Buying a Cerbera

[chilli]

Wondered if anyone could advise......Have around £20k to buy a car, and in love with the "Cerbie". Seen a few, and driven 1 (all for 10 mins, as my left leg began to ache!)I've heard a few too many horror stories regarding reliability, and could ill-afford to spend thousands a year on repairs. I was wondering if I could get a TVR specialist/dealer to inspect, and perhaps get some kinda warranty on the back of that.
Appreciate that a Berbie osn't the car to run on a limited budget, and have bee advised by everyone NOT to get one....But I'm gonna get one!
ps - Love the site, and enjoying the comments.

[joospeed]

Take the advice. don't get one .

If you even think you can get away without spending money you're in for a rude awakening.

Why some people persist in trying to run these cars on no money is beyond me ..

BUY A CHIMAERA 500

[RUSSELLM]

Alternatively, there's some old one's around for 15k, that give's you 5k to keep it on the road for a year.

Sell it next year for 14k & you've spent 6k.

Or buy a new vectra & lose 7k in depreciation.

Supercar v vectra

[Gerrard]

real cheap one here...

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=2486749215

[tonyhetherington]

I'm in a similar sort of area to you at the moment - trying to buy a cerb, but my budget is around 23k. You can get a nice car for that (approx 98 4.5 with 20-30k).

I dont think 20k is an unreasonable budget, but you may be better off getting yourself a 4.2 and getting a slightly newer/less mileage car rather than a 4.5 which, of course, won't see your money go as far.

I think joospeed was a little harsh. You should definately be made aware to budget for it to cost alot to run, though. There are a couple of dealers who may have early 4.2 cars for around that price that would then come with some sort of warranty, but you may have to buy in the winter (prices do change quite a bit).

I have been looking for a 4.5 for over a year now (it's me being picky, not through bad choice of cars) and have learnt a bit (not alot, just a bit) about buying Cerbs, though I don't actually have one yet. If you need any more advice on specific questions, I'm happy to help if I can.

As a suggestion I saw a couple of nice cars on PH ads this morning that may be of interest to you....

www.pistonheads.com/sales/detail.asp?i=27360&s=6

nice 4.5 here www.pistonheads.com/sales/detail.asp?i=19858&s=6

really nice 4.5 for your budget here (in fact I may go take a look at this one myself)
www.pistonheads.com/sales/detail.asp?i=27215&s=6

nice 4.2
www.pistonheads.com/sales/detail.asp?i=26831&s=6

£15k 4.2 due to minor scuffs and scratches
www.pistonheads.com/sales/detail.asp?i=26702&s=6

nice 4.2
www.pistonheads.com/sales/detail.asp?i=26600&s=6

It really does depend on what colour you want, how you're going to use your car etc. Each Cerbera is completely different (even two identical ones.....bit of a Murray-ism there, but you know what I mean) so the only tip I can give you is to get looking!!

Do be prepared for sadness though, and realise it won't all be a dream - there will be hard times, but typically these will be few and far between, and hopefully as cheap as possible!!

Hope I've been of some help, and if anyone who actually OWNS a cerbera could comment, I'm sure it will be of use.

Tony

[whatever]

tonyhetherington said:

I think joospeed was a little harsh.

I don't I've you haven't got a few thou to chuck around then, imho, it's too big a risk, even with a warranty (at the sort of age we're considering here).

[tonyhetherington]

I agree that the running costs will be high (see in my post above) but that does NOT mean don't buy one for £20k and get a Chim instead!

I'm intending to buy a 20-30k mile 4.5, am doing as much as I can to make sure I get a good one, but still am budgeting high running costs - hopefully this is what I got across in my post above.

Don't NOT buy one at that price, just make sure if you do you are prepared for POSSIBLE very high running costs.

[tonyhetherington]

I'm re-reading these posts again and I do think we're all trying to say the same thing - I just think our conclusions were different.

Joospeeds = don't buy one on low budget

Mine = if you do buy on low budget, allow for high running costs.

[chilli]

Thanks all.... I hear what you're saying... I have been looking for a Cerb 4.2 on a P or R reg...Seen a few nice ones, but not the exact one I'd like (If I ever find it!) Have budgeted for SOME expense obviously, but have read people spending £10k+ on repairs, and this sort of money would kill me (If that didn't the girlfriend would)

[SGirl]

Yep, agree with Joolz here. You might be lucky and get a car that only needs its service every now and again and nothing else will go wrong. Or you might end up with one requiring £8000-worth of repairs in the first year.

Best not to try to run a Cerb on a tight budget. If you're one of the lucky ones, then great! But is it really worth, say, losing your home for if it all goes pear-shaped?

You'd prefer a Griff 500 anyway. Honest.

>> Edited by SGirl on Tuesday 10th August 10:44

[t350c]

My experience of owning a cerb for 3 and a half years was painful but i loved the car to bits. I believe that buying a cerb is a lottery; some will get by and give no problems at all besides servicing and others will always be a pain in the arse (mine!).

I bought it new and during that time (all 15,000 mainly careful miles) to name a few needed a clutch, two visits back to its maker once to sort out rubbish paint and interior and the other time for an engine fault that mysteriously appeared following a service and the dealer couldnt fix, starter motor, discs, imobiliser, and a pair of shocks after the shaft of one of them broke! There were lots of other little things which I can't remember probarbly because the warranty picked most of them up fortunately.

I have also owned two chimaeras which gave me no problems and a t350c which i have had since january last year and so far has proved to be a well sorted car (i got lucky!).

[joospeed]

chilli said:

I've heard a few too many horror stories regarding reliability, and could ill-afford to spend thousands a year on repairs. Appreciate that a Berbie osn't the car to run on a limited budget, and have bee advised by everyone NOT to get one....But I'm gonna get one! .

This was the bits of the original post that suggest to me attempting to runa cerbera without access to the appropriate funds .. a recipe for disaster in my opinion ..

my advice is : if you can't afford the repairs, don't buy. It's not really being harsh, it's common sense ..

how many times have we seen it on PH where people have had major expense and then sold the car? .. and it's always the cars rubn on *a budget* that have the worst problems, the owners tend to let things break before they get them fixed .. preventative maintenance is everything on the cerbera ..

like I said you *have* to expect 3k a year costs, if you end up spending less then count yourself lucky .. but chances are yuo *will* have some major expense at some point during the ownership of the car.

hope that clears things up a bit .. Istill reckon most *budget* cerbera owners would be better off with a fast chim or griff, or scooby if you need four seats ..

[TimW]

joospeed said:

or scooby if you need four seats ..

i dont think i know anyone who has brought a cerb cos of the 4 seats

[Chilli]

Points noted, many thanks. Could handle £3k a year, just need to make sure its not £10k! Would sleep easier knowing I had a kinda warranty to fall back on, even if it was bought from a private seller. Do Dealers/TVR offer warranties on older cars?

[SGirl]

TimW said:

joospeed said: or scooby if you need four seats .. i dont think i know anyone who has brought a cerb cos of the 4 seats

Er... Anyone with children?? We certainly bought ours because of the four seats..

[trooper1212]

joospeed said:

how many times have we seen it on PH where people have had major expense and then sold the car? .. and it's always the cars rubn on *a budget* that have the worst problems, the owners tend to let things break before they get them fixed .. preventative maintenance is everything on the cerbera ..

...and even then it's no insurance. Mine hasn't been the most reliable of Cerbs and i've not scrimpted over the past year!

[Tyre Smoke]

SGirl said:

TimW said: joospeed said: or scooby if you need four seats .. i dont think i know anyone who has brought a cerb cos of the 4 seats Er... Anyone with children?? We certainly bought ours because of the four seats..

And me! I only sold the Chim and bought a cerb because I needed 4 seats and it had to be a TVR. As it happens, it was an inspired choice and I don't miss taking the roof off at all. Then there's the power, oooooooh the power!

[Rappa]

Tyre Smoke said:

SGirl said: TimW said: joospeed said: or scooby if you need four seats .. i dont think i know anyone who has brought a cerb cos of the 4 seats Er... Anyone with children?? We certainly bought ours because of the four seats.. And me! I only sold the Chim and bought a cerb because I needed 4 seats and it had to be a TVR. As it happens, it was an inspired choice and I don't miss taking the roof off at all. Then there's the power, oooooooh the power!

Ditto, my boys 4 and 2 love it, I couldn't get them both in my Chim.

[suffolkfox]

Me too, 10 & 11 year old, never intended to buy TVR, just filtered available cars based my own criteria of style, speed, individuality and practicality (Oy, stop laughing in the back) and Cerb was it.

However, back to the thread, two full services, knackered shocks & brakes and other odds & sods all upgraded add up to about £5,000 over the last 16 months, with another £2,000 over the next couple of months for new cams, work on the exhaust, accelerator linkages and other bits I want sorting (plus I still have the clutch to upgrade from original 4.2 version). Previous owner did not look after it well, but it's just about right for me now and I don't regret paying the money one jot.

BUT

I am happy to pay for it and love the satisfaction of having a day to day car like this, make sure you are, because the best way of spoiling the whole thing is to go in hoping to be lucky. Don't, expect to be unlucky then the small bills will not trouble you and the car will not become a millstone round your or your families neck.

[mike s]

whatever said:

tonyhetherington said: I think joospeed was a little harsh. I don't I've you haven't got a few thou to chuck around then, imho, it's too big a risk, even with a warranty (at the sort of age we're considering here).

Did you sell your teeth to help pay for the Cerb? I couldn't understand a word of that