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2.7 V6 30v biturbo - 380 bhp
rickoshea
3rd Gear
Posts: 260
Joined: Fri May 09, 2008 9:06 pm
Location: Herts.

Post by rickoshea » Wed Dec 17, 2008 1:04 am

Always fancied a Noble as a weekend toy / track car. Was it unreliable and cost a fortune to fix ?

SPOONMAN
Neutral
Posts: 33
Joined: Tue Dec 16, 2008 12:07 am

Post by SPOONMAN » Wed Dec 17, 2008 2:03 am

Biggest problem with the Noble was getting spares if anything did go wrong. Always had it serviced by Ray West at Thruxton (hence my hunt for an RS4 as he praises them). Ray helped design the turbo system for the Noble. Nightmare stories about people waiting two months on a wiring loom or windscreen, totally unacceptable. Parts department being taken over by an American company I think - sounds like the doom of TVR all over again.

If you use them on short trips they are hopeless as they go out of tune very quickly due to the intelligent ECU. Fuses blow in the ignition quite regularly and the bonnet is designed in a way that lets rain water flow straight into the spark plugs, so if you leave it outside you are probably in trouble.

I also had the heater matrix go wrong within 500 miles, which was very expensive, Bought it from Dove House Motors and their after sales was simply shocking - but that is a different story!

When it was going and I did 1000 miles a month in it, it was fantastic. Very easy to drive all day with an engine note to die for. Sound of turbos spitting behind your head was great. Did around 24mpg due to its weight and how you drive off course. Very, very fast and corners were virtually non existent. Bit lively in the wet with wheel spin in any gear.

I drove to France in it for the Grand Prix and it was faultless (inclduing Paris traffic for two hours) but then had a meeting an hour away from home and the bugger wouldn't start - seemed to some it up well.

If you are keen on getting one mileage is everything - thats one reason why I sold mine. As you head towards 30k their value drops - take a look on the web and you'll see what I mean. I reckon you could probably get a highish mileage M12 GTO3 (five speed) for about 17k if you were patient and more like 15k for a 2.5.
Also track sump essential for track days, the engines go bang if you have the standard one.

Had an Elise afterwards and it felt very sluggish and uneventful by comparison, like it had smoked forty a day. Also found it so small compared to the good cabin in the Noble.

In short Id have another if i could have a second car to use when i wanted to just drive rather than pray but it was like every great love affair, you forget all the bad times eventually! My hunt for a good RS4 is the result of wanting Noble punch without the glass chin.

Good luck, PM me if you'd like to know anything specific

S4INT
4th Gear
Posts: 752
Joined: Thu Aug 11, 2005 9:37 am
Location: Sussex

Post by S4INT » Wed Dec 17, 2008 10:20 am

I reckon £16k is cheap for that mileage. Mine has done nearly 100k now and I wouldn't sell it for less than that!

Spoonman, my office is near Biggin Hill, and I have VAG-COM, so I'd be happy to plug it in and check for codes etc, if you want? PM me if you like.
Golf R - with added MRC
Sprint blue B7 RS4 Avant - Sold
Ultimate Silver Nissan GT-R - Sold
Avus MRC 470 B5 RS4 Avant - Sold

neckarsulm
Cruising
Posts: 4468
Joined: Mon Aug 14, 2006 1:13 pm
Location: The Point

Post by neckarsulm » Wed Dec 17, 2008 10:31 pm

This sounds like the car that was in October 2005 issue of Audi Driver magazine.
It was a Y reg and had Fontain branded number plates and was Avus and had been to Ray West.
I even seem to rememver the chap was from Biggin Hill...
[youtube]https://youtu.be/-I1Ok9LTn6o[/youtube]

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