Tam, Chim or 450SEAC - which is tamer?
Discussion
in 1992 I ran a 390SE -pre-parenthood- which was reason it was sold, promising myself a Griffith when I could afford one. Fast forward several years to being in this situation; I test drove a couple of Griffs* (*the bestest looking TVR IMHO) only to find they had same feel and handling (and scuttle shake) as my long gone 390, a bit of a time-warp feel in not a good way.
In dismay I carried on looking, drove a Tuscan (scary handling/ bonkers dash) before trying a Tam, finding it so user friendly i bought it there and then. It handles superbly, grips well, no scuttle shake, pops and bangs on the overrun and I can see behind me when reversing. I also like its looks (though in fairness; ALL TVRs look great) Granted; the boot isnt as big as a Chim, but its a second car, not a removal van.
In terms of waiting for it to warm up; who doesn't do that with any car?
test drive all 3, let us know what you decide, this is after all; just my opinion, its purely subjective, you may like your steak well done, I don't!
In dismay I carried on looking, drove a Tuscan (scary handling/ bonkers dash) before trying a Tam, finding it so user friendly i bought it there and then. It handles superbly, grips well, no scuttle shake, pops and bangs on the overrun and I can see behind me when reversing. I also like its looks (though in fairness; ALL TVRs look great) Granted; the boot isnt as big as a Chim, but its a second car, not a removal van.
In terms of waiting for it to warm up; who doesn't do that with any car?
test drive all 3, let us know what you decide, this is after all; just my opinion, its purely subjective, you may like your steak well done, I don't!
Someone just credited a Tamora with have handling only second to a Sagaris.
Have to disagree
A Tamora is the best handling TVR out of the box in my experience.
You can modify the Sagaris to handle better and dial out some its tendency to safely understeer, but the Tam has the edge before the modifiers commence their work.
Have to disagree
A Tamora is the best handling TVR out of the box in my experience.
You can modify the Sagaris to handle better and dial out some its tendency to safely understeer, but the Tam has the edge before the modifiers commence their work.
Edited by anonymous-user on Tuesday 6th October 17:17
brownspeed said:
Never driven a sag, so didn't know that; the Tam is bloody nimble though innit?
Not necessarily.Rib on here set a blistering lap time at Curborough Sprint course in his old 4.3 chim. So good it was about 0.2 seconds quicker than my 5.5 chim.
He then sold it and bought a tamora , (okay it did have an LS3 engine in it). The moral of the story is that day, he couldn’t beat our times previously set.
Some say he needed more practice in it but I like to think that the tam isn’t that much better then a well set up chim.
Edited by phazed on Wednesday 7th October 09:31
The difference is you would have to mod a Chim with better brakes etc to achieve what your saying Peter.
Surely the Tam comes like that out the box so to speak.
As for which is Tamer, with the right mods the Chim/Griff would easily win this surely. With a reasonable cam and decent ecu tuning they can be a glorious pussy cat around town and fantastic grand tourer/ torque converter
This is a lot of fun at the average road speed these days, the old engine lends itself to these rather shorter blasts, who accelerates for more than a few seconds at a time on public roads, this is where the RV8 torque excels and still grabs your attention without having to hit high revs to experience.
It’s also very happy rumbling along at 3000/4000 revs all day..
Surely the Tam comes like that out the box so to speak.
As for which is Tamer, with the right mods the Chim/Griff would easily win this surely. With a reasonable cam and decent ecu tuning they can be a glorious pussy cat around town and fantastic grand tourer/ torque converter
This is a lot of fun at the average road speed these days, the old engine lends itself to these rather shorter blasts, who accelerates for more than a few seconds at a time on public roads, this is where the RV8 torque excels and still grabs your attention without having to hit high revs to experience.
It’s also very happy rumbling along at 3000/4000 revs all day..
GreenV8S said:
I wouldn't read too much into Curborough times - it's full of slow speed corners which are extremely smooth. Typical public roads would show up different handling characteristics.
I agree out to a point but you still have to get around those corners which are mostly very fast second gear or third gear corners as fast as possible.I used to lose time squirting out of the corners at maximum attack with the tyres smoking. Not the quickest way round but a lot of fun.
Back on subjects. I would go for as late a chim as you can with a 4.6 engine. They often come up. The 4.6 engine certainly in the case of my old car was very free revving and had plenty of go. Alternatively, it was happy to burble around at 1500 rpm.
No desire to upset but.....There are still folk that proport to be experts with car set-up that don’t understand that a car can have too much power for the chassis, brakes, suspension and tyres. They just keep pushing the power threashold.
You don’t need an LS engine in a Tamora to be quicker than a modified Chimera on a short sprint, you just need an appropriately set up standard car with a driver that understands the limits of what hes driving.
The OP didn’t ask what was the fastest modified car on a micky mouse midlands sprint circuit.
He said .....I'm not interested in speed, I just want something that looks, sounds and drives great without a roof for those sunny Sunday afternoons.
Why is it sprinting and heavily modified cars are relevant to his question when the answer is it’s whatever floats your boat and your tolerance levels?
You don’t need an LS engine in a Tamora to be quicker than a modified Chimera on a short sprint, you just need an appropriately set up standard car with a driver that understands the limits of what hes driving.
The OP didn’t ask what was the fastest modified car on a micky mouse midlands sprint circuit.
He said .....I'm not interested in speed, I just want something that looks, sounds and drives great without a roof for those sunny Sunday afternoons.
Why is it sprinting and heavily modified cars are relevant to his question when the answer is it’s whatever floats your boat and your tolerance levels?
Edited by anonymous-user on Wednesday 7th October 20:10
Not that I'm biassed or anything, but depending on your driving and styling preferences you might consider trying a V8S. That ticks the boxes for the V8 burble and a convertible roof. I think it's fair to say they offer a better ride/handling compromise than the wedge, and are a bit more chuckable than the later models. They aren't the fastest TVR money can buy as standard, but that doesn't seem to be the priority here.
Pacman1972 said:
After 5 years or so, and kids now grown up, I find myself yearning after a TVR again.
I have found three perfect examples, low mileage with perfect chassis. A 03 Tamora, 99 Chimaera 450 and a 89 450 SEAC. All stunning but in different ways.
Previously I've had a 99 Chimaera 500 and an 04 Tuscan. If I'm honest, I found the Chimaera a much more enjoyable car to drive. It was more chilled and brought a smile to my face on every occasion. With the Tuscan, when my ears stopped bleeding, I was just grateful to get out the other end in one piece. It was beautiful, it was exciting but just so much more twitchy, I never relaxed into it.
I'm not interested in speed, I just want something that looks, sounds and drives great without a roof for those sunny Sunday afternoons.
The lack of side impact protection on the Chimaera does bother me, which is a +1 for the Tamora, but I prefer the sound of the RV8.
My question is, is the Tamora as agressive and twitchy as a Tuscan or more like the Chim/Griff it supposedly replaced?
As for 450 SEAC, I assume it is similar to the Chimaera?
As you can tell, my mind is scrambled and confused on the topic. Analysis has led to paralysis.
I welcome any words of wisdom
The Tamora does not have any valid side impact protection. I have found three perfect examples, low mileage with perfect chassis. A 03 Tamora, 99 Chimaera 450 and a 89 450 SEAC. All stunning but in different ways.
Previously I've had a 99 Chimaera 500 and an 04 Tuscan. If I'm honest, I found the Chimaera a much more enjoyable car to drive. It was more chilled and brought a smile to my face on every occasion. With the Tuscan, when my ears stopped bleeding, I was just grateful to get out the other end in one piece. It was beautiful, it was exciting but just so much more twitchy, I never relaxed into it.
I'm not interested in speed, I just want something that looks, sounds and drives great without a roof for those sunny Sunday afternoons.
The lack of side impact protection on the Chimaera does bother me, which is a +1 for the Tamora, but I prefer the sound of the RV8.
My question is, is the Tamora as agressive and twitchy as a Tuscan or more like the Chim/Griff it supposedly replaced?
As for 450 SEAC, I assume it is similar to the Chimaera?
As you can tell, my mind is scrambled and confused on the topic. Analysis has led to paralysis.
I welcome any words of wisdom
Edited by Pacman1972 on Monday 5th October 13:57
Edited by Pacman1972 on Monday 5th October 13:57
Safety and handling was pretty much why I chose something slightly different.
m4tti said:
Pacman1972 said:
After 5 years or so, and kids now grown up, I find myself yearning after a TVR again.
I have found three perfect examples, low mileage with perfect chassis. A 03 Tamora, 99 Chimaera 450 and a 89 450 SEAC. All stunning but in different ways.
Previously I've had a 99 Chimaera 500 and an 04 Tuscan. If I'm honest, I found the Chimaera a much more enjoyable car to drive. It was more chilled and brought a smile to my face on every occasion. With the Tuscan, when my ears stopped bleeding, I was just grateful to get out the other end in one piece. It was beautiful, it was exciting but just so much more twitchy, I never relaxed into it.
I'm not interested in speed, I just want something that looks, sounds and drives great without a roof for those sunny Sunday afternoons.
The lack of side impact protection on the Chimaera does bother me, which is a +1 for the Tamora, but I prefer the sound of the RV8.
My question is, is the Tamora as agressive and twitchy as a Tuscan or more like the Chim/Griff it supposedly replaced?
As for 450 SEAC, I assume it is similar to the Chimaera?
As you can tell, my mind is scrambled and confused on the topic. Analysis has led to paralysis.
I welcome any words of wisdom
The Tamora does not have any valid side impact protection. I have found three perfect examples, low mileage with perfect chassis. A 03 Tamora, 99 Chimaera 450 and a 89 450 SEAC. All stunning but in different ways.
Previously I've had a 99 Chimaera 500 and an 04 Tuscan. If I'm honest, I found the Chimaera a much more enjoyable car to drive. It was more chilled and brought a smile to my face on every occasion. With the Tuscan, when my ears stopped bleeding, I was just grateful to get out the other end in one piece. It was beautiful, it was exciting but just so much more twitchy, I never relaxed into it.
I'm not interested in speed, I just want something that looks, sounds and drives great without a roof for those sunny Sunday afternoons.
The lack of side impact protection on the Chimaera does bother me, which is a +1 for the Tamora, but I prefer the sound of the RV8.
My question is, is the Tamora as agressive and twitchy as a Tuscan or more like the Chim/Griff it supposedly replaced?
As for 450 SEAC, I assume it is similar to the Chimaera?
As you can tell, my mind is scrambled and confused on the topic. Analysis has led to paralysis.
I welcome any words of wisdom
Edited by Pacman1972 on Monday 5th October 13:57
Edited by Pacman1972 on Monday 5th October 13:57
What car door has any decent side impact protection as half of it is glass! Don’t start posting pictures of Volvo’s either
It won’t help very much if it has.
Is a paper thin tin door any better in reality.
I think the truth is your pretty f
ked in any side impact in any car frankly.
Jesus it’s like choosing a motorbike with four wheels cos you might fall off with two.
It won’t help very much if it has.
Is a paper thin tin door any better in reality.
I think the truth is your pretty f
ked in any side impact in any car frankly. Jesus it’s like choosing a motorbike with four wheels cos you might fall off with two.
Thanks for all the input here folks. Lots of great advice.
Can't say I'm any closer to knowing which one to go for, but I do now feel I have a better understanding of them all.
My goal is to test drive them all next week. So fingers crossed, I'll have one of the three within a couple of weeks
Can't say I'm any closer to knowing which one to go for, but I do now feel I have a better understanding of them all.
My goal is to test drive them all next week. So fingers crossed, I'll have one of the three within a couple of weeks
C350Akra said:
First question is surely V8 or S6?
Having answered that you are part way there. Personally I would only consider the 450SEAC, but, it would not be used for anything but track days and fun drives.
They are sound amazing. On balance I felt the V8 felt softer and more relaxed, which suits me perfectly. I'm not ruling out the S6, but I guess it's worth having the finger followers checked out before purchase.Having answered that you are part way there. Personally I would only consider the 450SEAC, but, it would not be used for anything but track days and fun drives.
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