Bit of a Retrospective Observation
Discussion
Evening people,
Just watching Old Topgears with the DB7 GT on..(and a latter one with the TVR Tuscan 2) DB7 Had a number of faults. Ashtray opened when you closed the centre armrest, Drivers window didnt close properly and was cramped as you like with a host of annoying quirks. Plus was still based on a 30 year old XJS design and they charged £104k to do a hot lap of 1 minute 30.
TVR Tuscan 2 was last listed at £39k (when it appeared on Topgear), had the odd bit of dodgy trim and did a hot lap of 1.24.
Point im getting at is both had faults and to be honest the DB7 at its point of sale probably had a fair share more than the much-knocked TVR but all was forgiven on the DB7 purely cause J.C liked it.
As time goes by, Company Ownership/Factory issues aside, to me it does seem more and more that at the point of closure TVR's were cracking cars with much improved quality and quite frankly getting more than their fair share of unfair press.
New TVR's are still much missed by me.
Just watching Old Topgears with the DB7 GT on..(and a latter one with the TVR Tuscan 2) DB7 Had a number of faults. Ashtray opened when you closed the centre armrest, Drivers window didnt close properly and was cramped as you like with a host of annoying quirks. Plus was still based on a 30 year old XJS design and they charged £104k to do a hot lap of 1 minute 30.
TVR Tuscan 2 was last listed at £39k (when it appeared on Topgear), had the odd bit of dodgy trim and did a hot lap of 1.24.
Point im getting at is both had faults and to be honest the DB7 at its point of sale probably had a fair share more than the much-knocked TVR but all was forgiven on the DB7 purely cause J.C liked it.
As time goes by, Company Ownership/Factory issues aside, to me it does seem more and more that at the point of closure TVR's were cracking cars with much improved quality and quite frankly getting more than their fair share of unfair press.
New TVR's are still much missed by me.
Odd one this
We all know that Top Gear give TVR a hard time generally (ask Sharon -Bristol RO who stood up for us all) but when you look at the individual reports of the Cerbera and Sagaris, the supercar shoot out including the Cerb, they can't praise TVR enough.
As owners we all know they don't have the build quality of BMW, Audi, Jaguar etc but then again they didn't come with the sales price either.
It's about time they compared like with like, pound for pound. Tuscan 1/3 of the price of Aston. As desirable as Astons are (British after all, high on my wish list) I'd rather have a Tuscan for the "what the F*&k is that" factor
But then again, are we bothered what a Hamster, an odd bloke and JC think ?
We all know that Top Gear give TVR a hard time generally (ask Sharon -Bristol RO who stood up for us all) but when you look at the individual reports of the Cerbera and Sagaris, the supercar shoot out including the Cerb, they can't praise TVR enough.
As owners we all know they don't have the build quality of BMW, Audi, Jaguar etc but then again they didn't come with the sales price either.
It's about time they compared like with like, pound for pound. Tuscan 1/3 of the price of Aston. As desirable as Astons are (British after all, high on my wish list) I'd rather have a Tuscan for the "what the F*&k is that" factor
But then again, are we bothered what a Hamster, an odd bloke and JC think ?
my point is that when the Cerb was tested Clarkson pretty much wet himself with excitement and said how fabulous it was including the unusual way of getting in and out of the car..
Then a few years later they had a feature with, if i remember right, the T350 and making a point of saying how bad it was cause no-one could work out how to get in or out of it..
So the same reasons why J.C loved a car, he later hated..
The same latter feature knocked issues with the wipers lifting and the odd interior wobble which lets face it were nothing new and are still found on mega-priced exotics..
As you say, if you wanted A1 build quality then you would be missing the point with a TVR..
The Tuscan was virtually dismissed against the Weismann even tho it was a number of seconds quicker round the T.G track and only about 60% the price of the German car.
And finally the Tuscan 2 convertible when used by Jackie Stewart and James May for the track feature performed top grade but was once again knocked and the company effectively dismissed as it closing..
It just shows total inconsistency of reviews....
Regarding the importance of JC and co's opinions, well i do actually think they were/are important. Topgear is the UK's No1 motoring show and regardless of our opinion, there are a good number of the public who still consider the presenters opinions on the cars..
When you are a low volume manufacturer who relies most of its sales to Niche market UK buyers then i do think Topgear etc have a significant influence in how many cars you sell.. (if a show puts off 100 prospective buyers, that could be half a year or more sales..)
Basically, years on it still grates that UK journalists will still go out of their way to kick UK products if it makes good TV regardless on whether it is a true reflection of the product or not.
Then a few years later they had a feature with, if i remember right, the T350 and making a point of saying how bad it was cause no-one could work out how to get in or out of it..
So the same reasons why J.C loved a car, he later hated..
The same latter feature knocked issues with the wipers lifting and the odd interior wobble which lets face it were nothing new and are still found on mega-priced exotics..
As you say, if you wanted A1 build quality then you would be missing the point with a TVR..
The Tuscan was virtually dismissed against the Weismann even tho it was a number of seconds quicker round the T.G track and only about 60% the price of the German car.
And finally the Tuscan 2 convertible when used by Jackie Stewart and James May for the track feature performed top grade but was once again knocked and the company effectively dismissed as it closing..
It just shows total inconsistency of reviews....
Regarding the importance of JC and co's opinions, well i do actually think they were/are important. Topgear is the UK's No1 motoring show and regardless of our opinion, there are a good number of the public who still consider the presenters opinions on the cars..
When you are a low volume manufacturer who relies most of its sales to Niche market UK buyers then i do think Topgear etc have a significant influence in how many cars you sell.. (if a show puts off 100 prospective buyers, that could be half a year or more sales..)
Basically, years on it still grates that UK journalists will still go out of their way to kick UK products if it makes good TV regardless on whether it is a true reflection of the product or not.
Fire99 said:
my point is that when the Cerb was tested Clarkson pretty much wet himself with excitement and said how fabulous it was including the unusual way of getting in and out of the car..
The Tuscan was virtually dismissed against the Weismann even tho it was a number of seconds quicker round the T.G track and only about 60% the price of the German car.
And finally the Tuscan 2 convertible when used by Jackie Stewart and James May for the track feature performed top grade but was once again knocked and the company effectively dismissed as it closing..
It just shows total inconsistency of reviews....
Clarkson was / is a friend of Peter Wheelers. He was jokey / positive about TVR when Wheeler owned it and jokey / negative as soon as Wheeler didn't own it.The Tuscan was virtually dismissed against the Weismann even tho it was a number of seconds quicker round the T.G track and only about 60% the price of the German car.
And finally the Tuscan 2 convertible when used by Jackie Stewart and James May for the track feature performed top grade but was once again knocked and the company effectively dismissed as it closing..
It just shows total inconsistency of reviews....
Bottom line Clarkson is a
. I think what is being said here is something we already know. The likes of TG actually are more responsible for the demise of TVR than they would ever care to admit or take responsibility for, far more imho than the Russian wonderkid. Compare Sagaris track times with the much vaunted Pork stable and apart from the GT3 RS its quicker than the rest including the GT3 and turbo. Also I think with the exception of the Noble M15 every thing above it is at least twice the price. Nothing like heaping praise where its deserved, not 
.
. 
unrepentant said:
Clarkson was / is a friend of Peter Wheelers. He was jokey / positive about TVR when Wheeler owned it and jokey / negative as soon as Wheeler didn't own it.
Bottom line Clarkson is a.
Whilst not disagreeing with your bottom line I think that you'll find that JC and PW fell out before the Rusky took over. All very sad.Bottom line Clarkson is a
. HarryW said:
I think what is being said here is something we already know. The likes of TG actually are more responsible for the demise of TVR than they would ever care to admit or take responsibility for, far more imho than the Russian wonderkid. Compare Sagaris track times with the much vaunted Pork stable and apart from the GT3 RS its quicker than the rest including the GT3 and turbo. Also I think with the exception of the Noble M15 every thing above it is at least twice the price. Nothing like heaping praise where its deserved, not .
I agree, and it's time the media in general started to support our homegrown industries.. Being negative, sarcastic and derogatory is a very lazy form of journalism and humour, which ultimately damages our own society, as it tends to appeal to the sheep-like folk who believe what they read in the papers or see on TV.
Much of the media today appears to be run by a bunch of cynical manipulating selfish pricks.
I haven't bought a newpaper (comic) for many years.
JR said:
Anyway i just wish us Brits took some pride in our products rather than just being a piece of land for Companies from other countries to build theirs on..
The sagaris still sits at 22 in the all time laptimes chart at 1:24.6, 0.2 secs slower than the Audi R8. Nearly everything above it is exotica
http://www.topgear.com/content/tgonbbc2/laptimes/t...
http://www.topgear.com/content/tgonbbc2/laptimes/t...
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