scared to buy a Cerb
Discussion
Hello all. Being new to TVR and after reading lots of posts have know become scared of buying a Cerb.
Looking to buy 97/98 4.2 or 4.5.
The question is, if I buy one that is already sorted with enginge rebuild, suspension ect, will I still have the expected £3000+ REPAIR bills per year.
Thanks in advance.
Looking to buy 97/98 4.2 or 4.5.
The question is, if I buy one that is already sorted with enginge rebuild, suspension ect, will I still have the expected £3000+ REPAIR bills per year.
Thanks in advance.
Yes, and possibly more.
Some will encourage you to go for it. But I can tell you now, its a gamble. You might get away with only 3k expenditure in the first year on repairs/servicing, but thats if you're lucky, it could shoot up very high! And dont forget the HIGH insurance costs - and then getting locked out of your car and not being able to get back in - happens often to quite a few and is embarrasing - worst is, stop to get petrol or in tesco's car park, come back to the car and she dont start - either a dead battery or a dead starter motor.
Period. Risky business - the fact you're already worried, I'd say get a sorted chimaera/griffith - its a lot cheaper to run!....
Some will encourage you to go for it. But I can tell you now, its a gamble. You might get away with only 3k expenditure in the first year on repairs/servicing, but thats if you're lucky, it could shoot up very high! And dont forget the HIGH insurance costs - and then getting locked out of your car and not being able to get back in - happens often to quite a few and is embarrasing - worst is, stop to get petrol or in tesco's car park, come back to the car and she dont start - either a dead battery or a dead starter motor.
Period. Risky business - the fact you're already worried, I'd say get a sorted chimaera/griffith - its a lot cheaper to run!....
Whoa - Easy there SXS 
For every 'expensive' ownership, there are no doubt many more who have
sound cars and low bills.
Whilst there is no getting away from the fact that a Cerbera could leave
you with a 6k bill if the engine goes west, you could just as easily end
up with a service bill of 1k per year.
This is a car that people like to spend money on (Nitrons, light
upgrades etc etc)so it is easy to burn your money on it, but there are
many that run 'standard' cars with no mods and simply have an annual
service and that's it.
The 3k 'back up' is wise, but you could go several years before you
had to lay that kind of money out.
My best advise is to buy a car you know the history of or to go to
someone like James Agger who only sells cars that he buys in
and with a history known to him.
He then adds a year's service and warranty to it and is always there
if you need help post sale.
My guess is that he'd rank as perhaps the number one Cerbera sales person
these days and for good reason and all this combines to being as safe as it
gets with Cerbera ownership.
So don't be put off by big bills, but be VERY aware of them.
Good luck!
Graham
TCR The Cerbera Register
www.TVR-Cerbera.com
For every 'expensive' ownership, there are no doubt many more who have
sound cars and low bills.
Whilst there is no getting away from the fact that a Cerbera could leave
you with a 6k bill if the engine goes west, you could just as easily end
up with a service bill of 1k per year.
This is a car that people like to spend money on (Nitrons, light
upgrades etc etc)so it is easy to burn your money on it, but there are
many that run 'standard' cars with no mods and simply have an annual
service and that's it.
The 3k 'back up' is wise, but you could go several years before you
had to lay that kind of money out.
My best advise is to buy a car you know the history of or to go to
someone like James Agger who only sells cars that he buys in
and with a history known to him.
He then adds a year's service and warranty to it and is always there
if you need help post sale.
My guess is that he'd rank as perhaps the number one Cerbera sales person
these days and for good reason and all this combines to being as safe as it
gets with Cerbera ownership.
So don't be put off by big bills, but be VERY aware of them.
Good luck!
Graham
TCR The Cerbera Register
www.TVR-Cerbera.com
It's a gamble and SXS has given you the worst case scenario but the financial risks can be partially mitigated for if you want.
I bought a '98 4.5 from DG's (a well known Midlands independent - now official TVR dealer) in April 2003 with 19,000 miles. It came with a service, MOT and 12 months warranty that covered most things expect for day-to-day wear. I paid about £1500 more than a private sale for the piece of mind. The warranty was used for a minor air con fault only. The first service was 12 months later (April 2004), it was the 'big' one and cost just over £1000 including MOT. Insurance costs me around £600 oer year, plus fuel and oil. I cover about 3,000 miles per year. Very little else has needed attention or cost me anything.
This April I took out the AA warranty that covers the first £1000 if something goes wrong and they can't fix it - costs about £200 pa including AA cover. Yes it's a risk and as many will tell you its about buying the right car. I am lucky, so far.
Best advice is to go into it with your eyes open and then you won't be suprised if something does happen. Just got back from a ride in the sunshine today and you can't beat it!
I bought a '98 4.5 from DG's (a well known Midlands independent - now official TVR dealer) in April 2003 with 19,000 miles. It came with a service, MOT and 12 months warranty that covered most things expect for day-to-day wear. I paid about £1500 more than a private sale for the piece of mind. The warranty was used for a minor air con fault only. The first service was 12 months later (April 2004), it was the 'big' one and cost just over £1000 including MOT. Insurance costs me around £600 oer year, plus fuel and oil. I cover about 3,000 miles per year. Very little else has needed attention or cost me anything.
This April I took out the AA warranty that covers the first £1000 if something goes wrong and they can't fix it - costs about £200 pa including AA cover. Yes it's a risk and as many will tell you its about buying the right car. I am lucky, so far.
Best advice is to go into it with your eyes open and then you won't be suprised if something does happen. Just got back from a ride in the sunshine today and you can't beat it!
I say get one, but be sure do what you can (speak to agger etc) to ensure the one you get is a goodun.
I have a rover V8 based TVR and including insurance (2.5k) have spent 6.5k ON the car in the last 6 months. Admitedly not all necessary or repairs, but any TVR can be expensive.
The majority of cerbera owners dont need to spend 6.5k on their cars every year (including insurance, excluding petrol, oil etc)
The trade off for whatever the price you pay though, is grin factor. Most will agree with me when I say (albeit not being an owner) a cerbera will be hard to top in the big grins dept, which is why most people who own them buy them!
Go for it! and get yourself a goodun
I have a rover V8 based TVR and including insurance (2.5k) have spent 6.5k ON the car in the last 6 months. Admitedly not all necessary or repairs, but any TVR can be expensive.
The majority of cerbera owners dont need to spend 6.5k on their cars every year (including insurance, excluding petrol, oil etc)
The trade off for whatever the price you pay though, is grin factor. Most will agree with me when I say (albeit not being an owner) a cerbera will be hard to top in the big grins dept, which is why most people who own them buy them!
Go for it! and get yourself a goodun
I spent an extra few pounds buying a sorted car in the first place and since then I've only spent around £1500 on servicing and repairs in over a year. I've got a warranty policy that I've claimed on twice for little things - Clutch slave & master cylinder seals and a throttle pot in the first few months of ownership.
I drove loads of Cerbs before I found mine and you find that there is quite a difference between them and you'll know when your driving a good one.
I don't do allot of miles a year may be 5000-6000! Would be less if I didn't take it from the south coast of England to Glasgow/Fife twice a year!
Thats another thing I get laughed at by people who think I'm brave driving a round trip of 1000+ miles in a weekend in a TVR but in four trips home the worst thing thats happened was blown headlight fuse. Which I can accept as my lights had been in constant use for around 6 hours!
I consider my self to be lucky as I budgeted for allot more than I've needed so far.
Craig.
I drove loads of Cerbs before I found mine and you find that there is quite a difference between them and you'll know when your driving a good one.
I don't do allot of miles a year may be 5000-6000! Would be less if I didn't take it from the south coast of England to Glasgow/Fife twice a year!
Thats another thing I get laughed at by people who think I'm brave driving a round trip of 1000+ miles in a weekend in a TVR but in four trips home the worst thing thats happened was blown headlight fuse. Which I can accept as my lights had been in constant use for around 6 hours!
I consider my self to be lucky as I budgeted for allot more than I've needed so far.
Craig.
Another good bet is www.fernhurst-tvr.co.uk.
They have 3 on there at the moment.. I bought mine from there in July, and other than a broken cat that was changed under warranty (and released another 80bhp I'm sure) and a minor (but common) issue I have with the driver window not dropping down when opening the door (which I am just going to take down to them and have it sorted out for nothing) everything has been great. They are good guys in there and it feels nice when you walk in and they refer to you on first name terms! Beats the bloody Vauxhall dealers! I am going the right way to spending nothing in the first year (as got the first service as part of the deal I did with them) so other than petrol, a splash of oil ( oh and some £24 side repeaters) I have had a supercar for zero additional outlay. I know I probably paid more in the first place, but peace of mind I think is worth a lot more.
I know you read a lot of stories on here about peoples nightmares, and I took them all into account in my decision. I think the truth is that if you want one enough, and believe me, after the first test drive you will either buy it there and then, or its not for you! I had said to myself I would have one one day, and I have, and touch wood, have not regretted it at all, especially as when you drive it you feel like a film star from all the looks you get and WRX's move over and let you passed!
They have 3 on there at the moment.. I bought mine from there in July, and other than a broken cat that was changed under warranty (and released another 80bhp I'm sure
) and a minor (but common) issue I have with the driver window not dropping down when opening the door (which I am just going to take down to them and have it sorted out for nothing) everything has been great. They are good guys in there and it feels nice when you walk in and they refer to you on first name terms! Beats the bloody Vauxhall dealers! I am going the right way to spending nothing in the first year (as got the first service as part of the deal I did with them) so other than petrol, a splash of oil ( oh and some £24 side repeaters) I have had a supercar for zero additional outlay. I know I probably paid more in the first place, but peace of mind I think is worth a lot more. I know you read a lot of stories on here about peoples nightmares, and I took them all into account in my decision. I think the truth is that if you want one enough, and believe me, after the first test drive you will either buy it there and then, or its not for you! I had said to myself I would have one one day, and I have, and touch wood, have not regretted it at all, especially as when you drive it you feel like a film star from all the looks you get and WRX's move over and let you passed!
If you want fairly fast, reliable inexpensive transport then you need a jaguar! I buy mine 4 years old and from 25 years experience expect to lose (over 8 years) at today's prices £1500 pa depreciateion, I do my own repairs and servicing at £300 pa, insurance is about £450. My TVR cerbera 4.5 of 1998 vintage is as others say a risk. I recently did a 12000 mile service myself at about £200 for fully synthetic oils, plugs and filters. Joospeed corrected faulty valve timing (incorrectly set at the factory) and reshimmed valve clearances, fitted new HT leads and coil packs for several hundred pounds. The next scheduled service will be much simpler in 6000 miles. That could be two years away but I will change the oil again (£80 for mobil 1 and filter)in 12 months time. Other problems in the last 8000 miles have been annual oil change, rebuilt steering rack for about £180 (self-fitted) a new starter clutch (£100 self rebuilt in about 10 minutes). Other problems also depressingly common have been doors and windows not working. This was completely cured with a very powerful industrial magnet in the sill to activate the magnetic door switch. Springs fitted as standard were much too soft and shock absorbers useless too. It cost me about £500 for a set of AVOs plus a range of race springs to test which I fitted myself; the car handles brilliantly now but I spent many months experimenting with setup. My advice is get Joospeed to do the job for only a little more. If the engine runs well, count yourself lucky. A main agent had three attempts at tuning mine and probably thought I was too fussy. Again Joospeed fitted an alternative ECU and set it up on a rolling road. This cost money but the result (201 extra bhp) is brilliant and I do nt envisage much more expense. Cost of bits and repairs over 3 years/8000 miles is about £3500. Expensive compared to my jags but then my cerbera is 50% more powerful and only has half the weight of a jag. You must expect performance/grin-factor to cost money! Hope this helps!
My car has cost me £3k in 6 months, but only about £1k of that was essential/servicing. The rest upgrades (Austec remap) and replacing rubber bits etc (oh and upgraded brakes)
James Aggar, by all accounts, is a top TVR bloke, but I can also vouch for Fernhurst, who sold me and serviced my previous Griff for the 5 years I owned it. Top bananas.
As for inspections, I used (as have many others) Rob Ingleby www.findasportscar.co.uk/ to inspect my cerb as it was a distance from me. Rob charges according to distance travelled, charged me about £220 to look at my car near Birmingham (he's 'oop north' somewhere). Not saying Rob is an oracle on Cerbs, but he certainly knows a lot more than I do and has driven many so is able to compare good from bad..IMHO, of course He quite often knows of good uns for sale too
James Aggar, by all accounts, is a top TVR bloke, but I can also vouch for Fernhurst, who sold me and serviced my previous Griff for the 5 years I owned it. Top bananas.
As for inspections, I used (as have many others) Rob Ingleby www.findasportscar.co.uk/ to inspect my cerb as it was a distance from me. Rob charges according to distance travelled, charged me about £220 to look at my car near Birmingham (he's 'oop north' somewhere). Not saying Rob is an oracle on Cerbs, but he certainly knows a lot more than I do and has driven many so is able to compare good from bad..IMHO, of course
He quite often knows of good uns for sale toothis is great. Thanks for your help.
the cars at Fernhurst are a little above what I want to spend. £18000 is about the figure I have to spend which leaves me a little to play with if nessesary, for unexpected probs.
I just want to be able to find the right car without making a mistake.
the cars at Fernhurst are a little above what I want to spend. £18000 is about the figure I have to spend which leaves me a little to play with if nessesary, for unexpected probs.
I just want to be able to find the right car without making a mistake.
Also, bear in mind that at 15-20k, if you do maintain it correctly, you'll still see the money back come resale time.
Problems do occour, and can be expensive/a royal pain to sort, but the same is true of any car.
What is a 20k beemer or merc likely to be worth in 3 years time?
The cerb will hold its value, & while 3k a year in maintainence may seem steep, the bm /merc etc can easily cost you the same in servicing/depreaciation combined.
Go for it!! My only regret in nearly 3 years of ownership was letting the bugger go.
Problems do occour, and can be expensive/a royal pain to sort, but the same is true of any car.
What is a 20k beemer or merc likely to be worth in 3 years time?
The cerb will hold its value, & while 3k a year in maintainence may seem steep, the bm /merc etc can easily cost you the same in servicing/depreaciation combined.
Go for it!! My only regret in nearly 3 years of ownership was letting the bugger go.
darreni said:
Also, bear in mind that at 15-20k, if you do maintain it correctly, you'll still see the money back come resale time.
Problems do occour, and can be expensive/a royal pain to sort, but the same is true of any car.
What is a 20k beemer or merc likely to be worth in 3 years time?
The cerb will hold its value, & while 3k a year in maintainence may seem steep, the bm /merc etc can easily cost you the same in servicing/depreaciation combined.
Go for it!! My only regret in nearly 3 years of ownership was letting the bugger go.
You can buy a '99 M5 for 20k. Don't suppose it'd depreciate much more than a Cerb....
jacko996 said:
Thanks lads for all your advice, I feel a little better about the whole idea.
If I was to buy a car from James Agger, would I expect to pay a lot more than a private deal?
How much does he charge to inspect a car for you?
You would pay a little more than a private sale, but, not dealer prices.
Remember that most of his cars come with a 12 month warranty and service
which alone would add in the region of £1500.
This is the sort of car you could expect from James for £18-£19k
www.pistonheads.com/sales/detail.asp?i=29254&s=6&sc=FFPG
He doesn't do inspections (as far as I know) but he uses two of the top people
in the UK to do the pre sales checks / service.
Inspections, unless conducted on ramps and in detail, can and will miss things
no matter how good the person doing this is.
You will not find a Cerbera that won't need something doing at some stage,
they are performance hand built cars after all, but you can reduce the odds
by sensible shopping.
I've visited many dealers and indies around the UK and there are but a few
I would purchase from let alone entrust a service to.
I know it sounds like a sales pitch, but you could search all day and you'd be
hard pushed to find a bad word about a sale from James or him as a person.
Almost upto a years ownership on the current Cerb and so far it's cost me around £300 for repairs and servicing. Had a few problems with headlights - fixed myself with help from dealer for free, probs with windscreen wipers - new wiper motor, warranty job, and changed the connectors on the control box myself for a couple of quid.
I did the service myself for around £80 and got dealer to change the gearbox oil and give it a tune up on the laptop for a little over £100. These were the faffy jobs I couldn't be bothered to do myself.
It's cost a fortune in fuel, it's not too bad on insurance - £600ish and i've yet to enjoy the horrors of an MOT.
That's the good year, next year might be different.
Next year, I'm expecting the gearbox will need rebuilding, it's got a slight whine, but it's still going ok, so i'll not worry until it goes bang, and I might have to get a pair of catalytic converters, but I'm claiming off the council as they put in a speed hump which was too high. There's the 12k service and vavle check to do and I need a new set of shocks/springs. It might need a new battery aswell.
I did the service myself for around £80 and got dealer to change the gearbox oil and give it a tune up on the laptop for a little over £100. These were the faffy jobs I couldn't be bothered to do myself.
It's cost a fortune in fuel, it's not too bad on insurance - £600ish and i've yet to enjoy the horrors of an MOT.
That's the good year, next year might be different.
Next year, I'm expecting the gearbox will need rebuilding, it's got a slight whine, but it's still going ok, so i'll not worry until it goes bang, and I might have to get a pair of catalytic converters, but I'm claiming off the council as they put in a speed hump which was too high. There's the 12k service and vavle check to do and I need a new set of shocks/springs. It might need a new battery aswell.
jacko996 said:
Hello all. Being new to TVR and after reading lots of posts have know become scared of buying a Cerb.
Looking to buy 97/98 4.2 or 4.5.
The question is, if I buy one that is already sorted with enginge rebuild, suspension ect, will I still have the expected £3000+ REPAIR bills per year.
Thanks in advance.
Just over a year ago i was feeling much the same way as you are now. Should I, should'nt I? In the end i did, and hand on heart i don't regret it one bit, but unfortunately due to various reasons (some of which you allude to) she is going in the new year. However, i think even owning such a car for one year is well worth it and an experience i will always remember and would recommend to anyone. If you do take the plunge and then things get a bit difficult, you can always sell her on
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