55 replies to this topic

[andym172]

He wants a go in my VX this weekend - I've never expected someone to be underwhelmed before !

Easy to rectify - borrow a Turbo!

[very much with tongue in cheek]

[Haggis]

Great review Purebob, I was grinning after reading it, can only imagine the size of the smile on your face after experiencing it first hand!

[Fen]

Had an interesting run in with a Tuscan on the way back from The Festival of Speed this year. We went in my brother's 2.5 Boxster and had a Tuscan pass us on a B road on the way back, we stayed behind him for a couple of miles as we were both behind a van with no passing places. Anyway, van eventually turns right but not before stopping us both. When van turns TVR gives it everything and so does my brother, suprisingly we stayed right with him up to 70+ but then backed off due to not knowing the road, cameras etc.

I strongly suspect the Tuscan wasn't giving it everything after all. I'm on Porsches number 6 & 7 so I'm far from biased against them, but the 2.5 Boxster isn't exactly fast on the same level as the Tuscan - 250Kg heavier and with 160bhp less after all.


A Tuscan 4.0 Red Rose is on my shortlist along with a VXT (VXRs will all be sold before I have the cash, unfortunately), and an Elise 111R. OK they're totally different cars but both appeal to me so I'm going to have to drive them all to see which is "the one", along with the Tamora, T350 etc.

[Purebob]

Come Come Andy, even I was underwhelmed by the VXT !

[andym172]

Come Come Andy, even I was underwhelmed by the VXT !

Don't underestimate yourself PB - I'm sure you have driving skills to which we can only aspire...

[Purebob]

I have driving skills that a pensioner with a wooden leg wouldn't aspire to ! Maybe that pensioner could afford to insure a Tuscan S tho' Eh ? Gp 20+ * gulp *

[andym172]

Don't want to annoy our Pistonhead visitors, but you're not seriously considering buying a TVR are you? The only time I'd buy a TVR (and it'd have to be something bloody special!) is if it was to be my 3rd or 4th car. TVR's research and development department is its customers. If you want to be part of that, fairy muff

[oblomov]

This happened to me last year. Driving in my aged little diesel (OK its got GTI suspension and alloys/tyres) on a bendy road I catch up with a TVR Tuscan. Mr. Tuscan doesn't want to go as fast as me round the bends, but just plays with me on the straight bits and won't let me pass. We round a long fast sweeping curve where the wide road suddenly narrows drastically to the extent that there is no central demarcation and limited room to pass. It's quite an intimidating bit of road because not only does it narrow, but it goes sharply uphill disappearing out of the sunlight into the gloom of heavy overhanging trees Mr. Tuscan hits his brakes as expected, and I and go for the overtake. I'm past him before he knows what's happened (he helps me by braking even harder when he sees my car 6” away from his and alongside) Well, Mr. Tuscan is seriously p!$$ed by being out driven by a crappy old car, and a diesel one at that. We are now driving through seriously narrow and windy bits of road, and Mr. Tuscan uses my speed to judge how fast he can take the corners, right on my tail in his best attempt to crowd me. I consider brake testing him, but decide against it, but I know if I can pull a gap on him and he has to use his own judgment, he's history. I lull him in to a false sense of security and he gets used to hanging on to my tail and taking the bends at a reasonably fast pace but not too challenging. I wait for a favourite particularly nasty little right hander which I take very fast (for the road), but absolutely on my side. Mr. Tuscan, has a car which will out corner mine with ease, but still has difficulty because he's wrongly positioned before going into the bend. It's not a big or long corner, just a nasty little narrow one. He goes for the easy option and cuts it. Fortunately for him the car approaching has seen me and is well on its own side of the road, nevertheless Mr. Tuscan finds himself severely embarrassed into swerving and heavy braking, almost to a stop because he's afraid of hitting the wall. I've pulled a gap on him now, and I'm into more twists and turns; I’m gone. Eventually I hit a mile long straight stretch, and when I'm halfway down it a pretty good speed, in my mirror I see Mr. Tuscan appear in the distance behind me. Approaching the end of the stretch is a bus and I go for the overtake in the knowledge that I can just slot in front of it before the next bendy bits. I look in the mirror again and Mr. Tuscan is there, right behind me! He must have hit 130 mph plus to catch me. There is a problem however. He's less than a car length off my bumper again and I know there is only just room for me to slot in front of the bus, and I have to loose speed to do so because the looming corner is very sharp. So I pull in less than one car length in front of the bus, leaving poor old Mr. Tuscan stranded with nowhere to go as we enter the bend. I hear a horrendous shriek of skidding tyres as Mr. Tuscan desperately attempt to pull in behind a bus that he is already three quarters way past. I don't see him again. Every TVR I see being driven on narrow twisty B roads is invariably being driven gingerly, and I'm always of the opinion it's because they know that if they get it just the slightest bit wrong, the car will will punish them big time. Thats why I want a VXT and not a TVR.

[Fen]

Don't want to annoy our Pistonhead visitors, but you're not seriously considering buying a TVR are you?

The only time I'd buy a TVR (and it'd have to be something bloody special!) is if it was to be my 3rd or 4th car. TVR's research and development department is its customers. If you want to be part of that, fairy muff

Not that it matters, but I'm not here from the link on PH, and I am thinking about buying a TVR. At the moment the VXT is top of my list, but until I have driven all of the cars I'm considering that doesn't mean much.

Whatever I buy will be my primary car, but not my only car, however I am still very put off by the horror stories of rebuilds every 8,000 miles and by a best case servicing of £900 every 12k miles.

Then again (I assume, correct me if I'm wrong) that I won't be able to carry my golf clubs in a VX unless they go in the passenger seat and, while that isn't on the same scale, it's a negative I need to consider.

So far the only cars I have considered and dismissed are the Boxster (because I have driven one and because of the number of them around, and I speak as a Porsche owner of 7 cars over 10 years) and the S2000 (because I looked at one and I wouldn't pay that money to drive something with such an uninspiring, plastic and digital interior). I'll discount others after I've driven them.

[GerryM]

Come Come Andy, even I was underwhelmed by the VXT !

Come on PB, I was at Palmersport with you and underwhelmed is not a word I would of used when you climbed out of the VXT !!

[Purebob]

Gerry, just prodding Andy back ! I've said loads of times I love the VXT. Just not as much as the NA. I drove my VX down to Stoke Poges this morning and it was great, but I did miss the drama of the Tuscan S. A drive home tonight, missing the motorway should be fun though !

[GerryM]

PB. imagnine how much better it would be in a VXT !!

[Shaun]

I've been put off TVR's for life when I brought a new V8 S. Great car but the bl**dy thing started falling apart on the way home from the dealer and I spent the next two years getting it sorted. Hope the Tuscan is not built by the same idiot that built my car....but then I hear he got a job at Lotus working on the 'Skipton' project

[caleebra]

LoL Shaun

Great write up Bob, you really should give up your day job

[Jim_Cross]

You know what PB? In some ways I'd like you to replace the VX with a Tuscan. I'd love to see how someone who values the same features of the NA VX as me gets on with a car so different in so many ways

[JimH]

My biggest problem with owning a Tuscan (bigger than the initial outlay, extortionate running costs and kit car build quality) is the name. How can you own a car called a Tusk-an and not be going through some tragic middle-age crisis?

Like I've said many times before I bow to no one in my admiration for TVR and the people who run it. Their approach to design, manufacture, marketing and - best of all - motoring hacks is to be loudly applauded. On the occasions when I have ridden in or driven one they have impressed me and always left a smile. It's just that their cars just aren't me.

[dkennedyVXT]

Had an interesting run in with a Tuscan on the way back from The Festival of Speed this year. We went in my brother's 2.5 Boxster and had a Tuscan pass us on a B road on the way back, we stayed behind him for a couple of miles as we were both behind a van with no passing places. Anyway, van eventually turns right but not before stopping us both. When van turns TVR gives it everything and so does my brother, suprisingly we stayed right with him up to 70+ but then backed off due to not knowing the road, cameras etc. To be honest we were a bit disappointed as we thought the TVR would have left us for dead but given us a look at what they were capable of.

Friend of mine has the Boxter S (3.2) and my standard VXT is faster up to the point where we both slowed and it was slightly above 70mph

He's driven my Turbo and although he likes the comfort and toys in the Boxter S ...he said he was blown away by the VX's performance.

I've had a passenger ride in a Tuscan and it's loony quick...would rip a Boxter 2.5 apart and convincingly beat a 3.2 boxter S and a VXT. Great cars the Tuscans....just wouldn't trust myself in one (Translated.....Can't afford one)

[skiddo]

dave - you should send your review to pistonheads. you ignored my advice. so here is some cheese...

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[skiddo]

stilton pasty!

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[Purebob]

You see skiddo ? Your pix demonstrate what I mean about the styling - its 'manga' - looks like it was styled by a cartoonist for a goth magazine rather than a car designer.
Having said that the performance and whole driving experience is every bit as gothic as the styling so its not out of place.

Now today I drove my VX for the first time since driving the S and did 300 miles on m'way and back along a and b roads.

Its hard to imagine a different sporting driving experience than the S and the VX. I was disappointed this morning I'll admit - I was wringing my poor car's neck trying to make it feel like it did a sub 4 sec 0-60 like teh S...stupid boy.
Must be said though after a mile or two a strange thing happened in the VX - I can only use the late , great Russel Bulgin's word: meld. You as the driver become an intrinsic part of the car, as does the engine, the steering, the road, the sounds, smells and sights of the drive. They meld together in a strangely surreal way. Driving the VX home tonight along a mixed bag of fast roads isn't a sequence of pump-action shotgun blasts like the tuscan S, its more like fencing: JUST as violent and effective but more subtle with no one way to win the duel.

The VX grips and points like an S driver can only imagine, and theres the unfettered luxury of being able to thrash the nuts off the engine - I can't imagine thats ever happened to an S driver on the road.

I 'd be lying if I didn't say I have a pang for that behemoth engine, but I must say I completely loved my drive home tonight.

The VX is every boit as brilliant as the S , its just brilliant at different things. Its all down to which set of capabilities you value most.

I've probably eulogised enough over this now, but it WAS a special drive. Thanks for reading all !