Pushrod Supercar...I love it.

[Emohawk]

The Vette in America is the best buy for any supercar, but if you go else where in the world it isn't. And if anyone says the Viper is a better car they are wrong, the Z06 beats the Viper SRT-10 in about everyway under the sun.

Pity about that, Dodge just doesn't seem to care about it anymore.

 

[iceburns288]

The simple fact of the matter is, THIS is why you buy a Z06.

hahahaha, you gotta be kiddin me, compared to the F430 that sounds absolutely terrible (in my opinion). I don't think the American high-displacement V8s will ever overtake the Italians in terms of sound for me.

 

[Onikaze]

I've heard the Italian Cars, they sounded wicked no doubt...

I was at a Ferrari Car Show here in Memphis a few months ago.

308s
328s
355s
a 360
a 430
three different Testarossa's (though technically one was just the 512bb)
a 275 GTB
two 550's, one was a drop top
an Alfa Montreal
an Elise
Maserati Coupe and Quattroporte
and I want to say a 348, but I can't remember if thats the right number, I just remember it's one of the less popular ones.
Also a sweet 250 California replica.

I stayed around til every one of them took off screaming down the street.

The Z06 still gets my blood boiling in an entirely different way than those Stallions did.

 

[McLaren'sAngel]

The simple fact of the matter is, THIS is why you buy a Z06.

Hiya! Meow! (='.'=)

I think that is intimidating!

 

[Young_Warrior]

That z06 sounded a bit like a amg v8 to me. not bad at all but not the glorious sound of a ferrari.

 

[niky]

In the end both sides are wrong. The z06 is a good car but if you had the money for one there are plenty other cars you could consider instead of it.

This is my biggest problem with these types of argument, everything is decided by what goes on in the US attitude. The fact is, no it isn't, why shouldn't I compare the Z06 to a Sagaris, we get them over here. So what if you don't get them in the US, the US isn't the only maret for cars. Like I said before, it's all down to location, if I was in the US I'd be saying how good value the Z06 and other Vettes are, but I'll be damned if I'm going to pay more for a standard C6 than a Sagaris that will cane it round any circuit while offering a similar level of practicality. You cabn't pay less for a Sagaris, cos you don't get them but that doesn't mean we don't so we can compare the two. I'm not having a go at you, you probably didn't mean it as bad as it sounds now I've had a go, but I'm making apoint that I've had to make in every Vette forum I've bee in.

Point taken and understood (knew you might be ticked off by it, but I posted it merely because of the price issue!). What I mean is, yes, I agree that the TVRs are the fastest, meanest, most bang for buck full-sized sports coupes you can buy, but the fact that they're RHD and non-Federalized excludes them from a lot of markets, including mine.

Sure, Chevy doesn't sell the Corvette here, but we still get lots of grey-imports. It's impossible to make a TVR legal here because of the lack of an LHD model... in fact, I'm wondering how some rich guy managed to get a Lotus Elise (the old one) in and drive it around... unless they've been producing LHD models since the start.

This whole RHD-LHD market exclusion/limitation/taxation is just damn silly. Will you darn Brits, Aussies and Japonaise please get with the rest of us? Or should that be... should the rest of us get with you? It drives me nuts that you can buy a used Skyline GT-R or GTS-T here for maybe 10,000 dollars, but you still have to cut up the dashboard and relocate the steering rack (unsafe and ugly unless done right, and very expensive if you buy the kit from the US) just to make it ROAD LEGAL. Stupid regulations.

I'd pick a Tuscan Speed 6 or a Sagaris over a Corvette if I could afford either (like I said before, if you can afford a Vette in this country, you're not far off from owning a Ferrari) ... but since I can't get either one where I am... meh! I'll just dream... and I DO dream about both.

 

[Onikaze]

Hmm, I was reading in a new Auto mag at Krogers, that with the current state of the Dollar-Euro exchange rate, the C6 Z06 would actually wind up being cheaper for you guys if it was sold directly by GM over there, instead of imported.

 

[Dave A]

nicky I agree with that post more, comparisons can be made regardelss, however a comparison I'd make is not the same comparison you, Blazin or Onikaze would make because whats available and what the prices are change frocountry to country. The Lhd/Rhd is an issue for us, but it's pretty much only very few cars we get that arn't available as Rhd, the system will probably also never change. TVR's don't sell anymore in the US because they can't afford it, it's not because they're Rhd, their new chassis can be converted to Lhd very easillynad TVR would do it for you if they sold in larger numbers abroad barring Japan where TVR's are loved but it's Rhd anyway. To sell in the US TVR would need to pay huge ammounts of money in tax and other areas there was a thread where someone listed all the things you had to pay for to be able to sell cars in the US officially and it's not nice for a small company. If TVR does go back to the US, they probably won't be cheap because they'll need to make that cost back, either way it's a few years away before we'll know if Smolenski is going to open official dealers over there.

 

[Joey D]

I don't know why TVR wouldn't want to come back over, I know they were here in what the 70's because a buddy of mine dad owns one. I can't remember what it is but there are like 3 of them in the US. Its a cool little car and it is RHD. I remember he let me drive it and its so friggen finiky.

But GM doesn't directly sell the Vette in europe because the Chevy line really isn't over there.

 

[Dave A]

The whole company is only worth 15 million, they need to be able to gauretee a higher level of sales to make it cost effective. They're very much a nich car, not everyone wants something as raw as a Cerbera. But they're my nich, can you tell. They are making leaps and bounds in terms of development, and are mulling over the idea or returning to the US, but they're going to do a lot of marketing and such maybe re-starting a factory race program in the international scene beforethey decide what to do. Thoes factory Cerbera's and Tuscansthat reaced the British GT were pretty damn good against the Vipers and co, the Cerbera Speed 12 beat the Listers and Vipers in the GTS class (now GT1) but the problem with the 12 was technical issues, because the race car had been restricted so much over the road model they had a few issues with the car. On a good day it would come first with no problems from the rivals.

 

[McLaren'sAngel]

Hiya! Meow! (='.'=)

How much would those TVRs cost if they attempted to try to sell them here?

 

[Joey D]

Well with import fees and everything, I'm taking a stab in the dark and saying $150K would not be an uncommon sight.

 

[Dave A]

I doubt a cost of 150k would be for a T350 or Tuscan, I'd be guessing thoes would be around 80k, 125-150k would seem more Sagaris-T400R territory for a TVR in the states.

 

[Joey D]

If they were that expensive they wouldn't sell well at all, I mean people would buy the Vette over the TVR. Same situation as in Europe, just reverse the cars in question.

 

[Dave A]

Exactley, but thats where they'd need to be to make a profit in the US, unless they sold in the hundereds then theymight be closer in price to the Vette, but will TVRsell a couple of hundered cars a year in the US. I doubt at the moment they would.

 

[iceburns288]

I dunno how much a Sagaris is over there, but I'd pay plenty of money (at least 997TT territory) to get my hands on either that or a T550 Typhon!

 

[Dave A]

The Sagaris is just shy of 50k over here, the Typhon is 80k, 80k for a 220Mph rocket isn't bad. The T440R is 75k and the T400R is 70k. These are the 4 most expensive TVR's on sale the rest of the range all cost under 50k.

 

[niky]

I'd wager you're right on the money. 80k - 100k $$$ sounds just about right for a Sagaris if there was a company doing legalization over there.

It doesn't even have to be TVR that does it. Can't remember the name of the company, but the one that does conversion and legalization for Skylines sells R34s at $80k ... so there IS a market for low volume sports cars that are 'unique' in one way or another, and maybe an interested third party could do the work for them. I can picture about a couple of hundred in sales every year in the US, if TVR can keep up with the volume.

 

[Layla's Keeper]

You're thinking of Motorex in California, niky, and Motorex isn't as profitable as the import fans would have you believe.

TVR does have a good market image and back in the days of the first Griffiths and Ford power they were sold stateside. Their combination of otherworldly styling and ridiculous performance levels would help them hold a solid sales position in the states.

However, they'd be in direct market competition with Morgan, Lotus, Panoz, and Mosler, as opposed to Corvette and Viper.

The best conservative way for TVR to play the American market would be with the T350C and Sagaris as they are - if I've been correctly informed - platform mates (meaning one can piggyback on the other's federalization and the RHD to LHD conversion would become a bit more cost effective for the range).

 

[niky]

Actually, I was under the impression that most of the platforms (if not all) shared at least the same chassis backbone... which does fine in crash testing. The only problem is for TVR to get a sponsor for the Federal crash testing... maybe a local partner in the US?... Where there's a will, there's a way... and the US is the ONE lucrative market TVR has GOT to crash in order to expand.

Shame for Motorex. I actually don't have an opinion one way or another about their business model, but at least they've opened up the avenue for enthusiasts. Some of the Skylines which are road-registered here have gone through Motorex in the US, as, even if local mechanics can do the RHD-LHD conversion (with Bluebird-Cefiro parts), they prefer to have the conversion done as professionally as possible.

That's one up for Corvettes. Even if they don't sell them in your market, it's easy to get them road-registered. Just saw a C6 for sale at a small boutique seller the other day... riht between a Porsche and an SLK. The way money is around here, and with the ridiculous price they charge for anything over 3 liters in displacement, it didn't really look out of place.