About to buy a Cerbera- any advice?

[charlesr]

Hello All,

Having just sold my 300zxTT, I'm looking to buy a 1999-2000 Cerbera 4.5. I've been told lots about the model by various people- some good, some bad. I decided I really wanted one when I saw one drive by and park up near my home. The look is astounding as is the interior (especially having come from a 1990 nissan!), but it was the noise.... wow!

Anyway, I was wondering if you could give me a few answers to the following questions-

1) I'm 6'7" - will I fit???? I can't fit in the chimera with the roof up.

2) is the reliability as bad as everyone seems to think?

3) are there any particular things to look for when I'm buying? I was told to spend atleast 20 and to make sure I bought one that had already had an engine rebuild by TVR Power. Is this correct?

Thanks fellas


Ch

[davidd]

charlesr said:

1) I'm 6'7" - will I fit???? I can't fit in the chimera with the roof up.

I suspect you'll be fine, Peter Wheeler is about that tall and he can drive one, the drivers seat goes a long way back and the pedals are adjustable. Where are you based? I'm sure one of us would let you have a sit.

charlesr said:

2) is the reliability as bad as everyone seems to think?

Who is everyone? The secret to happy TVR ownership is as follows. Make the best buy you can, get the car checked by an indie, understand anything that needs doing. Get one with a decent history, from someone (if private) who knows the car well. Drive it a lot.

charlesr said:

3) are there any particular things to look for when I'm buying? I was told to spend atleast 20 and to make sure I bought one that had already had an engine rebuild by TVR Power. Is this correct?

Utter horseshit, set yourself a budget and buy the newest, best car you can. If you are buying a V8 (which if you want a 4.5 then you will be) then the engine should be fine unless it has been very abused.
If you go the s6 route then there 'might' be some engine issues.

Good luck
D

[kojak69]

To go into the things to look for when buying a cerb, will take ages. If you do a search under cerbera, then you'll find a lot of imformation that you are lookin for. This question has been asked before on quite a few occasions.

One thing I would say, is look at a 4.2 as well. A 4.5 is not necesarily quicker. How about a 4.2, but the money you save, put towards upgrades.

Good luck.

[trooper1212]

1) The guy I bought my Cerb off was that height and he didn't have any problems. It's all down to your torso and leg length rather than overall height though, so sit in one before you buy.

2) Difficult question, the car you buy could be perfect or it could be in the garage every week. It's not that TVRs are unreliable as a whole, rather that there are specific cars that are unreliable. TVR do not have a mass-production level of quality for each car, 2 identical cars can be polar opposites in build quality.
Buy one that has been looked after and owned by an enthusiast and you should be ok, however expect the first couple of months to be a bit of a hassle as it appears Cerbs need to settle down to their new owners (or do people just sell them when there is upcoming work to be done )

3) read these two threads
www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=64561&f=6&h=0&hw=buying
www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?t=81953&f=6&h=0&hw=cheap

[SXS]

Height is not really an issue, as long as you got long arms to compensate when you push your seat back a little...
the real issue is how big you are width ways, if you're literally a chippendale or a guy who likes his food and your deltoids are like sagging rugby balls, then you will have some serious problems, unless you dont mind horizontally V-shaping your arm out of the window all the time....

I aint gonna say anything about what to watch out for or what price range to go for. Just remember, these cars do have their down moments now and again, although generally reliable, when things go, they go in a little domino effect, an the costs to fix problems can escalate rapidly.... its a risk, that most took, and I would think around 60% have been lucky with just regular typical problems that occur with cars of this calibre....

I'd say, pop into a dealer and get yourself a few test drives in a Cerbera and Tuscan.... you might find you like the latter better.... but if you're a hard nut and you like your cars a little harsh, then you cant get much rougher than a Cerbie... or even an AC Cobra... mmmm.... oops, wrong forum

>> Edited by SXS  on Wednesday 2nd June 02:15

[ChelseaTractor]

Charles, i'm looking to do the same thing, although the height issue is a non starter with me! My hobbit like features make me a whole foot shorter than you.
My advice would be to go to a dealer and drive one. I did this yesterday at Gatwick TVR. It wasn't the car I wanted to buy, too dear, wrong colour but they didn't know that and were happy to let me crawl over it and take it out. I was dredding my first drive in a Cerb, just in case the love of my life turned out to be an utter pig.
The blat down the A23 was brilliant to say the least and the pootle along in traffic was much easier than I had imagined. I honestly thought that it was going to drive as hard has it looks.
I spoke to the technician about the reliability and he said basically the same as what has been said above and advised me to keep it looked after but mostly to drive the thing.

All I have to do now is sell my Land Rover for the deposit, then i'll be a V happy man.


Jon-E-Boy

[guydw]

as far as height goes, I'm 5'9" and have to have my seat right forward, and I still have trouble reaching with my leg to floor it.....

[Charlesr]

Fellas, thankyou all so much for the advice. Much appreciated! I'll take that test drive at the weekend if I can - and I'll let you know! Sounds like I'll love it! I'm based in Heathfield in East Sussex and there's a TVR garage in the town.

Thanks also for the info about the engines - I think I'll just see what there is rather than setting my heart on one model in particular.

Thanks again!

Ch

[Neilus]

Dream Machines are really helpful, and friendly. Although, you may have problems this weekend getting a test drive as they'll still be at the motor show.

Neil.

[pdavison]

Try Adrian Blyth, he has a lovely Crystal Topaz Speed Six for sale.