the post above, i cannot aford to have any problems and that is what TVRs seem to come with, and id rather have a lesser car i can have fun in than one thats broke and stuck in the garage - cheers anyway, maybe i will do this training wheels driving thingie

glad you didnt take it the wrong way, didnt mean to sound all high and mighty!

http://www.ridedrive.co.uk/ just found thier website,

Check em out, I did a day shortly after buying my tuscan last year, it was awesome, ex-police driving trainer, I learned as much in a day than I probably learned in the last 10 years of driving. You come away utterly exhausted too! Its not just fannying around on a skid pan, lots more to it than that!

Sounds like youre doing the right thing, cars (TVRs especially) have a habit of munching away at your wallet contents until theres not a lot left! The reason I have an 8 year old tuscan is because I wanted to buy it outright rather than piss about with loans on a newer model and then find I cant afford to fill it with petrol!

[jasongtr]

as arnie said - i'll be back, but prob not for a while - keep the beemer for a bit, look at the elise/exige again, seem to be a safer bet on the wallet and still have a smile inducing drive

[D14 AYS]

jasongtr said:

david

when i say hairy i mean i gets out of shape, nothing that cant be controlled, its the 1st rwd car i have had so it still makes me laugh when i do it, obviously in the bmw i can keeo the TC on when i want, a luxury i cannot have in a TVR, but as in the post above, i cannot aford to have any problems and that is what TVRs seem to come with, and id rather have a lesser car i can have fun in than one thats broke and stuck in the garage - cheers anyway, maybe i will do this training wheels driving thingie

Dont buy a TVR if you cant afford a few niggles now and again,stick to a lesser car

Edited by D14 AYS on Sunday 2nd March 20:38

[jasongtr]

ill get a lesser car and leave the massive problems behind perhaps

[RWA28]

You only seem to be listening to the bad stories. I'm on my 3rd TVR and to be honest it's all bks. I've not had a single problem in about 40k in the ones I've owned. I won't buy another manufacturer's (sport) car now either. You get hooked after 10 yards in a TVR in my opinion. Try it, you'll love it!

[jasongtr]

i do understand that bad news travels etc.. but even when you see the classifieds cars that have less than 20k miles on it have had engine rebuilds and clutches, i simply cannot afford to have major problems, im probably better off waiting until i have £25k, 15 for the car and 10k for issues, as said before i would not be happy with a virtual supercar in the garage - well i suppose i could play my sons DS whilst in the drivers seat and think how green my TVR would be when it doesnt start.... i think i'll go and hug a tree....

[fat80b]

I wouldn't get put off by the potential downsides - Yes they can go wrong, but so can any car - to put it into perspective, a guy at work bought a mazda RX8 and has just shelled out 6500 for a new engine.....

To look at it another way.....

Look at the depreciation of your E90 bimmer vs the depreciation of a Tuscan plus running costs and they wont be that far apart....

I moved from an E46 330ci which cost me 10K depreciation over 3 years and about 2K in servicing and bits.

I dont expect the Tuscan to depreciate quite as much as a BM in three years providing it is well looked after.
However, any difference in depreciation cost will probably be spent on maintenance/ pampering of a Tiv -

You pays your money and takes your choice, I know which way round I prefer.....

[H10TVR]

Yes I see a lot of posts like this.

Given the low depreciation against maintanance costs the Tuscan still does represent good value motoring, aside of the fact it is the most exhilarating drive you will get this side of 50k cost.

The Tuscan clutch will list 20k the engines if looked after properly will last , if you are worried buy a warranty for £1200 per year which will cover almost everything except servicing tyres and breaks , problem solved..

Or leave a slush fund top cover any mishaps

[art nouveau]

H10TVR said:

if you are worried buy a warranty for £1200 per year which will cover almost everything except servicing tyres and breaks , problem solved..

Or leave a slush fund top cover any mishaps

Watch out if you are buying a warranty - in my opinion, not worth the paper it's printed on. Got one with my Tuscan from Warranty Management Services (WMS). What a bunch of thieving con artists! I've had so much trouble with them I could fill this thread!!!!!.

I now keep a slush fund (outside standard servicing that you would carry out on any car) to ensure top performance. Next find a local independant garage who knows TVR's (I use Pete Millward at Roath Garage, Cardiff, also make sure the geometry is set up correctly (Motech near Pontpool).

Yes the Tuscan does have a few issues - however with the top down and in full flight - all's forgiven!!! nothing like it short of F1.

Art

[TOV!E]

RWA28 said:

You only seem to be listening to the bad stories. I'm on my 3rd TVR and to be honest it's all bks. I've not had a single problem in about 40k in the ones I've owned. I won't buy another manufacturer's (sport) car now either. You get hooked after 10 yards in a TVR in my opinion. Try it, you'll love it!

DITTO 7 TVRS 3 TUSCANS no problems, and covered over 60,000 miles, i budget for £1500 a year and have never even got close to spending that amount.

[jasongtr]

TOV!E said:

RWA28 said:

You only seem to be listening to the bad stories. I'm on my 3rd TVR and to be honest it's all bks. I've not had a single problem in about 40k in the ones I've owned. I won't buy another manufacturer's (sport) car now either. You get hooked after 10 yards in a TVR in my opinion. Try it, you'll love it!

DITTO 7 TVRS 3 TUSCANS no problems, and covered over 60,000 miles, i budget for £1500 a year and have never even got close to spending that amount.

very encouraging, i agree the bmw will lose money but i bought it as a 2 year old car so the depreciation is slowing down a litle, i have only had it since august 07, will have to trade in against a tuscan (and get on the drip) and get a daily run around, but i dont have the slush fund i could just about stretch to buying the car at the moment let alone repair it, that said i was going to move house this year but i'll give that a miss for 12-18 months i think so who knows how many spare tokens i'll have to spend....