Am i dreaming?

[72Russ]

Hi guys

Im moving outta the smoke & to the countryside soon ish & i'm going to need a car.
& .... I've fallen in love with the cerb!

Basically im going to be using it every day (or every other day) to go 20mins to & from the station then to blast around the country lanes at the eves+ w/ends + odd longer trips

will the cerb be able to be parked on my drive (under a protective cover - new house has a converted garage) and start first time at 7 in the morning in winter to get me to the staiton then start fine after being sat in the rain all day?

Im looking at spending 16-17k on one. Im not too fussed if its a straight 6 or a V8.Obivioulsy id like the V8 but am realistic - is one more reliable than the other?

From looking about thats roughly MY99 or so which i would guess (rightly or wrongly??) that the majority of faults would have been rectified (e.g. random opening doors/bonnet/boot, leaking windows etc...Im also concerned about the amount of adverts that state that their car has had an engine rebuilt after only 20k or so. is this normal?

My quesiton is really - Am i dreaming? in terms of the cerb's reliability to do this or should i get something more pratical until i can get a Tiv to keep as a garage queen?


Phew! sorry for the ramble & all the questions - any help much appriciated so i can make an informed decision & answers to questions that i havent event thought of welcome

and be gentle

[Tyre Smoke]

It will cost you twice what you think it will each year. Allow £3k a year for servicing/repairs - then add fuel/tyres.

It will leak, it will still randomly do weird electrical things, it will suddenly do weird mechanical things.

You should really go for a V8 (but I'm biased). I would say that you can do it, but be prepared for it to break down at the most inconvenient times - it might never do though. That's the Russian Roulette of Cerb ownership.

In short, they are not unreliable - that's a load of rubbish put about by disgruntled owners they love to be driven regularly and it will cost you a fortune and then some.

Lastly, you will forgive it everthing. It could cost you your house, job, wife/girlfriend, friends, social life - but you will still love it more than anything else.

[TT Tim]

Not sure two cold starts and only 20 mins driving a day would do it any favours at all, the engine won't have properly warmed up in that time. Oh, and the neighbours will hate you if you start a Cerb' every morning at 7am.

My advise, spend £16+K on a Cerb AJPV8, forget the S6, and a grand on a hack to go to the station and back.

Tim

[RUSSELLM]

From A 70Russ to a 72Russ , mine's a daily driver & sits outside all the time. No problems with cold start.

I'd go for A V8, see the speed six engine forum for explanation.

Don't get me wrong, it ain't nowhere near as reliable as the missus's £500 Metro, and your going to be paying £50 an hour for someone to fix it for you, but for all the bad points I still think they're a little bit special.

[simonsparrow]

Mine's a daily driver too, and sometimes gets to sit in the station car park depending on where I'm working.

There are niggly things, so I accept that every now and then I may need to take a cab or even rent a car (as I did for one week while the clutch was fixed).

And when its not running right, it can be depressing.

On the other hand, it still makes me smile after almost three years and I love driving it. I figure this kind of car is going to become extinct within our lifetimes with fuel costs and lowest common denominator traffic laws, so enjoy while you can.

Compared to normal cars I'd say the highs are higher and the lows lower, so as long as you can accept the broadening of your emotional and financial bandwidth, then go for it!

[purpleheadedcerb]

Ours is a daily driver and is fine doing similar journey times to what you plan. It sits outside without a cover, the paints not brilliant so I'm not to worried. Beware of using some covers as they can do more harm than good. Just make sure that the battery is a known good one to start with as that could save you alot of hassle.

Keep on top of the maintenance, it seems to be a car where preventative maintenance is crucial.

Cerbs get under your skin and it's almost a joy to get out of bed knowing that you are going to be driving it.

[dantheman76]

I was you 6 months ago. Fell in love with the Cerb and wanted one for weekends and occaisional trips, but needed a work car also (60 miles start-stop a day).

Spent 16k on a 4.2 and 1k on a runaround. Absolutely love the cerb and have never had a problem with weekend use only. I do use a trickle charger if not using it for more than a week though (even left it for 4 weeks when on recent holiday with no probs on return!!).

Only problem I have had is windows failing to go down when opening the door - a quick post here and I sorted that out myself in 5 minutes. The guys on here really do have a crazy amount of knowledge!!

I say go for it - make sure you do have an emergency wallet / bank account / wealthy relative though as have just spent almost a K on set of brakes, and am aware that things may go wrong in future.

Daniel

PS - ring a few insurers first - I am 29 full NCB and could only find a handful of insurers that would even look at me despite having owned a gp 18 car...

[Sparey]

Go for it. Just done the same. Well pleased apart from a few minor problems - one of which includes the drivers side window not going down when opening the door! Any advice anyone?

[gbbird]

You are doing exactly the same as i did a few years ago - left the big smoke for the country, with the sole intention of getting a cerb as soon as i got out there (in fact, i moved into the new house one day and picked up the Cerb the next!)

Go for it - you won't regret it. But saying that i don't leave mine at the station though - it's hard enough to concentrate at work through the day let alone have to worry about my pride and joy being pranged by someones door. get yourself a cheap runaround, and keep your cerb for those lovely summer evenings and weekends

PS - what part of the countryside are you moving to?

[72Russ]

Hi guys
thanks for all the good advice / info
sorry i havent replied sooner - ive been out of the officer, you know how it is.

you've given me a lot of food for thought, some good, some bad.

Good point about stating it a 7am and waking the neighbours up - may have to buy them a bottle or 2 of wine every xmas...

3k a yr to run + ins seems a lot, need to check the finances to see if i can really afford that

the idea of a 1k hack is a good one but the mrs has a runabout and i dont really want the hassle and cost of running another car as well

what i'll prob do is call a few ins compaines for quotes and go kick some tires & test drive at a few garages and see how it goes.

forgive my ignorance, but why do the windows go down when you open the doors?

and im movng out to east oxon close to the bucks border

Thanks

[touchingcloth]

I would also recommend another car on the side, it may seem extravagant but the cost could easily pay for itself in saving daily wear and tear and the odd prang or knock at the station which isn't worth putting through the insurance; you can run a small crappy car amazingly cheaply if you look into it. TPF&T insurance, low road tax bracket if its under a 1.6 (or is it 1.4?) and then pop the Cerb on limited miles policy. The advantage of this is also that if something does go wrong with the Cerb and you want to wait a month to pay for it then you have that luxury, if you need it to get to the station every day then you are more forced into a corner and have to get it done soonest. Drive one and see what you think. Griff's and Chim's with the Rover V8 are much cheaper to run if you don't need the 4 seats by the way, you can probably half those annual running costs, I had a Chim first and it was a good introduction, had to move up to the Cerb eventually though as it was the one I always wanted.

>> Edited by touchingcloth on Friday 7th April 10:00

[RUSSELLM]

72Russ said:

forgive my ignorance, but why do the windows go down when you open the doors?

There's no frame around the door, so when your close the window, the top of the window houses itself into the roof of the car.

Opening the door with the window up, breaks it in half, the window that is

[Tyre Smoke]

RUSSELLM said:

There's no frame around the door, so when your close the window, the top of the window houses itself into the roof of the car. Opening the door with the window up, breaks it in half, the window that is

No it doesn't, and no it doesn't.

The window drops to allow you to close the door without slamming it - it equalises the air pressure inside and outside the vehicle.

The glass rests against the rubber seal not into it.

[TT Tim]

Tyre Smoke said:

RUSSELLM said: There's no frame around the door, so when your close the window, the top of the window houses itself into the roof of the car. Opening the door with the window up, breaks it in half, the window that is No it doesn't, and no it doesn't. The window drops to allow you to close the door without slamming it - it equalises the air pressure inside and outside the vehicle. The glass rests against the rubber seal not into it.

My window does tuck into the upper lip of the rubber seal, I believe, however I may be wrong, that larger/reprofiled seals were an update.

Also, the window will smack against the carbon fibre wind deflector if it didn't lower by a few inches.

Tim

[RUSSELLM]

Mines the same as yours, if the window doesn't drop it hits that carbon fibre wind deflector thing at the front.