Cerby vs Tuscan
Discussion
As the ex-owner of a Griff and a 4.5 Cerb Red Rose, both of which, it has to be said had big reliability probs (especially the Cerb, where during the space of 7 months, the close sync gearbox blew up, it constantly overheated, leading to three embarrasing recoveries- (one in particular outside the Jaguar and Aston Martin dealers in Park Lane, London one sunny afternoon- much smiling from them!)and at one point the entire engine being shipped off to Blackpool for the engineers to play with, despite having only covered 11000 miles, oh and I nearly forgot, one of the tail pipes fell off!, I seek your thoughts on general matters of reliability.
With spring in the air, my thoughts have once again turned to the possibility of a third time lucky scenario. The question is whether to go for another Cerb, and if so, whether to plump for a red rose conversion again or not. Realistically does it make a huge difference- I know about the BHP thing, and does anyone think my reliability probs from the past may have something to do with the engine upgrade?
I still fancy the idea of another Cerbera but the prospect of it going wrong again is enough to put me off. Hence the possible consideration of switching to a speed 6 Tuscan S. Is the 4.0 engine and associated parts in the Tuscan generally considered more reliable?
Obviously there are the aesthetic differences between the two, but I am just looking at a car I can drive without worrying (all the time- i know the odd breakdown is inevitable)it is going to come to a grinding halt on a regular basis! Budget will be about 30-35k
Thanks
With spring in the air, my thoughts have once again turned to the possibility of a third time lucky scenario. The question is whether to go for another Cerb, and if so, whether to plump for a red rose conversion again or not. Realistically does it make a huge difference- I know about the BHP thing, and does anyone think my reliability probs from the past may have something to do with the engine upgrade?
I still fancy the idea of another Cerbera but the prospect of it going wrong again is enough to put me off. Hence the possible consideration of switching to a speed 6 Tuscan S. Is the 4.0 engine and associated parts in the Tuscan generally considered more reliable?
Obviously there are the aesthetic differences between the two, but I am just looking at a car I can drive without worrying (all the time- i know the odd breakdown is inevitable)it is going to come to a grinding halt on a regular basis! Budget will be about 30-35k
Thanks
CerbieMR said:
As the ex-owner of a Griff and a 4.5 Cerb Red Rose, both of which, it has to be said had big reliability probs (especially the Cerb, where during the space of 7 months, the close sync gearbox blew up, it constantly overheated, leading to three embarrasing recoveries- (one in particular outside the Jaguar and Aston Martin dealers in Park Lane, London one sunny afternoon- much smiling from them!)and at one point the entire engine being shipped off to Blackpool for the engineers to play with, despite having only covered 11000 miles, oh and I nearly forgot, one of the tail pipes fell off!, I seek your thoughts on general matters of reliability.
With spring in the air, my thoughts have once again turned to the possibility of a third time lucky scenario. The question is whether to go for another Cerb, and if so, whether to plump for a red rose conversion again or not. Realistically does it make a huge difference- I know about the BHP thing, and does anyone think my reliability probs from the past may have something to do with the engine upgrade?
I still fancy the idea of another Cerbera but the prospect of it going wrong again is enough to put me off. Hence the possible consideration of switching to a speed 6 Tuscan S. Is the 4.0 engine and associated parts in the Tuscan generally considered more reliable?
Obviously there are the aesthetic differences between the two, but I am just looking at a car I can drive without worrying (all the time- i know the odd breakdown is inevitable)it is going to come to a grinding halt on a regular basis! Budget will be about 30-35k
Thanks
Have you considered a Tamora or t350? You could have a '04 model from a private seller for that money and I'd guess it would be more reliable than an (older) Tuscan or Cerb.
My view based on what I've read on here, and ownership of a Tuscan:-
Cerbera: likely to need a few grand to get it into decent shape - mainly lots of little things. AJP8 is less likely to go pop than an S6, but likely to cost more when it does.
Tuscan: generally less likely to go wrong, except for that engine.
A colleague has just had a service bill over £4k on his Cerb at a non-franchised dealer. My Tuscan service was £900 at a main dealer.
But yes, my engine will go bang at some point, his *might* not.
I think you either gamble with the near certainty of an S6 rebuild, or the less likely prospect of more bills in a Cerb.
Cerbera: likely to need a few grand to get it into decent shape - mainly lots of little things. AJP8 is less likely to go pop than an S6, but likely to cost more when it does.
Tuscan: generally less likely to go wrong, except for that engine.
A colleague has just had a service bill over £4k on his Cerb at a non-franchised dealer. My Tuscan service was £900 at a main dealer.
But yes, my engine will go bang at some point, his *might* not.
I think you either gamble with the near certainty of an S6 rebuild, or the less likely prospect of more bills in a Cerb.
Thoughts (having owned both):
Cerbs & Tuscans are equally a pain-in-the-arse. Apart from the engines, where the S6 wins hands down in potential-trouble. That's assuming both cars are of the same vintage (in terms of months-since-production-of-that-model-started). So, for £30-35k you'll get a much more mature Cerb than Tuscan, with hopefully much fewer niggling issues for the factory still to iron out.
When the Tusc is working, it's a much, much more fun car - the roof comes off, it's more outrageous looking, the interior is phenomenal, etc. But the Cerb has a V8.
I'd also consider a 2004 T350. I think they came with 2 year warranties then, didn't they? So you'll still have a year's warranty on it even if you buy privately.
Cerbs & Tuscans are equally a pain-in-the-arse. Apart from the engines, where the S6 wins hands down in potential-trouble. That's assuming both cars are of the same vintage (in terms of months-since-production-of-that-model-started). So, for £30-35k you'll get a much more mature Cerb than Tuscan, with hopefully much fewer niggling issues for the factory still to iron out.
When the Tusc is working, it's a much, much more fun car - the roof comes off, it's more outrageous looking, the interior is phenomenal, etc. But the Cerb has a V8.
I'd also consider a 2004 T350. I think they came with 2 year warranties then, didn't they? So you'll still have a year's warranty on it even if you buy privately.
J_S_G said:
Thoughts (having owned both):
I'd also consider a 2004 T350. I think they came with 2 year warranties then, didn't they? So you'll still have a year's warranty on it even if you buy privately.
2 years, but the 2nd year is just on the engine.
But, there's a nice '04 t350c in reflex charcoal for sale at the moment for 31k ono. That'd pay for a lot of niggles/aftermarket warranty.
Failing that, stretch to 38,500 and get a new one with even better build quality, 3yrs comprehensive warranty (inc. air-con, pearl paint, trick diff) etc.
We have both a cerb redrose (dads) and a tuscan s (mine)in the garage. both are very equally matched on performance, think the tuscan has the edge on the handling over the cerb, the cerb on the other hand makes the tuscan sound like a sewing machine, it has only broken down once just after the redrose conversion was carried out otherwise both cars have been very reliable. fingers crossed!
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