TVR Chimaera
 

Hi there,

Anyone own one of these. Thinking specifically about the facelifted 4.0 litre model built around 1997/98.

Any advice or opinions welcome.

Martin.

Four litre isn't that quick and runs out of steam quite quickly. Probably most reliable of TVR's of that era though.

Accept that it will go wrong. Usually just niggly stuff like switches not working. They call it "character". Noise is fantastic, particularly with sports exhausts. The NVH will be a bit kitcar like unless you invest in some decent aftermarket springs 'n' dampers, and obsess with finding the source of every last rattle.

Keep it in a garage and you will have less niggles. Use it regularly and you will also have less niggles.

Be fair -- it's 240bhp in around 1050kg, and is topless so will always seem fast. How fast does a convertible need to be?

To sum them up: Pain in the arse. Think of them as a pre-built kit car. But still immensly good fun.

Last of the good sounding TVRs before they starting using raspy flat plane crank V8 engines and abiding with EU noise regs :(

They didn't do that for long, either. Now all their engines are straight sixes. Of course, my "EU noise reg complying" flat-plane V8 registers 106 dB at 3/4 max rpm, 1m from the exhaust ;)

For more Chimp information, go to http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/forum.asp?f=8&h=0

Chimaera
 

I remember i went to test drive a couple of these before i eventually bought my old elise, and my one comment is that they are a bu**er to drive. I remember the look on the sales guys face as i kept stalling the bloody thing, and nearly leaving a deposit in my pants trying to get it to stop, scary scary brakes!! Interior and build quality is also awful, but once that engine is roaring who cares, just sounded amazing!!

You'll be luck to get an engine putting out 240BHP. I've driven a couple and neither seemed that fast. The 5lt on the other hand :D

Always amazes me the bad stuff which gets said about TVR's. Im not pointing this at anyone on here but often from people who have never been in one let alone owned one.

Yes you have to accept a couple of things.

1. TVR do their testing on their customers - buy a later version of a model rather than a brand spanker, or buy it 2 years down the line when the recall issues are ironed out.
2. Build quality is not the best. Some panel fitment is excellent, some not so.
3. Electrics can be a little tempremental. Elecy windows etc

But what do you get?
1. In basic form 240BHP and 1,000KG in better form 340bhp and the same weight. There isnt much which can match it as a convertible.
2. The intoxicating sound. There isnt a better sounding car for the money. Pre-cat griffiths are better still.
3. A cheap weekend monster.


I owned a TVR for nearly 7 years, loved every minute of ownership, miss it dearly, had it overheat once, only real issue, was part of the TVRCC scene which was great.

This time of the year is brilliant for Tivvy's. Crisp dry morning,wrap up warm, start that mother up in the garage and if you dont start smiling even before you get out on the road you dont deserve the car.

Gary

ps ...... I would love a 4.3 griffith
pps......I had a lap of the ring in a T350 a couple of months back and it was amazing, handled like a dream, I would love one of them too.

Forgot to say. If I was you I would get yourself membership of the TVRCC only costs about £25 from memory. They are very knowledgeable and always have quality well looked after cars for sale.

Gary

Do the facelifted cars come with power steering as standard?

I think it's £30 by direct debit, £35 if you pay by cheque or credit card. Agree that they have quality motors for sale -- if you're lucky you'll find one owned by a real anal enthusiast, dry use only, complete body-off restoration, etc.

Thanks for that carl.

Decent monthly magazine with big classified section each month. Sold a load of mine on e-bay a couple of months back. The rest of them I gave to a new owner on SN.

Gary

Agree with Ali-B - car is great to look at, but like an elephant I would not want to own one.

I did try a 1997 450 a few years ago, but the car had so many problems on the test drive I could not see me parting with the cash.

Door not shutting, window dropping down and refusing to go up, dash board lighting up like a Christmas Tree. BUT, lovely sound and great with the roof down.

A weekend toy perhaps?

Richard

I know 3 people with TVR Chimaera 4.5's (all 1998 model funnily enough!), and I would disagree with all the comments that usually get said about terrible build quality and reliability.

The interior isnt Audi-standard as you would expect, but its good enough and has a lot of character. I know one owner who has had the door-openning knob break, but was easily fixed with an allen key. No squeaks or rattles in the cars Ive been in (they are all under 25k miles however).

Performance is good, and handling appears to be too, however Ive never actually driven one so cant really comment here. One owner I know really throws the thing about, and as long as you dont mind correcting over-steer (usually out of t-junctons) its clearly very quick - lots of grip, but they arent really the sort of cars you buy to go out and race everything in.

Recently covered 2000 miles in Europe in one of these Chimaera's and the only fault was it failed to start on one occasion. Apparently a common problem due to the starter motor getting too hot, but wait a few minutes for it to cool and its then fine, and something that can be sorted. No over-heating, even in South of France in traffic.

No, but it can be retro-fitted onto non-pas cars.

I suppose my main reasons for considering one are as follows.


1. Quick.
2. Lovely sounding engine.
3. Reasonably practical (big boor, spacious cabin, ggod stereo and heater. Just need to make sure I get one with power steering !)
4. It feels genuinley special in a way that Evo's, WRX's, and GTiR's don't
5. Plenty to choose from.

Not in the market at the moment but will be in the not too distant future.

I'll be doing plenty of research in the meantime.

Other cars being considered are the BMW M Roadster. Nice bit of kit but worried about reapir costs.

Mazda MX-5. Utter dependability and superb handling, plenty to choose from.

Cheers for the advice.

Martin.

Martin

I suppose most important thing when buying used is full service history + if you buy private maybe get yourself a warranty (good one if there is such a thing).

MX 5 are superb.

Richard

The boot is big, but the removable hard top takes up a fair bit of space, and also the hardtop is bigger than the boot openning, so the boot needs to be almost empty to actually get it in there.

Also interior space is probably the main drawback of the car IMO. If youre much over 6ft then youre probably too tall to drive comfortably, and the passenger footwell is tiny. Im 6' and dont find the footwell long enough at all. Much more footwell space in an Elise.

All of that era's TVRs were designed so that Peter Wheeler (then chairman) could drive them comfortably, and he's 6'4". I've not been in a Chimp, but the Cerb's footwell space is fine (particularly on the passenger side, which is deeper than the driver's side). Elise footwells are OK, but you have to manouevre over those huge sills which is one of the reasons I didn't get one.

Not going to say too much but I've owned 3.....

Best was Chimaera 4.0, and managed 47K miles in 30 months. Yes it was expensive to maintain, and yes it was badly built but never unreliable. On a rolling road these cars do not produce what is said e.g. my 4.0 had 202bhp at the engine, but don't let that worry you as their 0-60, 0-100 has been proven to be correct.

A tweaked Griff 5.0 now your talking a beast... that dyn'd at 302bhp at the engine but the torque was 305lbs. Again it felt like more, probably becuase of the low weight.

J

Re footwell space
The drivers side is ok but the passengers side is very short. The battery is located at the end of the footwell. This makes long journeys painful for passengers as they can't strech their legs.

I saw a thread on pistonheds of a car that had the battery moved to the boot. Seemed a neat, simple job. I'll try and find the link

Found it http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?t=116025

a work colleague had one of these for 6 months from brand new

it spent about 4 months back at TVR with faults,he eventually dumped it on their doorstep for as much money back as he could get

he went and bought a Jag XK8