Help for a potential new cerb owner

[siwil1]

Hi I'm looking to change my current car for something more exciting obviously!

I need to know how practical one of these is for a daily use car, I only do circa 3 miles to work and no I cant bike/walk (whats a bus?)but it is country lanes! plus will encounter the odd school run.

Wife has a mundaneo for shopping/large boot stuff so no probs on that front.

What i'm really worried about is reliability and are there any common faults/essential mods which i should look for when buying? BUdget would be max £20k
any comments will be greatly appreciated

[Plotloss]

Over 3 miles it will never get warm.

Buy a cerb but get a nail for the commute.

In the long run it will work out a LOT cheaper.

[siwil1]

thanks plotless, sorry didnt make myself clear at all, its 3 miles to my office but often go out on business from there upto 80mls p/day (probaby 2/3 times p/w ave).

Nail good idea but wife no like too many cars out front. A work mate has a 911 and dosent seem to have any probs but dont want to follow suit.

[grahamn]

Get a cerb and watch your workmate disappear in the rear view mirror

[Extra 300 Driver]

The problem is that the 3 miles to your work will not do the car (engine) any good, if its for a period of a few weeks. It really needs to be run for a generous time to keep all the fluids running and up to temperature or recharge the battery after a start.

I use my Cerbera for my daily commute but that is over 35 miles each way, never had any real problems due to the mileage.

[gazzab]

Lots of short journeys will destroy a cerbera.

[methodwares]

not to mention the poor mileage with short trips. i do 35 miles a day (alternate between the cerb and midget), in the afternoon i drive about 3 miles to the local pool for some exercise and it uses as much fuel to go those 3 or so miles as it does to go 35 miles, at least it seems that way.

i've had no probs with the car (except today, had the rac out cause it wouldn't start and it was the wire going to the selenoid was disconnected, must get allen keys and keep in the boot).

[angusfaldo]

I agree with the others. A 3 mile trip won't do the car any favours at all. But there's no doubt that regular use will keep your baby in a better mood. So many Cerbs suffer through lack of use.

Plenty of people use them as daily runners. But be prepared to invest some TLC in it. It's not easy to run one on a shoestring.

[siwil1]

Thanks for all the advise to be honest it was what I was expecting, I only do the 3mls only 1or 2 times a week,last year my car covered just under10k so perhaps it is workable but more realistically I need to clear the garage out this weekend!

Thanks

[JensenA]

Running Costs !!

I went through all the 'Should I drive the TVR to work every day - or buy an old banger to get to work, and save Trevor for the weekends' thing, so being a sad b******d I worked it all out on a spreadsheet !!

Anyway heres some figures - these are based on cost per mile of a cerb, and a £1000 Honda civic 'runner' they DONT include depreciation, just Servicing and fuel.

Daily Commute Cost per Month
Miles Cerb Civic
10 £66.51 £24.92
30 £200.42 £74.75
50 £334.03 £124.58
100 £668.06 £249.17

Im not making any recomendations - these are the costs - you decide what you want to do.

[clemstar]

methodwares said:

not to mention the poor mileage with short trips. i do 35 miles a day (alternate between the cerb and midget), in the afternoon i drive about 3 miles to the local pool for some exercise and it uses as much fuel to go those 3 or so miles as it does to go 35 miles, at least it seems that way. i've had no probs with the car (except today, had the rac out cause it wouldn't start and it was the wire going to the selenoid was disconnected, must get allen keys and keep in the boot).

What Midget have you got!! Ive got one too!