First few days of ownership - thoughts and a few questions!
Discussion
Sitting with a good glass of vin-rouge, thought I'd share initial thoughts after my first few days of Chimaera ownership, hope that's not horribly self indulgent!
First things first the car; I'd posted a few things on here prior to buying so it may be familiar. Long story short I bought the 500 Taraka that had been advertised for a while, it really caught my eye but the colour (Crystal Verde) seemed divisive. I saw the car twice, second time at the superb open day at Topcats Racing where we had her up on a ramp and all was in order. A deal was done and my son and I traveled up to Beds on Saturday to collect her.
So what ensued was a true TVR Baptism of fire! Cruising home we stopped for a break on the M40 and alarm bells rang when the car wouldn't start; called the ever helpful Warren at Topcats who guided me and eventually she did start, phew! Ten minutes later the car starts to falter and we end up on the hard shoulder for nearly 2 hours; thankfully my son (3 years old) thought it was a big adventure! RAC got us home and diagnosed dead alternator that had somehow taken the 100A fuse and fuel pump relay with it! Got the car down to the garage today on a slave battery and they found the battery was also shagged so now we're back on the road, albeit with some niggles to be sorted.
Anyway, first thought is how refreshing TVR's are; I've driven the length and breadth of the country and seen nothing but mind-numbingly dull Euroboxes, rarely anything even remotely interesting. Modern Ferrari's and 911's are technically outstanding but leave me cold and M3's, M4's, AMG's, S5's etc etc are so ubiquitous that they barely turn my head and aside from AMG's sound pretty anodyne. To drive something technically pretty basic but that has such innate charm and character feels like some sort of public service! I come across guys posturing in M-cars, hot-hatches, you name it, and I just have this great sense of calm satisfaction knowing that I have nothing at all to prove, I just burble along :-) TVR's seem to imbue great warmth and good-will from all sorts of people, mums at nursery, garage staff, kids, you name it, there's a lot of love for these Blackpool curiosities.
I'm still getting to grips with the driving experience but needless to say 300bhp/ton is plenty! What's surprised me is that I'll think I'm reaching the limiter and I'll be well below 4k rpm, the engine is so raucous and it's barely into it's stride, I need to re-adjust :-). That said progress is still amply swift and there's satisfaction to be had in a car that just pulls and pulls whatever the revs.
Shunting is obviously something to adjust to and I'm curious, does it usually come with a mechanical 'knock' as well as the juddering? And another question, what rev's are folks seeing at 70mph, I was surprised at how high the revs were, it felt like it was waiting for a 6th gear? The bouncy rev needle takes some getting used to as do the various knocks and rattles but I figure that's all part of the experience.
Another early observation is how friendly, helpful and supportive the TVR community is, from the chap in a Tuscan who stopped on the hard shoulder to see I was ok, to the invitations to owners groups and events, everybody seems warm and welcoming and I can't wait to get along to some meets and events.
So, next steps; lots of driving! Get over that initial hiccup and enjoy the car as much as possible, I'm a true believer in cars being used regularly so that's what I'll do. The car goes back to Topcats in a couple of weeks to sort some niggles then I'm hoping for some plain sailing into the New Year. I see a lot of owners hibernate their cars over Winter but I love a top-down drive on a crisp winters day, is that advised against given the potential for salty roads or will a hose-down afterwards remedy that?
So there we are, early thoughts downloaded, here's to TVR ownership and all it entails!
First things first the car; I'd posted a few things on here prior to buying so it may be familiar. Long story short I bought the 500 Taraka that had been advertised for a while, it really caught my eye but the colour (Crystal Verde) seemed divisive. I saw the car twice, second time at the superb open day at Topcats Racing where we had her up on a ramp and all was in order. A deal was done and my son and I traveled up to Beds on Saturday to collect her.
So what ensued was a true TVR Baptism of fire! Cruising home we stopped for a break on the M40 and alarm bells rang when the car wouldn't start; called the ever helpful Warren at Topcats who guided me and eventually she did start, phew! Ten minutes later the car starts to falter and we end up on the hard shoulder for nearly 2 hours; thankfully my son (3 years old) thought it was a big adventure! RAC got us home and diagnosed dead alternator that had somehow taken the 100A fuse and fuel pump relay with it! Got the car down to the garage today on a slave battery and they found the battery was also shagged so now we're back on the road, albeit with some niggles to be sorted.
Anyway, first thought is how refreshing TVR's are; I've driven the length and breadth of the country and seen nothing but mind-numbingly dull Euroboxes, rarely anything even remotely interesting. Modern Ferrari's and 911's are technically outstanding but leave me cold and M3's, M4's, AMG's, S5's etc etc are so ubiquitous that they barely turn my head and aside from AMG's sound pretty anodyne. To drive something technically pretty basic but that has such innate charm and character feels like some sort of public service! I come across guys posturing in M-cars, hot-hatches, you name it, and I just have this great sense of calm satisfaction knowing that I have nothing at all to prove, I just burble along :-) TVR's seem to imbue great warmth and good-will from all sorts of people, mums at nursery, garage staff, kids, you name it, there's a lot of love for these Blackpool curiosities.
I'm still getting to grips with the driving experience but needless to say 300bhp/ton is plenty! What's surprised me is that I'll think I'm reaching the limiter and I'll be well below 4k rpm, the engine is so raucous and it's barely into it's stride, I need to re-adjust :-). That said progress is still amply swift and there's satisfaction to be had in a car that just pulls and pulls whatever the revs.
Shunting is obviously something to adjust to and I'm curious, does it usually come with a mechanical 'knock' as well as the juddering? And another question, what rev's are folks seeing at 70mph, I was surprised at how high the revs were, it felt like it was waiting for a 6th gear? The bouncy rev needle takes some getting used to as do the various knocks and rattles but I figure that's all part of the experience.
Another early observation is how friendly, helpful and supportive the TVR community is, from the chap in a Tuscan who stopped on the hard shoulder to see I was ok, to the invitations to owners groups and events, everybody seems warm and welcoming and I can't wait to get along to some meets and events.
So, next steps; lots of driving! Get over that initial hiccup and enjoy the car as much as possible, I'm a true believer in cars being used regularly so that's what I'll do. The car goes back to Topcats in a couple of weeks to sort some niggles then I'm hoping for some plain sailing into the New Year. I see a lot of owners hibernate their cars over Winter but I love a top-down drive on a crisp winters day, is that advised against given the potential for salty roads or will a hose-down afterwards remedy that?
So there we are, early thoughts downloaded, here's to TVR ownership and all it entails!
Most of the niggles will be electrical but they can be virtually eliminated to make it an even better car.
Im not sure if your 100 Amp fuse is in the same place as mine (under car on chassis) but i plan to move mine up into the engine bay.
At least its easy to check/change then and the modification is not difficult.
The battery to boot move is also a good mod as access to the existing one is a nightmare, a bit more work here but once done makes life a lot easier.
Im not sure if your 100 Amp fuse is in the same place as mine (under car on chassis) but i plan to move mine up into the engine bay.
At least its easy to check/change then and the modification is not difficult.
The battery to boot move is also a good mod as access to the existing one is a nightmare, a bit more work here but once done makes life a lot easier.
Welcome to TV of ownership.
It can sometimes be a bit of a rollercoaster ride but when things are good, they are very good.
I see you are in Surrey, as am I. If you need any first-hand pointers orneed to have a look at the underside at any time, (I have a two post lift) let me know.
In fact, call in sometime for a cup of tea and a chat and I will let you know all the good, (and bad) things about these cars.
As for your breakdown, you will probably find that it was no more than the 100 amp fuse although your battery may well be old and on the way out.
It can sometimes be a bit of a rollercoaster ride but when things are good, they are very good.
I see you are in Surrey, as am I. If you need any first-hand pointers orneed to have a look at the underside at any time, (I have a two post lift) let me know.
In fact, call in sometime for a cup of tea and a chat and I will let you know all the good, (and bad) things about these cars.
As for your breakdown, you will probably find that it was no more than the 100 amp fuse although your battery may well be old and on the way out.
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