Is the Cerbera really more expensive to maintain....

[Willtl]

jamieduff1981 said:

Who's that with? My insurance costs £400 with NCD mirrored against one of my daily driver policies through ManningUK.

This is with Aviva, I currently have a multi car policy with them.

jamieduff1981 said:

Don't get mixed up between maintenance and upgraditis either. This thread has a lot of confusion in it.

I had a good look through the paperwork for the Cerbera I saw today. On the whole it was about £500 per year for interim services and around £1K for the full service. The only other costs was a clutch at about 22K (car is currently on 35k), some front brakes and some work done on the exhaust (but exhaust wasn't replaced). The dealer reckoned £200 per month would be enough for maintenance and insurance and based on the paperwork, this seemed reasonable.

[gruffalo]

ukkid35 said:

gruffalo said:

Hence why mine is now all quaife inside the standard a modified casing, looks the same outside but semi straight cut inside.

Should not break again.

Would be good to get a ride in your car to see how much it whines. And anyway I'd need to be sitting down if you were to tell me how much it costs.

Paul, You are just down the road from me, pop out some day I can be reached on 07920 494667, give me a ring I should be around tomorrow afternoon if you fancy it.

[QBee]

ukkid35 said:

That is why I have driven to Stamford in my 928 for the Burghley house meet, but my Cerb is on axle stands at home. My 227k mile 928 is just so much more reliable than my Cerb it is laughable.

I can vouch for the 928 - after you let me past this afternoon you had no problem keeping up with my 5 litre Chim, even under hard acceleration. That was a fun ride. Any comments? Over-fuelling at all? I was getting fairly car sick from the fumes from the cars in front......or was that why you let me past?

[ukkid35]

QBee said:

That was a fun ride. Any comments? Over-fuelling at all? I was getting fairly car sick from the fumes from the cars in front......or was that why you let me past?

That was a lot of fun!

But I felt really sorry for the cyclists, because like you I found the fumes from sixty or more TVRs to be rather oppressive, I guess there weren't any cats involved either. I kept to back so as not to ruin the effect of the single marque, and it certainly was impressive how appreciative the locals were towards the noisy polluting procession!

The one thing I really did notice when following was how difficult it was for me to get traction out of corners compared with the TVRs, and you in particular being directly in front. The route itself was great, with some really good flowing sections, especially for the first half, and the pace was impressive too with respect shown in the villages themselves. At times though I was glad I wasn't in my Cerb because I'm sure it would have grounded out a few times.

Big Thank You to Ian et al for organising.

[Mr Cerbera]

"Ya kannae defy the laws of physics, Cap'n"

400bhp, 1200Kg, 225/255/35 tyres, 235mm twin ventilated discs, twin plate hydraulic clutch combined with the ever-tempting howl of that flat-plane crank.

If you use it. It costs more.

Edited by Mr Cerbera on Sunday 12th April 09:32

[Cerberaherts]

Jubag said:

My point being was that you can talk about any car and come up with a list of faults that are irrelevant unless you actually have those problems on your car. As for the Boxter, 996/997, was it the fifth stab at the IMS problem that Porsche got it sorted? Lets keep our fingers cross shall we? Its the only car i have owned where you can actually buy an electric sump plug that warns you if it detects metal shards building up in your engine and that it is about to eat its self for lunch! Oil/water build up in the filler tube, all I can say is I used to to 50 miles every day in mine and had to clear the crap out of that tube constantly. Cross drilled or not Modern Porsche dics rust like buggary. RMS are a problem on Boxter 996 & 997. On the 997 alone the spesifacation has been altered more than once. Coil pack price was not really what I meant to allude to more the frequency in which you may need to replace them. I think on reflection using the Porsche as an analogy was a bit to easy.

Edited by Jubag on Saturday 11th April 11:08

Edited by Jubag on Saturday 11th April 11:14

I've worked on Porsche for many many years. I've yet to see one of your fabled "electric sump plugs fitted." If you actually bothered to do some research rather than recycle junk you've read on the internet, you'd learn that there is a pattern to IMS failure. It is caused by lack of use, the bearing dries out and then the internal surfaces corrode. Sometimes there are a few signs that things are about to go bang, like lack of power due to chain walk altering the timing by a few degrees, but generally they fail in fairly short order. There are several incarnations of bearing, the second version being most prone to failure. The two most popular aftermarket brands fitted by both ourselves and the other well known Porsche specialist garages are only modified in so far as the way the seal operates to prevent aforementioned lack of oil issue.

Brake discs....nope, you are wrong. Porsche don't use some poor quality steel, there are several cheap alternatives to OE discs that do rust more readily. I repeat, don't wash your car then park it in the garage. Drive it around the block and dry them off and they won't rust. The brembos fitted to the ferrari 360 and 430 will rust in exactly the same way...

[jamieduff1981]

Willtl said:

jamieduff1981 said:

Who's that with? My insurance costs £400 with NCD mirrored against one of my daily driver policies through ManningUK.

This is with Aviva, I currently have a multi car policy with them.

jamieduff1981 said:

Don't get mixed up between maintenance and upgraditis either. This thread has a lot of confusion in it.

I had a good look through the paperwork for the Cerbera I saw today. On the whole it was about £500 per year for interim services and around £1K for the full service. The only other costs was a clutch at about 22K (car is currently on 35k), some front brakes and some work done on the exhaust (but exhaust wasn't replaced). The dealer reckoned £200 per month would be enough for maintenance and insurance and based on the paperwork, this seemed reasonable.

I'd try a specialist broker. They understand TVRs, their usage patterns and owner habits a little better than the mainstream insurers and this is reflected in their pricing.

£100/month all-in is going to be a bit light. £300/month is not excessive as such but would cover a few nice-to-haves and a lot of paying other people to do jobs.

Personally I pay for a 6k and 12k service but do most corrective maintenance myself and just call it part of the hobby.

IMO you could manage on £200/month without worrying too much. £150/month maybe but you might get a sting now and again.

I don't personally save anything up and just deal with things as and when but that's a luxury.

[Byff]

CerbWill said:

Interior re-colour - £275 - Used a furniture clinic repair and recolour kit. Also took the passenger seat to a local upholsterers to get a split seam re-sewn.

Do you have a write up and photo's of the before and after effect? I'm thinking of a colour change myself but speaking to the furniture clinic guys, it sounded like a nightmare to do.

[Byker28i]

Willtl said:

gruffalo said:

A rule of thumb is to put away £250 a month into the car fund and that will cover you for your Cerbera related costs.

Is this on top of insurance, tax, petrol and consumables (such as tyres)? I was thinking (hoping!) £100 per month on top of the four items I listed, but guess I'm living in dream world. What is the average life of a gearbox and clutch and how much do they cost? My driving style is pretty clutch friendly and the only clutch I've ever had changed was on my old Ford Capri (but given that engine, gearbox, clutch and pretty much every important part needed replacing I don't put that on me).

Depends a little on luck and a lot on driving style, what you do with it. make sure the engines warmed up, rolling start then floor it type of thing.
Insurance depending on age and where you live can be cheap - I pay under £200 unlimited mileage.
Tyres - again how you treat them but when I was restricted to 7K miles and did trackdays I still only changed them every year? (I think)
I'm on the original clutch still on a 97 car...

ukkid35 said:

gruffalo said:

Mechanically they are very strong with the weakest link probably being the gearbox.

My 227k mile 928 is just so much more reliable than my Cerb it is laughable.

Luck - or how you treat them...

I put £250 a month away, always got a good sized pot then in case anything needs doing.

[Byker28i]

jesfirth said:

I have had a 400se and a cerb and now have a griff 500. The cerb was an awesome car but it is far more fragile than a rover engined car simply because it has a lot more power which breaks things. I think that if you drive it on the road at a modest pace and it is a good well maintained car it will be fine.

If however like me you do a lot of track time you will quickly find that they are made of soft cheese and will constantly break. In the 5 years I had mine I had 4 engine rebuilds, 2 gearboxes, 1 diff, probably 5 snapped drive shafts, a rear diff, a snapped rear diff mount every 6 months, cracked manifolds twice, At least 1 starter motor every year sometimes more, 3 clutch plates, a clutch slave seal every 18 months. Etc etc. it cost a fortune. Having said all that it was an absolute beast and when it was working I loved it.

I only got rid of it because I just could not afford the big bills after the world changed in 2008/9. I do exactly the same in the griff that I did in the cerb and in 4 years other than destroying an engine which was my fault as I did not have a baffled sump I have had no other major failures.

BUT. Cerbs are so awesome that I think at some stage in your life everyone should own one. Just buy one and don't worry about it - after all it's only money and life is short.

Run's off to check photo's of Jes taking it easy in a Cerbera during Sprint Championship...
For those not in the know, Jes used to win the TVR Sprint Chamionship in a 4.2 road going Cerbera...

Edited by Byker28i on Monday 13th April 11:21

[jesfirth]

Byker28i said:

Run's off to check photo's of Jes taking it easy in a Cerbera during Sprint Championship...
For those not in the know, Jes used to win the TVR Sprint Chamionship in a 4.2 road going Cerbera...

Edited by Byker28i on Monday 13th April 11:21

This what a cerb is capable of if pushed..................hard.

http://s367.photobucket.com/albums/oo115/jesfirth/...

[FarmyardPants]

Surely that video has been sped up, it's cartoon like

[jamieduff1981]

Like Colin Chapman used to say: Light weight, low cost or durable - choose any two.

[Byker28i]

Prescott




Castle Coombe - wet that day

[Mr Cerbera]

Prescott,you pouf. First Cerb Track Day... Eau Rouge in typically inviting Spa weather....

[jesfirth]

That looks horrible, I bet it was really slippery

[zidmie]

For my Cerb, it did 66000 miles in 17 years, with a total of bills of 25000 pounds.
That means 1500 pounds every year, for 4000 miles (and almost no trackdays).

This includes one engine rebuild, but no chassis refurb. There were 2 clutch changes (25000 and 65000 miles) and several clutch slave changes. Other bills are mainly usual stuff (brakes, tyres, shocks...).