Thinking of/got a GTR itch... Tell me I'm crazy???
Discussion
Had to post this on the Cerbera Forum as I've never wanted another car since sorting my dads then getting my own.
However I have driven a GTR and its specs alone show what a razor sharp car it is even though the special feeling it gives is no match for my cerbera. With that said I'm thinking of getting one as it ticks my sports car needs of big boot, 2+2, utterly useable, easily customised and very fast. Due to its computers accessing its power and exploiting performance would be much easier than in the cerbera and it would be far more of an everyday due to the fact that fluid checks are less regular and wouldn't live on a C-TEK trickle so getting out of the garage would be less of a performance.
I can see myself regretting if I sold the Cerb but having both would put be good as I have the evoque and wife has an A class.
Thoughts and opinions welcome. Cheers
However I have driven a GTR and its specs alone show what a razor sharp car it is even though the special feeling it gives is no match for my cerbera. With that said I'm thinking of getting one as it ticks my sports car needs of big boot, 2+2, utterly useable, easily customised and very fast. Due to its computers accessing its power and exploiting performance would be much easier than in the cerbera and it would be far more of an everyday due to the fact that fluid checks are less regular and wouldn't live on a C-TEK trickle so getting out of the garage would be less of a performance.
I can see myself regretting if I sold the Cerb but having both would put be good as I have the evoque and wife has an A class.
Thoughts and opinions welcome. Cheers
The gtr is a great modern car that would piss all over a cerb on a track due to it's modern everything!
However once you've completed the lap or a fast road drive in it will you look back and think I did that, or wow those computers got me here quick?
And just because your able to drive quicker does it mean you are having as much fun?
It's again do you want to go round the track in a cerb or gtr? Probably the gtr. But which do you want to drive on the days you want something special? You have a daily car which is great. If you get the gtr you'll also have another great and fast daily but will you miss the character of the cerb?
However once you've completed the lap or a fast road drive in it will you look back and think I did that, or wow those computers got me here quick?
And just because your able to drive quicker does it mean you are having as much fun?
It's again do you want to go round the track in a cerb or gtr? Probably the gtr. But which do you want to drive on the days you want something special? You have a daily car which is great. If you get the gtr you'll also have another great and fast daily but will you miss the character of the cerb?
Only took 2 comments for me to fall in love with the Cerb again but in saying that I'd feel less inclined to track a GTR purely because as you say it's the computers and I could get the sensation on my PS4 rather than the buzz of mastering the Cerb round a given track. But I'm just thinking do I want a slightly easier life.
Fingers could point at an R8, SL55 or Jag XKR but they don't all tick boxes exactly and even then if you go that way the GTR eats them. I'm just a confused lad. Thanks for thoughts expressed keep em coming.
Fingers could point at an R8, SL55 or Jag XKR but they don't all tick boxes exactly and even then if you go that way the GTR eats them. I'm just a confused lad. Thanks for thoughts expressed keep em coming.
Edited by Incognegro on Saturday 30th April 11:10
My old boss had two consecutive GTRs and he loved them, especially for the way they launched from standstill.
He also had experience of the Cerbera and his exact words of advice to me were "Ooooh, now watch that back end, they step out on you like nothing; mad cars."
One car provides a unique sense of occasion, sometimes fraught with violence, that stops every pedestrian in their tracks and makes people in front weave frantically when you bring the sound of gang warfare to the braking zone of a traffic island. It snakes its way up the road causing dogs to lose their minds and makes you feel like you need to purchase some wheelbarrows to carry your testicles around when you drive it quickly and well. It stinks of fuel, glue and dead cow skin, is a legendary appreciating asset, one of only hundreds left running and is a car that can be dismantled using a pretty basic set of tools... Largely because it was built in Blackpool by a bunch of monkeys who drew genitalia on the back of every panel and wired everything using connections made of gunpowder, but forget that. The point is that everything was made by hand, for next to no money, yet it still whipped every other production car on the planet.
The other is a fantastic technical achievement built in a hermetically sealed factory (So no genitals or "Wozza is a
scribbled on the panels) that is the cutting edge of what is technically possible for a road car now. Computers make it corner like a fly and the launch reportedly does something funny to your inner ear. It's comparatively easily tuneable to more than 700BHP (But it does weigh 50% of a Cerb again) and due to 4WD, it's traction control and active monitoring systems they can be neck breaking in any gear. It can be driven astoundingly quickly, but very little of it is the result of your footwork (Not least because of the flappy paddles)... but nonetheless it is very civilised, quite sterile, is depreciating, clinical, relatively anonymous and plentiful in supply.
I understand your thoughts because if I had £45k available for a car, it is impossible to charge about the country more quickly for anything like that money. However, just as with the Cerb, you'll never reach that limit on a public road and to try would be madness. Considering that you'll not really take the GTR to a race track, surely then an argument can be made that it is preferable to have as your second car one of the craziest and most unique, raw cars imaginable?
As far as I'm concerned that's the case since I just don't lust after a GTR and I can't imagine, if I owned one, sitting in work itching and twitching like a drug addict because the smell of fuel and adhesive in my nose is tortuously, distractingly reminding me of what's waiting outside. Partly because a GTR smells like every other car, but the point is that the Cerb comprehensively dominates every day that I'm in it. I don't get the gut feeling that a GTR would do the same.
He also had experience of the Cerbera and his exact words of advice to me were "Ooooh, now watch that back end, they step out on you like nothing; mad cars."
One car provides a unique sense of occasion, sometimes fraught with violence, that stops every pedestrian in their tracks and makes people in front weave frantically when you bring the sound of gang warfare to the braking zone of a traffic island. It snakes its way up the road causing dogs to lose their minds and makes you feel like you need to purchase some wheelbarrows to carry your testicles around when you drive it quickly and well. It stinks of fuel, glue and dead cow skin, is a legendary appreciating asset, one of only hundreds left running and is a car that can be dismantled using a pretty basic set of tools... Largely because it was built in Blackpool by a bunch of monkeys who drew genitalia on the back of every panel and wired everything using connections made of gunpowder, but forget that. The point is that everything was made by hand, for next to no money, yet it still whipped every other production car on the planet.
The other is a fantastic technical achievement built in a hermetically sealed factory (So no genitals or "Wozza is a
scribbled on the panels) that is the cutting edge of what is technically possible for a road car now. Computers make it corner like a fly and the launch reportedly does something funny to your inner ear. It's comparatively easily tuneable to more than 700BHP (But it does weigh 50% of a Cerb again) and due to 4WD, it's traction control and active monitoring systems they can be neck breaking in any gear. It can be driven astoundingly quickly, but very little of it is the result of your footwork (Not least because of the flappy paddles)... but nonetheless it is very civilised, quite sterile, is depreciating, clinical, relatively anonymous and plentiful in supply. I understand your thoughts because if I had £45k available for a car, it is impossible to charge about the country more quickly for anything like that money. However, just as with the Cerb, you'll never reach that limit on a public road and to try would be madness. Considering that you'll not really take the GTR to a race track, surely then an argument can be made that it is preferable to have as your second car one of the craziest and most unique, raw cars imaginable?
As far as I'm concerned that's the case since I just don't lust after a GTR and I can't imagine, if I owned one, sitting in work itching and twitching like a drug addict because the smell of fuel and adhesive in my nose is tortuously, distractingly reminding me of what's waiting outside. Partly because a GTR smells like every other car, but the point is that the Cerb comprehensively dominates every day that I'm in it. I don't get the gut feeling that a GTR would do the same.
Edited by NuddyRap on Thursday 5th May 15:59
Incognegro said:
That is what I'm starting think now... Lol
You're not.. 1:24 onwards with a trick exhaust and you literally have something which is untouchable with a few choice mods. I hate to say it but people need to wake up and smell the beans.. It's a bit like comparing a Honda Jazz to a 1987 fiat Uno. What is it with tvr owners https://youtu.be/fg1Tg3MWEPo
Edited by m4tti on Sunday 1st May 01:10
Nice to have a choice of top cars......well done getting to that point in your life, working hard and making a success. Enjoy each car for what it does for you.
Only you know if a GTR delivers what you want in a car, compared with other cars you can buy for that money. There is a huge choice. Go for it, enjoy both, drive each on the occasions that suit it best to your mind. Only take it on track if you want to, ignore those who say you must.
Very few TVR drivers actually take their cars on track. The TVRCC gave up on their annual track day when 650 owners turned up at Burghley for the April polishing show, while me and only 29 others turned up at Cadwell Park for a glorious day stretching our cars' legs on track. The most TVRs I have seen on a regular track day is 10, and that was only because we got together and organised ourselves.
I take my Chimaera on track because I can drive it at speed safely, which I cannot do on the public road. I don't need more power than I have because track driving is all about you against the track, carrying speed through the corners to get the best out of yourself and the car. I could probably enjoy track driving in an MX5, but the TVR is awesome on track, the noise, the torque, the love for the car from other drivers.
Have fun
Only you know if a GTR delivers what you want in a car, compared with other cars you can buy for that money. There is a huge choice. Go for it, enjoy both, drive each on the occasions that suit it best to your mind. Only take it on track if you want to, ignore those who say you must.
Very few TVR drivers actually take their cars on track. The TVRCC gave up on their annual track day when 650 owners turned up at Burghley for the April polishing show, while me and only 29 others turned up at Cadwell Park for a glorious day stretching our cars' legs on track. The most TVRs I have seen on a regular track day is 10, and that was only because we got together and organised ourselves.
I take my Chimaera on track because I can drive it at speed safely, which I cannot do on the public road. I don't need more power than I have because track driving is all about you against the track, carrying speed through the corners to get the best out of yourself and the car. I could probably enjoy track driving in an MX5, but the TVR is awesome on track, the noise, the torque, the love for the car from other drivers.
Have fun
m4tti said:
You're not.. 1:24 onwards with a trick exhaust and you literally have something which is untouchable with a few choice mods. I hate to say it but people need to wake up and smell the beans.. It's a bit like comparing a Honda Jazz to a 1987 fiat Uno. What is it with tvr owners
https://youtu.be/fg1Tg3MWEPo
Personally, I'm not questioning for one moment the speed merits of a GTR, even in standard form. Nothing else makes any sense as an alternative at that money or well beyond. https://youtu.be/fg1Tg3MWEPo
Edited by m4tti on Sunday 1st May 01:10
TVR people might be guilty of over romanticism and it is an individual choice of course, but nothing, apart from the speed, makes me lust after a GTR. I'd probably be on my way to look at one and veer off to look at someone's ferrari 360 instead.
Given that the O.P. isn't going to track the car much, I feel that speed is a slightly moot point to some extent, unless he wants bragging rights.
andysgriff said:
Special as the Cerebra is, a modified GTR with a different exhaust etc will be just as much as an event to drive as any Cerebra, just way more capable.
I think that's the point I was alluding to after 12 cans of magners 
A lot of us like the TVR because of the noise it makes which adds to the feeling of speed. Newer cars like the gtr don't sound so special as they're built around a lot of regulation and sanitisation. Something like that army trix exhaust, and a decat to make it smelly and hey presto you've got your tvr experience back but in a much safer more capable package.
It's a very personal thing I guess and is down to what your looking for in a car.
The noise is part of the Cerb experience.. However, would I buy a GTR if I could afford one? No.. Exhaust or not. When I first saw/heard a Cerb back in '95 I wanted one. I've never wanted a computer on wheels. 2 completely different cars, we aren't even comparing capability, it's something completely different. The Cerb is better looking, lighter, more involving and just has "that fizz" that a Datsun with a load of computers can't match. I'm not even against modern cars either.
M4tti your 1.03 post I think you've missed the main point of TVR ownership.
TVR's are great fun to drive, imo more fun to work on as they, at times test your imagination, Blasted ,bloody *=+@?/ bloody hell etc etc lol. Loved mine & still hanker after it. You had me there Jhono but the "Datsun" bit took me away...reminded me a bit of the Cleese/2 Ronnies legendary sketch.
TVR's are great fun to drive, imo more fun to work on as they, at times test your imagination, Blasted ,bloody *=+@?/ bloody hell etc etc lol. Loved mine & still hanker after it. You had me there Jhono but the "Datsun" bit took me away...reminded me a bit of the Cleese/2 Ronnies legendary sketch.
Gerradi said:
M4tti your 1.03 post I think you've missed the main point of TVR ownership.
TVR's are great fun to drive, imo more fun to work on as they, at times test your imagination, Blasted ,bloody *=+@?/ bloody hell etc etc lol. Loved mine & still hanker after it. You had me there Jhono but the "Datsun" bit took me away...reminded me a bit of the Cleese/2 Ronnies legendary sketch.
Not sure I've missed the point, I get the one about being fun to work on.. Just saying you can make modern cars a similar experience TVR's are great fun to drive, imo more fun to work on as they, at times test your imagination, Blasted ,bloody *=+@?/ bloody hell etc etc lol. Loved mine & still hanker after it. You had me there Jhono but the "Datsun" bit took me away...reminded me a bit of the Cleese/2 Ronnies legendary sketch.
Right now I'm doing this with my tvr
Replacing every suspension item.
Just been out in my golf R. Had it for a year and for the first time tried launch control. I guess it's similar (but at 7/10ths) to a gtr. Childish etc but i was taken by surprise by how much like a roller coaster it felt. In fact I thought I was fainting! Can't imagine how I tuned gtr would feel. Prefer launching the Cerbera. Don't feel like a scared pssenger!
Gazzab said:
Just been out in my golf R. Had it for a year and for the first time tried launch control. I guess it's similar (but at 7/10ths) to a gtr. Childish etc but i was taken by surprise by how much like a roller coaster it felt. In fact I thought I was fainting! Can't imagine how I tuned gtr would feel. Prefer launching the Cerbera. Don't feel like a scared pssenger!
Launch control allows you to perfectly execute what I've asked how to do in this post http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...However it's artificial,although probably give an awesome feeling?
A bit of a tangent but..
Today I drove south on the A11 and passing Snetterton 10+ GTR's came sailing past - among them a SL55 AMG, no slouch but we know not a match for a GTR.
Coming out of one of the roundabouts traffic held the GTR's back and the AMG legged it and managed a 100 yard gap before what looked like a modified GTR chased....... Holy mother of china - the way the GTR shot away and caught the AMG was ridiculous. The GTR was spewing smoke from the exhausts but crikes they are quick.
Today I drove south on the A11 and passing Snetterton 10+ GTR's came sailing past - among them a SL55 AMG, no slouch but we know not a match for a GTR.
Coming out of one of the roundabouts traffic held the GTR's back and the AMG legged it and managed a 100 yard gap before what looked like a modified GTR chased....... Holy mother of china - the way the GTR shot away and caught the AMG was ridiculous. The GTR was spewing smoke from the exhausts but crikes they are quick.
I've owned two 4.5 Cebera's, the first for 5 years and the latter a 2003 for about a year. Both were remapped/decatted by Joolz at circa 400BHP. Loved them but couldn't maintain them myself. Next was a 996 Turbo. The front-end bounced far more then I enjoyed. This was swapped for a new 2012 GTR. I kept it as standard because it was already far too fast for road driving. Changing 4th to 5th when on it and you'd be doing 140MPH. It didn't feel fast which is dangerous. The grip was beyond what I want to exceed! Compared with the Cerb the GTR was a hard ride. The Cerb was far more comfortable. Ultimately the GTR was a sanitised experience unless you wanted to put yourself and others at risk. I follows this with a F-Type V8S that had the exhaust noise and overrun pops and bangs to match the Cerb. An easy to live with package with rear wheel drive and a more interactive driving experience obtainable at lower speeds. Fast enough though. If you want to replace your Cerb for something more modern then I suggest take a drive in a V8S first 
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