Chim to Elise

[Belle427]

An opportunity has arisen where I may be able to purchase an Elise in the distant future, it’s a S2 Honda engined variant with around 220 bhp.
I just wondered has anyone made a similar switch and never looked back?
It’s a car I’ve always admired but the lack of power has put me off in the past.
The Honda engine maybe addresses some of these concerns, I see supercharged cars too but they don’t have much more power if any.
Any experience of the cars would be very helpful, the search brings up older threads related to k series cars but I’m not interested in those.
I mainly use the Tvr for B road blasts, no touring or holidays away etc.

[bobfather]

Belle427 said:

I mainly use the Tvr for B road blasts, no touring or holidays away etc.

I believe that the answer is in that statement. The Elise is far superior to the Chin on B roads. The only downside to Elise driving is the total lack of space both storage and personal.

[Belle427]

Yes the space is limited but this isn’t really an issue to me.

[nawarne]

bobfather said:

Belle427 said:

I mainly use the Tvr for B road blasts, no touring or holidays away etc.

I believe that the answer is in that statement. The Elise is far superior to the Chin on B roads. The only downside to Elise driving is the total lack of space both storage and personal.[/quote

I'd agree with Bob - I've driven a Mk.1 Elise - great fun to drive around the twisties….it should be at around 650Kg?

It'll never have the "all round" capabilities of a Chimaera. Lack of space, minimal seats and no matter what anyone says, the hood is (crap) not very good.

Great car for a hoon round the back roads or a track day, but it would never compare to a Chim for the jaunt through France to Spain.

Nick

[Chim450]

They are totally different concepts. The Chimaera is a Tourer, the Elise a go-kart. Now, if you want the best of both worlds you wouldn’t go far wrong with a Tamora.

[magpies]

Chim450 said:

They are totally different concepts. The Chimaera is a Tourer, the Elise a go-kart. Now, if you want the best of both worlds you wouldn’t go far wrong with a Tamora.

A TVR S V8 would be a better choice for an all rounder - and FAR cheaper than a Tam

(or a Jag AJ30 engined V6 S - 240 bhp - which is what I'm about to fit after seeing a couple of other so engines S's)

[Tony91]

I had a Griff then went to a VX220 Turbo stage 3 250bhp as you know they were built by lotus beside the elise, now back to a 450 Chim.
I prefer the chim I have now as the vx was uncomfortable to get in or out with the roof on and no passenger comforts it was pretty frantic to drive.
It was very quick but as said more like a go cart and you felt every bump in the road, but I am glad I had one for a couple of years but only as a fun car not something I would use every day.

[SILICONEKID 345HP 12.03]

I don't think the Toyota vvt has 220hp unless it's supercharged and it was the l

k series which have head gasket problems .

[Belle427]

Similar to this, it’s a Honda engine.
https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/...

[Frostiechim]

So a good friend of mine has an exige and we regularly do trips and days out with his car and mine (mainly B roads) (Chim 400).

The lotus is a great car, essentially a go-kart with quick acceleration. However, a very hard ride and and quite twitchy.

The Chim, IMO sounds better, looks better, cheaper to run (maintenance) and allows that switch from fast driving to relaxing cruise when ever it suits.

I've never been left in the dust by the lotus, but the lotus can stop a lot quicker.

I would like to have a Lotus at some point, but I wouldn't change my Chimaera for one. As a previous poster said I would probably go for a Tamora or a T350 instead.

[Belle427]

Frostiechim said:

So a good friend of mine has an exige and we regularly do trips and days out with his car and mine (mainly B roads) (Chim 400).

The lotus is a great car, essentially a go-kart with quick acceleration. However, a very hard ride and and quite twitchy.

The Chim, IMO sounds better, looks better, cheaper to run (maintenance) and allows that switch from fast driving to relaxing cruise when ever it suits.

I've never been left in the dust by the lotus, but the lotus can stop a lot quicker.

I would like to have a Lotus at some point, but I wouldn't change my Chimaera for one. As a previous poster said I would probably go for a Tamora or a T350 instead.

Sounds like they are probably a great track car but not for every day use.

[900T-R]

Belle427 said:

Sounds like they are probably a great track car but not for every day use.

Depends what your 'daily use' consists of. I've had the use of a boggo S2 for a week and came away thinking it'd be a great little commuter (except in cold/wet/icy conditions I'd imagine) but I would never trade my Chimaera for it as that feels far a more serious car and is the better road trip machine by a landslide.

I deeply love and admire both for what they are, though - but they are almost diametrically opposed as sports cars go: as others have noted, one is a proper go kart, good clean and relatively innocent fun; a car that you take by the scruff of the neck and sod the rather industrial noises of the drivetrain right behind you (you don't really notice anymore when you're properly in the 'Elise zone' anyway), the other more like a modern interpretation of an E-Type DHC, classic style & classic, rather beguiling and feelsome dynamics that you have to learn and dig into; in short the best '60s touring sports car that didn't get built until the '90s...

Edited by 900T-R on Tuesday 31st July 07:18

[SILICONEKID 345HP 12.03]

Belle427 said:

Similar to this, it’s a Honda engine.
https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/...

That's been modified ,home done conversion .

[Shnozz]

bobfather said:

Belle427 said:

I mainly use the Tvr for B road blasts, no touring or holidays away etc.

I believe that the answer is in that statement. The Elise is far superior to the Chin on B roads. The only downside to Elise driving is the total lack of space both storage and personal.

Although many years since I went from Chim to an Elise, I would agree with this statement. Its a scalpel v a sledgehammer in some ways. That said, the Honda Elises/Exiges move the game on insofar as they are genuinely rapid in a straight line as well as the twisties, plus you can bolt a SC on for a few grand and have a 300bhp beast that little on the road (or track) will be able to keep up with.

The Chim is a good, honest, brute of a GT car. Wonderful to lazily take in country roads or A roads of an evening. The Elise is a buzzy little wasp that can be thrapped around a tight twisty road like little else. The Honda cars only add to that IMO - unlike the Audi conversion cars that don't really suit the cars personality as much.

[phazed]

Only driven an Exige 240bhp on track, (brands Indy).

I promised the owner I would only do a few laps but came in after 30 minutes.What a car, what utterly faultless handling!

These cars leave our chims for dust on back roads although I would be the first to admit that they aren't relaxed cruisers.

The beauty of Elise/Exiges is that they make an average driver seem like a hero!

[ChimpOnGas]

900T-R said:

I would never trade my Chimaera as that feels far a more serious car and is the better road trip machine by a landslide, more like a modern interpretation of an E-Type DHC, classic style & classic, rather beguiling and feelsome dynamics that you have to learn and dig into; in short the best '60s touring sports car that didn't get built until the '90s...

Exactly, I've been saying this for years, no surprise really when you you look at the design. The Chimaera is very much a 1960's car under the skin, just one improved for the 1990's, to complete the experience it even demands a lot of the maintenance approach you must take with a traditional classic car.

So to compare an Elise with a Chimaera is really missing the point, indeed the mistake people often make is to compare and put the Chimaera head to head with its contemporaries such as Porsche Boxster, S2000 ec... again and even more so, this is missing the point. Even in period a TVR Chimaera was always a left field choice, people who bought a TVR from new were doing so because they were getting bored with the default Porsche choice and because they wanted to be seen as different, edgy even.

It's not until you start looking at the Chimaera for what it really is, an improved 1960's classic GT in the open British sports car theme and from the golden age of open British sports, that the car actually starts to make sense. To be honest if I purchased an E-type the first thing I would do with it is what most these days are doing with E-Types to make it a usable car on modern roads, that is:

• Fit better/more modern tyres
• Improve the brakes
• Improve the suspension
• Put the engine on fuel injection
• Fit electronic ignition
• Replace the four speed box with a BW T5 five speed
• Fit electric rad fans

So you take your nicely restored £120k E-Type Roadster and throw a further £20k at it to fit the above improvements, when you could just spend your £20k E-Type development budget on the very best TVR Chimaera out there, and of course every Chimaera comes with all the above improvements as standard anyway. For people who want that connected old school classic sports car experience but don't have the £80-£140k budget a 60's British GT will cost you these days, a nice Chimaera makes immense sense.

What a Chimaera isn't.... is a competitor for a Lotus Elise

[900T-R]

Shnozz said:

The Chim is a good, honest, brute of a GT car. Wonderful to lazily take in country roads or A roads of an evening. The Elise is a buzzy little wasp that can be thrapped around a tight twisty road like little else. The Honda cars only add to that IMO - unlike the Audi conversion cars that don't really suit the cars personality as much.

to all of that

[Zeb74]

phazed said:

Only driven an Exige 240bhp on track, (brands Indy).
I promised the owner I would only do a few laps but came in after 30 minutes.What a car, what utterly faultless handling!
These cars leave our chims for dust on back roads although I would be the first to admit that they aren't relaxed cruisers.
The beauty of Elise/Exiges is that they make an average driver seem like a hero!

You're totally right. I had also the opportunity to do some laps behind the wheel with an Elise of 192bhp, just after having done some laps with my Chimaera. It's a toy on the track! But, I'm not sure that I would appreciate it on the road or as a daily driver.
It's really a spartan car (if they had cars ). The best is to have both I guess .

[BarnfinderGeneral]

I've had a Griffith, an Elise and currently a Chimaera.
The Elise was never about power. I had the basic version and never felt short changed in that department. On the right road at the right time, I've not driven anything more pleasurable. The trouble was, the time and the place didn't occur often enough so I went back to TVR, which is a much more useable (and watertight) machine.

[Chim450]

BarnfinderGeneral said:

The trouble was, the time and the place didn't occur often enough so I went back to TVR, which is a much more useable (and watertight) machine.

Them Elises must really leak then!