PH Fleet: TVR Chimaera and Mazda MX-5
A rare moment when all of Garlick's fleet is in full working order...
The root of all evil/cooling issues
Fan boy
Back to Fernhurst it went, after all I had spent enough on cooling in 2012 to expect the issue to be resolved by them once and for all, and after having a chat with company owner Graham I was confident it would be resolved this time. I took the car to them early one morning and waited around to be kept up to date with progress. To their credit I was kept fully up to speed with regular calls to the car to see what was happening and Graham and I went out for a 25-mile drive to ensure the problem was solved after fixing. The cause of my cooling fan failure was the wiring harness to cooling fan connections and on my car, both connections were at fault. The cooling fans are fused and wired separately and over time, both the terminals had corroded which caused the bad connection. With new parts fitted I can be confident that my issues are over, and as a gesture of goodwill the work was carried out with no charge, including some other issues not related to cooling. Can't say fairer than that eh?
Underground car park now quite noisy
Meanwhile, back with the MX-5
Life in Mazda-land is also rosy and KMO has been used extensively without issue since we fixed the brakes a couple of months ago. Life with a Mk1 as a daily driver is relatively painless, aside from a lack of bootspace when I take the Mrs shopping, and the more I use the car the better it gets. The previous owner didn’t use the car often and with every mile I drive the gearbox becomes sweeter and the engine appears to be running smoother and punchier than ever too.
Mazda seems to be thriving on the miles
Fighting fit
Other work has involved getting the door speakers working on both sides and adding a front strut brace in an attempt to tighten the car up a little. So far the brace seems to have eradicated the scuttle-shake so apparent on our pot-holed roads and also stopped the dash from rattling so much. Steering feels more positive too, but it’s early days and I’m wondering if many of these improvements are in my head. More on this next time once I’ve had the chance to drive a few more miles.
Speaking of MX-5s we recently took a call in the office asking if we wanted a loan of a Mk2 MX-5 and naturally I was keen to have a go. Warranty chaps, and PH partners, Warranty Direct had noticed the Mk2 appeared regularly on their ‘most reliable’ list and their PR company bought a car to demonstrate this fact. Driving the silver Mk2 definitely highlighted a few things about my own car, in fact it made my car feel light, lithe and completely fit for purpose against the slightly softer, more comfortable Mk2. I must confess this car needed some attention with a vague steering feel, brakes that made the car pull to the left and a few other bits and pieces so maybe I wasn’t trying the best of examples (I also hear the Mk2.5 are the ones to have). Hopefully we’ll get the car back once these issues have been sorted and we can have another go as I'm sure i'll warm to the car when it drives correctly.
In the meantime I’ll enjoy being in the rare position of wondering which of my own cars to use now both are performing well. Roll on the summer.
Fact Sheet:
Car: 1999 TVR Chimaera 4.0
Run by: Garlick
Bought: December 2009
Purchase price: £12,995
Last month at a glance: Cooling, noisy, been to Fernhurst
Fact Sheet:
Car: 1997 Mazda MX-5 1.8is
Run by: Garlick
Bought: November 2012
Purchase price: £600
Last month at a glance: Working, fettling, driving
Previous reports:
Garlick gets on his bike after a double whammy of mechanical malady
Guess which of Paul's two roadsters is the unreliable one?
I bought it on a Saturday and drove to Abruzzo in Italy (1150 miles from Surrey) on the Thursday/Friday. With a total of 3,000 miles covered in about 10 days, many of those were hot days in the 30s, I could say that it proved very reliable. At one stage I was stuck in stop start traffic for 3 hours on an approach to a Swiss/Italian tunnel but the temp gauge remained low and constant.
Reading some other owners reports I guess I had a rogue one, one that always worked!
The Mk2.5 SVT is defiantly the way to go having driven a few different models. 6 Speed Gearbox, LSD, Strut Braces everywhere and Bilstein Suspension all as standard. Not to mention the extra few BHP makes for a cracking drive.
I will get myself to a Sunday Service one day and you can take it for a spin.
Duncan
If so were neighbours, well close....
The Mk2.5 SVT is defiantly the way to go having driven a few different models. 6 Speed Gearbox, LSD, Strut Braces everywhere and Bilstein Suspension all as standard. Not to mention the extra few BHP makes for a cracking drive.
I will get myself to a Sunday Service one day and you can take it for a spin.
Duncan
I've owned 5 of them from MK1 1600 through the MK2's and finally to MK2.5. The sweetest was the original 1600 with its eager, spinny little engine, skinny, slidey tyres and 'up for anything' vibe.
The MK2.5 appeared to be a natural progression from a MK2, it has a great sounding spec and, sure, it was a bit quicker, grippier (too grippy on its fat rubber), slightly stiffer, rolled less etc but somehow missed the mark by trying to take itself seriously. It made me try harder, tried to dupe me into believing I was in something purposeful and genuinely quick, which, of course, I wasn't, I was in an old MX5 and being focused and serious is not what they're about.
It makes sense that the PH Manager Bloke has one!
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