Anyone drifted a TVR yet?

HotboxDeluxe said:
TVR's seem to break down if you look at them too harshly :smash: which is why i say they are rubbish and what is the point of buying a 10k+ plus car and spending the same again on modding it...i'd feel better investing 10k in a 500 quid S13, at least i got a decent chance of being able to drive it more than 2 days in a row :rolleyes:
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Thats pretty backwards. Its like saying if I had the cash I'd stick to driving a Nissan Bluebird because Ferraris aren't as reliable. I daresay the TVR's they race in various championships all over all seem to do ok in terms of reliability and competetiveness, yes they are not the most reliable of cars (I have had to fix a couple of 'em in my time) but then neither are alfa romeo's, lancias, or old fords, people still use them and enjoy them.
 
tone said:
having owned a CERBERA they are too fragile to drift the clutch would last 5mins at best
best advice don't do it it will keep breaking
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maybe its just me...but if i spent a hill of cash on a car i'd want it to work all the time :nod: same reason i've never wanted a ferrari

jap and german FTW :p
 
HotboxDeluxe said:
maybe its just me...but if i spent a hill of cash on a car i'd want it to work all the time :nod: same reason i've never wanted a ferrari

jap and german FTW :p
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Lol german cars use many bosch parts same as fords, vauxhall/opel and many other european cars.

Spend that hill of cash on a new honda, and drive it like a grandad, and make sure it always gets serviced. You won't be dissapointed, as I doubt it will break any time soon.


Cars are a pain in the ass, plain and simple. The harder you drive them, and more you use them the more they break and need things doing.
If we were talking about a first cheap and easy drift car for a beginner then your points may be halfway valid. If Barnsey wanted an easy drifter he'd go and buy an S14, and not do something eye catching and different.


As a side note I'd love a Ferrari, for the track. I wouldn't want to be seen driving one on the road. Not unless its around Miami with 'in the air tonight' by phil collins playing.
 
Agree to disagree? :o i´ve had cars that just don´t die...my old 520i was 4 years old when i got it and got a further 4 years solid ragging with absolutely no complaints :p had an ´86 528i which took years of streeto abuse without dying...strangely enough one of the toughest things i had was an old shape 2.0 cavalier from my fwd days - welded practically another car´s worth of metal to it but mechanically it just never quit :worthy:

Everyone speaks from their own experiences and to be honest my only experience of TVRs is seeing more on the back of recovery trucks than moving under their own steam :p i have a couple of friends who really want to own one and i know a couple of other people who swear they will never waste their money on another 1

I´m totally with you on the ferrari thing tho - i´d love a go of one but not in public lol, i´m not 45, bald, or impotent (yet)
 
HotboxDeluxe said:
Agree to disagree? :o i´ve had cars that just don´t die...my old 520i was 4 years old when i got it and got a further 4 years solid ragging with absolutely no complaints :p had an ´86 528i which took years of streeto abuse without dying...strangely enough one of the toughest things i had was an old shape 2.0 cavalier from my fwd days - welded practically another car´s worth of metal to it but mechanically it just never quit :worthy:

Everyone speaks from their own experiences and to be honest my only experience of TVRs is seeing more on the back of recovery trucks than moving under their own steam :p i have a couple of friends who really want to own one and i know a couple of other people who swear they will never waste their money on another 1

I´m totally with you on the ferrari thing tho - i´d love a go of one but not in public lol, i´m not 45, bald, or impotent (yet)
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Agreed :wack: Yeah, a lot is down to experience, I've been working professionally with cars since I was 18, in a variety of garages and dealerships (and the odd scrappers lol) I tend to guage reliability on how much I have had to work on certain makes and models, and observations on how they are built and constructed. Sometimes cars surprise you, the biggest bag of junk can last for years without ever lifting the bonnet, and then you can buy a new car off the forecourt and have nothing but trouble.

TVR's are pretty dire compared to a lot of stuff, but I don't think they deserve half the slating they get, considering some of the bags of crap that get sold off forecourts by much bigger manuafacturers. There are more reliable cars than a TVR, but in terms of what you get out of one, and what you have to put into it (usually some gaskets in the first 40k miles, and a clutch if you are into wheelspins and stuff) I think they are nice cars, and although I'd warn them, I'd never discourage anyone from buying into that marque.
 
I agree, as log as you understand that TVR ownership is gonna be a load of hassle then that's ok, and, what's more, it's worth it!
 
I haven't read the full thread but I reckon it'd be a great idea. AJP-engined Cerbera would arguably be the best base. The biggest areas to concerntrate on would be suspension alignment/setup I'd imagine. As Paz said, I think the aim of TVR was to tone down the car's natural handling charateristics and I don't think they ever nailed the road cars to be honest. To be fair I don't chassis dynamics were ever TVRs true strong point. For example the Speed Twelve never achieved what it might have, probably because of it's handling.

My dad has 4.0 Chimera. No PAS, no ABS, etc. I'm lucky enough that he lets me borrow every now and then during good weather (it doesn't see the rain), and it feels awesome. It actually rides quite nicely but you get out of it knowing you've driven it if that makes sense? You have to be quite butch with the controls - the steering is heavy, the gearchange/diff is quite aggressive and you have to wrestle it round the twisties, planning your route/inputs rather than reacting to the car's bodyroll as you might in something else.


Much of the stick TVRs get for breaking down isn't justified to be honest. The later Serpentive versions of the Rover/TVR V8 are pretty reliable. The worst thing is the battery is hidden away so it's a pain if it goes flat :o

Whoever said the TVR engines were worse is right. Specifically the early TVR straight sixes - in the Speed Six for example - they break down far more often than the V8s to be honest.


As for GM/Buick designing the Rover/TVR V8 - that's true, but Rover only bought the rights to the engine after Buick/GM couldn't make the alloy blocks reliable. Rover bought rights, dropped bore liners in and hey presto. It's a decent-enough engine. In 5.0-litre trim they're comparable to the Mustang lumps for example.

Cerberas had AJP engines - they're the ones to go for even if they're a bit more temperamental. The 5.0-litre Griffith/Chimera V8 might be worth looking into if you've already got a T5 'box in your car.


Away from drifting I'll have a T350C please. My favourite TVR of all time I think that definies the term 'sports car'.
 
Dan Goodyer said:
In 5.0-litre trim they're comparable to the Mustang lumps for example
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Apart from far more expensive to tune. And unfortunatley your right, they are just as weak as the 5.0 Mustang lumps, but due to the costs, unlike a Mustang 5.0, its not worth pushing them.
 
I'd disagree they're more expensive to tune. It's like anything, you just need to know where to look and what you're doing.

But yeah the American V8s are much much cheaper to tune, parts are abundant thanks to the huge drag/tuning scene in America and the yank motors almost always give more power than the 'Rover' equivalent. That doesn't mean the Rover engines are worthless.

Having said that, I think the CA is a decent engine so what do I know? :wack:
 
Yeah I didn't make that clear did I?! :wack:


I think tuning a Mustang 5.0 and a Rover to 'top spec' 5.0 is about the same if you have Rover know-how.

BUT if you're looking at Chevy/Mopar stuff you get much much more bang for your buck.


LOL
 
Ford 5.0 is cheaper than "Rover" 5.0 bhp (or torque) for your £££ by miles, without a shadow of a doubt.
It is even if we just going part for part rather than BHP for £££, pretty clear to see by looking at any tuning parts lists.

BHP for your £££ is helped by the fact the stock Ford 5.0 internals can take even more power than the actual block usually can, but both blocks tend to shit themselves as similarly low bhp per litre levels.
 
Mad Cas said:
TVR's are pretty dire compared to a lot of stuff, but I don't think they deserve half the slating they get, considering some of the bags of crap that get sold off forecourts by much bigger manuafacturers. There are more reliable cars than a TVR, but in terms of what you get out of one, and what you have to put into it (usually some gaskets in the first 40k miles, and a clutch if you are into wheelspins and stuff) I think they are nice cars, and although I'd warn them, I'd never discourage anyone from buying into that marque.
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I used to work up the road from a TVR dealership, I would say that over two years there were as many Tow trucks taking the cars back to the garage as there were cars leaving. It was easy to monitor because the cars leaving made an nice noise as they shot off up the road, and the office used to be illuminated with flashing yellow light when they came back.

There's every chance that as you finish the drift there will be significantly less body parts on the car than there were when you initiated:nod:
 
PhatBob said:
There's every chance that as you finish the drift there will be significantly less body parts on the car than there were when you initiated:nod:
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LOL, TVR didn't protect the chassis properly on Cerbera/Chimera era cars for some reason? So they're prone to rust, particularly on rather important parts like the rear subframe mounts :wack: Most owners club members do their own rust treating/coating as a precaution

Still, who wants a reliable car anyway? :dw:
 
I know this is an old thread but wondered if anyone has seen an actual drift build? I worked for a TVR dealer for almost 4 years, I'd love to build a drift car out of one. Fantastic chassis to start with

Dan Goodyer said:
LOL, TVR didn't protect the chassis properly on Cerbera/Chimera era cars for some reason? So they're prone to rust, particularly on rather important parts like the rear subframe mounts :wack: Most owners club members do their own rust treating/coating as a precaution

Still, who wants a reliable car anyway? :dw:
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Yeah early griff/chims weren't treated properly, the main rust spots however are the outriggers. Ps there is no rear subframe mount ;)
 
Blast from the past, Mark Luney did a load of testing for a build a fews years back, don't think it was ever completed, the Cerbera I belive he was testing as this has an FIA cage as part of the standard build, I remember he was fairly impressed, I always wanted a to build a bare TVR chassis, would look savage no panels ;-)
 
Yeah man because it's a complete fibreglass shell. The cage is separate from the chassis and comes of with the body in one piece. I think it would make a sick skid car, front and rear removable clam sections. Dry break connectors and spaffy plugs, pull the whole body off in minutes
 
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