We are looking to spend about £15k on a second car to the STi7. It has to be fun to drive and sound fabulous. Practicality is not an issue and it will not be used in bad weather. Our shortlist currently comprises:

TVR Griffiths - great noise and straight line performance
911 3.2 Sport - great noise, performance and steering feel
Elise Mk1 - great handling

We have not driven any of these yet, so wondered what Scoobynetters thoughts were?

They will probably be limited to ~5000 miles a year so fuel consumption and insurance not a issue. Servicing costs may be a factor though.

Alan and Gina

 

I think I know which one Gina wants

 

Have a Griff 5.0 in the garage..... do about 5k miles a year and it sounds great..

Specialist full comp insurance comes in at £500 for me and the other half, from Sunninghill.

Servicing is approx £500 once a year at a TVR dealer, however if you use an independant like Tower London then its about £250/£300

Best place for info is www.pistonheads.co.uk . Goto to the Gassing section and find TVR Griffith

J

[Edited by ScoobySnack - 11/25/2002 4:16:02 PM]

 

Hi there

Allow me to add my comments - I also looked at all of these, but as an everyday car, and ultimately chose the Elise. My advice is to drive them all, and my Elise is for sale incidentally

'TVR Griffiths - great noise and straight line performance
911 3.2 Sport - great noise, performance and steering feel
Elise Mk1 - great handling'

To your thoughts (all of which I would agree with) I would add the following:

Griffith - quite practical from a comfort and space point of view, but very expensive to run (way more than the other two) and there is of course the old reliabilty bugbear. This is less of an issue on the Griff and Chimaera than other models, but lots of expensive bits do wear out, and you MUST buy a good one or else...

911 - will hold its value the best, and offer a unique driving experience. Depending on the model, you'd probably enjoy it less than the other two as it is more of an everyday car. Unless you buy an RS of course . Also, buy VERY carefully as they can bankrupt you if they go wrong.

Elise - better steering than the 911 if you can believe it! Amazing handling and interactivity and just way more delicate and fluid than the other two. They are also very cheap to run considering what they are (The drivetrain is from the MGF), more practical than you think, and do 40 miles per gallon. More of a toy than the others. Also very tuneable and probably the quickest on track with a few tweaks. However, you should once again chose carefully as there are a lot of tatty ones about. Also, I have heard on Pistonheads that you shouldn't buy early ones (as they have lots of niggles) or late ones (as Lotus started to use cheaper components). The 98 and 99 models are the best allegedly.

I've tried to give you an unbiased opinion, but if you want to see why I made the decision I did, go here, my car:
http://www.scoobynet.co.uk/bbs/thread.asp?threadid=151473
Incidentally, you can heve it for less than you want to spend and spend £2k on mods. 200bhp anyone?...

All the best


[Edited by Tractor - 11/25/2002 5:04:06 PM]

 

Davyboy

Actually it was Gina who suggested a Griffiths or Elise instead of a 911 3.2 Sport which I thought she had set her heart on. No one was as gobsmacked as me!

Alan

 

Just shootin' the breeze and seeing what else is about. Had 2 911's before.....maybe, just maybe, I could do something different. Anyway, can't a girl change her mind??
Gina G

 

Here's my 2 p's worth. Have owned 2 911's in the past, and I would not recommend a Carrera 2 or 4 (964), they are just too soft and very expensive to service. The 911 is fun and sounds great, also more challenging to drive well than the others (polar inertia and all that)! Having driven a lotus, I found it too basic and noisy, but fine if its purely a toy. I think I would go for the griff, bags of torque, wonderful noise and you can take the roof off.
Happy hunting!

 

Lemmy

If you want to have a look at/drive of a Griff, have a look at this post and mail me.

http://www.scoobynet.co.uk/bbs/thread.asp?threadid=139053

I think you'd need to drive all 3 to find out which one gives you the biggest grin factor

Cheers
Ben

 

Any more comments?

 

As an Elise owner, I'm biased, but I'd expect one to be way cheaper than a Griff or 911 to run - pads, tyres, disks, clutches etc. will last much longer as the car is so light. Cheap to insure on a limited mileage policy, cheap to service (on 5000 miles a year you're looking at an A service every year at about £170 from an independent, with a B service every three years at around £300, and a C service (cam belt) every 5 years, IIRC, at probably £500). Average high 30s mpg for a normal one.

And fantastic on track days. Tuneable quite easily and safely (though not especially cheaply). You might be able to get a 111S or Sport 135 for about 14k, which have a useful chunk more power.

Though to make it sound nice you'll need a sports exhaust, and maybe no cat (though that makes it loud...).

 

Ben

YHM

Alan (Lemmy)

 

Alan

I've mailed you back as I'm not around now until 10th December. Its a shame because Micheldever is so close but let me know if you want to arrange a viewing after that.

Feel free to mail me with any other questions about the car etc

Cheers
Ben

 

Has to be the Griff! Only thing that lets down TVR is reliability so if a second car then no probs. Nothing beats the sound of that V8- glorious!!

 

Im in the same position, looking at a 964 cab, 3.2 911 and a TVR cerbera, dont know which one yet, 964s cant all be bad.

Flyboy - which 911s did you have and what did it need mechanicaly.

 

Yo Sad Muppet

We're seriously on a Griff tip now. You are soooo right about the noise...it's the biggest V8 sound in motordom. How can you be a sad muppet when you're correct?

Gina G

 

I had a Griff 500 for a year. They have sooooo much going for them, the sound is glorious, the looks get comments from people all the time, it's like being a celebrity.

Sadly my Griff fell apart around me. It was a '98 model and the list of things which went wrong is awesome. Full engine rebuild after 19k miles, front suspension collapse were the most serious.

In all it cost me a 5 figure sum just to run it for a year. Hence I sold it.

Anyway, not all griffs are this bad, but you'll want to put alot of effort into finding a good one. There's a specialist called Rob Ingleby who'll charge you about 500 squid to find one, but he's an engineer who's been finding good TVRs for years. Don't have a number for him but do a search on pistonheads.com to find him.

Of course now I've got the P1, TVRs are history for me - which is kind of sad 'cos the experience of owning a TVR is a big part of the fun - as I'm sure scoobysnack will tell ya.

Cheers

Andy

 

Cheers ap_smith and everyone who has responded so far. Replies have reflected what we would have assumed about the marque; i.e. be careful, do the homework etc. I've located a TVR specialist on my (work) doorstep – The V8 Centre in Loudwater, High Wycombe and had a long chat with the owner, Perry...(no Kevins were involved!) who has been a star.

Note to Ben (Gussie Cup): sorry we couldn't link up this w/e. We will wait until you're available and would still like to see your 500.

Thanks all. Please feel free to add more pos/neg opinions as you see fit.

Gina G and Lemmy

 

Griff, easy. Although, i would also look at the Chimera which i think are sleeker and better looking and in production for longer so more reliable? Still have that V8 rumble too..lol

 

We have discounted the Chimera since according to the car mags it is softer, not as fast and quieter. We are after some serious FUN so would prefer the Griffith since it more of an animal and seriously fast, 0-100 in 10.5 s. Also the name Griffith 500 has a nice ring to it and of course they sound awsome

Lemmy