Anyone know this Cerbera

[andy-w]

Hi guys,

I was wondering if any of you know this cerb or who previously owned it.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/1999-TVR-Cerbera-4-0-SPE...

I am going up to look at it tomorrow and if i like it then i might be getting shot of the Chimaera i have had for 8 years and look at getting this.


Not sure if i will see much change in performance over a 4 ltr HC chimeara? any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

[Gazzab]

You are a brave man.
High risk strategy - speed six, Generalist garage, no details re rebuilds, no details re chassis, no previous owner to talk to....not cheap either. Interior very pale and so dash top reflections a pain.
Will likely be a lot faster than your chimp.

[andy-w]

Gazzab said:

You are a brave man.
High risk strategy - speed six, Generalist garage, no details re rebuilds, no details re chassis, no previous owner to talk to....not cheap either. Interior very pale and so dash top reflections a pain.
Will likely be a lot faster than your chimp.

I gave them a call.

He said it has a massive folder of history and a recent (few hundred mile ago) engine rebuild from Straight Six...

you dont think thats cheap 11k???

like your way of thinking and some valid points....and its chim not chimp...!

[gutu12]

If you're going to get one, go the whole hog and get a 4.5.

[andy-w]

gutu12 said:

If you're going to get one, go the whole hog and get a 4.5.

I would do...but budget, there are not many on the market, none close.
I do know what you mean though and i would prefer the 4.5...

[scotty_d]

andy-w said:

Hi guys,



Not sure if i will see much change in performance over a 4 ltr HC chimeara? any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

You will see a big hike in terms of performance I went from a modded 400 to a 4.2. So i recon your 400 hc makes around 240 tops real BHP well you will be looking at around 100 bhp more on top of that from the sp6 Cerb as well as a better chassis handling wise if it has been set up. Don't over look the 4.2's as well i fell in to mine did a deal with a local chap and never really wanted a quicker car or more power. Nuff said really

[natben]

You will get a lot more car for your money with a speed six
and if it has had a rebuild by st8six then at £11k I would class it as cheap.
It will also be a lot faster than a 4.0L chimera.

[RUSSELLM]

andy-w said:

He said it has a massive folder of history and a recent (few hundred mile ago) engine rebuild from Straight Six...

...!

With that in mind, it's got to be worth a look. Is it worth having a word with STR86 & see if the engine warranty is transferable ?

I suppose the obvious things like getting it up on the ramps & having a look at the chassis etc

I might be wrong, but if those wheels are 16" & they're Goodyear's I can see on them, I reckon they're quite old.

[PuffsBack]

andy-w said:

Hi guys,

Not sure if i will see much change in performance over a 4 ltr HC chimeara? any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Oh yes you will

My Speed 6 Cerb is way faster than my Griff 500 which in turn felt like a rocketship next to my Chimaera 400

Will easily out handle you Chim, all Cerbs are a super handling things, especially the Speed6's as CoG is very low. To be honest thats the thing that will get you most when you drive one.
Also the Speed6 will feel quite slow at first, needs lots of revs. Almost 80's turbo feel to them, no power, no power, no power, BANG Whoosh and your hanging on for dear life

Edited by PuffsBack on Friday 16th November 10:05

[PuffsBack]

My take on the engine thing

4.0 Speed 6: Peach of an engine and much much better than its given credit for. BUT can you live with the thought it might go bang at any moment. Far to quiet with the standard back box, needs sports exhaust to sound really good, DeCat if you really want to be anti-social.

4.2: In truth probably the best Cerb engine, and the late ones are really a 4.5 anyway. BUT can you live with it not being a 'real' 4.5 though it will be probably as fast

4.5: Needs a little tweaking to get the best out of it. In plain factory spec no more powerful than a 4.2 but in someways less driveable. Spend a few quid though and there are very few things on the road that would worry it.

4.5RR: Even I, and I am a lover of the Speed 6, would swap my Cerb for a late 4.5RR in a heartbeat. Just so you have the smug statisfaction of knowing your sitting behind the most powerful car TVR produced. If I had the choice of just two TVRs I would have a Cerb 4.5RR and a Sagaris in the garage

Edited by PuffsBack on Friday 16th November 09:56

Edited by PuffsBack on Friday 16th November 09:58

[TimJM]

PuffsBack said:

Oh yes you will

My Speed 6 Cerb is way faster than my Griff 500 which in turn felt like a rocketship next to my Chimaera 400

Interesting - on paper the Griff 500 should feel quicker than the speed six cerb, 200kg lighter, roughly same bhp (the cerb may have more) but the Griff (once decatted) has 20lbf·ft more torque.

Looking at the stats (which we all know are not that accurate so don't read to much into this) 0-60 the Griff 500 is quicker by .3 seconds but 0-100 the cerb is stated quicker by 0.1 seconds.

The only thing I know for sure is that my 4.5 Cerbera felt quicker than the 500 Griff I now have. Not that much quicker at launch but past about 70-80mph the cerb took off!

[gruffalo]

PuffsBack said:

My take on the engine thing

4.0 Speed 6: Peach of an engine and much much better than its given credit for. BUT can you live with the thought it might go bang at any moment. Far to quiet with the standard back box, needs sports exhaust to sound really good, DeCat if you really want to be anti-social.

4.2: In truth probably the best Cerb engine, and the late ones are really a 4.5 anyway. BUT can you live with it not being a 'real' 4.5 though it will be probably as fast

4.5: Needs a little tweaking to get the best out of it. In plain factory spec no more powerful than a 4.2 but in someways less driveable. Spend a few quid though and there are very few things on the road that would worry it.

4.5RR: Even I, and I am a lover of the Speed 6, would swap my Cerb for a late 4.5RR in a heartbeat. Just so you have the smug statisfaction of knowing your sitting behind the most powerful car TVR produced. If I had the choice of just two TVRs I would have a Cerb 4.5RR and a Sagaris in the garage

Edited by PuffsBack on Friday 16th November 09:56

Edited by PuffsBack on Friday 16th November 09:58

History shows an engine re build by STR8SIX, so peace of mind on that front, will still be under warrantee, will also be at the top end of stated BHP figures as well.

I would say this has got to be worth a go, Jason is not cheap on his engine re builds but he is argueably the best out there at the 6 pot, if the previous owner went to the trouble of sending his car all the way to south Oxfordshire for engine work I would expect he has looked after the old girl quite well.

I would say go and look it over, engine wise it will be one of the best there is and if the rest of the car is up to the same standard then I would say it is a bargin.

[Griffithy]

I would in any case ask Jason at STR8SIX what he had done exactly.
Of course he does a great job on TVRs.
But he can only do as much as the costumer allows (pays) him to do.
He may also tell you a bit more about the car.

[Griffithy]

Sorry, forgot to add.
If it had really a full rebuilt by Jason and still is under warranty.
I would suggest you head on very fast.
It will be gone very soon.

[RUSSELLM]

TimJM said:

Interesting - on paper the Griff 500 should feel quicker than the speed six cerb, 200kg lighter, roughly same bhp (the cerb may have more) but the Griff (once decatted) has 20lbf·ft more torque.

Looking at the stats (which we all know are not that accurate so don't read to much into this) 0-60 the Griff 500 is quicker by .3 seconds but 0-100 the cerb is stated quicker by 0.1 seconds.

I'd agree with that. At FT, the very healthy 500's got off the line better than me, but by the 1/4 mile the Cerb is past & pulls away from there on.

Big advantage with the Griff, being that the torque appears to be available everywhere, where the Cerb would need to be in the perfect gear & rev range coming out of a corner.


Edit, from the same day, the Tuscan against this very healthy Griff.
A healthy 4.2 Cerb was very close to the Tuscan... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9VzPrP3M1Lg&fea...

Edited by RUSSELLM on Friday 16th November 12:58

[PuffsBack]

TimJM said:

Interesting - on paper the Griff 500 should feel quicker than the speed six cerb, 200kg lighter, roughly same bhp (the cerb may have more) but the Griff (once decatted) has 20lbf·ft more torque.

Looking at the stats (which we all know are not that accurate so don't read to much into this) 0-60 the Griff 500 is quicker by .3 seconds but 0-100 the cerb is stated quicker by 0.1 seconds.

The only thing I know for sure is that my 4.5 Cerbera felt quicker than the 500 Griff I now have. Not that much quicker at launch but past about 70-80mph the cerb took off!

I think it is a perception thing. The Griff doesn't really care what gear its in. 2000rpm, 4000rpm, it just accellerates the same with that wall of torque. The speed6 is as docile as a pussy cat in front of the fire at 2000rpm, 4000rpm it wakes up and has a stretch. 5000rpm and its a sabre toothed tiger.

[andy-w]

OK guys, thanks for the pointers...
I am going to look tomorrow so fingers crossed...if i can i am going to do it and keep the chim...thats a big if though..!

[TimJM]

PuffsBack said:

I think it is a perception thing. The Griff doesn't really care what gear its in.

This is one of the things I love about the Griff. The number of times I find myself in 5th gear 1.5k RPM (or lower even!) and don't have to think twice about putting my foot down to pull away without complaint whereas when I had my Cerb under 2K RPM forget about it, 2-2.5K RPM was lumpy and a pig in traffic but once you got above 4K RPM is was wild.

[gutu12]

natben said:

You will get a lot more car for your money with a speed six
and if it has had a rebuild by st8six then at £11k I would class it as cheap.
It will also be a lot faster than a 4.0L chimera.

Agreed. A full rebuld of this quality would be approaching half the value of the car!

If I may add my two pennies worth on the engines.
In my time I have owned:
4.0 ltr pre cat Griff - Fast
Griff 500 - Faster
Cerb 4.5 - Silly fast
Cerb 4.5 RRLW - Insane.
Tuscan 4.0 (My Current motor) - Gutless at low Revs compared to the AJP V8. Stupid fast over 4k.

I love my Tuscan but more for its looks than its engine. I basically wish it was a V8!

If you're used to the V8 Chim, I'd suggest going with a V8 Cerb of some sort although not sure why anyone would go for 4.2 really. No offence to anyone here, but why would you? - I think you may ultimately be disappointed otherwise, wishing you'd gone just that extra part of the mile.

The 4.5 is the evolution of that V8 engine don't forget. More power, more speed and isn't that what TVR's are about regardless of tweaking etc?

One thing maybe to think about, not that I'm trying to put you off. On a recent visit to Str8six Jason did mention in passing that they actually shy away from buying Cerberas due to the cost of getting any of the cars up to the standard they would require in which to sell and that's not just the engine.
Most people on here will tell you that Cerbera ownership is not cheap. (although I would say money well spent )

[andydw]

I went from a 450 Chim to a speed 6 cerb. The SP6 is A LOT faster, and I mean a lot. The big difference otherwise is that the driving experience is totally different: the SP6 is revvy and has little low-down grunt, its lumpy around 2k but takes off like a scalded cat when the revs rise - be careful because that can catch you out very easily.

If you sell the chim you will need to forego the pleasure of a big lazy V8 and learn to love the manic straight six wail. Not a hardship but not for everybody, I still miss the chim.