[philr]

Sher, don't panic. I bought my chimp 5.0 about a year ago with a bit less mileage for more money , but from a dealer with a few extras thrown in (service, warantee etc). So I guess that you paid about right for the car. You'll love it. I still get this huge grin on my face every time I drive it. 97 onwards cars are supposed to be more reliable and well made, but I get the feeling that each car is a bit unique due to the hand built bit. As for wet driving, then as long as you don't floor it going round a rounsabout or on road makings then all will be OK. Treat it with a bit of respect until you have got used to it. I took mine to an airfield day so that I could learn its (and my) limits in relative safety - I recommend this move. I haven't found it to be as tail happy as everyone warned me a TVR would be. I have driven my car throughout the year including heavy snow/ice. OK the snow and ice thing wasn't something I'd recommend in a hurry but we all survived in one piece. I have had a few things that needed fixing in the year but most of these have been covered by my warantee, so it hasn't proved too expensive ( well not as expensive as it could have been). So far I've had both manifolds welded, new starter, new clutch (mostly covered under warantee thanks to a friendly neighboughood TVR dealer) and a new radiator. Insurance has actually come down this year for me, though I may be one of the few people in this category. Be prepared for minor things to go wrong or bits of trim to come loose. This seems to be part of owning a TVR. The pleasures really do out weight any of the downsides. Enjoy your car, and take it easy at first. Phil

[ATG]

As long as you accept that you are getting a very different kind of a beast, you should be okay. These things are not BMWs. You'll probably find yourself paying a lot more attention to the water temp and oil pressure guages and all the noises the engine/exhaust makes than with any other car. Point is that that is part of the fun. It's 90% car and 10% engineering project (some might skew that a bit more in favour of project...). If you need a car that you know will never let you down, then the TVR is not for you. If you can forgive it for occaisionally dropping its trousers in public, and you've got access to some kind of back-up car in emergencies, then go for it. The lows are a pain, the highs are magnificent. I've not regretted my decision to get one yet. When worse comes to worse, I walk half a mile to the local Budget and rent a Nissan Micra as punishment for ever even looking at a TVR. Oddly enough, driving a Micra for ten minutes convinces me once more that the TVR makes excellent sense. Edited by ATG on Monday 13th August 20:29

[RobM]

Sher. On my 2nd chim now. Upgraded from 4-5 litre. Both have been very reliable & both have been everyday transport in all weathers. Over 2 yrs of ownership, my 97-p chim 400 had a new master cylinder and an otter ( speling ) switch. £50 total. Only had the 500 for 2 months though, but nothing wrong so far. Be gentle with the right foot in the wet and you cant go wrong. Rob.

[graham]

Run my 96 4ltr for nearly 2 years now, i use it as my main car, it lives outside on the road and goes out in all weathers... not a problem, let me down once when the wiper motor packed up in heavy rain but other than that fine... they can leak occasionaly but usually resealing the clutch master cyl cover and re proofing the hood cures that... find your self a good tvr specialist and get them to look after it for you and you will be fine G

[yum]

do it! My 95 chim is very reliable. They are only dangerous in the wet if you provoke them, just take it gently to start with. Wouldn't try then in snow, though R

[Neil Menzies]

quote:do it! My 95 chim is very reliable. They are only dangerous in the wet if you provoke them, just take it gently to start with. Wouldn't try then in snow, though R

I've driven my (4L) Chimaera in the snow, and although I wouldn't go out of my way to do it, just keeping a very light right foot and there's not too much problem. Neil

[apache]

had no choice but to drive my Griff 500hc in packed snow....loadsa fun

[craigw]

me too, you havent lived until you've spun 360 degrees with no control whatsoever on a snowy motorway at about 40mph!

[philr]

On an icey side road I has a real problem getting any forward motion even with a very light right foot. The car kept sliding sideways as the wheels spun. In the end I pointed the car in the direction of the sideways motion, turned this into forward motion and then managed to slowly turn the car into the direction I wanted to go in. All to the amusement of the friends that I'd gone to visit in my nice "fast" TVR.

[graham]

>>you havent lived until you've spun 360 degrees with no control whatsoever on a snowy motorway at about 40mph! << or a 70 mph tank slapper as you pull on to the motorway... i though the one place that would be gritted would be the mway. the mway was but the slip road wasnt.... as i booted it at the end of the slip road i ended up with the front of the car in the middle lane and the back alternatly in the outside, then the inside, then the outside.... and i also slid about 200ft across a car park at less than walking pace, no steering at all and i was off the brakes. i eventualy got it to stop by slamming into reverse and spinnning the wheels until they melted the ice... other than that they are safe ;-)

[apache]

look at all these advanced driving techniques we are learning courtesy of TVR

[Dave_H]

quote:look at all these advanced driving techniques we are learning courtesy of TVR

Perhaps the technique should be known as the Blackpool "spin and grin"