With the Mazda having a short holiday (I’ve loaned it out for a bit) and a
BMW M135i
being thrust my way for three weeks the TVR has been enjoying a rest. I have to admit to liking the little BMW so much that the TVR was often shunned. So exploitable is the performance, so effortless the ability to overtake and when the (slightly enhanced) noise from the six-cylinder reminds you of time spent in 325i E30s as a youth it’s an intoxicating proposition. But that’s not what I’m writing about so I’ll leave that story for someone else to tell.
Garage left after three happy years
I’ve moved the TVR out of my rented garage over in SW14 and it now lives in an underground carpark underneath my flat. This means access to it is much easier and short trips, commutes and general hooning without a reason is something that can happen on impulse instead of needed a bit of pre-planning. With that in mind I think I’ll need to increase my maximum mileage limit, especially as it’s currently my only car, a thought that worries me slightly as winter approaches.
I guess I have two options, Waxoyl the hell out of the chassis (again), or buy a daily beater. Not sure what to do yet, and do I buy something cheap and cheerful or treat myself to something newer. If only the chap had wanted to sell me the Honda Legend I spotted last time I wrote an update. For some reason he went quiet and withdrew the advert from PH though. Odd.
Anyway, prior to the BMW arriving I put a lot of miles on the Chim during the recent scorchingly hot weather. Heatsoak and sweaty shirts aside the car performed so well I wanted to give it a little pat on the back. We sat in traffic on the M25, traffic in central London and undertook various high-speed runs with no trouble whatsoever bar having to pick dead flies from the front. A drop of oil was required a week or two ago (literally a drop) but otherwise no problems to report and it seems that replacing the rear screen (it has a slight tear) will only cost me a couple of hundred pounds from a recommended specialist that just so happens to be a few miles from my front door. Lady luck is obviously shining on me right now and even when I was approached by some noisy drunks in traffic approaching Piccadilly in the early hours of a Sunday morning all they wanted was a few revs which they rewarded with cheers.
Speaking of hoons, I enjoyed a bit of high speed B-road shenanigans with a few like-minded folk the other day, with most being in faster (in terms of out and out horsepower at least) machines. Many people comment on my car being ‘only’ the 4.0 and how I ‘should have got a 500’ but do you know what, when pushed the 400 Chimaera can hustle with the best of them and not much leaves you behind. If you are tempted with a Chim and you can find yourself a healthy example of a 400 (mine delivers exactly the 240hp Peter Wheeler claimed in the brochures) you need not worry about anything else.
Besides, it’s not about speed for 80 per cent of the time. Want to burble along at the speed limit? Go ahead. Want to chat to strangers when you stop who want to ask you questions? That’ll happen every time. Want a car that does exactly what you want it to? It will do that as well. There are two quirks with my car; both the boot release and the driver's window occasionally require a waggle of the wires behind the switches to get them to work.
Happy burbling in the city and on the back roads
That’s called character, and in an age where we strive for perfection in everything it’s comforting to have a bit of personality. Sure that BMW will provide everyday motoring without a second thought and will be a faithful companion. The TVR however is a noisy and demanding partner that will sit waiting for you to come and play, and you never know exactly what sort of mood it'll be in when you head out. For that reason alone we’ll never part company. Who wants sterile perfection anyway?
Fact Sheet:
Car: 1999 TVR Chimaera 4.0
Run by: Garlick
Bought: December 2009
Purchase price: £12,995
Last month at a glance: New home, summer sun, unfairly shunned
Fact Sheet:
Car: 1997 Mazda MX-5 1.8iS
Run by: Garlick
Bought: November 2012
Purchase price: £600
Last month at a glance: MIA