Griffiths are cool cars, but you're running into the same issue with finding one in Germany for reasonable money as you do with any of the JDM cars that are popular in the UK and rare on the continent.
Griffiths are cool cars, but you're running into the same issue with finding one in Germany for reasonable money as you do with any of the JDM cars that are popular in the UK and rare on the continent.
I like the 205 and R5 but for something easy to service back here I'd get the Opel Frontera.
Everything I listed was available for sale in Munich currently with tags and taxes. They actually had 3 TVR's listed to my surprise.
In reply to bmw88rider:
Munich? That explains a few things. IME it's close to being the "weird car capital" of Germany. Munich is a bit of a "flaunt it if you got it" place with a lot of money, so you get a fair amount of people driving around in interesting cars.
BTW, they might be current on "tags" in the sense that they have current TÜV (I just checked, they don't do the annual, separate emissions test anymore). The annual vehicle tax doesn't transfer when you buy/sell a car.
That said, like pretty much everywhere in Europe, the price includes all applicable taxes if you buy from a dealer. So you don't have to add the 20-ish% VAT on top of the advertised prices. Unless things have changed massively, the only additional costs are for the paperwork during registration and potentially for new plates (plates are based on where the car is registered, if you take it to the next "county" you'll need to get new plates).
In reply to Wall-e:
Eeeewwww.
Re parts availability, there are specialists in the UK for both R5s and 205s that most likely will be happy to ship parts over here. Heck, I'm still getting parts from my BMW motorcycles from trusted suppliers in the UK.
Alfa 75s are good cars, and not impossible to find parts for here. Mercedes 95 and older would likely be easier to find in the USA unless its an AMG tuned car or something else really odd. Golf country is cool too, but $$ for parts and likely to be very rusty.
In reply to BoxheadTim:
I've seen two of them vacationing here in NY, one Dutch and one French and the people seemed happy with them. I can come up with worse ideas. I wouldn't mind a large Citroen or a Fiat Panda. Probably the worst idea and one I've had since I was a kid is the Renault Magnum:
I would go for a Carisma GT Evolution V
It's a Lancer Evo V with one critical difference: it's left-hand drive.
Faster and more reliable than an Escort RS Cosworth or Lancia Delta HF Integrale. Excellent support here in the USA since it shares many critical components with the Evo VIII and IX we got. Will be much easier to maintain, service, and modify here.
They're practical everyday cars; just as easy to live with as an E36 M3 sedan. Recaro seats, Momo wheel, Brembo brakes, and Enkei wheels from the factory. Functional aero package. Big greenhouse with great visibility. Steering, shifter, seats, etc are all perfectly placed. And they had active yaw control (AYC), which is a real hoot.
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