am tvr virgin need help
am tvr virgin need help
Author
Discussion

lwc

Original Poster:

21 posts

258 months

Wednesday 1st September 2004
quotequote all
hi,need some good advise,looking to buy a 4.2 cerbera how reliable are they.how much to service. etc thanks

FourWheelDrift

91,860 posts

307 months

Wednesday 1st September 2004
quotequote all
Like all high performance cars they need looking after, a good one that's been properly serviced and all the bits changed when they needed to be will be a good reliable car, some niggles will come to the surface but even mass produced euroboxes have those too.

Servicing costs - between £500 - £700 for intermediate and bigger standard services. Budget for more though for valve adjustments etc...

Most reliability problems for Cerbera's come from cold engine thrashing, something that most people try to avoid but find hard to resist when "impressing your friends". Or problems related to car's not being looked after, skimping on oil checks (vital) or ignoring an unusual noise and not getting it checked.

Guydw

1,651 posts

306 months

Thursday 2nd September 2004
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i would advise you to spend a lot of time trawling this forum - it's all been covered.

christmc

452 posts

261 months

Thursday 2nd September 2004
quotequote all
I would say a good estimate for running your car everyday would be up to 3k a year running costs(not fuel) If you dont have that kind of cash spare ,do not buy a Cerbera,you may have a year of trouble free running,but you have to,,have to have to budget to spend serious cash when something goes wrong, hense lots of multiple owned Cerbs for sale,

Chris

Podie

46,647 posts

298 months

Thursday 2nd September 2004
quotequote all
lwc said:
hi,need some good advise,looking to buy a 4.2 cerbera how reliable are they.how much to service. etc thanks


Drop GCerbera a line… or trawl the forums...

gbbird

5,197 posts

267 months

Thursday 2nd September 2004
quotequote all
christmc said:
I would say a good estimate for running your car everyday would be up to 3k a year running costs(not fuel) If you dont have that kind of cash spare ,do not buy a Cerbera,you may have a year of trouble free running,but you have to,,have to have to budget to spend serious cash when something goes wrong, hense lots of multiple owned Cerbs for sale,

Chris


i agree. Just a month a away from a full 12 months ownership and i have spent around £2k, but hopefully that will be it. It soon adds up, but by jove is it worth it

christmc

452 posts

261 months

Friday 3rd September 2004
quotequote all
Just to add to that ,,it isnt a case of finding the right Cerb (that is very very important)but its just that which ever way you look at it ,,these cars are very very expensive to run,and as long as you are aware of that you will be fine,,oh and did i mention its optimax fuel only, £50 a tank and youl get around 140miles from a full tank,,so to conclude

£50 a week fuel (at least)= £2400 per annum

service & repair costs (to be safe)= £3000

Insurance estimate £1000 (at least)

TVR Cerb annual spend £6400

and thats what you need to pay out,so if you add back on the tax you paid on your income.

Lower tax bracket = £ 7808

Higher tax bracket = £8960

Not trying to put you off ,lol Just be aware !! as this is the reason Cerbs are de valued because they get sold so often becasue people cant afford to run them.

davetherave1970

2,144 posts

269 months

Friday 3rd September 2004
quotequote all
christmc said:
£50 a tank and youl get around 140miles from a full tank


You must have a lead right foot.
I get 200 - 250 miles per tank and only £48 max in mine!!

GCerbera

5,161 posts

274 months

Friday 3rd September 2004
quotequote all
davetherave1970 said:

christmc said:
£50 a tank and youl get around 140miles from a full tank



You must have a lead right foot.
I get 200 - 250 miles per tank and only £48 max in mine!!

I'm on the same figures as Dave.

washy

950 posts

299 months

Friday 3rd September 2004
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Me too over 200 miles easy on a tank. Just under 100 miles on a track day though

christmc

452 posts

261 months

Friday 3rd September 2004
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ok ok ok so i drive like a knob,,unfortunatley for me i live near a lot Scoobys and evo's ,,Bless em they think there fast,so i have to oblige. But on a serious note i realy do only get around 160 miles on a good day out my tank,but i do start and stop a fair bit too

GCerbera

5,161 posts

274 months

Friday 3rd September 2004
quotequote all
Hmm, about 14mpg - You need your own refinery!

christmc

452 posts

261 months

Friday 3rd September 2004
quotequote all
im pretty convinced its the starting and stopping that does it

jouques

28 posts

260 months

Friday 3rd September 2004
quotequote all
christmc said:
im pretty convinced its the starting and stopping that does it


I am only 3 weeks into owning the cerb so I am still easing up the factor, but on an average week with short runs of 30 miles I get about 150 miles for a tank on Optimax - although I never let the needle get below 1/8th tank. On the other scale I managed 250 miles from a tank after a 120 mile each way motorway run on the weekend.

I am convinced that the short hops on Country / town roads with lots of hooning it about are the cause of the high consumption. My worst is 125 miles!!! That was during the experimental phase!

J_S_G

6,177 posts

273 months

Friday 3rd September 2004
quotequote all
christmc said:
im pretty convinced its the starting and stopping that does it

I'm pretty convinced it's the accelerating inbetween.

Seriously, though.... add to the £9k annual bill another £1k+ in depreciation, depending on the age of the car, and you're bordering on 5 figures.

I'd also say that TVR's regularly have teething troubles with new owners - I'd always budget £1-2k to iron out the wrinkles on one when you pick it up, no matter how good it is.

christmc

452 posts

261 months

Sunday 5th September 2004
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I think we have managed to create a realistic picture here of the rough costs to run a Blackpool rocket, I feel so sorry for the poor(unlucky) guys who buy a TVR just thinking its a nice sports car,,they must get the shock of their lives.

Im glad someone else has confirmed the fuel consumption issue too,i was worried i might be leaking the bloody stuff from somewhere,lol

pilmar

135 posts

276 months

Sunday 5th September 2004
quotequote all
had mine for 2 months and never had less than 240 miles to the tank, and I do thrash her aswell! Best I've had was a motorway run to Newcastle and back (stag weekend!!!) 370 miles to the tank and I was always around 80-100mph. This worked out at 25.5mpg - better than my V6 Ford Galaxy!!!!!!! I've had a second opinion and yes- it is an AJP8 and not a Ford zetec engine.