The silent happy majority
Discussion
I recently discovered this website. It gives the impression that TVRs are unreliable and breakdown all the time. Human nature means that unhappy people are more likely to vent than happy people...but it is worrying that many potential owners will be put off by reliability fears. So...
I have owned 5 TVRs over the last 10 years, covered well over 100,000 miles in them and they have all been 100% reliable. I'll say that bit again. THEY HAVE ALL BEEN 100% RELIABLE.
I am not at all mechanically minded. I expect to get in the car turn the key and go and have a blast getting from A to B. This is exactly what all my TVRs have done ie started and got from A to B.
I have had problems - a speedo stopped working, a temp guage stopped working, a rear light cover fell off, misc. bits of trim have fallen off various cars. But these aren't really serious things considering that you get a car that is more exciting to drive than anything else.
I wonder how many of the people complaining of failed engines are telling the whole story. Last time my car was serviced I talked to one of the mechanics about engine failures. He had just replaced 2 engines in Cerberas.
The first had failed because the owner hadn't realised you needed to check the oil from time to time, the engine had run dry : result new engine. The second had failed because the owner had driven through a flooded road. Water had flooded the engine! Result : new engine. To me both these cases seem more like 'owner problem' than TVR problem.
My advice to anyone thinking of buying a TVR is definitely do it, but be aware that
1. You will need to check the oil occasionally
2. It'll run better if you do lots of miles.
3. Let the engine warm up before redlining it!
4. Quality has improved enormously over the last 10 years (my current Cerbie4.2 is leagues ahead of my first S2)
5. Silly, but annoying things will happen, but even this is becoming less common.
6. You'll love it!!
I hope this message will generate a series of similar, happy ownership stories.
I have owned 5 TVRs over the last 10 years, covered well over 100,000 miles in them and they have all been 100% reliable. I'll say that bit again. THEY HAVE ALL BEEN 100% RELIABLE.
I am not at all mechanically minded. I expect to get in the car turn the key and go and have a blast getting from A to B. This is exactly what all my TVRs have done ie started and got from A to B.
I have had problems - a speedo stopped working, a temp guage stopped working, a rear light cover fell off, misc. bits of trim have fallen off various cars. But these aren't really serious things considering that you get a car that is more exciting to drive than anything else.
I wonder how many of the people complaining of failed engines are telling the whole story. Last time my car was serviced I talked to one of the mechanics about engine failures. He had just replaced 2 engines in Cerberas.
The first had failed because the owner hadn't realised you needed to check the oil from time to time, the engine had run dry : result new engine. The second had failed because the owner had driven through a flooded road. Water had flooded the engine! Result : new engine. To me both these cases seem more like 'owner problem' than TVR problem.
My advice to anyone thinking of buying a TVR is definitely do it, but be aware that
1. You will need to check the oil occasionally
2. It'll run better if you do lots of miles.
3. Let the engine warm up before redlining it!
4. Quality has improved enormously over the last 10 years (my current Cerbie4.2 is leagues ahead of my first S2)
5. Silly, but annoying things will happen, but even this is becoming less common.
6. You'll love it!!
I hope this message will generate a series of similar, happy ownership stories.
I can understand Steelnad's frustation too - I had an early Lotus Esprit V8 a few years back (during a holiday from TVRs) which developed problems leading to a replacement engine under warranty - its a real pain to say the least. But these things happen to manufacturers other than TVR & Lotus. About 3 years back BMW developed a new engine which failed prematurely and led to them having to replace an awful lot of 3 series engines.
The reason I posted my original note was to try to give another view so that potential first time TVR buyers would not be put off. If people lose confidence in TVR then residuals will plummet and no-one will buy new ones. TVR is a company like any other - no sales - no company - no TVRs which would be bad news IMO.
The reason I posted my original note was to try to give another view so that potential first time TVR buyers would not be put off. If people lose confidence in TVR then residuals will plummet and no-one will buy new ones. TVR is a company like any other - no sales - no company - no TVRs which would be bad news IMO.
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