2000 TVR Chimaera 450 review from UK and Ireland

Passenger seatbelt stopped retracting

Small oil leak from nearside rocker cover. Both sorted first time and without argument by the dealer under warranty.

To be quite honest, judged in the context of what its supposed to do, this car is very hard to fault.

The 4.5 V8 delivers enough grunt off the line to waste pretty much anything else on four wheels. As for the noise, if it doesn't make you grin like an idiot, you'd better check for a pulse. The classic, bassy V8 woofle at low revs, the purposeful growl in the midrange and the beautiful, mournful wail up top are first class. Amazing to think this engine started life as a cast off from Buick nearly half a century ago. Given some British engineering know-how, it manages to show most modern eco-silenced sewing machines just how it should be done.

Performance is staggering, with the kind of instant clout and throttle response at any engine speed that only a gently tuned big cube motor in a light (1000kg) car can deliver. It eats Boxster S's for breakfast, and M Roadsters for dessert.

Handling is fantastic, in the dry at least. You can honestly grab it by the scruff of the neck and chuck it about like an MX-5 (a car I really like by the way) and it won't bite you providing you respect the basic rules of lots of power and RWD. In the wet it's much less forgiving, but who drives 280 bhp V8 soft tops in the wet? I like the fact it has no electronic aids, but ABS would be nice on the grounds that you never intentionally lock wheels on the road, and therefore it only interferes when things have started to go wrong. Its omission is something I personally disagree with.

Reliability good so far. Starts "on the key" and the interior seems beautifully constructed. Amazingly comfortable too with supportive seats and a very natural driving position. The dash cocoons you nicely and offers the traditional magnolia hide, walnut veneer and plethora of dials that are de rigeur for a proper British sports car. Way, way better built than my previous Elise. Running costs are OK too - returns 18-25 mpg average which ain't bad for 0-60 in 4.6 seconds and 170 mph. Easily insurable at 29 with full NCB.

What I love most though is it's not some mass produced, efficient, clinical box which was spat out of a sausage machine in Germany, but a handbuilt, slightly rough around the edges driving machine handbuilt by craftsmen in Blackpool, in good old Blighty. Get a good one of these, and you'll never fall in love with a mass produced car again. Ask yourself this. How many cars today can bring a crowded High Street to a halt with a simple blip of the throttle?