Driving Impressions

The TVR drives like a traditional English sports car should. It feels older than its 12 years, but comfortable.

There are some great country roads near where I live and I know them pretty well. I took the TVR for a nice long drive in early January 2008. Coming home I overtook a Citroen Saxo on the inside of a 2nd gear right hand hairpin bend and accelerating smartly away I just about shat myself as the rear end let go and I opposite locked it up the road for about 50 yards. That was fun I thought with my heart pounding from almost taking both me and the Saxo out into the fields. I had heard tales of people not taking their TVRs out in the wet and started to appreciate why.

To tell the truth I was a bit underwhlemed by the power delivery of the TVR. I also own a 1967 Camaro, which seemed a lot more refined and less how shall I put it "Agricultural" than the TVR. The 327 is a lovely free revving engine (much, much nicer than a 350) and by comparison the TVR felt more like a lorry all low down power and not much in the mid-range. The problem with a standard TVR is that the Rover V8 engine in 3.9L injected form was designed for a large off-road vehicle that needed plenty of pulling power. A light sports car does not need all that torque, in fact it is detrimental to rapid progress in the fact that the rear end breaks away unexpectedly (as above) under acceleration.

Personally I find the gear box notchy and difficult to engage gears under hard acceleration and the handbrake awkward to pull on hard. The pedals feel about right though and the steering wheel is adjustable, though the driving position is "long legged and short armed" and I am the opposite. The Steering wheel looks naff as do the column stalks, ash trays and heater outlets. Leven do some stick on aluminium trim items, which will make it look a lot better inside.

The TVR noise is addictive though and I find I want to keep driving just to hear that glorious V8 on song. The suspension is too harshly damped for the pot-holed Norfolk roads but fine on smoother A roads and so I feel one of the next upgrades will be some adjustable dampers. The rear end in particular skips and hops over sharp bumps and if the tyres aren't in contact with the road then you are in deep, deep pooh. The car has done 50,000 so is probably due new dampers anyway.

For the price, this really is a wonderful car to drive and I would recommend all petrol heads to at least blag a go in one if they get the chance.