What am I getting into?

[SimonBl]

Ok,

I know you have heard this all before, but I have to get a TVR as it is a bit of a dream for me, and I am another novice who needs some advice on what to get, and having read through the gassing pages, you all seem to give great help.

I live in Windsor and would have to park the car on the streets. I need to drive the car every day (50 miles) as there is no point in me having a second car as I will never use it.

My questions are:
If I have about 15K for the car (plus a little for a warranty and insurance), what can I get for that price trade and private and what should I look out for?

I have just seen a T reg one on Pistonheads, but being a bit of a novice at this sort of thing, am looking for some help.

[anonymous-user]

I Bought mine, a 98 R Reg 4.0 Chim in March for £15,500.

It had 52,500 on the clock, which is why the seller had put it up for that price.

There is a photo of it on My Profile.

Lee

[SimonBl]

Is there anything that I should really take into account when looking at a car?

[yum]

there are lots of threads on this. the usual advice is to buy Steve's bible, have a drive of a few different cars, don't buy the first one you see and then come back to pistonheads to ask more detailed questions.

Good luck - don't get put off!

R
(4L Chimaera)

[scruff400]

Get down to your local TVR club meet.

Berkshire
3rd Tuesday of the month at
The Swan, Three Mile Cross near Reading (Junction 11 off M4) from 7.30pm

Contact Graham Maidlow 0118 9696965
or 07790 197904 (m)

email [e-mail]
Wesite www.tvr-berks.co.uk

etc - check the web sites for details. You will get a lot of information from willing owners. You may (it's not compulsory) blag a ride ofr two.

Buy Steve Heaths book (Steve, is the new edition out yet?)
Stick to a dealer for your first as the warranty (however flimsy) gives a small amount of piece of mind.
Don't buy the first one you see (and the reason everyone paps on about this one is that the temptation is great)
Try to have someone knowlagable with you when you look, this might be an RAC/AA bloke, club member, or one of the pro buyers like Rob Ingleby (sp?) - he does the looking for you.
Drive as many as you can - there's loads of differences between chims.
Put a grand in the bank and forget it, until you get problems, new tyres, service, no problems but the 'upgrade this/that bug kicks in, etc

Good hunting.

Me? I bought the first one I saw!!



>> Edited by scruff400 on Thursday 22 August 15:41

>> Edited by scruff400 on Thursday 22 August 16:30

[robkola]

I've emailed you off-line by the way.

Compare mine to Supraman

I have 98S - 4L - 16K on clock - paid £20.5K

(so there you are private (was it?) /higher mileage versus dealer /low-mileage - though not too low!)

Time to confess Supraman - any major problems? I've had my Meta alarm changed under warrantly - apart from that it's been BRILLIANT!



>> Edited by robkola on Thursday 22 August 15:50

[Alex200mph]

simon, i live in maidenhead, the berks are a pleasant lot so make your way down to one of the meetings.
If your keeping it outside a cover would probably be a good idea.
Not sure about the milage that your looking at doing, I use mine as a second car at the moment.
have a look through the past threads this will give you a good idea of what to look for. Drop us am email if you have got any questions after, will try and help if i can

[ATG]

4.0 Chim, 97P, 30K miles, Private £15.5

I street park the car ... therefore worth getting it watertight ... not too difficult. The points where water can get in are numerous, but well understood and easy to fix. Carpets are prone to fading, so a hood cover is worth considering.

I'll add my voice to the chorus saying get Steve Heaths Griff and Chim Bible.

[MikeyT]

And I'll second ATG's final comments.

'95 N reg 4.0HC, main dealer, £15.5k, 38,000 miles.

There's lots of threads on here about dealer vs private. Have a look at www.adrianblyth.co.uk for a few Chims – he occasionally has them within your budget.


>> Edited by MikeyT on Thursday 22 August 16:54

[anonymous-user]

quote:
I've emailed you off-line by the way.

Compare mine to Supraman

I have 98S - 4L - 16K on clock - paid £20.5K

(so there you are private (was it?) /higher mileage versus dealer /low-mileage - though not too low!)

Time to confess Supraman - any major problems? I've had my Meta alarm changed under warrantly - apart from that it's been BRILLIANT!



>> Edited by anonymous-user on Thursday 22 August 15:50

____________________________________________

I've only done about 800 miles, the only problems I have had was the fuse link (I intially thought it was the alternator), about £1 to buy, and the handbrake light is a bit erratic.
Apart from that no significant problems at all.
It had new front S03's just before I bought it, the S02's on the rear are really good aswell.
The front has been re done at some stage, so there are hardly any stone chips.
The interior is immaculate aswell, both previous owners were women and the last one never took it on any track days and I don't have any reason to believe the first owner did either.
It was a private buy from a lady in Milton Keynes who always used to have it trailered up to TMS come service time.

Lee.

>> Edited by anonymous-user on Thursday 22 August 16:57

[SimonBl]

Thanks for the advice, will get Steves book and keep reading the site.

Thanks

Simon

[GeorgeC]

Hi,

If you can't wait for the next Berks TVRCC meeting (17 September) a few of us (38 cars) will be at the Reading Motoring Festival (M4 J11) on Sunday 1 September.

George

[GingaNinga]

If you want more car for your money wait until winter, prices drop loads then. I got my 1996 Chimaera 500 with 30,000 miles for £14,750 in March.