After driving a friends Challenger in the States last summer I decided I wanted my own muscle car back in Blighty. For the last 7 years or so I've always had a project car and a slightly more sensible daily driver. I've got through many of each ranging from an XR4x4 to an MR2 to a couple of BX 16vs to a couple of SD1s, and more recently a TVR Chimaera. The TVR was a dream buy, but after 2 years I just wasnt using much so I decided it was time to sell it on, along with the daily driver (a Volvo V40 TD at this point) and replace it with a big, 'sensible', modern V8.

Probably not the wisest decision in the current climate, but sod it, you only live once! So after a couple of months I finally got most of the odd jobs on the TVR sorted and it went up for sale just after Christmas. Interest was low, and after a couple of price chops it was becoming clear I wasnt going to get enough to afford a Monaro. Gutted. However I had a back up plan of either a Jaguar S Type R or an MG ZT 260 - both worthy replacements, and slightly more refined muscle cars. Interest in the TVR finally started picking up and I was looking forward to getting out there with some cash in my pocket. Then out of the blue a chap email'd me asking if I'd be willing to swap my Chimaera with his Monaro..... YES! And a couple of weeks ago we met up, test drove each others cars and did the swap.

I was gutted to see the TVR go, but totally chuffed with the Monaro - it's everything I hoped for! So it's a 2004 CV8 model with the Chevvy 5.7 LS1 engine, putting out 330bhp. Fortunately for me it's had a bit of tweakery and is now showing 368bhp. It's also has a VXR brake upgrade, which is nice to know as the orinal items don't have a great rep. Enough of my waffle though, here's some pics:















It's not perfect, but I love it! The amount of torque is just crazy, it's just ready to get going in any gear (well, except the uber-long 6th) and it gives the traction control a very hard time (although the crappy tyres probably dont help that). You can feel it's heavy car in the corners, but I'm just gonna have to get used to that. The main thing that lets it's down is the gear change - it's incredibly vague, much like an old 205, but that's a common problem that can be addressed.

So the plan is to basically enjoy driving it every day, and hope the fuel bills don't get too severe! I'm gradually putting together a list of jobs to do on the way which so far amount to:
- Replace drivers seat belt as it's frayed (ordered)
- Replace rear tyres with something decent (trying to decide what to buy!)
- Fit a Rip Shifter to sort out the vague gear stick
- Try and get the aftermarket hard-wired sat nav thing working
- Repaint the flaky engine cover
- Repaint rear bumper as it has wheelie-bin related scratches
- Refurb the wheels

It wont all be done at once, but I'll try and work my way through the list over the next year or so. The important thing is to make sure it's ready to go to Le Mans in June

Nice one - same colour as the one I had Very enjoyable to own, on the look out for another !!

I have heard the gearchange is pretty poor on these things, but if it's really bad I would imagine there is probably a bushing kit to tighten things up a bit.

It looks nice anyway! I'm sure with some extra bhp, it's probably had an aftermarket exhaust fitted too, so it probably sounds fantastic to match.

The previous owner had a service at Monkfish a month ago, and I'm sure I'll end up taking the car back there next year. If I have the cash I'll get the Ripshifter fitted there too, which completely replaces the standard gear change mechanism and apparently gives a much nicer feel. I had the T5 box in the Chimaera, not sure how related these are to the T56, but the gearchange in that was a joy. For now I just need to get used to it

The exhuast is by Borla, which is where the extra ponies come from. I have the before and after dyno graphs in the history file. It's not too loud, but has a very menacing note to it. I quite like it, although every now and again the straight-thru TVR noise would be nice

I'd love to fit a supercharger, but the wallet says no for the immediate future. Maybe one day...

i was grinning from ear to ear when i picked up my Ro a few years ago....i felt exactly the same when i started it up thismoring too!
brilliant car and an absolute pleasure to own. top work

Lovely car OP, I hope in time I can afford to buy and run something like this.

Wait for the brake change!!! You wont smile then by all accounts!

You don't buy a car like this expecting things to be cheap! Saying that, luckily normal servicing is reasonable and the brakes are all new anyway. And with the mileage I do I probably won't have to worry about anything but pads for a few years.

The tyre fitter laughed when he saw my average MPG of 17. However that's mostly driving through Southampton in traffic for getting to and from work, with the odd longer 'spirited' trip. However with the cruise control set at 70 on the motorway you're doing around 28MPG, so a decent run should be fairly good if you can keep off the loud pedal

Fair play to you Carlos. I had my head set on one and looked into fuel and running costs and was surprised by how reasonable they were.....then I saw the costs for brakes and I just simply couldnt justify it unfortunatly. I still cant get my head around how everything else is so reasonable but brakes are just rediculously priced. If you want to look after your car you cant go cheap so I didnt go there. Still gutted about it.

Your car looks sweet and bet it sounds great!

Certainly not, my Volvo was worse than 28mpg and horrific when caining it so that's not so much of a concern.

How are you finding it compared to the Chim ?