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The wild child of motoring is back
British car company TVR is back and firing on all cylinders with the updated Griffith.
TVR was the "wild child of the sports car scene that blew one head gasket too many and eventually conked out on the hard shoulder in 2006", says James Mills on Driving.co.uk. But "now the British company is back, firing on all cylinders" with a new version of the Griffith its first since the company was taken over by computer games magnate Les Edgar in 2013.
From a design perspective, TVR owners of old will undoubtedly be happy with the outcome, says Stuart Gallagher on Evo.co.uk. And it's fair to say the new TVR is a "welcome antidote to the rather bland designs that litter our roads in 2017". The side-exit exhaust popping out from behind the front wheel is a design detail that "wouldn't look out of place on the original 1960s Griffith" and the smallest of rear-wings keeps the silhouette "as clean as possible". However, some of those traditional smooth TVR lines have been sacrificed to provide air intakes and outlets in the front apron and behind both front and rear arches in a bid to enhance the aerodynamics as best they can.
Nonetheless, the basic ingredients for the new Griffith, which will cost £90,000 in the initial Launch Edition specification, are "tried and tested", says Mills. The car is a two-seat coup, and is built around a steel and aluminium frame with bonded carbon composite sections. There's a five-litre V8 petrol engine, a six-speed manual gearbox and drive goes to the rear wheels. All 1,250kg are "pinned to the road by bodywork and a flat floor that keep it stable", and it has a50:50 weight distribution.
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Finally, TVR's "willfully bonkers" interior ergonomics have been retired, and the new Griffith gets "bespoke dials and a centrally mounted infotainment system", says Jason Barlow on TopGear.com. The team driving TVR's resurrection want a car that's "useable and civilised", a GT with "serious fire in its belly". And as Edgar told Top Gear in a recent interview, TVR will be racing again soon too, "with Le Mans firmly in their cross-hairs".
Price: £90,000Engine: five-litre V8 petrolPower: 480bhp (estimated)Top speed: more than 200mph0-60mph: less than 4 seconds
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Stuart graduated from the University of Leeds with an honours degree in biochemistry and molecular biology, and from Bath Spa University College with a postgraduate diploma in creative writing. He started his career in journalism working on newspapers and magazines for the medical profession before joining MoneyWeek shortly after its first issue appeared in November 2000. He has worked for the magazine ever since, and is now the deputy editor. He has long had an interest in political economy and philosophy and writes occasional think pieces on this theme for the magazine, as well as a weekly round up of the best blogs in finance. His work has appeared in The Lancet and The Idler and in numerous other small-press and online publications.
