Chimaera to Cerbera!

[pcowen]

I'm looking into changing my Chimaera to a Cerbera as we are having a baby in June. Although we have a Honda CRV I would like to use the TVR too for family trips.

I use my Chimaera almost every day, 42K miles in 3 and a half years, so I'd like to use a Cerbera just as much.

So which model would you suggest, plus child seats for the back, which make?

Many Thanks

[dannylt]

Try a search in this area - has been covered plenty of times before. The first thing to consider is the doubling the in the running costs - otherwise read on!

[guydw]

I did exactly that - it's a good plan !

Expect it to cost a lot more to service, have more niggly problems, take longer to fix, use more petrol but be an awesome car then you will be fine !

[bruciebabe]

Me too, from Griff to Cerb.
Buy with great care, they can be a minefield. I bought from David Gerald but James Agger have a good rep. Get it serviced by someone that knows, there are some cowboys around. Use the factory, Jools, TVR Power, David Gerald etc.
Buy a V8.
Take it easy for the first few months. Look down at the speedo more often, it will have bigger numbers than you think. Even on damp B roads this morning it was going faster than the top speed of a lot of cars without even trying.

[Tyre Smoke]

I did it. Went to a V8 4.5.

1. Search on here for variants.
2. Check sales ads
3. Get an informed opinion on the car you look at
4. Allow at least twice as much in running costs (circa £2/3k per year not including insurance and fuel)
5. You won't get a rear facing child seat in the back of a Cerb, there isn't one that will fit. You can get pretty much any rear facing child seat to fit in the front, but that leaves the wife crumpled in the back.
6. Don't EVER buy a second hand seat, you cannot check it's history (crash damage,etc).
7. Don't waste your money on a TVR seat (rumours of Circa £350) go to www.capitalseating.co.uk at look at the Recaro Start Plus. It cost me about £150 delivered next day, you can vary the cost according to the fabric trim you choose. The plus bit is the front bolster you must fit for any 9 month plus to about 18 month child.
8. Feel free to email me for anymore info.

[gixxer1000]

I went from a Chimaera 450 to a Cerbera 4.5 LW. Very, very different experience - mostly good (although I do miss the rover V8 rumble at times).

Don't forget the Recaro Start Plus seat is a stage 2 baby seat (i.e. only of use when the sprog reaches 20-odd pounds in weight, which is usually around 8 months or so old).

You cannot fit a rear-facing stage 1 (from birth) baby seat in the back of a Cerb, but I have seen people fit them in the front.

Personally, I was all full of ideas to put my baby in the back of the Cerb (she's now 8 months old), but I doubt I will until she's a fair bit older. My other car does fine for family trips and quite frankly is a lot safer (in my mind).

gixxer

[gazzab]

Baby in a cerb is not that good. So it isnt a family car for new borns. It is ok for 1 yr to 10 yrs.
Look at old threads.

[njw 77]

gixxer1000 said:

Personally, I was all full of ideas to put my baby in the back of the Cerb (she's now 8 months old), but I doubt I will until she's a fair bit older. My other car does fine for family trips and quite frankly is a lot safer (in my mind). gixxer

Im with Gixxer on this one, had the car nearly a year and have only taken my 2.5 yr old out in it once and the baby (9 months) isnt going in it till he's a bit bigger. All the best laid plans etc.....

[vinny73]

Buy a Ford Maverick or something, and leave the Cerbs to the performance enthusiasts that only let a woman/child near it to give them a cup of tea when they are cleaning, ;-) lol. A baby wont care what car it is in.

2+2 a Cerb might be, Im looking at getting one, but the last intention I have is to take any rear seat passengers......

Horses for courses I suppose. I cant imagine its easy getting a baby in/out of any Coupe type car?

[Paul McHenry]

I moved from a 5L Chimp to a 4.5LW. You will miss the soft top and low down torque but is easily made up by the outrageous speed, pops & bangs, refinement, handling & looks. I changed for the same reasons as you. To begin with I put my newborn son in the front with a rear facing seat and shoe horned the wife in the back. When he was about 6 months I bought a mothercare forward facing seat for the rear. I searched everywhere for one that fitted safely and still enabled my wife to sit in the front safely. The only problem was that when my son reached about 2yrs old his legs started to stick out over his seat. If I moved my wifes seat any further forward, it would of made her hunch over. (her seat would have to be at 45 degrees). The problem now is that we cannot go out in the Cerb as a family. I don't know whether the rear seat style in a LW is different from earlier models, because other people seem to have found a solution with the recaro. I have tried this and still there is no room for my sons legs!!!

[guydw]

as far as kids in the back, I regularly take my two boys 8 and 10 out, they loved going to Goodwood etc, also took them skiing in Switzerland in it (got the skiis in and everything ....)

http://photos.fotango.com/p/eba00508236f00000004.jpg

As far as smaller kids, my 18 month old daughter loves it, you just have to watch the right foot a bit when you have small passengers.

So there !

:-)

[Tyre Smoke]

vinny73 said:

A baby wont care what car it is in. I cant imagine its easy getting a baby in/out of any Coupe type car?

I hope you are on a wind up there.

That is utter bollox. My son is 15 months old and absolutely adores the Cerb, and can tell the difference between it and the euroboxes we have.

He is very easy to get in and out of the Recaro in the back, you can almost do it one handed.

[cirvy]

Likewise, my 2 year old fits in his 'recaro start' fine, in either the front or back. He too prefers to travel in the cerb to the everydayer, a fact i stress to his mum!!!

We did find the recaro was a bit big until recently, they state that its ok from about 9 months, i thought that was a bit early, especially when they fall asleep!

[beemer]

Paul McHenry said:

The problem now is that we cannot go out in the Cerb as a family. I don't know whether the rear seat style in a LW is different from earlier models, because other people seem to have found a solution with the recaro. I have tried this and still there is no room for my sons legs!!!

I have two children aged 5 and 3, and have been using my 99 4.5 regularly since Tom was 12 months old. They love it, and I had no problem fitting a babyseat in the back, and 5'11" wife in the front (seat was a Britax Freeway). The old style seats have a big cutout in the rear of the backrest, which i'm not sure the Tuscan style seats have - this gave enough room for Tom's legs. Now they're older, they sit on small cushions in the back, using the standard seat belt....and still love it....."faster, daddy, faster....wooohoooo!!!"

cheers
sean