Commander

Sold the TVR yesterday - sad to see it go but now I have lots of money in my bank account, so happy days Also yesterday I had the Z MOT'd and it passed with flying colours and not a single advisory Today I was out in the Z (with the Mrs in the passenger seat) and when I went to overtake a van (perfectly safely I might add! straight road, good visibility, within speed limits, used my indicators, etc...) he pulled out in to my lane and hit me. There was probably 15-20mph speed difference between us so the short duration of the collision still meant his front-right quarter dragged it's way down pretty much the full length of the car Stopped and swapped details, etc... and it's now with my insurance company (Admiral). Not a great photo, but any speculation about repair costs? Wish I didn't go for £600 excess now! We're looking at a new door and wing (both worse than the picture makes them look. window, lock and wing mirror still work fine), indicator housing, and paint on the rear quarter.

I want to know how much of this tech has anti-virus software or is, at least, using a hardened OS and a Firewall? Multi-function Printer / Fax / Scanner gets a virus and all of a sudden everything it processes is getting copied to somebody else. IP Telephone gets a virus and your 'encrypted' calls are being streamed somewhere else. Same for your voice-activated TV or Games console too, only they're always on and in your living room. Connected fridge, cooker, security system, car, smart phone, lights, etc... they're all potential routes of attack. I'm an IT person so I loves me a bit of tech just like you, but unless you're securing it, it's a risk... Set passwords (or better, pass phrases) that are d1fF!CuLLLT to to guess on everything. Try not to use the same password for everything. Get a Firewall that does transparent AV scanning and filtering. Understand how all your tech really works and setup Firewall rules accordingly... and so on. Scary times!

My 350z HR Coupe is my daily... just passed 101k miles.

Very sad to see it go - it's beautiful, sounds awesome, and mechanically sound. I can't get excited about the looks of the older Maseratis :-( the newer ones look and sound good, but 30k minimum is beyond my finances at the moment.

I'd love to, but I want better build quality and better handling... too many 'death trap' type stories for my liking.

Not 'new' new, just a 996/997 maybe... won't be a Turbo either. Essentially it's a juggling exercise - change from two cars worth 30k plus whatever I'm paying for 2x TAX / Insurance / MOT, to one car for 20-25k. Spend the difference on the house to keep the Mrs happy and (hopefully, possibly, maybe) reduce my outgoings a bit by only running one car instead of two.

TVR sold; need to sell the Z too - time to spend some money on the house and just have one car for a while. Not sure what car though - nothing else this side of 80k comes close to the Tuscan's character, let alone for my ~22.5k budget. Needs to at least be a 2+2. Suggestions? Jag XKR Jag XFR Merc E350 BMW E90 M3 Merc C63 AMG E60 M5 / M6 Cayman / 911 (too many engine horror stories?) What else ya got?

First time I did Stelvio it snowed about 8 inches overnight. By the time we came to drive back over it in the morning, 9am ish, they'd had the snow ploughs and gritters out and we got up no problem on standard tyres... And that was with an Elise, 350z, M3 & RX8... Bit of slush here and there but nothing some cautious driving didn't overcome.

I've used it for my Wedding Car, for blasting around every b-road local to me and I've done 2500 miles across the Alps in France, Austria, Switzerland, Italy and did 150-odd mph in it in Germany (with the roof off!) In the time I've had the car I've driven it significantly more than the previous owners did and loved every second of it... It's a raw experience though and I want some class... think of it like moving on from a Bowler Tomcat to a Range Rover... I want to do the TVR equivalent of that... IYSWIM? You're more than welcome to buy it if you're sad to see it go so soon?

The Z is a much more relaxing place to be - lower chance of death too - though it is also totally boring now, as I suspect the Jag will be too, now I've owned the Tuscan... I can't see any car ever topping the Tuscan for excitement, looks, noise, general interest, etc... it's bloody brilliant - i just need something slightly less intense tbh. 2007 HR Coupe in silver with black leather, HFCs, Milltek and 101k on it, probably worth more like 5-6k I'd have thought. 2000 Mk1 Tuscan Red Rose in bright purple, with 47k on an engine rebuilt just 10k ago - advertise for 25k and see what happens.. Other cars? Loads! 996 Turbo, DB9, V12 Vantage, 5.0 XKR-S, Maserati Granturismo to name but a few... sadly I can't afford any of them!

Edit - wasn't sure if that comment was Pro-Jag or Anti-TVR? Assumed the latter! I've had it for about 4000 miles, my repair bill is £0 and I already know I'll never own such an awesome car again. Turns out I bought a Red Rose too, so at 380-ish BHP and around 1200kg, it knocks spots off most things in terms of speed, the noise is amazing and it does look equal measures of beautiful and bonkers. In Europe people are fascinated by it - people stop to chat / take pictures / stare all the time... it's a proper feel good car. All that said, it's not hugely relaxing to drive - I tend to do long distances whenever I'm in a car so want something more GT. You need to be awake and 100% on it 100% of the time - get complacent, especially if it's damp, and it'll try to kill you... even flat straight roads can be an adventure!

Considering selling my Tuscan Red Rose AND my 350z HR and replacing with either a 4.2 XKR-S or a 5.0 XKR. Does anybody have any experience of either? Not been for any test drives yet... Are they really as good (and reliable) as people say?

Not sure about the Z, but some other cars have a brake shoe adjuster you can slacken off too. They do take some yanking to get off... I hate doing rears!

Just get a TVR - goes faster, looks better, almost as reliable! :-)

To some extent, it probably depends which 350 you're comparing to; DE or HR?

Just gotta get up and do it! Google maps is your friend..

Tuscan by night - in the Dolomites of northeastern Italy... (One of my mates took the picture - http://www.adifferentblue.com - he's a BMW driver but it's hard to hold that against him with pictures like this!) And in other news, I've lost my wallet! :-(

27 degrees yesterday and my TVRs fans and aircon have stopped working. The inside is a warm place anyway but yesterday was mad - I drank 3.5 litres of water and didn't take a single leak... Sweaty! It also turns out that the ecu isn't very good at adapting to thin air so anything above about 8000ft and you can feel / hear its limitations. Also had a voltage sensor fail temporarily, so the dash was alarming zero volts, even though I can prove 13.5v on my multimeter... This fixed its self after stopping for Gelato in Bormio.

Minor issue with my TVR - voltage sensor has failed so have a constant 0volts warning on my dash along with a relentless buzzer. Multimeter verified that I get 12v / 13.5v so just an annoyance really, but still not ideal.

No, we did the shiny new one. The old one is awful!

Guy with the drone has done some epic stuff... Videos will looks awesome!

Yesterday we did Susten, St Gottard, Furka, Nufenen, St Gottard the other way, Susten the other way & Grimsell. Traffic was variable and there were several km of roadworks in places, but still a world class set of roads. All of the TVR's bad handling characteristics are forgiven when it's on a smooth flowing road up the side of a mountain with no traffic. Bloody excellent! Saw plenty of other exotica, including a midnight blue 350 which had a few mods - looked very nice.

In Switzerland now. A day chock full of passes to smash through today. TVRs are winning the noise and public appreciation competition by miles - it's funny how many people stop / stare / comment / take pictures! I'm posting this at 5:30am because I can't get my roommate to stop snoring :-/

SL55 AMG driver side door handle is bust - he now has to wind his window down to get out! RX7 tail light and boot light now repaired. Who mentioned ABS and Traction Control? None of that in a TVR! Both TVRs currently working, though it is raining and neither of us put them under a cover so we'll see in the morning!

Second night in France - RX7 tail lights have stopped working.