Advice Sought

[rufus357]

I know there are lots of potential buyer's threads out there but I haven't found any answers to be particular questions so I hope you all can give me some advice.

I am after a Chim but am wary of the cost of ownership having come from a more modern car.

- Will I get a good condition Chim for 6.5 - 7k? I know it will be an early 4.0 without PAS but I want one that doesn't need anywork and will provide trouble free motoring (and yes I know that no cars are completely trouble free!).

- Which model / price will give the least depreciation over a couple of years? For example am I less likely to lose money on a £10k 450 than a £6.5k 400?

Thanks in advance for your thought!

[STE VR]

Hi Rufus, I was in exactly the same boat about 18months ago. I had a mk4 golf gti which was costing me a fair bit to run and insure and always wanted a TVR. I worked out as best i could how much a Chimaera was going to cost as i was going to run it everyday. In the end i just took the plunge and found a very nice 1995 4.0 with pas. It actually cost me £400 LESS to insure and the running costs are very similar. The likes of tyres, brakes, sevicing(which i do myself), are all less to buy than the golf. Depreciation is FAR less than the golf and the TVR runs absolute rings round the golf to own and drive. If you look at any car forums or reviews you will find horror stories for each and every one of them. i have ran the TVR in all weathers day in, day out and have had no problems at all.(apart from the one i'm having now which is down to me anyway).

Hope this helps in your decision

Steve

ps..the people on here are a huge fountain of knowledge and a great help which in itself can save you hundred of ££££'s

ETA..i meant if you look at any model of car you will see horror stories, not just TVR's..

Edited by STE VR on Thursday 27th March 12:15

[Chequred Demon]

I bought a 1996 Chimp costing 6.5K and the list of jobs to do is very long indeed.

I am doing a rolling restoraton and to make it a realy nice car will probably see me spending £5-8K on top of that over the next year or two. Getting the engine tuned and running well has cost over £2K already. I still have the interior including dash, carpets and half leather re-trim, then wheels, shocks, brakes, lights etc on my list of things to do. Obviously this will make it better than original, but I will not be getting my money back over and above the cost of an original Chimp of the same year. I have a diary of my experiences at http://tvrchimaera400.blogspot.com/

If you don't want to do any work I would reccomend you purchase the newest vehicle your budget allows for and start praying it doesn't go wrong.

[Zippee]

For 6.5-7k it is possible - either from a desperate seller or an early car. However, whilst there will be those on here who come along and say "I got the latest model for 2 grand therefore tahts what they're all worth etc..." you do need to be careful.
For every good one that is being sold cheap there will be a lot more dogs. A cheap TVR is often (though not always) cheap for a reason and you'll find many stories on the TVR pages of people who purchased a cheapie only to then have to spend a lot of cash getting it right again.
Buy on condition NOT price, one reason they may be sold cheap is because essential work (I don't mean routine servicing) hasn't been carried out.
With all TVRs (and performance cars) preventative maintenance is key so look out for cars that have had work carried out at service other than the normal scheduled bits & pieces. They are reliable as long as they are maintained correctly and service advices are acted upon on time.

[thegman]

its probably as reliable as any 13 year old car however it can be more expensive to fix because many indies won't or can't service these cars. personally i would budget at least 1500 a year in servicing and repairs

[phlap]

As Chim prices have come down a lot over the last couple of years, the price difference between a car needing a lot of work and a really nice example is not a lot.

I guess it depends on your expectations of the car as well as the budget. Personally Id save up another 2-3 grand and have a car that I am delighted with from day one. A mate who bought a cheap and cheerful Chim has a bit of a love / hate relationship with his as there is always something wrong with it. However, if you like to tinker and are happy to deal with a few issues and bills, there are some bargains out there. The important point is to be very sure what you are taking on. If your not sure, get it checked out. There have been plenty of posts on here relating to high priced 'mint' examples with chassis rot.

[rufus357]

Thanks guys - some really different opinions there! I guess its partly luck of the draw with the car that you get.

Whats the thoughts on depreciation? I find it hard to see how the 6.5k cars can get any cheaper for really a beautiful v8 sports cars. However do you think that the £10k 450's will hold it as well?

I was thinking of the Rob Ingleby "find me a car" service but he is based a in Lincoln which is the other end of the country from me and also £650 is a lot on a £6.5k car! Are there any other options based in the south east?

Thanks

[rufus357]

phlap said:

I guess it depends on your expectations of the car as well as the budget. Personally Id save up another 2-3 grand and have a car that I am delighted with from day one.

The initial outlay is not really problem - I would be happy to spend £10k if I thought I would get it back when I sold it - hence my questions about depreciation.

[Dave81]

I wanted a Chim for ages, and when i finally sold my old car started the hunt.....two weeks later and i found it(call it fate, as i expected it to take months). Buying on Condition is a definate yes!!!

Its a 94 4ltr without PAS pretty much standard (only lights are not original), immaculate paintwork, very good chassie, FTVRSH, Bought from a TVR Specialist........£7k. It is possible to find a gem....i believe i did!!

[Chequred Demon]

With the rising cost of fuel and the price of alternative second hand sports cars dropping rapidly, combined with the lack of manufacturer support, I suspect Chimaera prices have not bottomed out yet.

There seem to be an awful lot of Chimaeras for sale this year and in any market the forces of supply and demand will determine the price, especially of tatty examples, which I have seen for sale below the 4K mark. There have been several 94's for around 5K.

If I was to hazard a guess I think prices on average could well drop another 1-2K this year.

Why not buy a Griffith instead? Their prices seem to be holding up well?

[blueyonder]

rufus357 said:

Thanks guys - some really different opinions there! I guess its partly luck of the draw with the car that you get.

Whats the thoughts on depreciation? I find it hard to see how the 6.5k cars can get any cheaper for really a beautiful v8 sports cars. However do you think that the £10k 450's will hold it as well?

I was thinking of the Rob Ingleby "find me a car" service but he is based a in Lincoln which is the other end of the country from me and also £650 is a lot on a £6.5k car! Are there any other options based in the south east?

Thanks

When I bought my car just over a year ago the seller was in Chelmsford and it was suggested by someone on here to get Simon at Levens to inspect it as they are reasonably close in Basildon. They don't source cars but they will inspect the car you are thinking of buying (assuming the seller is in agreement - which mine was)....I think he charged £50 but as I asked them to do the service and the essential bits & pieces that needed doing, he waived the inspection fee! Top service and Julie even picked me up from Basildon station on a Saturday morning when I went to pick the car up

Buy on condition and keep some of your budget for any potential things that need doing immediatley. Good Luck

HTH

[rufus357]

Thanks for comments guys. And I know I am going to get flamed for this but once you get to 9k then there lots of other cars available that although very different, have some advantages over the Chim in terms of reliability and ease of use etc etc

I'm not even going to mention them in this forum

Hence the point really of whether you can get something good for 6.5-7k where the Chim really has no competition...

Al

[rufus357]

Ok then - I was thinking more boxster & s2000.

[Zippee]

rufus357 said:

Ok then - I was thinking more boxster & s2000.

Both of which are sloer than a Chim. As for a Boxster (ignoring the piss taking) you'll only get a 2.5 for that money which is SLOOOOOW!!!!.

[richy759]

rufus357 said:

Ok then - I was thinking more boxster & s2000.

Mates S2000 doesn't hold a candle to my Chim, put them next to each other and have a play in each and its easy to decide which is more desireable (for me anyhow).
Oh and as for reliability, he has had a new gearbox and new clutch and he's only had it for 9 months, plus his roof is splitting.

Rich

[Chimjunkie]

i know what you mean about s2000 and boxters. It's not just the pace, the cars need working hard to get speed out of them. I have a boxter at the mo whilst i get the Tiv back on the road and you really do have to be in the right gear if you want to go anywhere. There is no "sense of occasion" in these cars either. The Tiv is special! As for Chim/Griff prices, i recon they have bottomed out and will start to rise because they are generally a more safe option into TVR ownership than the newer cars. This will keep demand up. Also the total number on the road is reducing each year through write-offs. Good examples will fetch good money in the future IMO.

[Chequred Demon]

My mate had an S2000 and it was noisy as hell, the hood really rattled. It went back to the dealers 3 or 4 times to sort out miscellaneous electrical faults. He has sold it now for an M3 convertible, which at 1660Kg are heavy and the engine note is horrible.

I scared him to death when he came out in the Chimp, I don't think he thought it could possibly go round corners that fast he,he!

My wife has a TT and that is just boring, boring, boring, boring, boring and slow. The controls are mmmmmm I don't know how to explain it except to use the word "Tutonic" just kind of wooden and lacking in feel or feedback?

[anonymous-user]

Chequred Demon said:

I bought a 1996 Chimp costing 6.5K and the list of jobs to do is very long indeed.

I am doing a rolling restoraton and to make it a realy nice car will probably see me spending £5-8K on top of that over the next year or two. Getting the engine tuned and running well has cost over £2K already. I still have the interior including dash, carpets and half leather re-trim, then wheels, shocks, brakes, lights etc on my list of things to do. Obviously this will make it better than original, but I will not be getting my money back over and above the cost of an original Chimp of the same year. I have a diary of my experiences at http://tvrchimaera400.blogspot.com/

If you don't want to do any work I would reccomend you purchase the newest vehicle your budget allows for and start praying it doesn't go wrong.

I paid 7k for mine. Stacks of service history, great condition all round, just needs a little bit of tidying up. BUT, I had a slipped liner in the block a couple of months ago which is costing me several thousands to sort out. Now this is more unlucky than anything and could happen to anyone regardless of age, etc (see someone else's post 'Engine Troubles' or something, I'm not the only one). I think all of these cars are getting old now so you have to be prepared to spend some cash on them...................

[phlap]

rufus357 said:

Ok then - I was thinking more boxster & s2000.

I dont think you will get flamed
Both are very good cars, just a different sort of car. Both give you stuff the Tiv doesnt, but the Tiv just makes you feel so damn good when you drive it. Ive driven both, the S2000 plenty of times, and I just didnt get that special feeling.
There are not many 14 year old 7 grand cars which make small boys point and their dads nod approvingly. I wont even mention noise as this is one area that the Chim tramples all over the competition.

All 3 cars offer very different takes on the same question. However if you 'get' TVRs, there really isnt much else that will do.

.......Wishing £7K could have bought a Chim when I bought mine!

[Tappo]

I bought my '93 Chimaera last year for £6.7K. Mechanically & structurally sound.

I went down the Rob Ingleby route. I have never met the chap personally (even though he lives about an hour from me) though he did travel over pretty much most of the UK looking at cars on my behalf including the South East & South West, eventually finding mine in Cheltenham.

It does need a little work doing to it, such as carpets, otherwise it is a good motor. Took it in for a service last year to an Indie TVR garage & they were impressed with the condition, even more when I told them how much I had paid.

The best advice I was given was to buy with your head rather than your heart. It is not easy with TVR's, as they can look in fantastic condition on the surface, but a nightmare underneath the bodywork. Rob was invaluable as I did not have the depth of TVR knowledge & the £650 spent is a lot cheaper than a load of welding underneath.