The feeling of speed

[350matt]

Peeps
I've got a question for all you Cerby drivers out there, I've recently entered the world of Cerbera ownership having had a much modified wedge for about 8 years and heres the rub, the Wedge 'felt' fast, lots of noise/ vibration with a gor-blimey exhaust note. The Cerb whilst obviously being faster, handles/ stops better etc doesn't 'feel' as fast,
The impression of speed isn't the same.

Its more you look at the speedo which says XXXMph and you think; 'Really?'
and then you think;
'No my speedo must be out' then you notice the other cars on the motorway looking like they're in reverse.....

Now this could be testement to the Cerbs' newer design over the wedge but even stepping from my Mundeo into the cerb I get a similar feeling.
A mate of mine has put it down to the letterbox windscreen opening, due to it blanking out a large chunk of your normal field of vision so you're losing your reference point and so rendering it all a bit 'video game like'

comments? or is it just me?


By the way anybody got any top tips to stop the rear brakes from squealing.....

Matt

[morebeanz]

You may be right about the frame of reference and the letter box. I do find the exhaust/engine note to more than adequately make up for that though!

[TT Tim]

I think it's just you, having said that over 100 it is pretty effortless.

As for the brakes, they're race compound pads and as such do tend to squeel, I have EBC reds in at the moment and they're just as bad as the AP Racing pads.

Tim

[TT Tim]

morebeanz said:

You may be right about the frame of reference and the letter box. I do find the exhaust/engine note to more than adequately make up for that though!

PARDON?! I can't hear you over the sound of the sports pipe!

Tim

[itsallyellow]

my cerb only feels "fast" over 160-170 below that it feels quite normal.
mike

[jesfirth]

I reckon the reason the cerb doesnt feel as quick is because it is so much smoother and alot quiter than a wedge. i had a much modified 400se for 6 years and on a long journey it felt as if i had been in a washing machine on spin. i can get out of the cerb after 200 miles and not feel tired-but i would be exhausted after that distance in the wedge

[gazzab]

You need to thrash it !!!
The cerb will feel fast when it comes to life, which is up the rev range. This time of the yr you cant use the revs much past 3K (certainly not with your foot flat to floor). Wait until April and it will feel fast.
My cerb feels fast !!!
It MIGHT be down on horse power. It isnt that unusual to find slower ones.

[itsallyellow]

i dont mean mine feels slow. i mean it just dosnt feel fast(at high speeds) when you going fast.

[whitey]

it's becuase you have a roof and a bigger cabin area. The first Cerb I drove I thought it seemed slow, until I looked at the speedo!

[gazzab]

oops - read the thread this time! Mine feels fastish at high speeds. Certainly at 150 - 180 mph it feels fast.

[Cyclone1]

gazzab said:

You need to thrash it !!! The cerb will feel fast when it comes to life, which is up the rev range. This time of the yr you cant use the revs much past 3K (certainly not with your foot flat to floor). Wait until April and it will feel fast. My cerb feels fast !!! It MIGHT be down on horse power. It isnt that unusual to find slower ones.

I agree with gazzab. Not really the right time of the year to be testing it's full capabilities, but.....

I have previously owned a 335bhp / 380lb/ft Audi S4 Twin Turbo, which felt "quicker" than the Cerb even though it wasn't. This was probably down to the feeling that the turbos generate once spooled up. A friend of mine has a 350bhp Fiat Coupe and that also feels "quicker" than the Cerb, but obviously it's not. At times the Cerb can feel lazy, but the power delivery is so strong that it just builds and builds. After my remap in November the car had it's highest bhp figure and the torque spread was loverly and it felt so responsive on the M1 on the way home, it was definitely the best it had ever felt to a point where when a T350 joined me I literally pulled lengths on it each time we accelerated, it was good fun but proved just how much quicker the Cerb now was, sadly a junction later my manifold decided to let go, so no more than an hour after the remap and enjoying the car it was back to tootling along at 60mph.......

[simonsparrow]

Know what you mean, prior to the Cerbera I had a 1976 3000m, and at 'normal' road speeds it felt a lot faster.

The Cerbera is wicked though.....

[touchingcloth]

I have not had a car yet that has 'felt' like it accelerated faster than my old Subaru Impreza Wrx, it was quite a quick imported one but I still don't think in real terms it would have stood a chance against either my Chim or the Cerb. I do think turbo's give you a boot in the back when they kick in that helps enhance the pushed along feeling, normally aspirated cars are much more linear. Not had the Cerb really spooled up yet but had it upto 110 leptons the other day and it was just going up and up.. the scooby really hit a brick wall at around 90 and then it really did begin to feel slow.

[mccrae]

i have a 4.5 RR i know what you mean its proberly the wind reduction with it been a hard top i also have a T350 4ltr RR and the cerb would eat it

[itsallyellow]

my cerb only really starts to feel slow on the aceleration front at about 165

[c3ber]

I tend to hit 90mph (in my dreams mr police man) so easy that I have to be very very careful how I put my foot down.

[gazzab]

My old Impreza P1 was rated as a fast car - it felt fast on B Roads. But on an A Road felt slow next to the Cerb.

[farmyardpants]

I have a theory it is to do with the lack of pitching motion (front lifting). The cerb seems not to pitch much, maybe because it's long compared with its height - the dragster effect. Also (backup theory ) the gearing is longer, red line in 2nd is ~80 rather than ~60, so it might take a similar time to max out 2nd gear.

[BossCerbera]

Hi Matt I think the answer is the wheelbase. There's a bigger time gap between when the front and back pass over a bump.

[robscim]

I definitely agree, my Audi S4 feels quicker but definitely isn't.

When I got the cerb, I put the radar detector in as this has a gps speed on it because I didn't believe the speedo was right - but it was!!

I'd love to know the definite answer.

Strangely enough, the passengers seem to think its fast - I had one try to climb out when I put my foot down in the dry

Rob