Possible new owner

[Fattrader]

Hi I am considering the veture into TVR ownership throug a V8s and would not mind some sound advice.

How reliable would you rate these (i'm looking in the £6-7K bracket)?

How easy are they to drive in trafic?

What are the typical running costs?

Boot space, would use mine for trips to France/Golf clubs. Can you fit a set of Gold clubs in the boot and can you squeeze a weekend bag for two in as well?

Insurance is another area. i would be doing limited miles, can any one recommend a reasonale insurance company?

Thanks in advance for every ones input.

Looking forward to joing the fold....

[mr clifford]

Fattrader said:

Hi I am considering the veture into TVR ownership throug a V8s and would not mind some sound advice.

How reliable would you rate these (i'm looking in the £6-7K bracket)?

How easy are they to drive in trafic?

What are the typical running costs?

Boot space, would use mine for trips to France/Golf clubs. Can you fit a set of Gold clubs in the boot and can you squeeze a weekend bag for two in as well?

Insurance is another area. i would be doing limited miles, can any one recommend a reasonale insurance company?


Thanks in advance for every ones input.

Looking forward to joing the fold....

I will answer one question for you.
Golf clubs in the boot ..no problem !

But GOLD clubs...hhumm.....make sure you have them insured ! (sorry, couldnt resist !)

[pies]

good

Easy

Depends on how much you do yourself but a 6k service is about £400 12k about £500

Not sure about clubs but if you leave the roof on and ditch the spare and use tyre weld instead its quite spacious.Note some V8s have the battery in the boot some have it under the bonnet

RH classic 01277 206911
classicline 01455 639000


P.S join the TVR car club and buy a copy of the bible by Steve Heath
www.tvrbooks.co.uk/

[petclub]

Hi, I guess most people om here will be biased, includung me. After a long time Tivless, I'm now lucky enough to have an S2 and a V8S. To date, I've only had minor problems you may ecpect with cars of this age (master and slave cylinders).

For insurance, I went to A Manning but then found Classic Line much cheaper.

They are easy to drive in traffic, in my experience (3 Ms, 2 Ss) overheating can be a problem but is rectifyed by additional fans (depends on model).

I've taken mine away for a few days here and there with suitcase and stuff (I carry a fair bit even for one night).

Good luck, might the right choice and watch your grin grow.....

[V8S]

Fattrader said:

Hi I am considering the veture into TVR ownership throug a V8s and would not mind some sound advice.

How reliable would you rate these (i'm looking in the £6-7K bracket)?

How easy are they to drive in trafic?

What are the typical running costs?

Boot space, would use mine for trips to France/Golf clubs. Can you fit a set of Gold clubs in the boot and can you squeeze a weekend bag for two in as well?

Insurance is another area. i would be doing limited miles, can any one recommend a reasonale insurance company?

Thanks in advance for every ones input.

Looking forward to joing the fold....

Hi and welcome.

Reliability: I have found my V8S to be extremely reliable considering the usual myth put around about TVRs always breaking down. It's just not true. In the time I've had it I've had a throttle cable break, a manifold that was blowing, a bent alloy wheel, the rear lights have played up due to a dirty connection (easily solved), a master clutch cylinder needed replacement and a gearbox seal was worn. That's it in nearly 2 years of ownership.

I also incurred quite a large repair bill from parking it in a puddle, but that's another story...

Look at the profiles of people on here and the relevant car histories to get an idea of what you might encounter day to day. They're not cars that run forever without some regular TLC - checking oil levels is very important each week, or even daily if you use it regularly.

By far the biggest expenditure will be petrol - most people don't factor it into ownership, it seems, but it can be a killer. On a typical 140 mile run of B and A roads and motorway, I will use about £25 - £30 of petrol, dependent on how heavy my right foot is. That's not too bad, but with these cars you do tend to put your foot down of course and you want to use it more and more for the sheer enjoyment.

A service for a V8S varies. I have recently had the car repaired by Dulford Automotive, and looking on their website their 6,000 mile service is £245 and 12,000 is £345.

Getting the chassis waxoyled each year is a very good idea - £50 to £130 - or you can do it yourself, but it's messy.

I would have thought buying a V8S for the 6-7k you mention will bring you in at the lower end of the market, meaning you are potentially buying problems which may cost a lot to sort out. Unless you wish to take on a project to spruce one of these babies up, it may be better to save some more and look at cars higher up the scale. It's not guaranteed but you may actually save yourself money in the long term by buying a sorted car that requires no work to it. I did this and am very happy I did, although of course there are perfectly satisfactory V8Ss on a budget price but finding them is the problem. However, there seems to be quite a selection in the PH classifieds at the mo so make sure you go and view several to get an idea what's out there for what price. Even if you save £8k and then buy a car for £7k, you'll have a grand in the bank to pay for sorting out any little niggles with it.

The key thing is to buy on the condition of the car, not on the fact that it's got the perfect colour or interior. It might cost less to get a respray and re-leather the interior than sort out a dodgy car in the right colours. I tracked the good cars on here through owners' posts, and the posts of others who knew the cars, and when mine came up for sale I moved quickly. It just so happened that I liked the colour combination but more important was that the chassis, wheels and bodywork was very good.

---

Traffic: depends how busy and the nature of it. These cars have heavy steering (but you should get used to it) and don't like to crawl along in sweltering heat (like most cars) but personally I've never had problems in a traffic jam. The fan has kept the engine around the right temperature for 45 minutes or more in blazing sunshine.

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I've managed to fit quite a lot of camera gear in mine, so I would assume that golf clubs and weekend bags should fit. I leave my space saver spare wheel in though. Even with the roof in the boot, you can still fit a lot in but you'll have to be careful with heavy stuff not breaking the roof panels.

---

Lots of insurance companies - do a search for insurance on this forum as too many to list and people swear by or are offended by certain ones on a monthly basis... I'm with Adrian Flux but I would call them necessarily cheap. You get what you pay for - cheap doesn't mean good if you have to make a claim.


Cheers,

Graham

(edited cos I didn't finish a sentence)

Edited by V8S on Wednesday 9th August 10:24

Edited by V8S on Wednesday 9th August 10:26

[longers]

Fattrader said:

Hi I am considering the veture into TVR ownership throug a V8s and would not mind some sound advice.

How reliable would you rate these (i'm looking in the £6-7K bracket)?

How easy are they to drive in trafic?

What are the typical running costs?

Boot space, would use mine for trips to France/Golf clubs. Can you fit a set of Gold clubs in the boot and can you squeeze a weekend bag for two in as well?

Insurance is another area. i would be doing limited miles, can any one recommend a reasonale insurance company?

Thanks in advance for every ones input.

Looking forward to joing the fold....

In addition to all of what has been said above....

Reliability - Use it regularly, leaving them for a while might seem like a good idea but often gives rise to problems. Get an Accumate battery conditioner to keep the battery in top form when not using the car.

Costs - As already said, £6-7k will be at the lower end for V8. Why not buy a good V6 and keep the balance for putting things right / upgrades etc? [opens can of worms]I know that the V8 may appeal but the V6's aint slow and still sound the business[closes can of worms]

Capacity - Golf clubs, shoes and spare wheel all fit in my S2 boot, but mines not a tour size bag, just a normal carry / stand one. With roof in the boot the bag fits nicely behind the seats with the woods in the passenger footwell. A lightweight skinny / pencil bag will fit in the boot with the roof. Pack several small weekend bags rather than one large one and you'll be surprised what you can fit in. I've had 2 people and weeks kit in easily. Take camping "compression" sacks for clothes once used - they screw up small and take up less space for the trip home, especially useful for booze coming back from France!

Good luck,
Longers

[Fattrader]

Thank you for your help, most useful. The other S Series are V nice too. I like the Chim and the Ceb too. These would be pushing up my budget, but might be better to wait until the darker windier months and keep squirriling away those pennies. It is taking me a long time to research but maybe soon I will take the my first steps. Thanks again

Fatty

[road2ruin]

Hi Fattrader,

You are doing the right thing and waiting. It takes a long time to get the right car, but they are out there. Regards cost the previous post is spot on you budget is a bit low for a good V8S but the V6 is still a great motor and sounds fab 0-60mph around 7 secs and fast enough so that you will let up before it does.

My insurance for a year on a limit of 3000miles was around £200.00.

Touch wood I have never had any major problems but then Parts are cheap (when you can get them) anyway. Most people seem to rack up large bills by moding there cars with new brakes/engine part or even whole engines.

Make sure you test drive a few as you will be amaxed by the difference from one to the next and what colours and spec they come in makes your eyes go fuzzy. Dont rely on registration year either as some cars are of an older manufacture date than there registration date suggests. While this doesnt effect reliability or performance it does sometimes affect the extra's you get.

Good luck, you wont regret it.
Peter