TVR Performance Portfolio 2000-2005

TVR sports cars could really only be English. In so many ways they epitomise what sports cars ought to be in this day and age, very fast, exotically styled (some would say outrageous), loud and politically incorrect. But that is all part of the allure of this quixotic range of English cars. Where other makers of sports cars have sourced componentry from all over the world, TVR has determinedly set about making as much of their cars in-house as possible. With the arrival of the more recent Tuscan, Cerbera, Sagaris, Typhon and Tamora the company has phased out its use of the venerable Rover alloy V8 in favour of its own DOHC in-line 3.6-litre 350 bhp Straight Six engine that drives the rear wheels through a TVR-made manual gearbox. To say that the road performance of these sports cars is exhilarating would be some kind of enormous understatement. They are electrifyingly fast to drive! All TVRs run to top speeds of over 150 mph, the Sagaris runs to a heart-stopping 195 mph—and will run the classic 0-60 mph sprint in less than 5 seconds or, for the true die-in-the-wool fanatic for whom too much power is still not enough, the 0-100 mph sprint in less than 10 seconds. With the change of ownership early in 2004 when Russian millionaire Nikolai Smolenski invested in the company, there have been numerous subtle changes in the cars, changes that TVR enthusiasts fervently hope will not blunt their raw edge—one of the reasons TVR has been successful. They are dynamic sports cars that are designed for extroverts who not only want to be noticed but really enjoy the thrill of driving on the edge whenever the opportunity presents itself, and who enjoy the camaraderie of belonging to a car club where their interests are shared. Models covered: Griffith, Chimaera, Tuscan, T350 C & t, Cerbera, Tamora, Typhon & Sagaris. A total of 128 pages including 48 in full colour. SB.