Sell or Refurbish the Tuscan!!

[davido140]

Oh lordy, I'm agonising over whether to keep my tuscan AGAIN!!

Mechanically I've got a LOT of confidence in my car, having been maintained pretty much exclusively by TVR power and had no expense spared by myself or the previous owner. It had a rebuild 18 months ago and IIRC still have 6 months of warranty left on that.

I've had lots of bits and bobs done and tend to get it serviced every 3-4000 miles just because it makes me feel a bit better about it!

I've also had Nitrons fitted which still need a bit of tinkering to get setup right, from reading here they are probably a bit soft as I am still suffering from front end lift when accelerating hard at high speed.

anyway, cosmetically the car isnt the best, the wheels are well kerbed, partly me, partly previous owner(s). There are also plenty of small stone chips on the nose, trailing edges of the wheel arches, a few car park scratches on the wings and a couple of stonking chips on the small bonnet.

Interior, the carpets are a little tired and faded, as is the half leather interior, the seats are quite tidy though as they were replaced only a couple of years ago.

I figure its going to cost me £3000 for a full respray and £3000 for a full interior retrim. Add to that £1000ish for some SP12's or £300 for a refurb of the existing spiders and then another £1000-2000 for "bits and pieces" like a new steering wheel, door and roof rubbers, HID headlights etc)

If I were to sell today I think I would get £11000 for a quick sale, maybe £13000 if I hung on which give me £18-20k to play with at least for a "replacement".

I'm still thinking replace it with another TVR, not sure if a T2 is possible with that budget, probably not. T350 (Targa) maybe? that handling in the Tuscan has always given me cause for concern, the T350 is supposed to be much better right?

I will also admit I did have a quick gander at pork, wasnt impressed with what my money would buy, also looking at a lotus but probably not quick enough for me to be a straight line hero on track days , Nobles seems to have a good pedigree but the interior puts me off a little, Ultimas are out of my league at the moment, so it looks like its back to TVR again as the best bhp/looks/touring for your buck!

Refurbish or Replace is the question then!!

Sorry for the rambling post!

Cheers

[Blues]

STEP AWAY FROM AUTOTRADER!

If the Tuscan is mechanically sorted, which it sounds like it is, then keep it.

You don't need to do all of that cosmetic work at once - take it in small bites over the next couple of years. You won't feel such a big hit in the pocket, and you will be driving one of the best cars on the road IMHO.

Nice carpets and paintwork are great, and we all aspire to having a really tidy looking car, but they don't make it go any faster

And i suspect that, in the current climate, you would need to do a lot of that stuff just to get it sold.

If in doubt, get out there and have a good old blast, then see how you feel

[Bluebottle]

davido140 said:

...I will also admit I did have a quick gander at pork, wasnt impressed with what my money would buy, also looking at a lotus but probably not quick enough for me to be a straight line hero on track days , Nobles seems to have a good pedigree but the interior puts me off a little, Ultimas are out of my league at the moment, so it looks like its back to TVR again as the best bhp/looks/touring for your buck!...

Been where you are and with the same choices on the list and same conclusions, in the end I decided to invest in what I have and make it a keeper. IMHO I think i made the right choice for me, but it's a difficult choice to make and not necessarily the right choice for another.

[Barreti]

davido140 said:

another £1000-2000 for "bits and pieces" like a new steering wheel, door and roof rubbers, HID headlights etc

I've done all those bits and pieces on the Griff. I'd be very surprised if I spent more than £200 in total, doing all the work myself.
I think your estimates are quite sensibly on the high side, but it makes depressing reading when you tot it all up.

For what the opinion of a spanner wielding older car owner is worth I'd say keep it and fix the problems in your own time as a rolling project.

If you insist on selling it though please let me know as it sounds like I'd grab a damned good project MK1 tusc for a good price.

[RUSSELLM]

Stone chips, bone chips.

Get them done today & they'll be back tomorrow.

If your using the car for looking at, and are going to be mounting it on some sort of large plinth as a museum piece, spend the eight grand on it.

If you're anything like me, drive it every day, mucky feet, park by curbs, drive on roads that have the occasional loose stone on, save the eight grand & spend it on 30,000 miles of petrol, sound & thrills...... Lot more enjoyable,

All IMO of course

Edited by RUSSELLM on Tuesday 12th August 13:35

[DavidLScott]

I'm a firm believer in sticking with what you know and like.

As the others have said - hang on to a good 'un and do it up as you go.
I've been meaning to sort my Chim carpets for 4 years now but the car goes just as well with faded ones.

Mine is here to drive - not put in concours competitions. At least stone chips won't turn to rust and wheels can be refurbished for about £60 each.

[ian_r]

sounds to me like you wil make a bad decision if you sell out on it. You could buy a brand new car, do 2k miles in it and still have lots and lots of stone chips. £3k for a respray?! pm me and i will forward you a number of a bodyshop i use. very small team (2) and a waiting list but im sure it wouldnt be 3k for a full hit.
also sounds like the car is mechanically good which is a bonus. weigh up the pros and cons..... you could buy a newcar which looks better bodywise but could then blow the engine and leave you 6k out of pocket......

[Chequred Demon]

Sounds like the ideal "Daily Driver" to me?

Lets face it only you probably get that close to it to notice the paint and the interior?
Most people viewing on the road or in a car park will still be amazed at how beautiful it is.

IMHO doing it up over a period of time is a good idea and hopefully you will use it a lot more in the process. Changing cars always costs a fortune.

[Hoolio]

Keep it, she's a belter, I know the car and Toobin (previous owner) well.

BTW, saw you on the round a bout near Audi Basingstoke June 8th, get those CCC's back on

Edited by Hoolio on Wednesday 13th August 20:34

[shake n bake]

keep it. your estimates are very high, leather can be reworked to a very high standard, carpets can be dyed(depending on colour) does the steering wheel need replacing?? your paint estimate is pretty sound though, i've seen jobs done for less, but the quality of the work shows..........

[Tildo430]

I think it may be part of the petrolhead way to constantly wonder whether to sell your car and buy another.

I get this every month and have found the best way back to reality is to pull out half a dozen photo's of the Griff taken over the last few years. The car always looks stunning in the photos as you can't see the stone chips, scuffed wheels or faded interior. Its worse this month because i got the car rolling roaded at the growl and it only returned 236bhp (4.3) which was slightly dissapointing as i've always consoled myself that the car is a rocket even if it looks like it needs a little TLC.

But it always comes back to the same issue for me. What do you change it for. My car is a good example bought for a good price and has been mechanically excellent in the last 18 months. There is no point in changing it for another Griff and several thousand pounds worth of cosmetics aren't going to make it go any faster. Worse still i can't get really excited about any other car - the Tuscan is the only real option but the Griff still ticks all the boxes so i reckon it stays.

Keep it. Drive it. Enjoy it.

[LordGrover]

From the figures you've given it sounds as though you have about £7,000 burning a hole in your pocket. Spend that on petrol, a holiday, more petrol, the Tuscan, loose women, even more petrol, etc. - problem solved.

[Bluebottle]

LordGrover said:

From the figures you've given it sounds as though you have about £7,000 burning a hole in your pocket. Spend that on petrol, a holiday, more petrol, the Tuscan, loose women, even more petrol, etc. - problem solved.

Or a Supercharger

[loose cannon]

im getting near to that stage with my griffith i have now coverd nearly 40 thousand miles in her over a period of 4 and a half years as a second car, it now needs a respray, probably a new cam to brighten it up if not a rebuild while im there,the g/box is a bit rattly at idle so needs a rebuild, the body ideally wants to be removed before things get to bad underneath, i do all my own mechanical work
so i have the added bonus of urrr you have no tvr history for the past few years etc if i try to sell it, she needs new shocks also, the interior isnt to bad fortunately but the hardtop needs recovering
so do i bite the bullet trade it in for a better 1, or do i take the plunge, trouble is i want to keep driving it lol, so im unsure what to do, also trade in value will be dire and it will take months to sell and id have to take 10k or less private, probably less i guess,
i also thought about an elise but id want the mk1 exige and there 20k a newer elise is less money but i prefer the looks of the old elise/exige
so if anyone wants to buy a clean good nick griff give me a buzz

[JR]

Tildo430 said:

Its worse this month because i got the car rolling roaded at the growl and it only returned 236bhp (4.3) which was slightly disappointing as i've always consoled myself that the car is a rocket even if it looks like it needs a little TLC.

That's the same bhp/litre as a 275bhp 500 engine, so not that disappointing.

[davido140]

Hoolio said:

Keep it, she's a belter, I know the car and Toobin (previous owner) well.

BTW, saw you on the round a bout near Audi Basingstoke June 8th, get those CCC's back on

Edited by Hoolio on Wednesday 13th August 20:34

took the CCCs off for track days, no hope of passing a noise test!

Will have to get them back on soon!

I've decided to keep it!!!!

[LordGrover]

You know it makes sense.

[davido140]

its a 12 month reprieve! will see how I'm feeling next year, new house might be on the cards by then. going to spend "some" money on it, but not the full whack.

I actually managed to splurge nearly a grand today on bits and bobs for it, bloody internet shopping!

Got a swanky new cover, few spares for the boot, fire extinguisher, new wheel centre caps and logos, new rear screen and some other bits I have forgotten about now!

I also paid a Polish man to spend the morning washing and polishing it, I'm offically crap at cleaning cars, wold have taken me three times as long and wouldn't look half as good!

Much happier about it now.

[Blues]

davido140 said:

I've decided to keep it!!!!