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The mkiv Supra Owners Club

My Bro maybe getting a TVR


ManwithSupra

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As above my brother is wanting to get one.

 

Now he is not sure what model yet, but has anyone had a TVR of some description on here? what models need to be kept clear of etc, anyone reccommend a model etc?

 

I know its a bit vauge but i would like to help him make a decision about getting a TVR.

 

:p

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I almost bought a Cerbera but went off it due to the costs per annum. People say to keep £3k a year handy but also too many seemed to randomly catch fire for my liking. Lovely lovely cars though and i still might buy one as every time i see/hear one i want one :D Datson knows a bit about them and Scooby Doo Do has one also. Jurgen has a Tuscan S as well. With TVRs, especially Cerberas, i think it's best to judge each car as an individual....

Pistonheads has a good TVR forum section

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They're all very expensive to run and maintain, but the only one from the early 90's onwards that i'd avoid is the Cerbera speed 6 (6 cylinder variant) Apparently the engines in those are awfully unreliable.

4.5 cerbera gets to 60 in under 4 seconds and tops out near 200, without any driving aids! Sounds fun (read: a handfull) to me!

I hate it that they used upside down Vauxhall cavalier rear lights on the griffith and Ford fiesta ones on the cerbera/chimera!

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I owned an 89/90 S2 which had been fully restored in 2003, it was amazing condition and a real purchase with my heart not my head, it was a second car and that was just as well, it had all kinds of gremlins including electrical issues when raining, leaks when raining, the habit of popping hoses and the very odd fitment of many of the parts, after getting to know a few owners it seems that no 2 cars are really the same (this age anyway) and parts often have to be 'made' to fit with re-drilling and playing around with to make them work

 

Great fun to drive and sounded awesome but never again :D

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my tuscan s has been ok for 7 months no issues that have cost over 200 pound..

 

but mine has had rebuild and i religiosuly change oil and warm/downn the car up properly.

 

other than that they sound great and go like stink

 

That is THE main issue a lot of owners do not do as Jurgen does and so the next owner is left picking up the bits.

 

If you want reliablity get one with the Rover V8, lots of spares and only small things like the electrics to worry about.

 

The speed six engines from 2003 onwards had much better internals and were much more reliable than the 2000 - 2002 engines.

 

If he goes for a speed six engine he will want to get one with either as most recent engine rebuild as possible (as they use better and newer parts) or keep 3k aside incase it goes bang (thats what I am doing).

 

As with all TVR's its condition condition condition, because they are hand made no one will be alike and each will have their quirks but this is one of the main reasons why so many ethusiasts love them they have charactor and best of all their brittish!

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As Kopite said, i have a cerbera and have done since September. Not expensive to run at all, unless it's a troublesome one, then it'll get costly. My service cost me £2100 but i had the valve adjustments done. Since then, the only issue i've had is with the door window not dropping on the passenger side.

 

There isns't a great deal of difference between the 4.2 and 4.5 -and both are quick ,although don't feel as quick as a supra the speedo goes round pretty fast.

 

Not refined at all, and you have to be alert when driving them, with no traction control the wheels do spin up (with new tyres) if you drop the clutch at anything over 2k in revs. It handles like a dream, but when it goes you have to catch it and quickly otherwise you'll end up in the field that you were trying to look cool driving round ;-)...Backwards.

 

The speed 6's are terrible (imo) i've heard they ran a test where they benched several different engines at full revs to see how long they lasted. A chev engine lasted 3 days, the speed six lasted less than a minute.

 

All of the above does also depend on how you drive it. If you drive it like you stole it, and give it "beans" all day long then something will break and it'll cost you a fortune. If you drive like miss daisy and check the car over every time you go out in it, you'll be ok.

 

Well that's my essay on cars.. I'm part-x'ing mine for an ultima this weekend ready for Le Mans...whoohoo.

 

Craig,

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