Anyone know anything about this Chim...?

[jdharris]

Hi All,

On my way back from Goodwood on Sunday I called in to chat with the nice people at Fernhurst. I'd phoned earlier in the week and was able to get a test drive in both a 4.0 and a 5.0 litre Chimaera. Big mistake. Now the 500 is all I can think about...

Anyway, I know the advice is to not buy the first one you drive and I fully understand but technically I drove the 4.0 litre first so reckon I can get off on a technicality.

I don't really have a massive amount of time to spend on the search and would like my first taste of TVR ownership to be as hastle free as possible, backed up by a waranty and buy from a reliable seller - hence my reason for looking at Fernhurst.

The 500 I drove was this one:
[url]www.pistonheads.com/sales/145799.htm[/url]

The question is: Does anyone know anything about this car? Has anyone owned it and does anyone have any opinions (good or bad) that they'd like to share with a guy looking for some useful advice? I'm about ready to pick up the phone to arrange the extended test drive I was offered...

Thanks in advance for any replies,
James

[sapper]

James
Last year after a fair few hours on here I bought the first Chim I looked at. I followed the advice everyone gives condition condition condition. I checked everything before I let the guy start it up, cos I knew that would be too late, and I havent looked back. Plus you will have dealer facilities. If its right go for it. And Blue is definatley the fastest colour. Good luck

[tvrchim]

I bought my 500 from Fernhursts paid a little less than that with fewer miles, but only got the 3 month warranty, and the car was spot on, exactly as described. If they are offering the full 12 months then it is one of the cars out of the showroom, and will be in tip top condition IMHO.
Go for it, you will love it, im still grinning now.

[shropshire lad]

Bought my Chimaera 500 from a dealer with warranty - never needed it. First one I looked at, but how can you walk away. 3 years on I love it and its the best car I have ever had.

[.Mark]

If it's at Fernies you won't have any problems at all.

Put your hand in your pocket!!

[biggles111]

That sounds like my car's twin! I bought an 'unprepared' starmist blue '98 500 from Fernhurst last August and have been very happy with it. One point I did find was that the way cars drove varied enormously - this was one benefit of looking at Fernhurst, as I think I was able to drive 6 cars back to back (all types) whilst there, to get a comparison. If they have any more 500's (or 450's - some prefer them) you might want to get a comparison before putting your money down - and as always have a good look underneath for peace of mind as to what you're getting - these are 10 year old cars now.

Good luck and enjoy!

[BD Pro]

I bought my first Chim 2 months ago WITHOUT even looking at it. Stupid? No I bought from Fernhurst.
My chim drives awesome and problem free. Everything works perfect. Fernhurst have such a good reputation which is not easy to build in the motor trade and very easy to lose. These guys are pro's deffinately buy from them.

[jdharris]

Thanks for all the advice guys. Think I'll take up that offer to spend some time down there and drive a few more cars and have a poke around just to be sure!

Looking forward to joining the fray.

James

[red1]

Bought my 500 through dealer, HHC (Hexham) there fantastic, absolutely bloody fantastic
but it's back there after 2.5 years, take a look, may look expensive but it's mint. Traded it for a Tuscan 2s in February, wow.

[andy-w]

red1 said:

Bought my 500 through dealer, HHC (Hexham) there fantastic, absolutely bloody fantastic
but it's back there after 2.5 years, take a look, may look expensive but it's mint. Traded it for a Tuscan 2s in February, wow.

all these people downgrading...cant understand it

[chugger]

sapper said:

James
Last year after a fair few hours on here I bought the first Chim I looked at. I followed the advice everyone gives condition condition condition. I checked everything before I let the guy start it up, cos I knew that would be too late, and I havent looked back. Plus you will have dealer facilities. If its right go for it. And Blue is definatley the fastest colour. Good luck

I did exactly the same thing, but spent months prior to that researching all the possbile problems that one might encounter (on here). Ended up buying one privately (29k on the clock for about 3k less than the one you are looking at) which had been serviced every year without fail at Fenhurst regardless of mileage and its a beaut. IF you've got the time and inclination i'd go private, its cheaper, but as everyone has said, you get that little bit of extra security when buying from someone like Fennies. Whichever option you take it'll be the best purchase of your life, good luck!

[damol]

I bought the first one i saw as well. After the test drive it was impossible not to. Bought it from Henley Heritage and have absolutely no complaints after 12 months. The car runs like a dream and is used every day.

If you are buying from a known and respected dealer then you have the security and back up of their reputation.

Go on you won't regret it (you may regret it if you don't though !!!)

[s5tvr]

Sorry but £16k for a 1998 Chim 500 with 43k on the clock is a heck of a lot of money. The 12 month warranty is perhaps worth around £1k.

To put things into perspective, I had my 1998 Chim 500 up for sale recently here on PH for £14.75k and had quite a few enquiries but perhaps only one serious viewing. Yet my Chim has 30k on the clock and has had £7k spent on it over the past 2 years including upgraded suspension, brakes and Mark Adams (MA) re-map. MA was extreemly comlimentary about my car when he re-mapped it as it was one of the most "naturally" powerful and high revving he had come across (293 bhp before the re-map) and in top condition all round.

I can pretty much guarantee that my car is better than the Fernies 500 and is certainly a higher spec (full leather).

What has surprised me though is how pre-occupied people are with the colour of cars. My Chim is Cooper Green metallic, which may not be to everyones taste, but I would buy a Chim pretty much in any colour if the condition / provenance was spot on. The question you have to ask yourself is what would you rather drive around in - the right car or the right colour car ?.

[hut49]

s5tvr said:

Sorry but £16k for a 1998 Chim 500 with 43k on the clock is a heck of a lot of money. The 12 month warranty is perhaps worth around £1k.

To put things into perspective, I had my 1998 Chim 500 up for sale recently here on PH for £14.75k and had quite a few enquiries but perhaps only one serious viewing.

Not sure why anyone owning a Chimaera would want to knock someone setting a buoyant reference price in this sector - seems a little like self-flagellation.

For what it's worth, a car that had suspension upgrades and re-mapped would not be an attractive candidate for me as it suggests a track car. Nothing wrong with having a track car but in view of the incremental stress and load it puts on the drive train, chassis etc I tend to double a car's mileage if there's evidence that it's been tracked. If it's also green then I'd probably knock 10% off the price too

[s5tvr]

hut49 said:

For what it's worth, a car that had suspension upgrades and re-mapped would not be an attractive candidate for me as it suggests a track car. Nothing wrong with having a track car but in view of the incremental stress and load it puts on the drive train, chassis etc I tend to double a car's mileage if there's evidence that it's been tracked. If it's also green then I'd probably knock 10% off the price too

For the record, my Chim hasn't been near a track and re-mapping actually causes the engine less stress as the ECU is tailored to the characteristics of your engine. As far as stressing drive train parts, these are all capable of handling in excess of the "real world" power the RV8 produces. Joolz at trackcar fitted Protech springs and adjustable dampers to my Chim and they have transformed the ride on our crappy roads. I thought the discount on green cars was 20% !.

My advice to someone looking to pay £16k for a 42k 8-9 year old Chim, would be to save a few £k more and look at a Tamora instead.

Edited by s5tvr on Friday 6th April 23:54

[simonb9]

Having just bought a 98 500 with 42K miles on the clock for 10K I would say that that is a lot of money !! You may well get a years warranty with it but so what ?? Everybody says how bombproof the engines are so what else can go wrong ?? Some ancillaries or a good service maybe ?? I think you'd get a lot of change still from the 5-6 grand extra you will be paying !! I'll admit that it might be in a 'little' bit of a better condition than mine but what I've got to do to mine is a bit of hard graft rather than spend lots of money on it. I've just spent 3-4 days sorting out the outriggers for piece of mind, sh*t job but now they are in a condition that i'm happy with and it cost me 60-70 quid. I've got 5 grands worth of receipts over the last two years - brand new set of tyres, new discs/pads all round, new calipers up front, new shocks and springs up front, new front upper wishbones, new lower rear wishbones, new rad, etc, etc, etc., FSH from Dream machines.

Yes it is Cooper green ( I colour which I was trying to avoid to be honest !!) but I've got a car that represented value for money and the work I've got to do is elbow grease rather than expenditure. Its true what has been said already, try to find the right car rather than colour combinations, engine size, etc.

Personal thing but I just don't think you get value for money from a dealer, come to sell it in 2/3years time (or whenever) and you've got to put it up at the same price as the other private sales and you've lost loads........

[jdharris]

Thanks for all the advice guys - I bought it in the end and got what I consider to be a good deal. I pick it up this Saturday all being well. I won't say how much I paid because I know Drew or one of the others from Fernies will be lurking in here somewhere...

I see where you are coming from with your advice but that's your opinion based on your situation. My situation is more than likely very different. I just didn't want green and don't feel that I compromised on the car for the right colour - though I may have paid more because of it. Some people find colour to be an important factor and I'm one of them (though I wouldn't say that is at the expense of condition).

If you reckon the warranty is worth around £1K then I got an even better deal and considering the prep that Fernies are doing I reckon I'm quids in. I'm afraid I just don't have the time to do the work myself, nor search for a car privately and travel the country, nor privately sell the car that I traded in... So the extra I paid was for the service that Fernies provided - which was second to none! What I've paid for in the end amounts to convenience and I chose to do this because of my lifestyle - nothing more...

I know for a fact that when it comes to doing work on the car it will be straight back to Fernies, which again is for convenience and I'll probably pay a bit more for that too.

Anyway, maybe see you at Rockingham and we can pass opinion on green vs. blue (blue being fastest obviously)

Cheers,
James

[simonb9]

Congratulations on your purchase !! You'll have a whale of a time !!

I called in to Fenhursts when I first starting looking around and can agree that they are great people, not pushy people just happy to give advice and let you have a look around and arrange test drives.

Enjoy the