Tempting fate ...
Discussion
See a lot of posts relating to problems so on a more optimistic note thought I'd summarise my 2 years Cerbera ownership to date which has been overall quite positive. I realise that in writing this I'm probably tempting fate however and have my fingers and everything else crossed while I'm doing this!
I've done about 15K miles since getting the car just over 2 years ago. It's a late 1998 4.5 model. Apart from the obvious services which have been a touch expensive, new tyres, some minor electrical glitches, waxoyling the chasis and several throttle pots (I'm beginning to wonder whether I should keep some of these as spares!), the Cerb has been quite good to me. It's been used daily and started on the button every day whatever the weather. The only serious problem I had was when one of the tensioner bolts dropped out - a bit of a freak problem and I was lucky that there was minimal damage to the engine. The guys at Offords sorted it without need to send back to the factory though at about £2K it was the biggest bill I've had.
So, been very happy with the car to date and haven't regretted having the car for one moment. If you are thinking of buying one take heart from this but at the same time be realistic in your expectation of cost of ownership if you resolve to buy one.
No plans to sell with 40K on the clock. Its been a car like no other. If I had a pound for every smile the car has induced in me then I'd be a very rich man.
I know it won't continue forever and I do sometimes wonder at what point I should consider parting with the car ... something I'd like to delay for as long as possible.
I've done about 15K miles since getting the car just over 2 years ago. It's a late 1998 4.5 model. Apart from the obvious services which have been a touch expensive, new tyres, some minor electrical glitches, waxoyling the chasis and several throttle pots (I'm beginning to wonder whether I should keep some of these as spares!), the Cerb has been quite good to me. It's been used daily and started on the button every day whatever the weather. The only serious problem I had was when one of the tensioner bolts dropped out - a bit of a freak problem and I was lucky that there was minimal damage to the engine. The guys at Offords sorted it without need to send back to the factory though at about £2K it was the biggest bill I've had.
So, been very happy with the car to date and haven't regretted having the car for one moment. If you are thinking of buying one take heart from this but at the same time be realistic in your expectation of cost of ownership if you resolve to buy one.
No plans to sell with 40K on the clock. Its been a car like no other. If I had a pound for every smile the car has induced in me then I'd be a very rich man.
I know it won't continue forever and I do sometimes wonder at what point I should consider parting with the car ... something I'd like to delay for as long as possible.
really nice reading that, as your right, you do see so many glum reports on the site about Cerb ownership I hope I'll be able to say the same in a couple of years - fingers crossed - and hope your car keeps giving you the fun mine is giving me - In saying that mine is in the garage at the moment 
Good to hear
Mines also a 98 4.5 which I have had for around 9 months now. Theres no getting away from the fact that its costing at least twice that of my Chimaera to run but so far I think its worth every penny and IMHO, its more than twice the car.
Biggest prob so far was the woodrough key shearing on the PAS which cost around £400 to fix. Apart from that (and of course a starter motor.....or two) its mostly just been small things that I have been able to put right myself.
Hoping I havent spoken too soon and looking forward to the next 10K.......maybe with new nitrons, a chip, nice new spiders...........
Anyone else notice that there seems too much month at the end of the money with a Cerb????
Mines also a 98 4.5 which I have had for around 9 months now. Theres no getting away from the fact that its costing at least twice that of my Chimaera to run but so far I think its worth every penny and IMHO, its more than twice the car.
Biggest prob so far was the woodrough key shearing on the PAS which cost around £400 to fix. Apart from that (and of course a starter motor.....or two) its mostly just been small things that I have been able to put right myself.
Hoping I havent spoken too soon and looking forward to the next 10K.......maybe with new nitrons, a chip, nice new spiders...........
Anyone else notice that there seems too much month at the end of the money with a Cerb????
Mine is also a late 98 4.5
I've had it for a month and a half now and have only had it on the road for about 3 weeks!
Saying that it looks like it's all happened at once!
Clutch fingers, starter motor, throttle butterfly adjustment, leads etc...
Fortunately Mr.Agger has been a diamond and resolved all of the above through my local garage. Most of these were warranty items and sorted very quickly.
I'm now looking forward to having a very sorted Cerbera back with a full decat of course
I've had it for a month and a half now and have only had it on the road for about 3 weeks!
Saying that it looks like it's all happened at once!
Clutch fingers, starter motor, throttle butterfly adjustment, leads etc...
Fortunately Mr.Agger has been a diamond and resolved all of the above through my local garage. Most of these were warranty items and sorted very quickly.
I'm now looking forward to having a very sorted Cerbera back with a full decat of course
cacatous said:
Mine is late 98 4.5 and we won't go into the £3000 bill I had when I had had it for 10days, or even the £2800 bill i've just had from its service, i'm crying as i write but one drive seems to put everything right.
£6,000
Average for two years ownership...
Gaz, what do you reckon to me and you taking David out back for a kicking for "showing off" lol Nitrons/wheels were all in the plan till the old repairs started crying for attention so i'll have to wait, they lent me a lovely Chimeara for 5 days tho which used to be their press car but is now unloved and would probably be worth a bid!
davidd said:
Whereas mine has been under £3k for 2 years inc nitrons, new tyres and wheels..
Of course it might go bang on the way home...
D.
You must have got a good deal on the Nitrons, new tyres and wheels there, mate. What about the servicing and repairs over the 2 years?
>> Edited by Tatlow on Thursday 4th March 21:01
Well, I knew I was tempting fate. Last night, two days after this post it let me down! At the end of a long day at work as well.
Started the engine ok then it stalled for no reason before I'd pulled away. Wouldn't start after that - my guess was that it had flooded. Left it for a while and tried again but eventually the battery just wouldn't cope. RAC jump started it and it's now fine again.
Anyone else had this problem?
Started the engine ok then it stalled for no reason before I'd pulled away. Wouldn't start after that - my guess was that it had flooded. Left it for a while and tried again but eventually the battery just wouldn't cope. RAC jump started it and it's now fine again.
Anyone else had this problem?
sounds a familiar problem on these pages. I had something very similiar a while ago. I started her up, then stalled her (OK that was my fault) and then it simply would'nt start again. A new battery in and it just managed to fire up, but then after that absolutely nothing. Turned out to be a knackered starter motor in the end, so not too expensive!
leszekg said:
Started the engine ok then it stalled for no reason before I'd pulled away. Wouldn't start after that - my guess was that it had flooded. Left it for a while and tried again but eventually the battery just wouldn't cope. RAC jump started it and it's now fine again.
Anyone else had this problem?
Certainly sounds like you flooded it in trying to restart. The fix is to pull the fuse for the fuel pump (29 I think) and start the car: as it fires put the fuse back in (or alternatively if you are on your own it will die, reinsert fuse and then retry). See the thread here for my experiences.
jeremyc said:
See the thread here for my experiences.
Thanks, that's useful. Will try that if it happens again.
I had this quite a bit when I first bought the car. It was my Dad that solved it for me - all you have to do is press and hold the accelerator all the way down as you turn it over. Just be ready to ease off when it fires up! It would have been the last thing I'd have thought of, because you would think it would flood it even more, but it works a treat.
This is actually what I'm growing to like about TVR. It punishes those who are used to reliable cars.
I must be a masochist for saying this but I like to raw 'in touch' with the mechanics feel of the car.
The ability to flood an engine in a world where a computer normally takes care of all of that for you is refreshing.
Getting from A to B feels like an achievement rather than an expectation, and I need more of that in my life.
I must be a masochist for saying this but I like to raw 'in touch' with the mechanics feel of the car.
The ability to flood an engine in a world where a computer normally takes care of all of that for you is refreshing.
Getting from A to B feels like an achievement rather than an expectation, and I need more of that in my life.
Julian64 said:
The ability to flood an engine in a world where a computer normally takes care of all of that for you is refreshing.
I agree with your sentiments regarding being in touch with the rawness of TVRs, but in this instance the problem is endemic to all fuel injected cars: it is caused by the volume of fuel the ECU tries to use to start a cold engine - if you stall immediately after starting then it is quite likely to flood when you restart (the ECU still thinks it is starting a cold engine so injects yet more fuel).
My RAC saviour on the first occasion it happened to me commented that they see it all the time for all sorts of cars, especially during winter. The biggest culprits apparently are those who start a cold car to move it a few feet out of the garage to wash it and find that it won't restart to put it back.
Now to get to the rawness factor we want quad twin-choke webers on our AJPs with manual chokes: at least we can then decide how much fuel to use on a cold start.
>> Edited by jeremyc on Friday 5th March 09:41
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