What do we think to the current Chimaera market?
Discussion
Belle427 said:
The most powerful car ive owned and driven has been a 300 bhp golf and that was difficult to enjoy really on our roads.
I dread to think how a 500 bhp car feels.
A complete waste of time, by the time all the driving aides have kicked in I wonder how much of it is ever let loose in the real (as opposed to brochure) world. I dread to think how a 500 bhp car feels.
That'll be this one? It looks a bit battered in the photos, MoT had just run out and it failed a couple of years ago on a front damper bolt being the wrong length and an advisory (!) on a missing caliper bolt. What had the 4 year owner been doing to it?
https://auctions.wbandsons.com/auction/lot/lot-110...
Seems a lot of cars remained unsold.
Hood + stitching on the rear window, mismatched door carpet, big holes cut in the boot trim for speakers, stuck odometer (TADTS
), drivers seat, lots of stonechips on the front. Could be a decent buy if the above is mostly sorted out at home aside from paint, of course the chassis hasn't been described.... Wheels look OK.
To be fair, the GTE looked mint, but £30k is ridiculous I grant you:
https://auctions.wbandsons.com/auction/lot/lot-30-...
https://auctions.wbandsons.com/auction/lot/lot-110...
Seems a lot of cars remained unsold.
Hood + stitching on the rear window, mismatched door carpet, big holes cut in the boot trim for speakers, stuck odometer (TADTS
), drivers seat, lots of stonechips on the front. Could be a decent buy if the above is mostly sorted out at home aside from paint, of course the chassis hasn't been described.... Wheels look OK.To be fair, the GTE looked mint, but £30k is ridiculous I grant you:
https://auctions.wbandsons.com/auction/lot/lot-30-...
sixor8 said:
That'll be this one? It looks a bit battered in the photos, MoT had just run out and it failed a couple of years ago on a front damper bolt being the wrong length and an advisory (!) on a missing caliper bolt. What had the 4 year owner been doing to it?
https://auctions.wbandsons.com/auction/lot/lot-110...
Seems a lot of cars remained unsold.
Hood + stitching on the rear window, mismatched door carpet, big holes cut in the boot trim for speakers, stuck odometer (TADTS ), drivers seat, lots of stonechips on the front. Could be a decent buy if the above is mostly sorted out at home aside from paint, of course the chassis hasn't been described.... Wheels look OK.
To be fair, the GTE looked mint, but £30k is ridiculous I grant you:
https://auctions.wbandsons.com/auction/lot/lot-30-...
Wow maybe I’m being a bit glass half full but that chimaera definitely looks worth a punt ! 9k , you can’t buy much for 9k , a decent NC mx5 ? , yes 30k for an Astra is silly money but if you want a car from your younger years, price people pay to feel young again . https://auctions.wbandsons.com/auction/lot/lot-110...
Seems a lot of cars remained unsold.
Hood + stitching on the rear window, mismatched door carpet, big holes cut in the boot trim for speakers, stuck odometer (TADTS
), drivers seat, lots of stonechips on the front. Could be a decent buy if the above is mostly sorted out at home aside from paint, of course the chassis hasn't been described.... Wheels look OK.To be fair, the GTE looked mint, but £30k is ridiculous I grant you:
https://auctions.wbandsons.com/auction/lot/lot-30-...
sixor8 said:
To be fair, the GTE looked mint, but £30k is ridiculous I grant you:
https://auctions.wbandsons.com/auction/lot/lot-30-...
Back in the day those were the only cars that you couldn't choose on the company car scheme, because they got pinched so often.https://auctions.wbandsons.com/auction/lot/lot-30-...
Oh. And anything that had an Alfa badge on it. Because depreciation.
981Boxess said:
A complete waste of time, by the time all the driving aides have kicked in I wonder how much of it is ever let loose in the real (as opposed to brochure) world.
Interesting. Most driver aids in proper cars do indeed allow the average driver to drive faster to a point and actually activate more of the power via this control because lack of throttle patience can easily see this average driver try to use to much power usually to early in the corner and spin out or loose traction.
So in answer to your question in some circumstances 1/2 power is probably all your getting by control but at that moment the lack of grip is so severe a good non driver aided driver will be balancing/ feathering the throttle at this moment anyway with similar reducing of power output.
Driver aids are good for keeping people in a straight line as most drivers thrown into a slide by over use of the throttle have very little experience of what they do next,, and crash.
My estimation is driver aids in good sportscars keep more road going people safe.
I’ve driven a 720S McLaren on a runway with a few coned chicanes thrown in to slow me down, it didn’t slow me down as it’s a missile of precision and the faster you go the more it grips. Watching members of the public drive it it’s very obvious they often don’t detect the driver aids just slightly controlling the power etc, the car grips and is faster than they have ever accelerated anyway they are set to full ( until I trust the driver) and often drivers would not be able to control full power without the driver aids stopping it spitting you off from instant and often catastrophic snap oversteer which all powerful rear wheels drive cars can do.
It saves the unaware from themselves because very few people learn to drive such cars at high speeds.
At times I’d be quicker with traction control other times ( dry) maybe not so.
Some American cars have a very odd system that is impossible to work with and better off than on sometimes.
Most modern or expensive sportscars are still very unsettled in wet conditions although they are going faster but most would act similar to TVR if traction control and ABS didn’t save them.
Edited by Classic Chim on Friday 27th October 15:01
Classic Chim said:
981Boxess said:
A complete waste of time, by the time all the driving aides have kicked in I wonder how much of it is ever let loose in the real (as opposed to brochure) world.
Interesting. Most driver aids in proper cars do indeed allow the average driver to drive faster to a point and actually activate more of the power via this control because lack of throttle patience can easily see this average driver try to use to much power usually to early in the corner and spin out or loose traction.
So in answer to your question in some circumstances 1/2 power is probably all your getting by control but at that moment the lack of grip is so severe a good non driver aided driver will be balancing/ feathering the throttle at this moment anyway with similar reducing of power output.
Driver aids are good for keeping people in a straight line as most drivers thrown into a slide by over use of the throttle have very little experience of what they do next,, and crash.
My estimation is driver aids in good sportscars keep more road going people safe.
I’ve driven a 720S McLaren on a runway with a few coned chicanes thrown in to slow me down, it didn’t slow me down as it’s a missile of precision and the faster you go the more it grips. Watching members of the public drive it it’s very obvious they often don’t detect the driver aids just slightly controlling the power etc, they are set to full ( until I trust the driver) and often drivers would not be able to control full power without the driver aids stopping it spitting you off from instant and often catastrophic snap oversteer which all powerful rear wheels drive cars can do.
It saves the unaware from themselves because very few people learn to drive such cars at high speeds.
At times I’d be quicker with traction control other times ( dry) maybe not so.
Some American cars have a very odd system that is impossible to work with and better off than on sometimes.
Most modern or expensive sportscars are still very unsettled in wet conditions although they are going faster but most would act similar to TVR if traction control and ABS didn’t save them.
Not knocking driver aides, just questioning the worth of silly high power outputs for road use in the first place.
981Boxess said:
What I mean is complete waste of time because it is never the full 500bhp that will be put down most of the time so it wouldn't need to be 500bhp in the first place.
Not knocking driver aides, just questioning the worth of silly high power outputs for road use in the first place.
I know and totally agree Not knocking driver aides, just questioning the worth of silly high power outputs for road use in the first place.
I concluded long ago an old Chimaera is unlikely to be useable at 450 500 hp yet 330 you can use more of it more often, damn fast yet safe enough to laugh about it afterwards.
I’ll be honest I barely used 60 hp in the real world and often wonder why I have a big bore inlet pipe at all
Then other days you open it up and the noise and power alone makes it all worth it.
330 bhp is my driver aid in reality and even that has to be respected massively on any given day.
If cars are a ball of synergy too much power can ruin that balance and take it over the edge and at speed that’s a very dangerous frightening thing.
Power grip and braking ability have to be matched almost exactly to its highest point or you’ll find out pretty quickly.
Tvr sit perfectly in that groove of being fast enough to enjoy without driver aids yet not overly powered which becomes a very different animal to control.
Tuned Tvr are very unforgiving in the wrong hands but brilliant if your a dap hand at throttle control and know what to expect.
Classic Chim said:
Tuned Tvr are very unforgiving in the wrong hands but brilliant if your a dap hand at throttle control and know what to expect.
Lets face it in the wet any Chim, even the economy model, in the wrong hands is a ditch finder, I won't say that is part of the fun but I will say getting to a destination in a monsoon conditions can be very satisfying in some sort of perverse way 
981Boxess said:
Lets face it in the wet any Chim, even the economy model, in the wrong hands is a ditch finder, I won't say that is part of the fun but I will say getting to a destination in a monsoon conditions can be very satisfying in some sort of perverse way
I realised some roads had gradient that I'd never even noticed until I tackled them in the snow in the Chimaera.
981Boxess said:
2 sMoKiN bArReLs said:
...but it still never stopped me
Fair play to you, I never took my car out once when the road salt came out, more out of respect for my outrigggers than concerns over grip.
These are lovely cars that will always have a following but they require committed enthusiast owners of a certain age who don' mind fettling them to keep 'em running well and storing them in a dry garage.
With saving and mortgage rates of 5-6%, cost of living crisis and things like ULEZ in London its hard to be optimistic about buoyant residuals. I live inside the M25 so it costs me £12.50 every time the car is moved inside the zone..
With saving and mortgage rates of 5-6%, cost of living crisis and things like ULEZ in London its hard to be optimistic about buoyant residuals. I live inside the M25 so it costs me £12.50 every time the car is moved inside the zone..
Whilst I agree that a garage or shelter it a good idea, I disagree with the idea that a TVR owner has to be a good spanner wielder.
I have had TVRs for a very long time and let specialists look after them. As a result they have all been very reliable.
A certain knowledge of how stuff works always helps, but that goes for owning any car.
I have had TVRs for a very long time and let specialists look after them. As a result they have all been very reliable.
A certain knowledge of how stuff works always helps, but that goes for owning any car.
swisstoni said:
Whilst I agree that a garage or shelter it a good idea, I disagree with the idea that a TVR owner has to be a good spanner wielder.
I have had TVRs for a very long time and let specialists look after them. As a result they have all been very reliable.
A certain knowledge of how stuff works always helps, but that goes for owning any car.
Me too. Nearly 30 years & I never lifted a spanner. That's what people who know what they are doing are for I have had TVRs for a very long time and let specialists look after them. As a result they have all been very reliable.
A certain knowledge of how stuff works always helps, but that goes for owning any car.
swisstoni said:
Whilst I agree that a garage or shelter it a good idea, I disagree with the idea that a TVR owner has to be a good spanner wielder.
I have had TVRs for a very long time and let specialists look after them. As a result they have all been very reliable.
A certain knowledge of how stuff works always helps, but that goes for owning any car.
Mines on over 130k. I can't imagine it lived in a garage at the first owners house who put more than 100k on it.I have had TVRs for a very long time and let specialists look after them. As a result they have all been very reliable.
A certain knowledge of how stuff works always helps, but that goes for owning any car.
Gassing Station | Chimaera | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff