LG John

My mate is looking at buying a Sagaris and I'll probably be going with him. Is there anything we should be looking out for or checking on them? Obviously he understands the general risks of TVR ownership - would be good to know if there are tell tail signs of pending problems.

AlanPPP

iTrader: (2)

Yeah make sure you REALLY know how to handle a car.

Seriously.

LG John

Well he's had an exige....which is a start. However, 380bhp/ton is a different ball game I guess

Matteeboy

An Exige (apart from the supercharged one) is a pussycat in comparison and much less likely to get you in trouble.

Great looking cars though (Sagaris).

B0DSKI

iTrader: (17)

Read the TVR forums on Pistonheads. Very usefull for info

stilover

Agreed. Know a guy who bought a Tuscan. Had that £2k paint job on it, looked the Nuts.

However, while out showing my mate how quick his car was, a situation occurred where the only thing quicker than the car, was his realisation that he had a lack of talent. Car ended wrapped around a sign post, and luckily they both walked away with just the odd scrape. Although my mate still has a splinter of Dashboard under his cheek.

Another mate has a Griffith 500. Again, nice car, but he really can't drive. A corner is taken with no throttle input at all, and it only ever goes quick in a straight line.

Myles

iTrader: (40)

No driver aids, scary as hell power, in other words.........a mans car.

Matteeboy

Or a widow's late husbands car...!

Myles

iTrader: (40)

Indeed!

dpb

i was particularly impressed with that peice of polycarbonate they call a spolier at the **** end of it

The side exhausts are quite cool too

Dream machines , Sussex

Dingdongler

I test drove one of these when it first came out and though it was a thing of beauty I was underwhelmed. It didn't seem that fast and smelt of glue.

I did test drive a Noble straight after (joint dealer), that thing felt like a rocket

dpb

8 seconds to a hundred ! , i can see how that might get a tad boring

LG John

I'm having a hard time accepting it didn't feel fast with 380bhp/ton. Who knows, maybe I'll agree with you after the weekend, however, my gut instinct is it'll be stupid quick!

LG John

Well, he bought it

We left to begin our epic journey at 2am from Edinburgh, arriving in Kent at around 8:30am. The car was simply stunning glistening in the morning sunshine as we pulled up. First impressions were good, it's paintwork immaculate, alloys unmarked, and generally in 'as new' condition. I was also struck by how small the car was - I had it in my head that it might be around the size of a small hatchback. It was far smaller, hardly any bigger than an Exige (mates previous car).

The owner was a young lad (26) and he seemed enthusiastic and knowledgeable. We spent a considerable time inspecting the car inside and out and found it to be generally flawless. After a test drive we bought it and started our long journey home. I finally collapsed through the front door at around 8:30pm. Pretty fvcked

So, the car?

Well, it looks bananas and gets an insane amount of attention. Kids and wives hang out of windows on the motorway to see it and take pictures. I doubt there are many cars on the road that would attract as much (positive) attention as a bright orange Sagaris. I fear that even Ferrari ownership (Enzo notwithstanding) wouldn't attract as many thumbs up and admiring glances.

The attention, looks and bespoke feel of the car make it feel very special to be in. This is enhanced by its character and the sense that it's individual. When you start the engine this is no BWM M3. It struggles for a few seconds and then catches randomly to settle on a rough idle. From cold it is unrefined, knocky and sounds - frankly - delicate. In an M3 you know you could probably turn the key from cold and 0-100mph max it with only a reduction in longevity. With the TVR you sense that it would simply let go there and then pretty much all of the time. While warming up, it as good as tells you it won't be forgiving....but it promises to reward your patience.

Build quality was actually way better than I expected. The interior was a relatively nice place to sit and the fit, finish and material quality was much better than you might expect. It's no Audi, but it's not bad. Way more interesting than many rivals (i.e. Noble).

On the move at normal speeds it isn't that loud. The injectors seemed to be the loudest (or most intrusive) noise at cruising speeds. Crack the throttle open however and it shouts a lot more and is aurally pleasing. The speed piles on quickly but it wasn't as violent as I expected, nor as outright fast.

I struggle to see how it would be any faster than the 996 Turbo S I dove, despite having a 100bhp/ton advantage. I also routinely expected to glance over at the speedo after a blast through the gears to find it reading 140+. Normally, it was only in the 110-120 area. I find myself questioning if it really does have 400bhp at 1080kg - seemed more like 350bhp.

I don't think I was disappointed with the performance, it was, after all, blindingly quick. I think I was disappointed by my reaction to it. I remember going out in Andy F's 350bhp WRX RA (it ran 11.2 the next day) and being blown away by how quick it was....almost to the point of fear. I guess I've been looking to step into any car since that can give me the same sensations or, better yet, scare me ****less. Nothing has come close, not even the Sagaris. To be honest, I could sleep in the passenger seat through hard acceleration from 20-150mph. I had hoped that it would feel dangerously quick; struggling for traction until high speeds, twisting, straining and diving across the road as it tried to deploy its power. It didn't, it just sat down and hauled *** in a perfectly civilised way - in many regards it was like a fast M3.

All in all it is an outstanding car that is super special to spend time in. I can imagine it would be a wonderful ownership experience and I can even understand why some owners are willing to forgive them when they lunch their engines. However, it's not the earth shattering, scary-quick last word in performance I hoped it would be. I'm now growing increasingly concerned that, realistically speaking, no production car exists that could accelerate the way I desire.

I guess I'll find out if I ever have the money. I suspect the best way to describe what I'm looking for is to title the inevitable "what car" thread as follows: "Got up to £70k to spend. Want a that accelerates so violently that my mother will cry if I take her out in it" I doubt even a Sagaris would scare her.....and it's supposedly 8-seconds to the ton

LG John

Double post

john banks

I think a GTR with a remap fits the bill. I genuinely think it is too fast. My next and any future cars will be slower.

stilover

Nice write up.

The power outputs were always questionable anyway.

Being hand built, they do vary.

The speedo's rarely work properly anyway.

"No faster than a 996 Turbo S"
So, no faster than one of the fasters cars on the planet then?

Matteeboy

Interesting reading Saxo Boy!

dpb

Youll have to play better poker



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Zxdc1JsBgY


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTWi1...eature=related

Terminator X

iTrader: (7)

Check to make sure your mate has DEEP pockets

TX.

LG John

I'm banking (no pun) on it. For outright crazy speed I'm hoping that GTR is the way to go. However, I want to try a few cars before I go anywhere near one. As you say, it'll be very hard to top the performance of a tuned GTR. I'd hate to have the nissan and then feel like every car I owned afterwards was slow.

I still think I'll go Z4M Roadster next. I want to progress to a car that can do 0-100 in under 8 seconds rather than jump there.

Terminator X

iTrader: (7)

^^ 0-100 in 10s is supercar fast. 0-100 below 8 is

TX.

LG John

Not any more IMHO. The e60 M5 and cars of it's generation changed all that IMHO:

0-100 in 9-10s is where the very fast super-saloons and fast sports cars reside.
0-100 in 8-9s is where the slower super cars reside (F430, Gallardo, etc)
0-100 in 7-8s is where your faster super cars reside (599, Z06)
0-100 in <7s is where the hypercars are at (zondas, ZR1, etc)

When the e46 M3 and e39 M5 were on the block they were over 10-seconds to the ton leaving 9-10s for the slower super cars. The e60 M5 and, subsequently, the e90 M3, new RS6 and whatever Merc' brought to the party nudged the entire scale by about a second IMHO.

I think there is a good chance that the Ferrari 458 and new M5 will force everyone a half second again. I mean if you think about it there was a time when nothing short of a hyper-car could touch a Cerbera. However, there are dozens and dozens of cars that can match or beat that pace now. For crying out loud, there's probably a few tricked up Scooby's in the for sale section that could do it.

For me the real worry was when I recently drove my mates M3 again and though that it was actually quite slow. That's worrying considering it was a performance benchmark for like 7 years or so!

corradoboy

Ariel Atom upsets the apple cart a little, doing 0-100 in under 7s for less than £40k

LG John

True.....but it's basically a bike with 4 wheels

SPEN555

Interesting read.

I think I would have the same expectations like yourself. The fact it is so light and so powerful I would expect that when pressing the accelerator it would be 'OMG....I think I am going to die'. Maybe having having such high expectations blunts the experience in the first place?

Good choice BTW! Enjoy

LG John

Lol, I wish Spen55, this isn't my car.... I was travelling with a mate to pick it up for him

I didn't have crazy expectations. I guess I expected that it would be a bit of a handful in a straight line, even in the dry, it's not. I suspect the problem is that tyre technology and suspension geometry is moving at the same pace as p/w/r. Put this p/w/r in a 60's car and you basically have a Cobra which, as far as I know, was a handful - even in a straight line.

john banks

Probably restricted by traction at low speed and drag vs power at high speed. Power to weight isn't all, and they are often stated as making much less than claimed.

LG John

My gut feeling, as I said earlier, is that there is no way in hell this car had 400bhp.

It was more torquey than I expected though. For a non-V8 n/a it had useful get up and go in top gear at lowish revs.

scoobyc

iTrader: (2)

I know exactly how you feel saxo boy. I remember being taken out in an e46 m3 when i was 17, my first realy fast car experiance and i thought it was mentally fast.

As you can now see from my other posts, after testing a couple to now buy one the scoob has ruined my hero the e46 m3.

As such ive been posting relentlessly in here and ended up testing a 911 to the same effect.


Oh and those atoms are crazy fast. One overtook my bro (tuend 330bhp evo4) at bedford as if we werent even moving...