Does it not worry anyone
Does it not worry anyone
Author
Discussion

blue 4.5

Original Poster:

1,543 posts

266 months

Tuesday 22nd March 2005
quotequote all
of people trying to buy cerberas for as little as possible and run them on as little as possible etc.

I understand completely that spiralling costs are anyone's nightmare and you hear plenty of stories. But I am getting slightly worried that the allure of these cars will be destroyed if people start buying the cars cheaply, running them with parts from breakers yards and then selling them on in a crappy state. I mean 8K a year maintenance would be excessive by anyone's standards, but if you are worried about 2K a year, then surely you should buy something a little less exotic?

I know £20K + ish isn't a lot of money for a car these days (considering new golf gti) but it worries me that now cars are coming to market for sub 15K that they will no longer feel or look special. For instant if I saw a spotty Burberry capped youf driving a cerbera, the time would come to find something else, and the scary thing is that it won't be long till they switch from their cossie's to the cerb!

Or will this just make the treasured, well looked after ones rarer, and therefore keep the prices at a sensible level?

FourWheelDrift

92,239 posts

313 months

Tuesday 22nd March 2005
quotequote all
I see it as this.

If someone buy's a cheap Cerbera in need of some work but tries to run it on a shoestring budget they may well end up shunting and writing it off due to the combination of never driving anything as powerful as a Cerbera before and poor maintenance. This will mean less Cerbera's around, sad but a factor of life. Residuals will level out then increase for the cars that are left as demand heavily outstrips supply, these cars will be the ones looked after and be highly valued in years to come.

DuncanM

7,450 posts

308 months

Tuesday 22nd March 2005
quotequote all
blue 4.5 said:
For instant if I saw a spotty Burberry capped youf driving a cerbera, the time would come to find something else, and the scary thing is that it won't be long till they switch from their cossie's to the cerb!


Depends what the reason for buying the car is but the above comment suggests you wanted the car purely for status/looks/kudos.

my feelings for my car wouldn't change if a couple of Chavs dared to buy one .

Duncan

Tyre Smoke

23,018 posts

290 months

Tuesday 22nd March 2005
quotequote all
DuncanM said:

blue 4.5 said:
For instant if I saw a spotty Burberry capped youf driving a cerbera, the time would come to find something else, and the scary thing is that it won't be long till they switch from their cossie's to the cerb!



Depends what the reason for buying the car is but the above comment suggests you wanted the car purely for status/looks/kudos.

my feelings for my car wouldn't change if a couple of Chavs dared to buy one .

Duncan


It sounded like that to me too. If you buy a Cerb just for pose value, then you too are likely to end up in the scenery, when it catches you out in the wet. Unless of course you drive around town at 20/30mph in second gear with your arm out the window. In which case you are no better than your average laxxer.

blue 4.5

Original Poster:

1,543 posts

266 months

Tuesday 22nd March 2005
quotequote all
Quite the opposite, I love the whole package. If I wanted that surely I would have went for a porsche , merc, beemer etc, not a car that the general public have to ask (what is that). I bought a cerbera as it is the only car I have every really wanted and for me it is the complete package, amazing performance, amazing looks, British and individual. But of course you want the car to feel special, so I guess some of what you mention, but above all, its the thrill of pulling onto a motorway and flooring it, and having to stop accelerating, not because the car tells you to, but because you are about to break the sound barrier, and the noise you get every time you do it!

bruciebabe

1,126 posts

270 months

Tuesday 22nd March 2005
quotequote all
Hats off to ANYONE who owns and drives a Cerb. It takes time, money, love, driving skill, tolerance and mechanical sympathy all to a high level. Respect your fellow Cerb drivers even if they wear a Burberry hat. Even worse some current owners are smokers!!!!!!!!!

_DeeJay_

5,057 posts

283 months

Tuesday 22nd March 2005
quotequote all
FourWheelDrift said:
I see it as this.
Someone who doesn't have enough money to run a Cerbera won't be able to drive it



I'm not sure that's the case, surely there's no relation between driving ability and wealth.

If I won the lottery tomorrow, I'd still not be able to drive Ash's Cerb. Whereas if I'd spent 20 years racing Karts/working as a traffic cop, I'd probably have decent car control but not necessarily a load of money.

A badly kept maintained may be more of a danger than a brand new one, but surely there's a lot more to it than that so one cannot generalise?



>> Edited by _DeeJay_ on Tuesday 22 March 11:45

diddyman

3,646 posts

270 months

Tuesday 22nd March 2005
quotequote all
bruciebabe said:
Even worse some current owners are smokers!!!!!!!!!


That'll be me, then Bruce!!! Oh, and we own a BMW!

OT, good to see you on Saturday, BTW. Any thorts on your Xmas hols?!!!!



>> Edited by diddyman on Tuesday 22 March 11:43

FourWheelDrift

92,239 posts

313 months

Tuesday 22nd March 2005
quotequote all
_DeeJay_ said:



FourWheelDrift said:
I see it as this.
Someone who doesn't have enough money to run a Cerbera won't be able to drive it




I'm not sure that's the case, surely there's no relation between driving ability and wealth.




Perhaps if you don't miss-quote.

What I mean is if they have a very small budget, bought a cheap Cerbera which they could just afford to buy now the prices are much lower these days. If it needs some work (reason it's cheap) and further ongoing maintenance to keep it going and they skimp on this they could experience problems driving it and possibly be a mitigating cause in writing it off. I for one don't like to see high performance cars not being looked after. Combine this with someone who has never driven anything about 150bhp and never a RWD car (but now able to afford a Cerb). The combination of the two may lead to problems.

>> Edited by FourWheelDrift on Tuesday 22 March 13:07

UKBoB

16,277 posts

294 months

Tuesday 22nd March 2005
quotequote all
TVR have a legal obligation to supply parts for a number of years. Burberry dont make caps any more. And with only 4 hundred and something cerberas in existance prices will likely stabilise eventually(Some say they will creep up come the summer) and I cant see them ever falling 'en mass' into the hands of chavs and laxxers.

Niggles aside, its Happy Days Im pleased with my purchase, went in eyes wide open, we can only sit back together and hope prices for parts dont sky rocket, and equally the time required to source parts doesnt also increase.

bruciebabe

1,126 posts

270 months

Tuesday 22nd March 2005
quotequote all
UKBoB said:
TVR have a legal obligation to supply parts for a number of years. Burberry dont make caps any more. And with only 4 hundred and something cerberas in existance prices will likely stabilise eventually(Some say they will creep up come the summer) and I cant see them ever falling 'en mass' into the hands of chavs and laxxers.

Niggles aside, its Happy Days Im pleased with my purchase, went in eyes wide open, we can only sit back together and hope prices for parts dont sky rocket, and equally the time required to source parts doesnt also increase.


Loads get written off every year. Some owners bin them on the way home from buying them. With such a small number made, such a high rate of attrition and the sheer uniqueness and brilliance of the car mine will soon be worth more than an F40! On a performance basis they should be the same price.

PHØENIX

719 posts

259 months

Tuesday 22nd March 2005
quotequote all
Brit cars dont tend to hold their value sadly. The performance market is overrun by foreigns and even though the numbers will get lower, I cant see the prices rising. TVR is not Ferrari, not stirring here, just an educated opinion, look at the the past TVR models, it will give you an insight. But then look at ancient Ferrari models... Take a TVR from the 70's and compare the price to a Ferrari from the 70's - BIG DIFFERENCE!

I know what blue4.5 is saying, and he has a point, the cerbera is the king of the road, sheer road presence, and the exclusivity gives it the pull, but if some youngsters on max power budgets start picking these up, it wont be very exclusive for long... but I doubt it would happen, didnt happen with any earlier tiv's so I cant see it happening with cerbs - even the youngsters on budgets know their limits... and the fast'n'furious style culture is the youngster puller and always will be, exotic cars have the aura of 'expense' surrounding them, and that puts off many from tvr ownership... mid 20's+ will be the market for tivs, as it has been and always will be for the used tvr buyer...

Dont worry chaps, the rate at which they're dissapearing off the roads, I doubt we'd be worried about out exclusive club being gatecrashed by maxist teens....

Edited to add:
Saying that, I think I was only 19 at the time of my first cerbie... lol... and the only thing I did to her was spend £200 on car mats and £350 for an all-weather cover and thousands on upkeep

>> Edited by PHØENIX on Tuesday 22 March 13:40

DuncanM

7,450 posts

308 months

Tuesday 22nd March 2005
quotequote all
bruciebabe said:

UKBoB said:
TVR have a legal obligation to supply parts for a number of years. Burberry dont make caps any more. And with only 4 hundred and something cerberas in existance prices will likely stabilise eventually(Some say they will creep up come the summer) and I cant see them ever falling 'en mass' into the hands of chavs and laxxers.

Niggles aside, its Happy Days Im pleased with my purchase, went in eyes wide open, we can only sit back together and hope prices for parts dont sky rocket, and equally the time required to source parts doesnt also increase.



Loads get written off every year. Some owners bin them on the way home from buying them. With such a small number made, such a high rate of attrition and the sheer uniqueness and brilliance of the car mine will soon be worth more than an F40! On a performance basis they should be the same price.


It is my honest belief that in the next 5 years Cerbera prices will increase with 18k being the cheapest they change hands for .

Is there really only 400 odd Cerbs!? Thought it was at least 1500

Duncan

PHØENIX

719 posts

259 months

Tuesday 22nd March 2005
quotequote all
18k for a cerb? in a few years? hard push there my friend. Want to place a bet?

blue 4.5

Original Poster:

1,543 posts

266 months

Tuesday 22nd March 2005
quotequote all
The point I was trying to get across is that I'm all for giving people advice on here about which car or what to look for in the one they are looking to buy, but the person has to be sensible enough to make the 'Should I buy one' decision in the first place. If they are unsure if they will be able to afford to run the car, then they shouldn't buy it.

I am just worried that the car will unfoundedly get a bad rep due to mistreatment.

You buy a cerbera with your heart (well I did) and you should know if you can afford it before you try, as once bitten....

I just would prefer it if this forum spent more time on discussing headlight conversion, performance mods, experiences of driving, like it did a few months ago, rather than just answering another question....

'I am thinking of buying a cerbera but am worried about running costs, I have seen one for 15K advertised at Dogdy Joes second hand cars etc etc '

Its not a 205 GTI, quite frankly unless I was a mechanic I would be bloody afraid of jumping into a hand made 360ish BHP car which had little history and had a lot of work to do, I certainly wouldn't feel comfortable driving it a serious speeds either.

DuncanM

7,450 posts

308 months

Tuesday 22nd March 2005
quotequote all
[quote=PHØENIX]18k for a cerb? in a few years? hard push there my friend. Want to place a bet? [/quote]

What do you think then Ash? I think more and more the people buying now will want to keep them for longer.

In 5 years time I think you'll be hard pushed to find any Cerb for less than 17.5k .

How much do you reckon? I'd be interested to see how far apart the figures are .

Duncan

Byff

4,427 posts

290 months

Tuesday 22nd March 2005
quotequote all
blue 4.5 said:
For instant if I saw a spotty Burberry capped youf driving a cerbera, the time would come to find something else, and the scary thing is that it won't be long till they switch from their cossie's to the cerb!


You have forgotten what it's like to be young. You must possess the exact same car/phone/fashion accessories as your mates, but with a little customisation to make it individual, hence body kits and phone covers. As the Cerb is already a reasonably rare car, the chances of it making it to the cruise scene is remote, unless the owner has a passion for TVR and doesn't mind breaking the social taboo to be unique.

Lets not also forget that some of these maxxers can spend £20-£30k just pimping their ride, so the running costs of a Cerb are hardly going to bother them.

The main issue is people buying a cheap Cerb that needs TLC and then failing to maintain it. It was cheap and nasty to start with and when they come to sell it on or wrap it into a wall, it'll still be cheap and nasty. IMO, these cars will be passed from pillar to post, never getting any better, however, the owners that look after their P&J will demand a respectable price when selling on.

Plotloss

67,280 posts

299 months

Tuesday 22nd March 2005
quotequote all
Some chavs already drive them...

They will never stay high priced. Look at the SEAC, thats a far far more exclusive beast and you can get a proper mint condition one for around £15K

The £10K Cerb median price isnt that far away at all.

Alex

9,978 posts

313 months

Tuesday 22nd March 2005
quotequote all
UKBoB said:
TVR have a legal obligation to supply parts for a number of years.


Legally, car manufacturers only have to supply parts for 2 years after a model is discontinued.

cozzy

25 posts

259 months

Tuesday 22nd March 2005
quotequote all
For instant if I saw a spotty Burberry capped youf driving a cerbera, the time would come to find something else, and the scary thing is that it won't be long till they switch from their cossie's to the cerb!


I am a young(23 year old) that wheres trackys an caps, an have worked hard to get the cars i have had. Just a manual worker not a suit. I have just bought a cerb, dont know what the proplem is with some people, if you seen me drivin mine is that gonna make you sell yours?