Porsche 911 vs Noble M12 vs TVR Tuscan: three-way split

By Simon Hucknall

| 21 Oct 2024

Classic & Sports Car – Porsche 911 vs Noble M12 vs TVR Tuscan: three-way split

Lee Noble seldom pulled any punches – the fist-sized impression in his office wall told you all you needed to know.

But that went with the territory: as a breed, low-volume sports car makers are perennially under-financed and over-stretched, ricocheting between the triumph of a five-star review and the ignominy of kowtowing to accountants who generally lack empathy with the product.

Which, in Lee’s case, explained the damaged plasterboard…

But the resounding success of the Noble M12 GTO series had kept the backers on his side.

Porsche’s 996-generation 911 brought big changes to the marque’s iconic sports car

Lee had, in effect, been developing the concept of a low-weight, mid-engined, high-performance sports car since his time at Ultima in the early 1980s.

Not until the formation of Noble Automotive in 1998, though, did he really start to gain cut-through in the wider enthusiast market.

That was thanks, on the whole, to coverage in the motoring magazines.

“I didn’t have the budget to advertise,” says Lee, “so it was the press or nothing.”

In the real world the Porsche 911 (furthest) is the most usable as a day-to-day car, but the TVR Tuscan S (closest) and Noble M12 have head-turning character and personality to burn

Which was borne out after Autocar drove the M12’s predecessor, the M10 roadster, and declared it: ‘One of the most complete and exciting British mid-engined two-seaters we’ve driven.’

All the same, the open-topped M10 lacked the design flair and performance to do its chassis justice, both of which were remedied the following year with the launch of the M12 GTO.

Looking like a Group C track refugee, it retained the M10’s accomplished platform, but here it was clothed with a closed glassfibre body built over a steel spaceframe, made ultra-stiff with bonded and riveted alloy panels and an integral rollcage.

Although Porsche was emerging from a period of financial struggle, the 996-series 911 didn’t disappoint

The classic set-up of unequal-length, double-wishbone suspension, with aluminium uprights and Koni adjustable dampers, was honed by Lee to offer a combination of fine control and handling, allied to decent compliance for the road.

All of that would have been for nothing, though, had it been fitted with the M10’s rather anaemic atmospheric V6 engine.

Noble’s logic of employing a proprietary Ford unit – in this case the relatively new, all-aluminium 2.5-litre Duratec powerplant – was sound: it was fairly advanced, type-approved around the world and in plentiful supply.

It was also durable enough to accept the twin Garrett T25 water-cooled turbochargers and air-to-air intercooler that Noble added, hiking power from 168bhp to 310bhp.

The Porsche 911’s pop-up rear ‘tea tray’

For 0-100mph performance, the first iteration of the M12 was trading blows with lesser Ferrari models – as well as adopting what would become its trademark ‘Darth Vader in the boot’ (a Jeremy Clarkson quip) soundtrack.

The fact that the Noble was manufactured in Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth), with only the powertrain installed in Noble’s Barwell factory, barely registered with buyers – especially when it all came with a tantalisingly low price of just £44,950.

The GTO-3R model with us today cost another five grand when it was launched three years later, in 2003 (although by then with 352bhp and a more advanced, six-speed gearbox mated to a Quaife automatic torque-biasing differential), its price was still head to head with the more powerful, £49,595 TVR Tuscan S – and, if you stretched your hire-purchase payments to just over £60k, the Porsche 911 Carrera 4.

The Porsche 911’s interior lacks drama, but it’s well resolved

Which is why they’re both joining the Noble here, creating a diverse trio of early-century sub-supercar models representing not only low- and high-volume manufacturing, but also three different engine locations: rear, mid, and front/mid.

Peter Wheeler was to TVR what Lee was to Noble: a company patriarch whose forthright design and engineering ideologies had a direct bearing on the cars the Blackpool factory built.

Also like Lee, Wheeler had a long history in low-volume car production, having bought TVR in 1980, taking it out of the wilderness and transforming it into a maker of some of the most dramatic automotive creations in the business.

The Porsche 911 (996) is fast and sure-footed, especially in Carrera 4 guise

But Wheeler’s methodology could not have been more different – at least not in the final few years before he sold TVR to Russian investor Nikolay Smolenski in 2004.

The thought of farming out most of the production processes and using another manufacturer’s powertrains – more so, ones from a bread-and-butter brand such as Ford – was by then anathema to Wheeler.

The Tuscan S epitomised that philosophy to a tee.

Originally launched as the Tuscan Speed Six in 1999, the majority of its componentry was manufactured at the Bristol Avenue works in Blackpool, along with all car assembly.

This Porsche 911 has GT3-style alloy wheels

Whereas earlier TVRs had used proprietary engines, such as the Chimaera’s Rover V8, in various capacities, from the outset the Tuscan was powered by TVR’s in-house, Al Melling-designed 4-litre straight-six.

Mounted in the front/mid-section of the car and sending drive to the rear wheels via a five-speed gearbox, the all-alloy, twin-cam Speed Six engine’s output had risen from its original 350bhp to 390bhp by 2001, when the Tuscan S was revealed.

It made for a fearsomely quick car: weighing 1090kg, the S had a power-to-weight ratio of 357bhp per tonne, which was enough for 0-60mph in 3.9 secs (about the same as a current Aston Vantage) and a claimed 190mph top speed.

The Porsche 911’s six-cylinder engine sings through the sports exhaust

Yet despite the Tuscan’s extraordinary grunt, it was conceived as an unashamed GT car.

Designed by Damian McTaggart, its lines were extravagantly drawn, concept-car outlandish and dramatic enough to take pride of place on any teenager’s wall.

Glassfibre-skinned, like the Noble, over a tubular steel chassis suspended by double wishbones and coils all round, the TVR was also practical for long-distance schleps, with a capacious cabin and a large boot – big enough, in fact, to neatly accommodate the removable roof panel.

The Porsche 911’s 296bhp flat-six sits at the back

Would potential buyers of TVRs or Nobles even have considered the Porsche 911 two decades ago?

Lee Noble obviously thought so, because he went out and bought one to evaluate (he liked it, too).

There was actually a real shortage of rivals at the time, after the similarly priced Lotus Esprit had drawn its last breath and Hethel’s planned replacement had amounted to nothing.

The latest, 996-series 911 was a seismic departure from that which had gone before, and it marked the first major overhaul of the enduring model since it was first seen in 1963 (as the 901).

Two decades ago, Lee Noble’s outrageous Noble M12 (closest) took the fight to the TVR Tuscan (middle) and Porsche 911

Revealed at the Frankfurt show in 1997, the new car, penned in-house by Pinky Lai, was still clearly identifiable as a 911 but had grown by 185mm in length and 40mm in width, yet was 50kg lighter in basic Carrera 2 guise and 45% stiffer, thanks to the use of high-strength steel in its construction.

Everything contained in the new body was as a result of either cost efficiencies (Porsche was slowly emerging from an early-’90s financial meltdown) or, even then, more stringent noise and emissions regulations.

Hence, out went the previous 993’s air-cooled engine, replaced by a quieter, cleaner water-cooled unit of 3.4-litre capacity and producing 300bhp.

The Noble M12 GTO-3R’s cabin is of its era, and access is awkward

And, even though TVR and Noble would have developed entire ranges for a tenth of the £300million budget Porsche spent to bring its latest model to market, the new 911 shared componentry – such as its front suspension, mechanicals and some interior parts – with the previous year’s Boxster, which resulted in a more competitive price.

But this was still a proper 911 at heart, with the 993’s front MacPherson strut set-up and multi-link rear end carried over, plus the signature longitudinally mounted flat-six engine located behind its rear axle.

Purists may have debated its authenticity, but – along with the Boxster and soon-to-arrive Cayenne – this ‘imposter’ 911 saved Porsche from oblivion.

Many of the Noble M12’s controls are Ford-sourced items

Carl Shardlow’s 2001 911 is a Carrera 4 model, which arrived a year into 996 production.

In this pre-facelift guise, the C4 had an identical power output to the Carrera 2, but came with permanent all-wheel drive, split 5:95 front to rear but allowing up to 40% to be delivered to the front wheels if the system sensed a lack of traction at the back.

Other than the engine-cover badge, though, the C4 was externally no different from the C2.

To my mind, these early 996-series cars most closely resemble the original 1963 design before successive models became ever wider at the back and lost their purity of form.

The Noble M12 GTO-3R is a dynamic star by any measure

Other than the optional GT3 alloys and sports exhaust, Carl’s C4 is standard and, 23 years and 71,000 miles on, has stood the test of time exceptionally well.

It’s also the most comfortable and ergonomically complete car of our three – which, given the reputation of previous 911s, is a relief.

You face an attractive three-spoke, leather-rimmed wheel, behind which are five overlapping dials for fuel, speed, revs and ancillaries, much as you would find in a Boxster of this era.

The Noble M12 takes a no-holds-barred approach to aerodynamics

Switchgear is neatly laid out, and the reach/rake-adjustable wheel gives you a near-perfect driving position.

The pedals – slightly offset to the left, with a floor-mounted throttle – are ideal for heel-and-toe shifts.

With 296bhp and weighing 1375kg, the C4 is the least powerful and heaviest of our trio by some margin.

But while the Noble and TVR would out-drag it off the line, the Porsche’s real talent lies in its ability to dispatch fast, demanding, multi-surfaced roads while imposing minimal demands on the driver.

This Noble M12 GTO-3R has standard wheels and brakes

The power steering is nicely weighted and linear on turn-in, and it provides enough feedback to keep you engaged without being too quick off the straight-ahead.

Likewise, when you’re up to speed, body control is excellent, and while the ride is firm, it’s never jarring.

The engine is a peach: hugely flexible and big-lunged, giving you the choice of a relaxed cruise (a relatively high 27mph per 1000rpm in top helps), or downshifting a couple of gears through the slick, narrow-gated ’box and enjoying the flat-six’s muted howl as you rip up to the 7000rpm redline.

‘It’s the Noble’s gut-wrenching mid-range that really sets it apart’

The brakes are strong and progressive, and – in the dry, at least – grip is unimpeachable: a trace of understeer, but the rears just won’t let go.

In short, if you were Monaco-bound from Grenoble, across the Alps, the Porsche would be your weapon of choice: 95% as quick as the others, but with 50% of the drama.

Not so the TVR. Its shape alone would garner a BAFTA for dramatic art, and that’s before you fire it up.

From the voluptuous front end, with its sculpted bonnet shrink-wrapping the Speed Six lump beneath it, to the cut-outs between the front wings and the doors, and back to the triple-stacked tail-lights, nothing about the Tuscan S is ‘regular’.

This Noble M12 GTO-3R’s brutal, mid-mounted V6 makes 420bhp

You open the door by pressing a button beneath the outside mirror, then sink low into a cabin swathed from floor to scuttle in leather.

There’s a Jules Verne-like look about the aluminium instrument pod, with its Stack-style, multi-function digital display and gold-coloured surround, inlaid with speedometer increments up to 200mph.

Unmarked, knurled buttons set into alloy fillets on either side of the broad transmission tunnel continue the theme.

It is all beautifully finished, too, and makes the Porsche’s cabin feel decidedly ordinary (let alone the Noble’s).

The TVR’s Speed Six delivers explosive power – and noise

I have to admit to some reservations about driving a Tuscan S again, after the original press car I tested for Autocar in 2002 didn’t exactly cover itself in glory.

Then again, TVR’s development engineers – aka the cars’ owners – worked hard to address many of the issues that beset early cars.

One of them was Matt Wade, who has owned ‘our’ lovely example for the past six years.

With its steering column only adjustable for rake and long, floor-mounted pedals, the driving position is not quite up to Porsche standards.

The TVR Tuscan’s fixed spoiler blends in neatly

But you can almost forgive that when you turn the key and hear the first guttural bark from the TVR’s straight-six.

Even at lower revs it feels and sounds race-honed, and in another league from the 911 and M12.

But you need to work it hard for best effect.

Throttle response is superb – again, the best here – and performance is genuinely explosive in the upper reaches, where the ‘six’ sounds like a flat-plane-crank Formula One engine from the ’50s.

TVR’s Tuscan S gets nervous at speed

Dynamically it’s enthralling, for sure, but only to a point.

The super-quick steering is alive with feel and feedback, but it starts to feel nervous at higher speeds.

Yet while there’s ample grip, an overly firm front end and soft rear set-up forces you to curb any enthusiasm for fear of it running away with you.

However, the Tuscan redeems itself with excellent brakes, which are rich in feel and power.

The TVR Tuscan’s futurescape cabin outdoes the exterior styling

So where does the Noble fit in?

Ant Day’s M12 GTO-3R is actually the most powerful car here, having been remapped to produce 420bhp – around 70bhp more than standard and more akin to that of the M400 model’s output.

But so many owners have treated the stock M12 as a blank canvas for upgrades that few original-spec cars remain.

Tellingly, Ant has left alone the chassis, so we’ll see how well it deals with an extra 20% of output. (The M400 came with Dynamics race dampers, uprated springs, a front anti-roll bar and Pirelli P Zero Corsa tyres, in support of its 425bhp.)

Striking details inside this TVR Tuscan S

There’s no elegant route into an M12: head-first, then backside, followed by legs, gets you ensconced in the buttock-nipping, leather-trimmed bucket seat; ‘pared-down’ best describes the cabin.

The PlayStation-style wheel looks slightly naff, but, being multi-adjustable, it does afford you a decent driving position.

There’s a plethora of Ford-sourced heater controls (air-con was standard), and while the four clocks that sprout from the hard plastic dash moulding – along with a turbo boost gauge on the centre stack – look fairly basic, ergonomically they work well.

The TVR’s front-mid-mounted Speed Six unit makes 390bhp

Turn the key and press the starter, and you’re rewarded with an exhaust note that sounds more like that of the 911 than the humble Mondeo with which the Noble shared its basic mechanicals.

At low speeds the M12 is unremarkable: the six-speed, Ford-sourced ’box is slightly mushy but accurate enough; the steering is quite light and undemanding; and, other than being sensitive to road cambers, it’s an easy car to pootle in, with good forward (but appalling rear) vision and a supple ride that sits somewhere between the 911 and the Tuscan.

Then you find The Road and, frankly, it disappears into the distance.

I’ve timed an M400 at 3.5 secs to 60mph and 8.0 secs dead to 100mph, and unsurprisingly Ant’s car feels comparable.

The TVR Tuscan S has strong, reassuring brakes

Yet it’s the Noble’s gut-wrenching mid-range that really sets it apart.

The turbos enter the fray progressively, but from around 3000rpm there’s no let-up; you don’t actually need to bother the engine’s upper reaches, because there’s so much thrust below 5000rpm.

And while the Tuscan S wouldn’t be that far behind in outright velocity, the Noble’s chassis has an otherworldly competence that allows you to exploit so much more of it.

We’re treating this as a modern classic, but few new sporting cars, with their extra mass and unsprung weight, would compete point-to-point with the M12.

The Noble M12 GTO-3R (closest) leads on outright thrills, but is surprisingly docile at low speed

Its mind-bending levels of body control, huge overall grip and finely judged balance make it the dynamic victor here today.

Of course, the Noble won’t be for everyone.

It can’t hold a candle to the TVR for style and panache, or the exquisite charm of its cabin.

And of the three cars here, the Porsche is realistically the only one you’d use day in, day out without a care – and still be able to enjoy it as a thoroughbred sports car when the fancy takes you.

But as a purist driving tool, nothing comes close to the Noble.

Images: John Bradshaw

Factfiles

Porsche 911 (996) Carrera 4

Sold/number built 1998-2004/12,089
Construction steel monocoque
Engine all-alloy, dohc-per-bank 3387cc flat-six, Bosch DME engine management with sequential fuel injection
Max power 296bhp @ 6800rpm
Max torque 258lb ft @ 4600rpm
Transmission six-speed manual, 4WD
Suspension independent, at front by MacPherson struts rear multi-link, coil spring/dampers units; anti-roll bar f/r
Steering power-assisted rack and pinion
Brakes 12¾in (318mm) front, 11¾in (299mm) rear vented discs, with servo and ABS
Length 14ft 6in (4432mm)
Width 5ft 9in (1765mm)
Height 4ft 3in (1306mm)
Wheelbase 8ft 2in (2352mm)
Weight 3031lb (1375kg)
Mpg 27.2
0-60mph 5.2 secs
Top speed 174mph
Price new £64,585 (2000)
Price now £15-35,000*

Noble M12 GTO-3R

Sold/number built 2000-’05/700 (est, all M12s)
Construction steel spaceframe, integral rollcage, glassfibre composite body
Engine all-alloy, dohc-per-bank 2968cc V6, twin Garrett T25 turbochargers with electronic fuel management and injection
Max power 352bhp @ 6500rpm
Max torque 350lb ft @ 3500-5000rpm
Transmission Getrag-Ford six-speed manual with Quaife automatic torque-biasing diff, RWD
Suspension independent, by wishbones, coil springs, Bilstein telescopic dampers f/r
Steering power-assisted rack and pinion
Brakes 13in (330mm) vented and cross-drilled discs, with servo
Length 13ft 4in (4089mm)
Width 5ft 11in (1828mm)
Height 3ft 9in (1143mm)
Wheelbase 7ft 11in (2438mm)
Weight 2380lb (1080kg)
Mpg 25 (est)
0-60mph 3.7 secs
Top speed 170mph
Price new £49,950 (2003)
Price now £40-50,000*

TVR Tuscan S

Sold/number built 1999-2006/1677 (all Speed Six/Tuscans)
Construction tubular steel chassis with outriggers, glassfibre body
Engine all-alloy, dohc 3996cc straight-six, MBE Systems engine management with sequential fuel injection
Max power 390bhp @ 7500rpm
Max torque 330lb ft @ 5000rpm
Transmission five-speed manual, RWD
Suspension independent, by wishbones, coils, telescopic dampers, anti-roll bar f/r
Steering power-assisted rack and pinion
Brakes 12¾in (322mm) front, 11¾in (298mm) rear vented discs, with servo
Length 13ft 10in (4235mm)
Width 5ft 9in (1810mm)
Height 3ft 11in (1200mm)
Wheelbase 7ft 8in (2361mm)
Weight 2403lb (1090kg)
Mpg 21.9
0-60mph 3.9 secs
Top speed 190mph
Price new £49,595 (2003)
Price now £20-40,000*