RE: TVR Chimaera: PH Buying Guide
Discussion
ou sont les biscuits said:
ianwayne said:
The Estoril wheels (flat 7 spoke) were standard on the Griffith 500 and then the Chimaera 500 models (with 5 litre engine). An added option on others. The standard 5 spoke are known as Imola wheels. The Estoril wheels fetch many £100s second hand so seem to be more desireable.
Quite a few owners replace the 15" front & 16" rear wheels with 16" / 17" combinations or even 18". Partially because a front 15" wheel looks a bit out of date. But also, as explained, it is very difficult if not impossible to get Z rated 15" tyres. The last Chimaeras (2002/03) had 16" wheels all round.
Mine (a '99 4.0) is on the Estoril 15" front and 16" rears. The car is, design wise, a bit old school, and it just looks right on those wheels and comparatively high aspect ratio tyres. I think they look awful fitted with enormous wheels and ultra low aspect ratio tyres. But, each to his own.Quite a few owners replace the 15" front & 16" rear wheels with 16" / 17" combinations or even 18". Partially because a front 15" wheel looks a bit out of date. But also, as explained, it is very difficult if not impossible to get Z rated 15" tyres. The last Chimaeras (2002/03) had 16" wheels all round.
I use Toyo Proxes 225/50/15 91V's on the front. OK, they aren't Z rated, but the theoretical top speed of the car is 152mph, so a tyre rated for 149mph continuous is going to be OK. That added to the fact that mine is a PAS car with the fast rack, so anything over about 120 and the car starts to feel a bit 'lively'. It is missing the chin spoiler off the front though, which supposedly makes a difference to high speed feel.
Pity I've just replaced my fronts with V rated ones.
Had my 400 for 6 years. Always wanted a TVR. Ideally a Cerb or T-car, but decided to go for (theoretically) cheaper Chim running costs. 900T-R has a spot-on description of the driving experience above. My non-PAS example wasn't particularly pointy, and had to be manhandled through tight corners, but was adjustable and very progressively tail-happy. In the dry you could use all of the throttle, most of the time.
Performance-wise I never found my 400 'slow'. Rebuilt by Str8Six to standard spec, it pulled like a 200+bhp/tonne car should. Up to around 100mph it didn't feel significantly less accelerative than the LS2-engined Monaro that I replaced it with. The noise was epic; I had the cats in place, but the TVR still set off car alarms in multi-storeys.
Mine lived outside for 6 years. It was (initially) watertight, but the hood stitching began to rot after a couple of winters, and the paint suffered bubbling through frost damage. If I had another I'd definitely garage it, certainly over the winter.
I've gone to the Dark Side and now have something built at Hethel, albeit with a Vauxhall badge and only half the correct amount of cylinders.
Squirrelofwoe: Glad you ended-up with a TVR rather than a Monaro. The HSV is great, but the TVR always feels more of an event.
ou sont les biscuits said:
Pity I've just replaced my fronts with V rated ones.
Snap 
I echo all of the comments that have been posted. When starting out looking to buy one it quickly became clear that they would all need outriggers doing at some point - I therefore decided to change tack and go for a cheaper car that I knew would need work doing and then I could make sure I was happy with what was done.
The only slight snag is that I'm missing it like crazy now that it's been at Neil Garner since mid-Dec having a full body off chassis restoration
Still, not too long till the chassis is finished having been fully galvanized and powder-coated. Just needs to be put back together then and I'll be back on the road in time for TVR's 70th birthday celebrations 
I genuinely wanted a Chimaera 450 last May, but opted for another Lotus instead. The reason I was dissuaded? I've had 8 non-fault accidents in my 11 years of driving, and even though all 8 have been at relatively slow speeds, the lack of crash protection in the Chimaera is scary. Side impacts result in being squished into the transmission tunnel and rolling the car is pretty ... err ... not fun. I guess I could have installed a roll cage, but still.
I want one and think they sound fantastic. I don't mind the theater of a car attempting to kill you, but I don't particularly want to die due to someone else's idiocy. An image of a crashed Chim on here put me right off.
I want one and think they sound fantastic. I don't mind the theater of a car attempting to kill you, but I don't particularly want to die due to someone else's idiocy. An image of a crashed Chim on here put me right off.
plfrench said:
8 non-faults in 11 years, that's some pretty bad luck.I get what you're saying but I guess you've got to take some risks in life otherwise you wouldn't leave the house!
TVRJAS said:
Little trip around the EVO Triangle.
With some of his mates.
EDITED:
I have a full blog of every £ spent in my 43 months ownership for those that are interested.(For those that already own one you might not want to look)
What did you think of the Evo Triangle? I did it last year and was severely disappointed as there were so many speed cameras and the roads weren't actually that good of quality. I guess I was expecting more considering how famous it is. With some of his mates.
EDITED:
I have a full blog of every £ spent in my 43 months ownership for those that are interested.(For those that already own one you might not want to look)
Edited by TVRJAS on Thursday 16th February 21:36
cib24 said:
What did you think of the Evo Triangle? I did it last year and was severely disappointed as there were so many speed cameras and the roads weren't actually that good of quality. I guess I was expecting more considering how famous it is.
Had a fantastic day,I was not the leading car and hadn't really got a clue where I was going or to be honest even where I was exactly. Our meeting place was Hagley (Lyttlelton arms pub) destination was Pensarn and came across quite a few hand held units which our convoy leader either spotted or it just happened we were being very well behaved at the time
Leaving Pensarn and heading back towards the EVO via the A55 was heavily armored so again drove to the conditions. In and around where those photo's were taken it was fantastic,and again being honest we were driving with full respect to the surrounds enjoying roof off,lovely weather and beautiful scenery.
I think the sheep and the cyclists were more of a hindrance/problem than the cameras. Defiantly will be doing a return visit.
Were you on your own? I don't think I would of enjoyed it as much if I was on my own but there was 6 of us and not being the leading car really helps. Even the A55 was fun because of the tunnels.
Edited by TVRJAS on Thursday 16th February 22:44
peteA said:
Loved my 400 - great car and the first of four TVR's - took my brother to Le Mans back in 2007, happy days!
A mates 400 is for sale at Hexham horseless carriages (purple one) and has all the 'recommended' mods - looks and sounds bloody lovely.
Great cars
That purple one looks bloody nice! A mates 400 is for sale at Hexham horseless carriages (purple one) and has all the 'recommended' mods - looks and sounds bloody lovely.
Great cars
Squirrelofwoe said:
TVRJAS said:
I was going to have that Lupo light conversion but have decided on going MK3 instead. Going to be done next week hopefully A900ss said:
Squirrelofwoe said:
TVRJAS said:
I was going to have that Lupo light conversion but have decided on going MK3 instead. Going to be done next week hopefully I've been all talk and no action on these lights for some time now,simply because I just couldn't make my mind up which route to take.
I was at one point defiantly,defiantly going the Lupo route.... Then defiantly going the Steve Edwards route,but have finally,finally decided on the Mk3
I made a visit a couple of weeks ago to whom I'm outworking the job to but the guy who installs them is on holiday. Not got a book in slot yet but he's back in on Monday so all being well should be done very soon.
Also having new roof rubber seals fitted and touched up with the Renovo kit and a boot chip sorted that was there when I bought the car.
Catch up with you soon Squirrelofwoe
I was at one point defiantly,defiantly going the Lupo route.... Then defiantly going the Steve Edwards route,but have finally,finally decided on the Mk3
I made a visit a couple of weeks ago to whom I'm outworking the job to but the guy who installs them is on holiday. Not got a book in slot yet but he's back in on Monday so all being well should be done very soon.
Also having new roof rubber seals fitted and touched up with the Renovo kit and a boot chip sorted that was there when I bought the car.
Catch up with you soon Squirrelofwoe
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