I Drove a Crazy Rare Imported TVR Tuscan, And It’s Insane

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I drove 9 hours to Canada to check out one of the only TVR Tuscans in North America. Here's a trip of its unusual traits.

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I Drove a Crazy Rare Imported TVR Tuscan, And It's Insane

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About the Author: RareCars

84 Comments

    1. richboy900 – you’re right ..just see how the Lotus Elise evolved from its tiny 120hp S1 version, with nothing than indicator stick , into an traction control and gizzmos filled “cup holder mass production car” after its introduction into the USA market ( we can say “mass production” – in terms of past Lotus production number levels at least)

    2. These engineering & design retardations are a complete turn-off for me. Combine that with this car’s anti-maintenance features and I wouldn’t take this thing if I was paid to!! It even puts the Italian companies to shame.

  1. *TVR engineers: We’ve taken every important thing on a normal car and put them on the most absurd places. We’ve worked so hard.*

    1. Actually the only thing in a TVR not in a logical position is the battery, and many owners relocate it to the boot. Everything else is exactly where it should be.. the fuel filler in the boot for security reasons, no fuel theft.. lack of door handles, window handles for security too.. The locking mechanisms are in the rear door shut too for security reasons.. what looks like a slash at the front of the door shut was done not just for aesthetic reasons.. The fibreglass door and body panels were catching on pre production models, so the engineers built in the side slash to prevent it, and owners love it.. The rear light clusters were positioned high so any rear panel damage could be repaired easily.. contrary to popular belief TVRs are extremely reliable when serviced correctly ( which isn’t difficult or too expensive), driven regularly, and £ for £ are about the most fun you can have in any car if you’re a driver, and not reliant on the nanny state to look after your poor skills.. The car shown is a 180mph, under 4.5 second 0-60 monster that can be bought in the UK for @30k dollars now.. and it’s nowhere near the quickest TVR.. They also built their own engines, of which the AJP V8 has a flat plane crank and was the same build type as current F1 cars of the time. Gorgeous, Pure driving machines for real drivers.. As Peter Wheeler the owner of TVR(rip) said when asked why no abs, TC, airbags etc in a TVR.. Because we only build cars for heterosexuals😂🤣

  2. I used to have one! A Tamora though, not a Tuscan. Owned it a year and a half with no problems. My favourite out of all the cars I’ve owned

    1. @thunderkat9503 get a shitty accord if you want a functional car. Not a drop top sports car. Ooh that lamborghini is soooo impractical. Idiotic comment

    2. Driving a TVR especially this one is just insanely fun. A lot of people don’t like the look of the car but you would be stupid to say it’s not a good car even with all it’s faults.

    3. i’ve always liked them for “european muscle” and looks
      but before this video, i never realized they were such a *chaos* in car form

  3. i love TVR, man: the tuscan, Sagaris… amazing design. It’s so sad that it got so much engineering fails and flaws …
    Cause no cars look like a TVR

  4. Nothing about a TVR makes sense, and owning one makes even less. But if you are one of a handful of enthusiasts, nothing else would ever do. A TVR is one of those special cars that at the same time is the most stupid, and most wonderful thing ever created. They should have called it the paradox.

    1. I have a Mazda RX8, I feel the same way about that. I could quite see myself driving a TVR at some point too…

    1. @Nick Law I once drove a Griffith 500 on ice. On a nearly dry road it’d spin the wheels up in 3rd without much provocation.

      The heating system was….I never worked it out. The heat soak into the footwell was…top of its league!

      The chassis was a tubular backbone type, which meant the front could flex in relation to the back – the handling was, therefore, absolutely sublime or unpredictable, according to chassis flex.

      I didn’t like the gearchange into 2 and 4 (couldn’t tell if it had gone home).

      And it broke down a lot.
      It was BRILLIANT
      This was my sister’s car.
      I drive an old Porsche on weekends – it’s forced me to run out of talent and kill a tree.

      But if you like your excitement turning up to 12 – go TVR.

  5. The UK, where this was built and first sold, is in the Western Hemisphere and contains plenty of old TVRs.

    1. That cluster reads only in km/h but imported from Ireland or RHD Europe countries.

  6. Italians: nobody makes beautiful, kooky cars with questionable functionality choices better than we do.

    TVR: Hold my tea.

    1. There’s this italian undisclosed brand full size van where you cannot lock the cabin when the load compartment doors are open. You open those doors, reverse into the warehouse ramp and you need to enter the said warehouse to unload. You have no option but to leave the cabin unlocked.

  7. ask any Tuscan owner why they got a Tuscan…. sensible, economical, safe, reliable are not words you’ll hear . but they’ll be smiling more than you lol

    1. Yea they are so quick, very light and loads of power, but nothing in the way of safety equipment. They are quicker than most of the supercars of the time, by some margin to.

    2. My mate’s had both a Giulia Sprint GT (a ’65 I believe) and 2 TVRs – a Taimar Turbo and a Cerbera.
      The Alfa was mostly fine, the Cerbera only broke once (electrics), and the Taimar worked maybe twice a month (electrics, turbo, suspension, rust, leaks and brakes).

      My advice is if you want a TVR, get either a Cerbera (not the 4.2) or a late model Tuscan.

  8. Around 15 years ago, one of my teachers owned this car and drove it to school each day. He was a quirky guy.

    1. Haha I had a mad science teacher that used to own a couple of TVRs and drive them to school now and again, was definitely an eccentric guy

  9. TVR designers definitely had Doug in mind when creating this car. “Let’s build a car with more quirks than any car in history”

    1. @megaangelic just wanna say that the external jumper points are the dumbest feature of this car hands down. I don’t think I’ve seen many races where a tuscan doesn’t burst into flames from them.

    2. There is an access point to use when you need to get into the car when the battery is dead. Obviously, this is not common knowledge but for owners only!

  10. I remember, back in college my friend and I would sit around for hours and play Gran Turismo, alternately taking turns and blowing through the games as only people with no full time jobs can while getting high and drinking a lot (statute of limitations is long expired lol). The TVR cars always, to me, seemed so damn cool, and I always attributed the horrible oversteer to the fact that you get used to playing the game with primarily apt cars – at first, moddable FWD cars that are nothing special to begin with and then moving into proper touring cars. But, after actually looking at the specs, I realized that the car was a vulgar display of power that Colin Chapman would have approved of if they weren’t so bizarrely complex with horribly thought out weight distribution and moment of inertia. That said, it’d be fun to drive once, but only on dry pavement in a straight line. 😁 As Pantera named their album, these are a Vulgar Display of Power. It’s just hard to justify cars like TVR, such as the Elise and Exige from Lotus, when they don’t have the race car DNA like Lotus. Nevertheless, always love Doug’s videos, because I see cars or sub models of cars I never knew existed. Rock on. 🤘😎🤘

  11. Doug, I love all these TVRs they sound amazing. But breakdown alot, but I’d still have one in a heart beat right after completing my mechanic training, having known someone who owned one. Great review as always.

  12. Back in the 60s, if my memory serves me correctly, they sold the most powerful Tuscan with a guarantee that it could exceed the 70 mph speed limit by 100 mph.

    They looked wild even then, in fact a 1960s TVR still looks mental.

    Whenever I saw a set of car tracks leaving the exit of a roundabout, head across the grass verge and through a hedge, I would think “ahh, TVR driver has stamped on the accelerator a bit too hard”.

    The Tuscan is relatively conservative for a TVR, the most insane TVR was the Cerbera Speed 12 which ran at Le Mans.

    They are just about to restart production with the latest TVR, the Griffith, which maintains the long history of madness.

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