No car company has perhaps led a more nomadic life than British car manufacturer TVR. Originally founded back in 1946, TVR has been through a whirlwind history: first owned by Trevor Wilkinson, and subsequently by Arthur Lilley and then a Russian investor before it faded into nothingness, eventually being reborn a few years ago and gearing up to produce the new TVR Griffith. Despite its rather unusual history and sometimes odd cars, TVR could when it got everything right could fantastic sports cars. One of the very best TVRs surely has to be the TVR Sagaris.
The Sagaris was one of the last TVRs built in any significant numbers before things started to go awry for the company, with 211 of them being produced from 2005 to 2006. As such, they are now quite rare and desirable sports cars, not often coming up for auction. It really was the swansong for the last iteration of the British car company. But it’s a car that doesn’t seem to get spoken about enough, as in terms of British sports cars, this truly was one of the very best to grace the roads, and was an underrated British sports car as well.
Design And Development Of The Sagaris
The Sagaris has often been described as a “very British sports car”, which is slightly ironic as it was the first TVR to be launched under its Russian ownership when the company was owned by millionaire Nikolay Smolensky. The Sagaris made its debut back in 2003 at the MPH03 Auto Show, and it retained some of the bonkers attitude that had been incorporated, seemingly unironically, into other TVRs. Jeremy Clarkson from Top Gear drives the Sagaris in a segment of the show that can now be found on YouTube, and he highlights the starting procedure. You turn the key, two needles on the dash go up then down, some lights flash then beep, and you are ready to go.
The Sagaris was based on the TVR T350, another bonkers car and the Sagaris also had endurance racing in mind. As such, there were plenty of vents and intake openings all over the car, to aid cooling if the car was being driven for extended periods of time. There were a few differences between the prototype model and the production one, but the general theme of the endurance racer was still there. And like a lot of other TVRs of the era, it ignored an EU guideline that stipulated that cars such have ABS and front airbags at the very least. This might all sound terrifying, but it all led to a truly amazing car.
The Performance Of The Sagaris
Under the hood of the Sagaris was a Sagaris Tennis GH TVR Speed Six engine of 4.0-liters, that displaced a very respectable 406 hp. This was all mated to a five-speed manual transmission, and the Sagaris didn’t weigh much either, being just 2,372 pounds. This means that the 0-60 time of the Sagaris is an almost unbelievable 3.8 seconds, and the top speed of the car is 180 mph. That is a car with some serious performance figures. There was also no traction control in the Sagaris, so you had to be pretty careful about putting that power down.
It's quite incredible to think a car with this much power and this much speed has no airbags, ABS, or traction control. But that was always the TVR way. But with the Sagaris, they did address some issues that could have been problematic for customers. The cooling vents on the front of the car were filled in on the production version, to avoid mud, grit, and dirt getting into the engine, something that once upon a time, TVR might not have done. As Clarkson describes in the Top Gear segment though, the Sagaris had a bit of an ace up its sleeve.
The Sagaris Boasted Incredible Handling
Older TVRs had a bit of a habit of, not handling so well. But for the Sagaris, TVR employed the man who helped set up the handling of the Noble M12, a car that has been regarded as one of the finest handling sports cars of its time. With heavier springs, double wishbone suspension and a wider track the Sagaris was a superb handling car, Clarkson describing it as “excellent”. Clarkson even went as far as saying, at the time, that the Sagaris was “the best TVR ever made”. That is quite a statement, but one that very much seems to ring true.
A Sensation Swansong For TVR
The Sagaris truly was the best swansong for TVR, as it started to head towards really hard times. For many, the return of the brand with the Griffith can’t come soon enough, and it looks like it will be a TVR with all the performance you’d want and all of the wild and crazy, but now with the safety features that are actually mandatory. Amazingly, according to Goodwood, there are only around 90 of these cars left on the road in the UK. The Sagaris though was a final reminder of the sheer craziness that this brand could produce. And what's so fantastic about this car is that, quite literally, TVR saved the best till last.
Sources: AutoGEN, Top Gear, Autocar, Evo, Supercars