Hi All,
Sorry if this has been done a million times, but I am thinking of selling my TVR Griffith 500 and buying an M roadster but cant find too much info about them.
One of my major concerns is fuel economy. The reason for this is I retire at Xmas and may need to use my car on the odd occasion for a trip from Cheshire to Cumbria. The Griff as you can imagine is fairly thirsty.
I know these wont be the best in terms of fuel economy but some ideas would be great.
I am pondering over an M roadster or potentially an S2000 but I am dreading the Honda Vtec driving experience already!
Any pointers or info would be great!
PS if anyone wants a nice Olympic pearl blue Griff 500, N reg give me a shout!
Thinking about buying Z3M Roadster
by the sounds of it . . .
the M might be too frisky for you to handle and nobody buys them for their mpg - its a drivers car first and foremost. As for the Honda - its a stunning car with the same rules as the M - cant believe you are dreading just the TD - dont bother.
It needs to be driven with care and attention - pre 2001 have NO Stability Control - it will bite you in the arse if you are not "on it" all of the time.
If you are worried about a very simple TD and a Cheshire-Cumbria trip, buy a Diesel!!!
Khushy
It needs to be driven with care and attention - pre 2001 have NO Stability Control - it will bite you in the arse if you are not "on it" all of the time.
If you are worried about a very simple TD and a Cheshire-Cumbria trip, buy a Diesel!!!
Khushy
You will get 20 to 25 mpg out of an M, perhaps over 25 on a long run. Im averaging 24mpg with my S50. I expect this is a lot more than you get i the Griffith. I was thinking of buying a Griffith before I got the Z so I would be interested to know what you get out of it.
Z3M with a few mods...and a little bit more power
Well I get on average around the 24-25mpg mark, that's a mix of all sorts of roads and not exactly sunday driving if you know what I mean
A motorway cruise at sensible speeds would get you high 20's and into the 30's. It's also worth noting the ///M's require a minimum of 98RON fuel.
I've had my ///M for 6 months or more and it's a great motor, lovely engine which now sounds better with Eisenmans on the back and handling better with a strut brace up front.
I did consider an S2000 and Boxsters but I stumbled on an advert for the Z3M, I had completely forgot about them and how cheap they are for what you get!
300bhp+ RWD, LSD, top down fun for £12kish, Boxster are another £5k more and less powerful. As for the S2000, like you the thought of having to rev the nuts off it to get anywhere didn't really appeal. There is no replacement for displacement!
If you are going for one though its worth checking over a few things. Probably the main one is the engine. On the earlier Z3M's (up to 2000ish) the S50 engine is used (later S54 but very rare) and on these earlier engines the VANOS can give problems. The VANOS is, if you like, BMW's version of the the Honda Vtec system but in BMW's case on the Z3M it's continuously variable on both the intake and exhaust cams. The unit can wear out and produces a grumble at low revs, particularly noticeable when dropping the revs down from 2000rpm. It almost sounds like a diesel! This doesn't effect performance but if left for a long time can do.
I had this on mine and had the unit replaced under BMW warranty, if out of warranty you are talking about £1.5k-£2k to sort, that's why I bought an ///M with a warranty!
Other than that there is not much that goes wrong with Z3M's, its worth checking the boot floor and making sure none of the spot welds have popped as the way the diff is mounted doesn't look very substantial. There have been cases of the mounts and rear floor cracking up but this is fairly rare.
If you are after a nice silver one with 4 months BMW warranty remaining I know where there is one for sale...mine!
Unfortunately I need to free up some money for a house so my toys have to go (Integrale track/rally car) but now I'm an ///M convert I'm looking for an E36 M3 or E34 M5.
If you are interested drop me a pm.
Cheers,
Colin
A motorway cruise at sensible speeds would get you high 20's and into the 30's. It's also worth noting the ///M's require a minimum of 98RON fuel.
I've had my ///M for 6 months or more and it's a great motor, lovely engine which now sounds better with Eisenmans on the back and handling better with a strut brace up front.
I did consider an S2000 and Boxsters but I stumbled on an advert for the Z3M, I had completely forgot about them and how cheap they are for what you get!
300bhp+ RWD, LSD, top down fun for £12kish, Boxster are another £5k more and less powerful. As for the S2000, like you the thought of having to rev the nuts off it to get anywhere didn't really appeal. There is no replacement for displacement!
If you are going for one though its worth checking over a few things. Probably the main one is the engine. On the earlier Z3M's (up to 2000ish) the S50 engine is used (later S54 but very rare) and on these earlier engines the VANOS can give problems. The VANOS is, if you like, BMW's version of the the Honda Vtec system but in BMW's case on the Z3M it's continuously variable on both the intake and exhaust cams. The unit can wear out and produces a grumble at low revs, particularly noticeable when dropping the revs down from 2000rpm. It almost sounds like a diesel! This doesn't effect performance but if left for a long time can do.
I had this on mine and had the unit replaced under BMW warranty, if out of warranty you are talking about £1.5k-£2k to sort, that's why I bought an ///M with a warranty!
Other than that there is not much that goes wrong with Z3M's, its worth checking the boot floor and making sure none of the spot welds have popped as the way the diff is mounted doesn't look very substantial. There have been cases of the mounts and rear floor cracking up but this is fairly rare.
If you are after a nice silver one with 4 months BMW warranty remaining I know where there is one for sale...mine!
Unfortunately I need to free up some money for a house so my toys have to go (Integrale track/rally car) but now I'm an ///M convert I'm looking for an E36 M3 or E34 M5.
If you are interested drop me a pm.
Cheers,
Colin
If you can drive a Griff, you can drive anything. The S2000 is a remarkable piece of engineering and very reliable but personally it would drive me mad having to pass 6000rpm to hit the power. I have a 3 litre Zed and my mate's got an S2000, I respect it as a piece of engineering but I couldn't live with it.
I suspect you've got loads of low down power in the Griff and would miss it. The M is a great car, fantastic package for the money but even that would be a step down in performance for you. If you possibly can get a later S54 one.
Why not have a diesel for the mundane trips and an M for the weekend.
Obviously I'm biased but I would make sure I drove everything in my price range before buying the Zed, ( sorry, making your choice )
Good luck - betcha you'll miss the Griff though - 320bhp and just over 1000kg, ouch!
I suspect you've got loads of low down power in the Griff and would miss it. The M is a great car, fantastic package for the money but even that would be a step down in performance for you. If you possibly can get a later S54 one.
Why not have a diesel for the mundane trips and an M for the weekend.
Obviously I'm biased but I would make sure I drove everything in my price range before buying the Zed, ( sorry, making your choice )
Good luck - betcha you'll miss the Griff though - 320bhp and just over 1000kg, ouch!
Thanks guys for the info. My Griff does 20mpg driving to work (half traffic and half motorway). I have never measured it on a long motorway run but other Griff owners reckon on about 25/26. Track days can get it down to about 12/13mpg. Torque is awesome out of the TVR Power V8, but on anything other than warm tyres on a nice warm and dry road it can be lethal. Definately a car that demands respect or else!!!!
My father had a Griffith from new, an M reg 5litre serpentine with the T5 box and it was noticeable quicker and more responsive than my ///M. In 1998 my father test drove a new Estoril ///M and was very disappointed so replaced the griff with a 911 and then a Kevlar 420SEAC.
His griff returned 30 odd mpg on a longish motorway run, before the blast around snetterton, 911 was much the same and the SEAC about 8/9mpg. I drove to the goodwood revival yesterday, around 235mile round trip and still had just under a quarter of a tank of fuel left (tank only holds about £35) so pretty good going.
I think moving from a Griff to anything else you will struggle to get the same buzz, apart from the Westy of course.
I sold my Zetec powered Westfield to buy the ///M and am happy with the change as it is a totally different experience but was hoping for a bit more. Am waiting for my last remaining green service light to go out, get it serviced and then put it on the market to find something a bit less practical.
His griff returned 30 odd mpg on a longish motorway run, before the blast around snetterton, 911 was much the same and the SEAC about 8/9mpg. I drove to the goodwood revival yesterday, around 235mile round trip and still had just under a quarter of a tank of fuel left (tank only holds about £35) so pretty good going.
I think moving from a Griff to anything else you will struggle to get the same buzz, apart from the Westy of course.
I sold my Zetec powered Westfield to buy the ///M and am happy with the change as it is a totally different experience but was hoping for a bit more. Am waiting for my last remaining green service light to go out, get it serviced and then put it on the market to find something a bit less practical.
