1990 TVR S2 review from UK and Ireland

I have owned my 1989 TVR S2 for 7 months (since Aug. 2002).

It had a mature previous owner who used the car daily and cared for the car reasonably well. The car came with a whole folder of history, but that was hardly surprising, as it has done over 100,000 miles.

The exterior of the car has stood up well to daily use, there was very little in the way of blemishes and crazing of the gel coat/paint finish. The interior is also very good and original. There is a small crack in the leather of the divers seat, but I’m aware of products that are now available to repair this and I’ll have a go when the warmer weather arrives. It would appear that most S2’s leak and mine is no exception, however I have not done a great deal to the car cosmetically since I bought it and another job in the spring will be to replace all of the rubbers seals around the windows and hood. I will also be fitting new carpets since the current set are a little tatty and are damp from where the car sat outside before we moved house. The TVR is now kept in a garage that is part of the main house and therefore benefits from a higher temperature than a detached garage.

I have scrubbed and waxoyled the chassis which was found to be in very good condition. It does have signs of repair, but has been executed to a very high standard (I’ve never seen such clean and tidy welding). The chassis was also drilled at the lowest points to allow drainage for condensation and the same holes were use as points of entry for spraying inside the chassis with waxoyl. The exhaust manifolds blew when I first bought the car; these have been replaced and were not the easiest of jobs to do. The previous owner had fitted a stainless system and this is very worthwhile as it can be grounded fairly frequently and the scrapes don’t rust as they would have had it been mild steel.

The ride of the car is surprisingly comfortable for such a sporty car, not too hard at all. The dampers are a little on the soft side and the ride height is a little low and these will need replacing at some point in the future, but it is fine in general.

All the electrics work!! ……at the moment ……..but the gauges tend to ‘flick’ when the indicators are used. I would guess that the wiring loom is a bit on the ‘weedy’ side. The headlights are pretty dull too and the relays are sluggish when changing from dipped to main beam. I am going to bypass the headlight relay and used a new one wired locally to the headlights switched from the existing headlight switch to raise the voltage at each bulb. If this doesn’t work, I’ll save up the £700 for a low wattage super bright HID lighting kit (you’ll have seen these on BMW and Vauxhall cars – very bright intense white lights).

This TVR has a shortened steering column to accommodate a taller driver. The car has plenty of space for me at 6’-1” tall. There is space behind the seats for an overnight bag and the boot space is not at all bad for a sports car. It does however become rather full when the roof panels are removed. I have an idea for a fully folding section to replace these panels which will make raising and lowering the hood much easier and will not take up any boot space. I’ll get around to this one day!

Other changes have been the replacement of the standard Ford Escort rear lights with a newer set that I tinted with a special spray lacquer (except the reflectors) and this makes the car much prettier from the rear. The lights are now smoked and the car is dark blue and it all blends together nicely.

On the road, the car sounds fantastic. It is also very quick, hitting 60mph in approx 6.5 seconds. I thought I'd try the car flat out on a straight and open (private) road, the car easily achieve 150mph in a very short space of time, it had more urge still, but I could see the end of the road coming up pretty quickly and had to back off. The engine and drive are standard (as far as I know) and it is certainly quick enough for me. The only time the car has ever let me down was when I experienced having water in the fuel and this is most certainly not a fault of the car, but more the filling station!

The TVR never fails to turn heads; it is not a common site on our roads and sounds fantastic too. I think the pleasure of driving my S2 far outweighs the higher than average maintenance. Just be careful to buy a car that has been well cared for.

This car gives me far more pleasure than any other car I have driven or owned before and if you are considering buying an S series then I'm sure you'll love it too, the best thing is that you can own one of these appreciating classic British sports cars from around £5k.