Every car is an argument about what matters, and the TVR Sagaris makes its case with 3996 cc Speed Six I6 and 406 bhp and 349 lbft of torque. TVR built from 2005 to 2006 — in the decade of stability control, dual-clutch gearboxes and the first serious hybrids. Graham Browne, Lee Hodgetts, Darren Hobbs, Martin Smith drew it.
The story
The TVR Sagaris is a sports car designed and built by the British company TVR from 2005 to 2006, in their factory in Blackpool, Lancashire.
What is underneath
Power comes from 3996 cc Speed Six I6; 406 bhp and 349 lbft of torque is the published figure. It weighs 2376 lb. Work it out per tonne and you get about 171 horsepower — quick by any era's standard, the kind of figure a hot hatch or a sports saloon posts. It shifts through a 5-speed manual. The layout matters: the engine sits behind the driver and ahead of the rear axle, which puts the mass in the middle of the car and is why mid-engined cars change direction the way they do. The wheelbase is 92.9 in. These are manufacturer figures carried by Wikipedia and Wikidata, not road-test measurements.
Its place in the line
Its family tree is legible: assembly was at Blackpool, England, United Kingdom. Its contemporaries in the catalogue — the Jeep Wrangler (JK), the Maserati MC12, the Ferrari F430 — show what else the money bought that year. Nearby in the TVR catalogue sit the TVR 3000S and the TVR 350SE.