Tvr Chimaera 450 V8 Purchase

[Zircon450]

Tell me why I should not move from the Elise S1 bogo to a TVR Chimaera 450 V8 ?

 

Any good suggestions ?

 

MattyB ? Ladders? Scott? Malbon, Et al ?

[malbon]

Iv never heard a good report on a chim if thats any help ??

 

A cerb or griff would have to go in front of it on my list.

 

Never driven any of the 3 though .

[daves2111s]

Engine failure ...so I'm told

 

Lack of ability to go round corners

 

More to go wrong.

 

Have to go much faster to enjoy it...... 3points + 3points....

 

Insurance £££££

 

How about a Robin?

 

Scott thinks Smarts are cool too

 

Dave in a proper car

[Zircon450]

Engine failure ...so I'm told

Radiators cack agreed.

 

Lack of ability to go round corners

Yep

 

More to go wrong.

Where

 

Have to go much faster to enjoy it...... 3points + 3points....

Not yet Dave !!!

 

Insurance £££££   

Similar to Elise

 

How about a Robin?

Yes ok ok

 

Scott thinks Smarts are cool too

Nuff said

 

Dave in a proper car

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Do suprise me Dave, with the rage (friendly) must have a real hate of em ?

[MattyB]

Steal the one in Mike's garage, and don't forget to get that exhaust too

 

As for why....because you should get a GT3, thats why!

[chorton_1]

I've driven the lowest powered version, whatever that was.

 

On the plus side:-

Much better GT car - a real mile muncher with great comfy seats. Very pleasent to drive and not in any way taxing.

Loads of boot space.

A roof that is quick and easy to fit, and more secure than a rag-top.

Nice gearbox/action.

Excellent sound.

Keeps on pulling, even at higher speeds.

 

On the minus side:-

Steering is much heavier

My friend who owns it has had a fair amount of engine problems (although I don't understand really why)

Thirstier

Not as quick as I expected up to normal speeds.

The ignition needs to be on to operate the (remote unlocking) boot, so for Gods sake don't put your keys in the boot by accident. (As you'd expect, there is a well known hotwire for it)

 

Overall, they're completely different cars. You really will have to give it a go yourself. The only thing I would say is don't buy one if you are expecting it to be any more reliable - if anything they are worse.

[daves2111s]

Someone who sells used TVR's..... no names!.....commented at the weekend that £10k a year to keep one on the road is not unusual

[Zircon450]

Steal the one in Mike's garage, and don't forget to get that exhaust too

 

As for why....because you should get a GT3, thats why!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The chat we had and my chat with Mike burned the whole thing with the Esprit as SteveyJ had mentioned. Learnt a lot that day in the snow !

 

Was well chuffed to see and speak to you Matt, but did go away knowing we are happy buddies , but a million miles away in terms of age, history of cars (still love your 160) and my ability to drive is questionable to say the least.

 

My reactions are slower, my brain just will not do the stuff you young fellas can do now, I've missed the prime time years.

 

It's time to have a car with carpet and slippers and loud pipes !

 

If I go this route, sure the car will go to Horizon for fettling, so prob see you guys there ?

 

Bob (aka Tango190)

 

Shit , bit like a suicide note there - sorry all .

[malbon]

I think Dave is just saying its not the most sensible decision buying a 6,7,8 year or older TVR - but having met quite a few owners on here 'sensible' is not really an associated word !

 

Id love the V8 power but would be crapping it about engine failure - HGF is not so much of a frightener

 

Like i said in the PM tho..if you buy well then you should be able to sell well.

 

worth a pop i suppose (but I would say that being a serial car changer)

[Zircon450]

So we all poop about HGF on Elise, my understanding is the Chimaera can suffer from a cack Rover rad leading to heating probs in hot weather (so no prob in the UK then !)

 

So just like the old days when cars were trashed (Triumph Stag) you sort the cooling and it's reliable ?

[ipanter]

I was speaking to a chap with a tuscan at brunty last november, he'd had shed loads of problems with his including 2 engine rebuilds at £6k each. Arrrgh - it certainly put me off.

 

Bob i missed exactly what happened with your disk (i saw it at horizon today) but as it happen while my breaks were being checked and the pad was removed it fell off its backing plate, maybe this is what happened to yours? Mine is also a R reg it has done 64k miles.

 

Could this be a problem that is going to pop up often with these pads on cars of this age?

[Zircon450]

Good response Chris H, Dave, Malbon,Mattyb, more of this needed very quickly guys, needs to make a quick decision my precious.

 

A lot og good and bas points noted so far ...

 

 

More please ...

[Ladders]

Is it the one in your avatar Bob?

 

Love em!

 

The noise, the looks, the interior, the SOUND!

 

But yes they have there problems, and they don't corner so quick.

 

All I can say is drive one, and make sure you stay in touch!

[Ruxpin]

Not owned a Chim but my mate on pistonheads, MOD500, had two. He bought the first one within 2 weeks of me taking him out in the elise and blamed me for it...

 

Check out his profile if you are a member - the costs of running a Chim 500 are frightening. http://www.pistonheads.com/members/showCar.asp?carId=8535

 

He drives hard but looks after the car well - no doubt you could run one cheaper

 

 

From the few rides i had...

 

+ points

 

Lovely noise

Practical

Very fast in a straight line - 160mph at brunters in MOD's Chim 500

 

 

- points

 

Doesn't handle anything like an elise

Hood still leaks like an elise

Thirsty

Expensive to maintain, could be very expensive

He had a door open on him whilst going round a roundabout!

More chance of being stuck at the side of the road that in the elise???

 

But the worst point as mentioned above - you have to drive fast to get the same enjoyment you get from an elise.

 

Not that i'm biased.......

[Scott_Mac]

It depends what you want the car for IMHO, most points made above i agree with, it won't handle as well, but its a better GT car.

 

I was chatting to Mike about them and he said the main reason to not buy one is that they cost 3 times as much to fix when they go wrong as an Elise, but go wrong as often.

 

Oh and personally i prefer the shape of the Griff to the Chimp... and deffo the Tamora