S2000 to Chimaera - Should I do it?

S2000 to Chimaera - Should I do it?

Author
Discussion

quattrophenia

1,103 posts

197 months

Saturday 25th April 2015
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Hi CTML,
I don't know what mileage you will do per year, but be aware that the service intervals on the Chim is 6k per year. For the car the Chim is, I don't find the servicing costs prohibitive (£400 - £600 per year with a few other jobs done at the same time). Similar cars of the performance of the Chimaera would charge that for an oil change. But I wouldn't want to be paying these costs twice or three times every year.
I have owned a Civic type R and drove a few S2000's and space wise the Chim is probably more practical than the S2000.
My main concern, if I was in your situation, would be whether I would feel safe leaving it out on the road every day, us TVR owners get quite attached to our cars and I for one get rather nervous if I don't have a nice warm garage to tuck her up in at night.
If owning one and using it as your only car for even 1 year scratches the itch then what have you to loose. If your planning on keeping the car longer term, then I would want it as a second car and run a banger on the side.

speedtwelve

3,510 posts

272 months

Saturday 25th April 2015
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The car should be keen to rev beyond 5000rpm (limit's 6250 if I remember correctly). If it doesn't keep pulling beyond 5000 suspect a worn cam, quite common on the RV8. Idle is often uneven with cam wear also. If it doesn't feel quicker than your S2000 it's probably broken. My S2K felt pretty gutless after test-driving my Chim 400, even ithough the on-paper 0-100 and 30-70 times aren't hugely different.