Chimaera Ownershp

[zippo73]

Hi,

Wonder if anyone can help ?, always wanted a TVR. so I am finally taking the plunge !, on the look for a facelift 400 Chimaera in silver with blue / grey interior on a reasonable budget, but the question I have is this : can you drive these cars as an every day car ? and I will be keeping it on the drive as no garage and after reading all the reviews and horror stoties on the web, a little bit of practical advice from anyone in my position would be appreciated, first posting, hopefully many more to come.

[Loose Lips]

First mistake..............You should be looking at a Griffith ;-)

[Timja]

Yes you can! I drove mine as my every day car for 2 years and it ran much better in that time than since i bought a 2nd car to use daily and use my Chimaera less frequently.

It was a very nice place to be sitting driving daily, and i never got bored of the noise and looks of appreciation from other drivers and pedestrians. It is very practical with a huge boot for shopping etc. The only downsides i found when using it every day were:

• Running costs (Petrol and more frequent servicing) - Ultimately why i bought a 2nd runabout.
• I sometimes worried about parking it in places when i wouldn't have done with a normal car
• Occasional difficulties with speed humps/slopes as it is low
• I got de-sensitised to the power and speed. After a while it didn't feel anywhere near as fast as when i 1st got the car and it wasn't so much of an event/treat to take the car out. When i took others out it felt like just driving normally and my passengers were just grinning/terrified (depending on how much they liked cars!!) with the acceleration etc.

[so called]

ught

Timja said:

Yes you can! I drove mine as my every day car for 2 years and it ran much better in that time than since i bought a 2nd car to use daily and use my Chimaera less frequently.

It was a very nice place to be sitting driving daily, and i never got bored of the noise and looks of appreciation from other drivers and pedestrians. It is very practical with a huge boot for shopping etc. The only downsides i found when using it every day were:

• Running costs (Petrol and more frequent servicing) - Ultimately why i bought a 2nd runabout.
• I sometimes worried about parking it in places when i wouldn't have done with a normal car
• Occasional difficulties with speed humps/slopes as it is low
• I got de-sensitised to the power and speed. After a while it didn't feel anywhere near as fast as when i 1st got the car and it wasn't so much of an event/treat to take the car out. When i took others out it felt like just driving normally and my passengers were just grinning/terrified (depending on how much they liked cars!!) with the acceleration etc.

+1
Realy enjoyed my Chimaera as my daily. Drove it a lot on the Continent and it never let me down. They realy are a gtreat GT car.
Mine leaked a bit so I bought a half cover.

[RedLeicester]

Drove both of my first two TVRs every day. They LOVE it. No sitting around, no short journeys, just constant use. Do it.

[domV8]

Loose Lips said:

First mistake..............You should be looking at a Griffith ;-)

I don't think the name "zippo73" refers to his age...

OP - use mine every day, no problems at all.
Do it, don't look back

[Graham]

I've had my chim since 99, and when i first had it It was my company car, and lived out side on the edge of a main road, not even a drive....

never gave me a problem untill about 5 years ago when it became a garage queen and a toy. They like to be used.

Check the condition of the outriggers when your buying, Im just doing a body off refurb on mine ( a 96 car) and other than needing some paint its fine, ive seen later cars where the outriggers fall off!

if your worried about it being outside just buy a quality breathable cover, a proper one made for a chimaera not a halfords generic one, or failing that a hood cover.

G

[zippo73]

Hi,

Thanks for the advice, how about driving in the wet / rain ?, have had capri V6's in my youth and old jags 4.2 straight six and a 5.3 V12 without ABS and TC, but now used to driving modern cars with all the saftey gizmo's

What other things would you look for when buying ?, also is it woryh paying a premium from a dealer or trying to get a well looked after / cherished car from a private owner ?

[zippo73]

Another thing someone can help me out with - I've been told the later face lift model is better than the earlier models and the 4.5 V8 engine is also preferred to the 4.0 V8, anyone know the differance in performance between the two engines and MPG also, I have read the reviews on the web, but would prefer actual ownership experiances, TVR virgin at the moment

Thanks

[Grey Ghost]

zippo73 said:

the 4.5 V8 engine is also preferred to the 4.0 V8,

There are quite a few threads on here about engine comparisons and it is generally agreed a well sorted 4 litre will out pull a bad 4.5, and a well sorted 4.5 will out pull a bad 5.0 It all comes down to condition and the maintenance program used by previous owners. I suggest you test drive a few with various engine sizes and see which one lights your fire.

The link below will give you a bit more insight into the various engines, cosmetic changes etc and is a good source to learn about the parts bin the cars were actually nailed together from.

http://www.chimaerapages.com/




edited for dreadful spelling

[RedLeicester]

zippo73 said:

Hi,

Thanks for the advice, how about driving in the wet / rain ?, have had capri V6's in my youth and old jags 4.2 straight six and a 5.3 V12 without ABS and TC, but now used to driving modern cars with all the saftey gizmo's

Drove mine quite happily in the snow. Okay they're going to be less "safe" than some modern barge, but it's perfectly doable. Bloody good way to learn to drive properly too, and you'll know their handling foibles far better than the boring old high-days and holidays sunny summer driver.

[DonkeyApple]

Loose Lips said:

First mistake..............You should be looking at a Griffith ;-)

Best to start at the bottom and build up to the Griff, to be honest.

[jr6yam]

DonkeyApple said:

Best to start at the bottom and build up to the Griff, to be honest.

Indeed. Start cultivating your chest hair, and save for a big medallion.
Or just get a Chim'; it's the thinking mans choice

[jr6yam]

Seriously though, I drive my Chimaera every day and that's
the way it should be. Not using a TVR is a sin!
My Chim' is Silver with blue leather funnily enough, it
lives outside gets driven in all weathers and copes well

[DonkeyApple]

jr6yam said:

Indeed. Start cultivating your chest hair, and save for a big medallion.
Or just get a Chim'; it's the thinking mans choice

Certainly is. Thinking about installing a deisel engine or fitting cup holders.

[Chris71]

I think it would take a degree of commitment to run one regularly. The clutch (and steering if you don't have PAS) are rather heavy in traffic, they attract quite a lot of attention (usually good but not always) if parked outside, many have a tendency to leak and you do need to be relatively hands on if you're going to maintain one for serious mileages on a budget. I wouldn't use mine for my 6.5 mile suburban commute - it wouldn't even be warm by the end.

However, if you've got the budget, a commute worthy of an interesting car and somewhere safe to put it then it's worth looking at I reckon. As others have said, they cruise in a very relaxed manner on the motorway (at which point fuel isn't consumed quite as quickly as you might fear either - mid 20s mpg on a run), the boot is huge for a sports car and the hood is better than most. If you wanted something exotic for the commute they'd be one of the more sensible choices, but that's very much a relative term.

Given you asked about the Chim specifically I'd definitely go for one over a Griffith. The Chimaeras are even more practical, significantly cheaper (condition for condition), allegedly better aerodynamically and identical underneath the bodywork. The Griffs have their own appeal, but you'd have to specifically want one to pay the premium for a car which actually has less in certain departments than the Chim.

[RedLeicester]

Chris71 said:

you do need to be relatively hands on if you're going to maintain one for serious mileages on a budget.

Whilst I agree with the rest, I'm a little unsure about this.

I ran both a Chim 400 and subsequently a Cerbera 4.2 for 12,000 miles a year, driven sun, rain or shine. My latter day Chim450, no longer a daily driver, has cost me way more to keep going. Okay, maybe 12kpa doesn't count as a "serious" mileage, but it is quite a bit for this sort of car.

The two Tiv daily drivers needed far less by way of fettling (or new batteries!) and had little if any trouble whatsoever, so like a "normal" car just needed servicing, which in many ways is one of the cheaper costs of running such beasts. Also, being ickle and light, they didn't wear out tyres either, so the cost increase was negligible. In fact, another way of looking at it is even if you only drive the car 500 yards in a year, you still have to budget to service and tax it...

As for hands on, not a hope. I haven't a clue what happens under the bonnet, I just know that whatever it does, it does it noisily.

[WazzaL]

The mpg obviously depends on how hard you press the right foot, but I averaged 19.5mpg with a mix of spirited drives and cruises in my 4.5.

Used mine as a my only car or a couple of years and it was used in all weathers without any trouble and is actually for sale atm.

They are great cars and great fun.

[Chris71]

RedLeicester said:

Chris71 said:

you do need to be relatively hands on if you're going to maintain one for serious mileages on a budget.

Whilst I agree with the rest, I'm a little unsure about this.

I ran both a Chim 400 and subsequently a Cerbera 4.2 for 12,000 miles a year, driven sun, rain or shine. My latter day Chim450, no longer a daily driver, has cost me way more to keep going. Okay, maybe 12kpa doesn't count as a "serious" mileage, but it is quite a bit for this sort of car.

I'm not disputing the value of running a TVR regularly, just the outright cost.

A lot of people go to a TVR specialist every time their car needs an oil change or something and this costs money. So, even though they respond well to regular use, the annual cost of routine stuff like servicing, winter chassis treatment and so on will continue to go up with the mileage. It will be significantly higher than the cost of leaving the boring week day commuting miles to a modern eurobox, which is what most of us do.

I guess my point to the OP is ... don't underestimate how often you'd end up using it! They're tremendous value for what they are, but they still cost more to run than an ordinary mass-produced car, and you're likely to find that using it as an only car racks up three or four times the mileage of using it as a weekend toy. That's fine if you commute across the Yorkshire Dales or something, but if your daily trudge is around the M25, say, then you end up paying a lot for the times you can't make the most of a TVR's capabilities as well as the minority of times you can. Kept as a second car you can cherry pick the track days, the B-road blasts, the weekends away, or whatever floats your boat, and leave the rest to something cheap, user friendly and discrete.

[aubrey9160]

Ive had a 400chim 4.5 cerb and now a t350 all used daily with very little problems and as for running costs dont think it is any dearer than my volvoxc90. Dont exclude early chims either.Buy your car on condition not age and dont dicount a 4.3 big valve either as most I have seen are almost as powerful as standard 5ltrs.I think im right in saying 98/99 cars suffer more with chassis corosion due to poor coating at the factory.
If you get one Ive got a made to measure cover for one but in fairness mine never leaked when parked on level surfaces.
Good luck with your search.