Triumph TR7 & Top Gear

And they say the standard TR7 is a styling disaster? IMHO this makes the DHC TR7 look positively beautiful.

I never did understand that bloody awful TR40 bodykit. It always seemed to me to be an expense way to avoid repairing TR7 rust - additionally stupid since it makes the car relatively unsaleable after a couple of years. There were stories of people not only going to town on this kit, but also on megabig V8 installs at the same time. No accounting for taste I suppose...

TR7 = s***

J. Lumley was most amusing on TG last night. Her comments about the TR7 being a dog to drive were spot on.

FWIW, I know the bloke who has Steed's XJ12 Coupe. As they said it's a really decent car.

Like every Tr7 owner the guy has a fantasy that he might one day own a real sports car --- for some it alomost comes true they send the Tr7 to the crusher and move up to an Allegro, Reliant Kitten or HA Viva Van.

ISTR them blowing it up in the series or was that his Bentley?

Yeah, she was very good, but the comment wasn't spot on. She said it was "heavy like driving a tractor" - and that she'd've preferred the Stag. Having driven both, she would've found the Stag the worse of the two to drive.

I always found the standard TR7 to have light steering, great feedback, great rear wheel traction in a line but, due to the short wheelbase, far to easy to tuck round in the wet. Hardly a dog by any standards - my wife's

1996 VW Golf 1.6 is a dog.

People need to drive something like the cherished TR6 (or even something like a Vauxhall Nova) then jump into the maligned TR7 to understand just how shit the TR7 *isn't*.

Er, the guy who owns the TR7 does have a sports car... A TR7. He also has a few other cars, one of which is a nice Black 2004 MG ZR which is only 3 weeks old, although it has a roof, that is also sporty... isn't it? :-)

Most people would think that to refer to the steering.

All Stags had power steering which is if anything too light.

The TR7 I drove without power steering was certainly heavy to anyone not used to a car without PS. Especially when parking or manoeuvering which she would have done a lot of while filming.

When they drive off into the sunset, this is usually only a few yards, followed by turning round and doing it all over again. And again.

That's not my experience of the car, but it all depends on what you're used to.

Agreed but her opinion was formed by far more involved (for an actor) driving than just that. She also told us that she often did her own "stunts" - fast hand brake turns and the like. I know of no other car that's easier to handbrake turn than the TR7 ! ;-))

She can't drive anyway given her effort on the track, a horrid sight to see. She could barely keep it on the tarmac. Oh, let me guess... it was because the car didn't have power steering... silly me. I don't think many TR7 owners would let her loose their pride and joy.

And judging by the other cars she mentioned owning or coveting, power steering would be fairly common.

I happen to like the TR7. But let's not suddenly endow it with light steering, because it isn't. A Midget had light steering for an unassisted car.

You've sort of not been following the plot on Top Gear, then?

I-only-work-with-dweebs-who-are-there-to-make-me-look-clever-and-by-the-way-

Indeed, the show is still hosted by, 'I love Jags and I'm not really biased', Clarkson. On the 'slightly' positive side Pete they do include about 2 minutes worth of classics in each show now. Yes, that is right a whole couple of minutes. This is a part of the show they attempt to show they do care about old cars (cars the joe public would buy) rather than the new model Ferrari or the next 'range' of 911's that are to be launched. Just a shame they didn't put a bit of thought into it before going on air and come up with a better selection of cars.

I don't think she did too badly. She did at least keep it on the tarmac. The car let her down - it wasn't as good as a TR7 ;-)

Did you see when Johnny Vaughan had a go? Utterly bloody hopeless - he just couldn't get it together.

Okay, maybe not "light", but I do wonder how many people have formed opinions of these cars based on a drive in their mate's weekend pride'n'joy - replete with 225 tyres on stupidly large wheels?

I had several of these, the last one was a V8, no PAS, on 185/70x13 tyres, inflated to 26psi at the front - absolutely no arm ache when parking, and I'm not the most muscly bloke around.

Mind you, I'll tell you what is light - my X1/9 on spindly tyres with no PAS but no engine up front either! It's like the steering column is connected to thin air.

Take this to the logical extreme: standard TR7 convertible versus rubber-bumpered MGB - sorry, the TR7 looks a lot better!

To my mind (and I've studied automotive design) the only* thing they got wrong with the "lines" of the 7 was the stupidly short wheelbase. Not only does it mar near-limit handling for the average driver, but it makes the car look so ill-proportioned.

*Actually, get rid of the side swage too.

I much prefer the Fialt 126s on there though!

"Pete W" realised it was Mon, 8 Nov 2004 15:54:29 -0800 and decided it was time to write:

Count your blessings.

Where I live, we only get sponsored car progs on telly, in which the completely clueless presenters wax lyrical over every car they're allowed to sit in (they've been caught at quoting sales blurb verbatim),

90% of the footage comes from the manufacturers press kits and not a critical or philosophical word is uttered. Next door, in Germany, they make very thorough, shockingly serious and therefore deadly dull TV about cars. So dull you'd fall asleep within ten minutes of watching it.

TG is still good entertainment with innovative camerawork and new journalistic approaches. And Clarkson is at least honest about being biased. It's fun, seriously tongue-in-cheek, with a new creative twist every week and it even has some useful info now and then. Considering it has to appeal to a very wide audience, I think it's still the best car program on TV bar none.

Absolutely. And what the purists seem to ignore is that a deadly dull totally serious car prog just wouldn't get the time or budget, because not enough people would watch it. Also, a minority viewer prog wouldn't be given the latest expensive cars by the makers to thrash round a track or drive up a mountain.