Tuscan/T350/Tamora running costs?

[Edmundo2]

Hi All. Normally lurking on the Griff forum but wondered if anyone could give me a bit of advice. If I were to sell the Griff at end of year I could raise maybe £15/£16k to buy a speed 6 Tiv. I absolutely bloody love T350s but I think I'd be pushing it with my budget, ( do cars advertised for £17/£18k actually sell for quite a bit less? ), so I guess a Tamora, ( still undecided about the arse thing? ),or Tuscan might be more feasible. Any answers to the following would be appreciated,

Based on car being a toy doing sub 5k miles a year and purchased with engine rebuild already done,

1) Comparitive annual running costs of a T350/Tamora/Tuscan vs Griff 500, (not inc tax/insurance/fuel)

2) Limited miles insurance/Tax differences vs Griff, ( £270 insurance/£180ish tax )?

3) Other than engine rebuild what are the big jobs to look out for?

4) Re Tuscan 1's I hear people critcising them generally about steering/handling? Could anyone explain it's traits and whether it can be sorted?

5) For my budget of £15/£16k, what is the best Tuscan I could hope to get into, i.e, year,engine size,miles,etc?

Any other advice welcome,

Thanks

[tcant]

I made the move from a Griff 500 to a Tuscan 3 years ago. I wish I had done more research on the Tuscan as I wouldn't have bought the one I did but looked around for one with a rebuild, new clutch etc etc..

Running costs - These are definitely quite a bit higher than the Griff, I use a main dealer to service mine and it costs roughly £500 a service with a bit more for the 12,000 mile service. Parts are all pretty easy to get though.

Insurance - This obviously varies but I found the Tuscan only slightly dearer than the Griff to insure

Engine rebuild - Well documented on PH. Rough rule of thumb the engines became more reliable post 2004-ish so engine rebuild on an older model quite likely.

Handling - the standard factory shocks were poor, tram-lining and nervousness at speed is not uncommon. Easily rectified with new shocks (Nitrons, Gaz etc etc). Mine now has Nitrons and is much more reassuring to drive.

Price - If I had £15k-£16k I would be buying on condition not age. If the car has had a recent rebuild and new clutch and has claerly been looked after you have peace of mind for years of great motoring. The rest of the running costs aren't too bad.

Good Luck!

PS. The Tuscan is light years ahead of the Griff in terms of outright speed, handling and performance.

[pete]

Hi Edmundo,

I changed from a 97 Griff 500 to a 2003 Tuscan just over 3 years ago, so can add some comments on your questions. I haven't regretted it for a second; although I loved the Griff and had run it for 5 years, the Tuscan is just "more" of everything. It's faster, handles better, is more of an occasion to drive - it also has the potential to be a lot more expensive, although so far not too dramatic for me...

Edmundo2 said:

1) Comparitive annual running costs of a T350/Tamora/Tuscan vs Griff 500, (not inc tax/insurance/fuel)

Servicing is roughly 50% more expensive for the Tuscan, still at Fernhurst. Things like checking valve clearances at every service (as I'm paranoid) are labour intensive. Obviously if the engine lets go, it will be much more expensive; for me keeping a 7k+ rebuild fund accessible is the main difference.

Edmundo2 said:

2) Limited miles insurance/Tax differences vs Griff, ( £270 insurance/£180ish tax )?

Insurance for me actually went down, but I did find it was a pain to get a decent initial quote on the Tuscan. Even people like Sunninghill, my old Griff insurer, weren't competitive until I'd owned the Tuscan for a year. Now it's under 500 quid including track day cover, 6k miles, garaged in the home counties. Tax is the same, "private/light goods" rated.

Edmundo2 said:

3) Other than engine rebuild what are the big jobs to look out for?

Shock absorbers only seem to last 20-30k, then everyone replaces them with better aftermarket setups. Factor from £800 upwards to replace them. Also clutches and slave cylinders. People claim that 20k miles is the norm, although mine has done 37k miles; a clutch is also around the £1k mark, fitted. I haven't heard of Tuscans going through wishbone bushes the way my Griff did, but it has had new fuel lines and engine mounts recently, both of which are quite labour intensive jobs with cheap parts.

Edmundo2 said:

4) Re Tuscan 1's I hear people critcising them generally about steering/handling? Could anyone explain it's traits and whether it can be sorted?

Early mk1s were really twitchy. A consequence of a 1.75 turn steering rack and the chassis geometry, plus generally poor setup. Mine is the 2003 onwards Tamora/T350 chassis, with different suspension and steering rack pickup points - combined with Gaz Golds, and a decent geometry setup, it has transformed the handling. Before I had it sorted, it used to tramline like crazy, required constant direction corrections at speed, and was generally scary to drive on anything but a billiard-table smooth surface. The mk2s have the power steering setup from the Tamora etc, which apparently also makes a big difference, mostly down to the slower rack I believe. I wouldn't worry about the old vs. new mkl chassis; you can tame an early one with a setup from someone who knows what they are doing.

Edmundo2 said:

5) For my budget of £15/£16k, what is the best Tuscan I could hope to get into, i.e, year,engine size,miles,etc?

No hard and fast rule. You need to decide on age vs. mileage, how important a rebuild is vs. the reassurance of having it done yourself, upgrades, colour, spec. I was dead set on a low mileage 4.0 S, then bought a higher mileage 3.6 with a high spec, solid history and in a colour I loved - you just need to look at a lot of cars, like any TVR, and get a feel for what seems right to you. My subjective advice would be that I would only pay a premium for a recent post-2006 rebuild. The early rebuilds seem almost as flakey as the original engines, so without the comfort of a transferable engine warranty I would rather wait and get it rebuilt by Power, Str8 Six or Racing Green.

All in my opinion, of course!

Pete

[Edmundo2]

Great info guys. Thanks.