The Search Begins - Buying a Cerbera

[Rotary Potato]

Thanks to recently being made redundant, and finding another job just before the redundancy payout arrived, I now have a decent sum of cash with no more pressing need than to splurge it on my dream car. I have lusted after a Cerbera since seeing one at the Earls Court Motor Show back in the late 90s as a teenager, but circumstances have never lined up for me to own one before now. I have owned many RWD cars over the years. Some have had 400bhp. Some have weighed 1100kg. None have had both!

I think I know what I want - but there are so few cars available that compromises will probably have to be made somewhere.

In my mind, it has to be a V8 - the AJP was one of the initial attractions to the car at that motor show, and so (to me) getting a Speed 6 would just be wrong and not fulfilling my dream. Up to now, I've always subscribed to the "more is more" school of car buying and looked to buy the biggest/most powerful engine available when buying my previous cars. That would naturally lead me to a 4.5L here, but I am pretty certain I wouldn't be underwhelmed by the firepower of a 4.2L, so that is definitely in the 'nice to have' category, rather than essential.

As far as trim and colour go, I'm not too fussy - but I've always been a believer that lairy cars should come in lairy colours. I wouldn't be against a 'challenging' colour scheme and would probably pick one over a more traditional black/white/silver car. However, I would never buy a bad car just because it's the 'right' colour - or reject a good car at a good price for being the 'wrong' colour. As far as the options list on a Cerbera went, were there many extras available (and are any of them worth having)? Or are most cars of a similar spec (beyond colour)?

I'm not fussy about mileage, but am about mechanical and chassis condition. I'm not looking for a project, although some minor tinkering wouldn't put me off. I'm not against a modified car at all, but not a fan of lairy wings or bodykits.

I've kept an eye on all the big selling platforms for the last 6 months (ever since the first rumblings of redundancy were mentioned at work), and while there's never been a huge number of Cerberas for sale (obviously!), over the winter it really has died down to a trickle - with the same few cars sat there unsold for months. I've been keeping an eye on Autotrader, Pistonheads, Car & Classic and Ebay - are there any other places I should be looking at?

My budget for these shenanigans is up to about £29k, but the less I spend on the car the more is available for fixing any niggles.

So where is all this waffle leading?

Well it's threefold. Firstly, I would love to hear from existing owners on how they would recommend buying a good car. Secondly, I would love to hear if anyone is aware of a car that might be for sale that meets most of my criteria, but the owner hasn't yet got round to advertising it widely. Finally, if anyone is local-ish to me (Leamington Spa, Warwickshire) and happy to have me drool over their car, I would be very grateful if we could meet up so I could look over your car to help me understand what to look for when trying to identify a good car.

Edited by Rotary Potato on Friday 23 January 12:18

[Rotary Potato]

Does anyone know this car?

https://www.pistonheads.com/buy/listing/18995221

It seems to tick most of my boxes (apart from being several thousand pounds out of my budget!), and has been for sale for months. I have no idea if the dealer would be amenable to an offer towards the top end of my budget - but the fact it's lingered without selling does make me wonder if it's either overpriced or has an issue that I'm not aware of.

If anyone could shed any light on either the car or the selling dealer, I would be very interested to hear what you had to say.

[sixor8]

I had a Cerbera 4.5 for just over a year from 2018 to 2019. There are a few things bespoke about the 4.5 regarding the inlet and induction heads and hoses in the engine bay and working air con is an absolute must, due to the heat from the cats and the engine. I also had it on a rolling road (34k miles on the clock) and it had less power than that supposedly put out by a 4.2. We know they fibbed a bit but I wouldn't discount a good 4.2. I agree with you regarding the AJP engine for no other reason than the reputation of the S6 engine, it also sounded awesome to me.

I was put off keeping it any longer by a couple of things. All the bespoke parts that are Cerbera only, and the £2k I had to pay for a clutch change. I believe it would be £3k now. Having a concentric slave cylinder inside the gearbox housing does no cheap maintenance, make.
All the electrical boxes lined up on a shelf in the boot is handy, unfortunately, usually necessary to access them.

If you really want one, go for it, but don't expect the maintenance ease and costs of the Rover engine models, go in with eyes open.

[Basil Brush]

No direct Cerbera experience but I'm on with the final stages of a full rebuild on my Tuscan, including most of the stuff that Cerb you linked has had done in the last few years. Doing the spannering myself, but having paid for an engine rebuild, chassis refurb, steering rack rebuild etc, the total cost of parts and services will be not far off the price on that Cerb.