Am I losing my mind??

[Barry Ashcroft]

Ok after the bad weather of Le-Mans and the fact I never use my westie we (as in the group) have been discussing getting rid of the westies for something a bit more useable.

I took Lou's MX5 and had a cracking time and stayed dry BUT even though I thrashed the A*** of it and it went well it's just too slow for me.

I want to stick with open top fun and the Elise/VXR don't float my boat I have sat here for the last 2 days looking at the TVR Tamora.

Anybody had one can offer me some advice and ownership pro's and cons.

Ok I now about all the engine problems but it looks like that was on the early tuscan's not the later engine and if it did blow up it would be a good excuse to fit a V8  

So as Rory Breaker said to Nick the Bubble You may enlighten me

[Blatman]

You're not losing your mind mate. You're just getting old

[stu999]

Ok I now about all the engine problems but it looks like that was on the early tuscan's not the later engine and if it did blow up it would be a good excuse to fit a V8  

A V10 Viper shoehorned in would be more up your street, wouldn't it?

[Norman Verona]

"Am I losing my mind?"

YES

[Bambi]

I thought TVRs were just upmarket Westfields but I've only been in one, a Tuscan. It was fun but I think it cost £5000 for an engine re-build.

[JeffC]

Ive looked at buying a couple in the past but as I had a look round them I changed my mind, first one I saw I thought had been in an accident and repaired/rebuilt badly was that poorly put together    

second one belonged to David Beckham was in an auction and that was equally as bad   It did a fookin fortune in the sale too and was a queue of people inhaling the passenger  seat where posh had been sat      

[budmikem]

I know the feeling well.... bad backs...low cars...so ordered one of these last November...hopefully it will arrive this year !!

At least you can let down the tyres to reach into the engine bay when fitting your V8 !!

[jak]

No Barry you're not losing your mind, just found the limits of enjoying a westfield. The number of people that seem to want a TVR rather than a Westfield seems to be a growing list!!

Only problem I can see is you'll not find it easy to sell the monster for what it should be worth.

John

[JeffC]

suppose it depends what you want out of a car, If I wanted a soft top road car I personally  wouldnt have a westfield there are so many more cars out there that do that job so much better    But for track use I think they make a lot of sense cheap to run cheap on track  

My advice Barry if you not getting use from your current car  would be to get shot of it and buy or build a trackcar/ race car and get yourself along to some trackdays and see how you get on , I recall seeing your face after you got out the Duratec westy at Bruntinthorpe you were grining like a cheshire cat      

[pistonbroke]

Why not keep the cake and eat it  

What you really need is a bigger garage  

[Bean]

I must confess I've been researching TVR's the last month or so.

The Griffith 500's look awesome, then I started reading about the Cerberas. Surprisingly cheap but the 4.2's have a habit of snapping their cranks, queue £6k rebuild  

[ludo]

why not the Z3M roadster? it's not all that fast but the engine is great, if you get the 2002 it got the latest engine (S54 as in the E46M3) with about £2k it can give out a nice 360bhp. but if you look things that break down I guess it's not the perfect fit for you lol

[Norman Verona]

My lad had a Chimera. I had to demonstrate, in the 7, how cars are supposed to go round corners when you turn that round thing in front of you.

A bit of stuttering and stammering was followed by, "but I bet I can beat you in a striaght line"

He didn't.

And when he went to sell he lost about 60% of what he'd paid (below market).

And I had to visit once a week to get it started.

And it ate batteries like I eat weetabix

And the front suspension just rusted away as you looked at it

And it was a general pile of crap.

And I don't like them.  

BUT, the first car I worked on (decoke) was an original Grantura with an MGA engine (about 1960). Now that was good.

[scott beeland]

Barry....just goes to show our trips are getting to be more about the experience and an appreciation of fast cars; rather than just Westfields. Do it man

[twcullen]

TVR's are rubbish! Don't do it! They fall appart!

Had a Griff 500. Looked great and sounded great but.......It over heated the suspension needed a complete rebuild after 20k miles cost 1.5k to sort, it leaked etc......

Sold it and bought a Tuscan. What a piece of S***! Had to rebuild the engine (obviously!), electric windows had a mind of their own, carpet fell off and those that did'nt changed colour from blue to brown (?)  It used to steam up really badly if it rained oh and it leaked and smelt bad!

Sold the Tuscan and between the 2 cars I lost about 20k including depreciation.

Bought a Boxster S and it was a revalation and was quicker in the real world driving conditions and actually handled like a sports car should, it did'nt fall apart, the roof was electric and when I sold it 3 years later and 30k miles later after no problems I was down about 7k including servicing.

Don't by a TVR ever!

ETA If you had a fab time in an MX5 but found it too slow try a Honda S2000 240bhp and built to last!