Discussion
Tyrka, Thanks for the offer. Sounds like you are running it the way I plan to run mine. (As cheaply as possible!) I'd like to have a look when ever it's convenient.
I plan to look at some cars this week. apart from the things you check on any car. Are there any Chimaera specific things that must be checked.
I understand there are things to check on the chassis.
What,where & how?
I plan to look at some cars this week. apart from the things you check on any car. Are there any Chimaera specific things that must be checked.
I understand there are things to check on the chassis.
What,where & how?
poorpeet said:
Thanks for the info. I thought they should be ok but it never hurts to ask.
Early cars in good nick with highish miles seem to be down to around £9k now
I wouldn't touch a Chim at 9K.. !! Buy on condition not mileage anyway with the older cars. (and 9K will doubtless not be the "good nick" you think it is..)
Cheers
Matt.
Matt
I agree about buying on condition. What I'm after is anything specific to aging Chimaeras that needs checking. A couple of people mentioned the chassis & I wondered what I need to look for.
As for the value thing. There seem to me to be an awful lot of Chimaeras for sale out there & this situation combined with a car which has a limited market is bound to drive costs down.
Is yours still for sale? Make me an offer I can't refuse, I promise I won't bring it back!
I agree about buying on condition. What I'm after is anything specific to aging Chimaeras that needs checking. A couple of people mentioned the chassis & I wondered what I need to look for.
As for the value thing. There seem to me to be an awful lot of Chimaeras for sale out there & this situation combined with a car which has a limited market is bound to drive costs down.
Is yours still for sale? Make me an offer I can't refuse, I promise I won't bring it back!
poorpeet said:
Matt
A couple of people mentioned the chassis & I wondered what I need to look for.
Rust.
Bends.
Strange welds.
Look everywhere (a fresh coat of waxoyl may be a good sign or it may be hiding horrors), but you gotta get underneath. Outriggers (under the sills), chassis tubes in wheel arches, cross members underneath/in front of the engine and length-ways tubes just under the exhaust manifolds come to mind as particularly vulnerable.
Welds where the chassis members change direction (the chunky square section length-ways members) should look very similar on both sides of the chassis. If you spot anything strange looking, check the other side of the chassis to see if it's the same.
Otherwise, as far as mileage goes, mechanical wear and tear (esp. steering rack, drive train knocks, ball joints), and all electrics.
Don't be afraid, and do keep some cash back...just in case.
Indeed..
The outriggers behind the front wheels can very easily pick up large amounts of "crap" from the roads and this hold water against the outrigger tube.. coupling that to the inevetable stone chipping that this area gets, it is a common problem to have badly rusted outriggers, and they are a pest to get sorted out.
(same with the rears to an extent)
Oh and dont forget the Upper and Lower wishbones..
Cheers,
Matt
>> Edited by M@H on Wednesday 26th November 09:37
The outriggers behind the front wheels can very easily pick up large amounts of "crap" from the roads and this hold water against the outrigger tube.. coupling that to the inevetable stone chipping that this area gets, it is a common problem to have badly rusted outriggers, and they are a pest to get sorted out.
(same with the rears to an extent)
Oh and dont forget the Upper and Lower wishbones..
Cheers,
Matt
>> Edited by M@H on Wednesday 26th November 09:37
I bought my 98 Chimaera 400 with 32K on the clock and have managed to stick another 19K on since... March! woops!!! just love driving it too much i guess.
Anyway, my main point here is that the car is still lunatic fast, nothing has gone wrong (touch wood) & makes every journey fun and not a chore. So long as you look for the right car & don't skimp on servicing or care, I don't believe high mileage ought to be a problem in itself.
Cheers
Anyway, my main point here is that the car is still lunatic fast, nothing has gone wrong (touch wood) & makes every journey fun and not a chore. So long as you look for the right car & don't skimp on servicing or care, I don't believe high mileage ought to be a problem in itself.
Cheers
big_treacle said:
I bought my 98 Chimaera 400 with 32K on the clock and have managed to stick another 19K on since... March! woops!!! just love driving it too much i guess.
19K in 8 months? That works out at a service every 3 months 
- do you service it yourself or is ther some dealer expecting another visit from you real soon? And I thought I was bad with 13K in a year - mostly leisure miles I might add, there's another 15K miles on the other car for work...
Yep, driving these things is adictive - I'd tried to keep the miles down so the next service will be early next year, but it didn't work - booked in for next week
big_treacle said:
I bought my 98 Chimaera 400 with 32K on the clock and have managed to stick another 19K on since... March! woops!!! just love driving it too much i guess.
Anyway, my main point here is that the car is still lunatic fast, nothing has gone wrong (touch wood) & makes every journey fun and not a chore. So long as you look for the right car & don't skimp on servicing or care, I don't believe high mileage ought to be a problem in itself.
Cheers
Should 52k miles be regarded as high mileage though? My personal opinion is that you should be able to expect any car (whether "performance" or not) to clock up 100,000miles with no major failures providing that they've been serviced and maintained appropriately.
Phil
bassfiend said:
Should 52k miles be regarded as high mileage though? My personal opinion is that you should be able to expect any car (whether "performance" or not) to clock up 100,000miles with no major failures providing that they've been serviced and maintained appropriately.
Phil
Fair enough, but in our case most cars for sale (based on the first 2 pages of chims for sale on PH) don't have more than 6K miles per year, and some have a lot less. And a buyer will expect to pay less money for a higher milage car, no matter if you can get 100K miles out of them.
It seems a bit strange to me, that someone would buy a car like this and even doing just weekend driving put less than 6K miles on the clock every year. I can cover 200 miles in a weekend easy and not actually go anywhere!
M@H said:I've just got mine for £9k and everything (history, condition etc) all add up to making it a lovley car so I wouldn't just ignore it on price alone. However, I do agree that it's the overall condition that counts. I looked at some howlers for the same money which made me appreciate my eventual purchase even more. It's a 93 4L with 104k on the clock with total TVR history, new SO-3's all round, new pads and discs and a sports exhaust. Lurvly ....
Thanks for the info. I thought they should be ok but it never hurts to ask.
Early cars in good nick with highish miles seem to be down to around £9k now
I wouldn't touch a Chim at 9K.. !! Buy on condition not mileage anyway with the older cars. (and 9K will doubtless not be the "good nick" you think it is..)
Cheers
Matt.
Cheers
MickC said:
Fair enough, but in our case most cars for sale (based on the first 2 pages of chims for sale on PH) don't have more than 6K miles per year, and some have a lot less. And a buyer will expect to pay less money for a higher milage car, no matter if you can get 100K miles out of them.
Agreed ... which is usefull when you're looking as a buyer anyway.
MickC said:
It seems a bit strange to me, that someone would buy a car like this and even doing just weekend driving put less than 6K miles on the clock every year. I can cover 200 miles in a weekend easy and not actually go anywhere!
Oh hell yes ... 6,000 miles a year is about 120miles a week and I reckon that would easily be surpassed. I'm firmly of the belief that they should be driven and used regularly and although I wouldn't expect to be racking up 40k a year like in the workhorse Volvo I'm certainly expecting 12k a year to be reeled in without too much aggravation!
Phil
Phil said:
Oh hell yes ... 6,000 miles a year is about 120miles a week and I reckon that would easily be surpassed. I'm firmly of the belief that they should be driven and used regularly and although I wouldn't expect to be racking up 40k a year like in the workhorse Volvo I'm certainly expecting 12k a year to be reeled in without too much aggravation!
Sweeping generalisation (and bad spelling) warning:
I believe if a car is owned by someone who generally appreciates it and it hasn't spent all it life back in the dealers, it'll have more than 6k a year on it UNLESS the owner is on a really really tight budget and can only afford to insure 6k/yr.
Obviously there'll be exceptions that prove this rule...
Speaking as some one clocking 12-15k a year as a second car, I guess mine's going to be high milage when (if) I sell it, so I'm also trying to protect my investment here!
get out and
(just love that one!) Andy
crimsonchim said:
Speaking as some one clocking 12-15k a year as a second car, I guess mine's going to be high milage when (if) I sell it, so I'm also trying to protect my investment here!
To be honest the price of some of the older Chims is getting really quite scary - There was one popped up on the PH classifieds the other day, a '94 4.3 with 26,000 miles for £12k! :O
crimsonchim said:
get out and
LOL - Yup ... that one always makes me grin when I see it too!
Phil
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