TVR Griffith at Silverstone Classic

New TVR Griffith

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Our take on the TVR
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TVR was represented by their original TVR Griffith 400 from 1965 and the new Griffith.

They also had a TVR Typhon on display, which is one of only 3 made, just before TVR stopped production in 2006.

The Griffith, presented in red, looks much better under natural light than it did at its launch at the Goodwood Revival in 2017, where the lighting was terrible. It has a very clean, sporty shape and the side exiting exhaust is a great feature. 

However, talking with several TVR enthusiasts at one of their displays, no one was very impressed. The reason was, it is not deemed radical enough, and they all said it was not the TVR they would choose to buy.

Taking a look inside
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Most of the interior is cream leather with a grey Alicante dash and door cards to break it up. The passenger side is sparse, as is the interior in general.
The driver is presented with 3 buttons on either side of the digital dash, for starting and mode control, and three more dials down the centre consol. The infotainment system is a portrait orientated  touch screen. The centre console around the gear lever is quite high and makes the gear lever look very short. A row of switches completes the minimalistic dashboard controls, just behind the gear lever. Again, the TVR enthusiasts were not impressed, and one opinion described it as: “A supermarket of bits."

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The new car is fitted with a superb engine in the form of the Ford 3rd generation V8 5.0 litre Coyote. This all-new engine for 2018 Mustang GTs produces 460bhp out of the box and should have been enough without having Cosworth play around with it and give it a dry sump. The engine now manages 480bhp which is enough for the car to top 200mph. I think the car was originally designed around the Gen 2 Ford engine which only produced 415bhp, and when setting out their requirements, TVR may not have known what was coming. Maybe it’s not too late to dump the Cosworth mods and keep things stock, which will not only help the owners when it comes to parts, but will make its use for racing more affordable.

TVR keep saying they want to get back into racing, other than sponsoring a Rebellion LMP1 car at Le Mans this year.

TVR have never been blessed with reliability and here, they had the chance to fit a good, affordable powerplant (at under $10,000 crate price). Will it prove to be reliable now it’s been played with, or would sticking a couple of turbos on it been more fun for the new owner, pulling up at the local car meet with a 700bhp car spitting flames from side exhausts?

The new car does produce a good sound from those side exhaust outlets, and it will be interesting to follow this great British manufacturer's progress from this currently unique running example into full production, which is still due to start late 2018.
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My opinion is: This £90,000 car looks and sounds fantastic standing still, even if I am not a fan of the interior. I like the clean lines which are not a million miles from the Jaguar F Type or Aston Martin, and maybe the current bunch of TVR owners are not the target market.