Buying a Tuscan
Discussion
A question which will host a squillion replies Ray. First off most info you require will be on here, but for starters are you buying new or 2nd hand ? If the latter, how much have you got to play with? There are many owners delighted with their car, but just as many dissapointed with the reliability issue. No cut and dried answer. I think its safe to say do a lot of research, dont touch a car without a full history, and get in and drive one first. Personally I am getting my 2nd Tusc cos I am one of the fortunate ones that havent any major issues to complain about. Mine is driven 52 weeks of the year and I just love it more and more. Loads of annoying niggles,but all part of ownership. As a last piece of advice if you get one respect the power cos they can bite. Good luck.
Di
PS mine came with 18inch wheels so cant comment on difference, but with this ammount of power, on the road yes respect and care are required. In a big open space away from peeps agreat deal of fun can be had.
>> Edited by lady topaz on Thursday 28th October 17:03
Di
PS mine came with 18inch wheels so cant comment on difference, but with this ammount of power, on the road yes respect and care are required. In a big open space away from peeps agreat deal of fun can be had.
>> Edited by lady topaz on Thursday 28th October 17:03
Ray,
I have just bought my first ever Tiv -Tuscan 4.0 week or so ago. .and still cant stop laughing ever time I get in it! So much fun, but as Lady Topaz says, care is required - handling is not the best, no ABS needs getting used to but SOOOOOO much power!
I did months of research mainly through here and advice seemed to be get at least a 2000, have had a rebuild, always FSH and and always always test drive...
"Responsible dealer" prices have dropped £5k in the past 3 months!!! and you get the added bonus of warranty
Dealers are pushed at the moment and you can easily negotiate tyres/18" rims/sports exhaust as additions
Latest adivce I have picked up regarding handling is to upgrade to Nitron dampners which I will be doing asap
Good luck and hope you have as much fun as me.....
Sure others will have varying opinions
I have just bought my first ever Tiv -Tuscan 4.0 week or so ago. .and still cant stop laughing ever time I get in it! So much fun, but as Lady Topaz says, care is required - handling is not the best, no ABS needs getting used to but SOOOOOO much power!
I did months of research mainly through here and advice seemed to be get at least a 2000, have had a rebuild, always FSH and and always always test drive...
"Responsible dealer" prices have dropped £5k in the past 3 months!!! and you get the added bonus of warranty
Dealers are pushed at the moment and you can easily negotiate tyres/18" rims/sports exhaust as additions
Latest adivce I have picked up regarding handling is to upgrade to Nitron dampners which I will be doing asap
Good luck and hope you have as much fun as me.....
Sure others will have varying opinions
Like Di, I also drive mine 52 weeks a year and have found that so long as you are careful she drives just fine. No heavy breaking or acceleration or throwing it around corners - unless you are looking for trouble!
Again, I've been lucky and had no major problems, except for a clutch replacement. Mine's just had it's £24k service at £700 and all is well.
Car is defintely worth all the niggles that you will have heard of. As far a buying goes - what can I say but the best have lots of history, history & more history.
Enjoy the search
Eve
Again, I've been lucky and had no major problems, except for a clutch replacement. Mine's just had it's £24k service at £700 and all is well.
Car is defintely worth all the niggles that you will have heard of. As far a buying goes - what can I say but the best have lots of history, history & more history.
Enjoy the search
Eve
rhowey385 said:
I`ve read a few reports, but mainly what are the drawbacks of owning a tuscan. Are they reliable if well looked after, how is the road holding in wet conditions. Do you require suspension mod`s if changing to 18" wheels.
Ray.
Drawbacks:
* Expensive annual runnings costs. Pretty much guaranteed to be £1k+ P/A for servicing, tyres, etc. Budget for £3k P/A incase anything major gives way.
* The usual TVR niggles... as long as you're handy with a screwdriver, or don't mind the odd rattle, etc. until you take it in for servicing, then this isn't a problem.
* Engine if you get a bad one. There's a high chance that if you buy an early car which hasn't had engine work doing in the last couple of years that it'll need it at some point. You can either sort yourself out a warranty to try and get some cover against this, buy a cheap one where the price's taken this into consideration, or budget the cash to cover it.
* Unwanted attention from scallys & chavs - the "nice car, mister" shouts are nice enough, the worries about leaving it in a dodgy part of town aren't as much fun
Road holding in the wet is only as good as your right-foot control. Wide tyres + low weight naturally = less downforce per square inch. Drive my Tuscan in all weathers, and drove the Cerb in the snow last Winter. No accidents, no problems. Just got to be careful and have respect for it.
The more you drive it, the more reliable it's likely to be. Leaving it lying around for a couple of weeks at a time, then "blowing the cobwebs off" with a Sunday blast will probably result in a hefty raft of bills.
>> Edited by J_S_G on Thursday 28th October 19:35
rhowey385 said:
I`ve read a few reports, but mainly what are the drawbacks of owning a tuscan. Are they reliable if well looked after, how is the road holding in wet conditions. Do you require suspension mod`s if changing to 18" wheels.
Ray.
The 18" wheels will fit on fine as long as you don't have one of the very very very early cars (W reg ish) which have only ever had 16" wheels on as there was originally a problem with fouling of the exhaust, this was sorted years and years ago, so as I say, unless it is a very very early one you should be fine
The reliability factor is a funny one, yes if someone has looked after the car and sorted all the niggles as they arrise then it will be more reliable as if you leave a small niggle it becomes a bigger niggle and causes other niggles and so on - BUT the engine is a different kettle of fish, the engine CAN have problems even if looked after to perfection, however again it is more likely to suffer if it is not warmed up properly before flooring it and if the oil is not checked regularly or services are missed - if all this is too much hassle for you then walk away now!!
Handling - no it isnt a Lotus, but it is a good handling car IF set up correctly - without wishing to be rude, would you know a good handling car from a great handling car? Or are you, like me, more likley to be the limiting factor? No matter what electronics you add to a car you cannot escape the laws of physics, so going flat out in to a hairpin bend will cause you to leave the road, but being sensible you can still meke "good progress" even in the wet, it is all about respect and care and knowing your own limits
Go on, you know you want one, you only live once!!
You can either sit in the old peoples home talking about owning a Tuscan (good or bad) or wondering what it would have been like, the choice is yours
Graham
Graham66 said:
The 18" wheels will fit on fine as long as you don't have one of the very very very early cars (W reg ish) which have only ever had 16" wheels on as there was originally a problem with fouling of the exhaust
Got a W reg (Mar 2000)... and it's got 18's that fit fine (and has had them from new, as far as I know)
My Tuscan S has now done over 17k miles. I've had new shock absorbers, clutch, starter motor and a rebuild. New tyres fitted today. Either get a new one or one that's been sorted like mine . Handling is great, provided you know what you're doing. I was brought up on cars with no ABS, DSC, cup holders or air bags. If you're only used to driving modern kit then I cannot reccomend highly enough a Ride Drive Course. It made a real difference to me and I have no other realtionship with them other than a happy customer.
. Handling is great, provided you know what you're doing. I was brought up on cars with no ABS, DSC, cup holders or air bags. If you're only used to driving modern kit then I cannot reccomend highly enough a Ride Drive Course. It made a real difference to me and I have no other realtionship with them other than a happy customer.
As far as handling in the wet is concerned, it was a great surprise.
I know that there are plenty of stories about coming a cropper or near misses in the wet. But my experience so far has been that they're incredibly well planted, given the power to weight ratio.
Admittedly my benchmark has been 50,000 miles of Griffdom in all weathers - now THAT can be entertaining.
I know that there are plenty of stories about coming a cropper or near misses in the wet. But my experience so far has been that they're incredibly well planted, given the power to weight ratio.
Admittedly my benchmark has been 50,000 miles of Griffdom in all weathers - now THAT can be entertaining.
yertis said:
So these Tuscans you see advertised around the 20k mark - are they more or less guaranteed to be a disaster waiting to happen?
Some'll be good, some'll be bad. It may be a car about to go pop that the owner wants rid of before that happens. It may be someone that's been through the pain of a rebuild, other breakdowns, etc. and wants shut of it, even though it's now fixed. It maybe someone wanting to use the money elsewhere (seems to happen quite a bit with the entrepreneurial types Tiv owners are). It may be that someone just wants a new toy.
I've seen some great cars at great prices, and vice-versa.
J_S_G said:
The 18" wheels will fit on fine as long as you don't have one of the very very very early cars (W reg ish) which have only ever had 16" wheels on as there was originally a problem with fouling of the exhaust
Got a W reg (Mar 2000)... and it's got 18's that fit fine (and has had them from new, as far as I know)
Thats very nice to know....!
My point is that on a very early car you cannot just put 18" wheels on, you need to modify the exhaust - in the case of your car it has obviously either already been done or was built with the smaller exhaust and so didn't need doing, otherwise your tyres would wear out pretty quick and so would the exhaust!
Graham
Graham66 said:
Got a W reg (Mar 2000)... and it's got 18's that fit fine (and has had them from new, as far as I know)
Thats very nice to know....!
My point is that on a very early car you cannot just put 18" wheels on, you need to modify the exhaust - in the case of your car it has obviously either already been done or was built with the smaller exhaust and so didn't need doing, otherwise your tyres would wear out pretty quick and so would the exhaust!
Which part of the exhaust needs modding? Until I had it de-cat'd and had the CCC cans put on, I think it's had the same exhaust from new. Have all the paperwork going back to new, and no mention of changes to the exhaust anywhere? And it *is* an early one (even though most every functional bit on it is now new!)
Just wondering how I could tell if anything's been done, etc?
We have done about 5k in ours and had it from new. We did around 3.5k around Europe in June and it was fine from 100plus temperatures down to below freezing over St. Gots pass and no problems whatsoever.
'He who must be obeyed' also booked for a track day in Feb this year and it snowed. He still went and the car was still awesome. They both stayed on the track and no problems.
Only problem we have had is with microdotting on rear but the factory have been fantastic and respayed the car.
Don't know whether we have just been lucky (touching wood on desk) or others are just un-lucky (touching wood on desk again).
'He who must be obeyed' also booked for a track day in Feb this year and it snowed. He still went and the car was still awesome. They both stayed on the track and no problems.
Only problem we have had is with microdotting on rear but the factory have been fantastic and respayed the car.
Don't know whether we have just been lucky (touching wood on desk) or others are just un-lucky (touching wood on desk again).
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