First TVR And want a Cerbera
Discussion
Both cars look nice but both are in the uk. Are you thinking of coming over to test drive? If you are I would try and squeeze in a meeting. Failing that I know some of the tvr regions do trips to France, a quick email and you might be able to meet up with them for a chat? Just a thought
I've had mine for 3 years and only done about 5000 miles in that time, and it's probably cost £3000 in that time for servicing. Only major thing was replace the cats coz of mot emissions failure. However at last service I've been told I need engine out, head gasket, clutch seals, cracked manifold etc. Waiting for quote but been told around £3000
On that basis I think your budget is well in, but depends on mileage and weight if your right foot!!
On that basis I think your budget is well in, but depends on mileage and weight if your right foot!!
£3k p/a wouldn't be an unreasonable figure to set aside for servicing and maintenance, averaged over a few years. To give an indication my first year was £2k, second £10k and third is looking like £1k.
My advice would be to have a large slush fund as it seems quite easy to get away with minor maintenance, only then for something big to come out on nowhere and take your head off. The logic I've taken is if it isn't new it will need some degree of maintenance in the near future as everyone is getting old now.
My advice would be to have a large slush fund as it seems quite easy to get away with minor maintenance, only then for something big to come out on nowhere and take your head off. The logic I've taken is if it isn't new it will need some degree of maintenance in the near future as everyone is getting old now.
I put away £250 a month - so £3k a year.
I've had my car 10 years, spent around £16K on it in that time, but that does include a complete body off restoration with all new bits (£7.5k).
make of that what you like, but it's nice to have a slush fund when things need doing.
Nothing wrong with having a Cerbera as a first TVR - it's what I did.
I've had my car 10 years, spent around £16K on it in that time, but that does include a complete body off restoration with all new bits (£7.5k).
make of that what you like, but it's nice to have a slush fund when things need doing.
Nothing wrong with having a Cerbera as a first TVR - it's what I did.
I agree with the figures quoted, but as said there can be a fair amount of spanner work (and time) required for many cars to be run and maintained in good condition at ~ £250 per month.
If you're the sort of person who for whatever reason will need to pay someone to do absolutely everything on the car, be aware that £250 will almost certainly not be enough.
With that in mind, the adage of "Buy cheap, buy twice" seems like it could have been written by someone who owned a TVR. Apply this to garages who might be carrying out extended works on your car.
To give you an example, I had a flat spot in acceleration at 2.5k revs. My throttles were badly set up. I took it to a local TVR "Specislist" to do the work as he said it would be relatively cheap at around £100 including a few other bits of general fettling. He made the car virtually undriveable but insisted it's how it was meant to run. Because of the switchable mapping on my car it actually took two engine setups at Power (Plus the general fettling) to get it running correctly again, minus the flat spot at 2.5k revs of course. This little exercise which I imagined costing £100 ish ended up costing over ten times that because I didn't just pay a bit more first time around to get everything done properly.
I've heard of much worse though, including one poor bloke who spent £10,000 on a 4.7 with some supposedly good engine builder only to be left with an oil burning mess that was chewing itself up and which immediately required a second rebuild somewhere better. Again, because the first builder said they'd do it at a (much) cheaper price they were picked.
My advice then: try not to scrimp. Difficult as that might seem it's probably cheaper in the long run.
If you're the sort of person who for whatever reason will need to pay someone to do absolutely everything on the car, be aware that £250 will almost certainly not be enough.
With that in mind, the adage of "Buy cheap, buy twice" seems like it could have been written by someone who owned a TVR. Apply this to garages who might be carrying out extended works on your car.
To give you an example, I had a flat spot in acceleration at 2.5k revs. My throttles were badly set up. I took it to a local TVR "Specislist" to do the work as he said it would be relatively cheap at around £100 including a few other bits of general fettling. He made the car virtually undriveable but insisted it's how it was meant to run. Because of the switchable mapping on my car it actually took two engine setups at Power (Plus the general fettling) to get it running correctly again, minus the flat spot at 2.5k revs of course. This little exercise which I imagined costing £100 ish ended up costing over ten times that because I didn't just pay a bit more first time around to get everything done properly.
I've heard of much worse though, including one poor bloke who spent £10,000 on a 4.7 with some supposedly good engine builder only to be left with an oil burning mess that was chewing itself up and which immediately required a second rebuild somewhere better. Again, because the first builder said they'd do it at a (much) cheaper price they were picked.
My advice then: try not to scrimp. Difficult as that might seem it's probably cheaper in the long run.
Trexthedinosaur said:
very, and if were in the market for one id be bite his hand off
I could meet you at STR8SIX as they are just up the road from where I live, you could try a Tuscan and the I could takeyouout for a spin in the Cerbera and you could see what takes your fancy.
Let me know if you want to try it, a Tuscan from STR8SIX will be as good as a Tuscan comes, their attention to detail when preparing a car is superb.
Let me know if you want to try it, a Tuscan from STR8SIX will be as good as a Tuscan comes, their attention to detail when preparing a car is superb.
I went to look at the black Cerb (last link) a few years back when I was looking. Was up for similar money and was pretty tatty compared to the other cars I viewed.
I ended up buying a much better car for less money.
Not really sure my post is much help, but compared to the other cars I wouldn't waste my time looking at it (it's also being sold by a trader....)
I ended up buying a much better car for less money.
Not really sure my post is much help, but compared to the other cars I wouldn't waste my time looking at it (it's also being sold by a trader....)
Outl4w said:
I went to look at the black Cerb (last link) a few years back when I was looking. Was up for similar money and was pretty tatty compared to the other cars I viewed.
I ended up buying a much better car for less money.
Not really sure my post is much help, but compared to the other cars I wouldn't waste my time looking at it (it's also being sold by a trader....)
The black car looks very well prepped now so it's interesting to here your experience. Was the car irredeemably tatty, or do you think it could have been brought back in to contention over the last few years?I ended up buying a much better car for less money.
Not really sure my post is much help, but compared to the other cars I wouldn't waste my time looking at it (it's also being sold by a trader....)
I nearly bought that cerbera a few months ago, it was only up for 14k and I was really interested in it and the guy who was selling it was a nice genuine chap but when I looked into it the car needed a few quid spending on it.the paintwork was terrible cracks and scratches with the usual stone chips, the seat bolster was really bad, the chassis needed outriggers at least as I phoned the garage who looked after it and he told me to put a bit more money towards a better one which was wise words I think.
At over 60k it will be time for an engine refresh too.
A dealer bought it and as far as I can see has done nothing to it, I did ring him up just to be nosey and he didn't have a clue about TVRs.
At over 60k it will be time for an engine refresh too.
A dealer bought it and as far as I can see has done nothing to it, I did ring him up just to be nosey and he didn't have a clue about TVRs.
Trexthedinosaur said:
gruffalo said:
I could meet you at STR8SIX as they are just up the road from where I live, you could try a Tuscan and the I could takeyouout for a spin in the Cerbera and you could see what takes your fancy.
Let me know if you want to try it, a Tuscan from STR8SIX will be as good as a Tuscan comes, their attention to detail when preparing a car is superb.
That's a really nice offer of you, I would be in the U.K. early December (9th / 10th) as I am driving back from Germany and will pass that way (detour Let me know if you want to try it, a Tuscan from STR8SIX will be as good as a Tuscan comes, their attention to detail when preparing a car is superb.
)Or we can postpone until April and the hopefully nice weather as I will be driving back again, really appreciate that though.
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