chimaera to cerbera

[dave the boat]

Hi all
Just looking for some advice I am considering changing my 97 4.0ltr Chim for a Cerb.
Not had the Chim long & am very happy with it. BUT it is a bit tame I bought it after I sold my 210bhp Westy. Main reason for selling the Westy was not enough time to use it! Coupled with the fact it was allways raining when I did have the opportunity Added to the choice of an aeroscreen which I still say is the correct thing for a Westy! meant that the girlfriend did not see the fun of it. Unless she was driving of course!
So to my questions.
How much more difficult/expensive will a Cerb be to maintain than a Chim? I shall be doing Most maintenance my self whilst using an indie to do the stuff I can't & keep some kind of service record up.
Are there any major issues with the earlier cars 96/97?
What in particular should I be looking out for over & above the usual things on a Chim?
Finally I know the only answer is to get into a Cerb but. Will it light my fire from a driving point of view (how do they drive compared to a 4.0ltr chim) or do I sell the Chim & upgrade the girlfriends car & build another westy?
I know some of the question can only be answered by driving/looking carefully at Cerbs but some guidance would be appreciated. I would be limited to the low end of the Cerb market & it may be wiser to wait until I have more money to spend.
I recon in Sept when I bought my Chim it was worth £12.5k (so not as much at the moment obviously) Due to house purchase I could only add another £2K to that.
I would be looking to do a part ex?
Am I only going to get a dog at that money?? If so I'll keep the Chim at least until June July, when the market has picked up of course Cerbs will be more expensive then but thats life.
Thanks for any info you guys can provide
David



>> Edited by dave the boat on Tuesday 22 November 20:23

[Toady1]

12-14k cerbs will most likely be a bit tired looking, as i found when searching for mine. But keep looking around and a good one may come up. Im very chuffed with mine so far as in condition bodywise and the way the engine performs. Just keeping my fingers crossed that it holds up as well. Seeing as im the sort of owner to give it all the attention and more that it needs hopefully she will. I (like a complete nerd) spent a few hours in my garage polishing mine this eve, ill take some pics to post up and show you what you think of it. It was in that price bracket, but been well looked after.

I went from a 350bhp nissan pulsar to the cerb (still got it) and in this weather the pulsar will leave the cerb due to the traction! My cerb is spinning the rear wheels up at half throttle in 2nd atm, and its got the hydratrac diff too. I took the pulsar out for a spin earlier and have no such troubles (being 4wd). Test drive a good cerb and then compare that to the westie. Ive never been in a chim so cant say how it compares, but do you have traction issues atm? I would hav thought you do too. The way the power comes on at about 4k revs in the cerb, its a nightmare to drive fast at the mo. However it is also very tractable if you dont boot it of course!lol!

I did testdrive a yellow cerb a month or so ago and it really wasnt running right and put me off them for a while thinking they were meant to be like it. So look at a few!

[kevin63]

I did the same as you are thinking of doing and it was like going from a fast car to a motor bike but the cost of running it is like going from a bike to a car. I do not regret it for one minute.
GO FOR IT.

[TooTall Paul]

The main thing i noticed going from a Chim to a Cerb was the fuel consumption, it doubled !! more smiles per mile though.

[dave the boat]

Thanks guys just the sort of info I need keep it coming.

[PetrolTed]

Dave,

We went from a Chimaera to a Cerb. The Cerb is fantastic but it does take more fettling than the Chimaeras.

Cost wise it's likely to be significantly more expensive to run than the Chimaera. The rule of thumb is to budget £3K a year and if you don't spend that then it's a bonus.

They are incredible cars though. Looks, performance, character - they are unrivalled. A future classic.

Ted

[gbbird]

Don't have a Chim but know a few people who have - see answers below

dave the boat said:

Hi all Just looking for some advice I am considering changing my 97 4.0ltr Chim for a Cerb. Not had the Chim long & am very happy with it. BUT it is a bit tame I bought it after I sold my 210bhp Westy. Main reason for selling the Westy was not enough time to use it! Coupled with the fact it was allways raining when I did have the opportunity Added to the choice of an aeroscreen which I still say is the correct thing for a Westy! meant that the girlfriend did not see the fun of it. Unless she was driving of course! So to my questions. How much more difficult/expensive will a Cerb be to maintain than a Chim? I shall be doing Most maintenance my self whilst using an indie to do the stuff I can't & keep some kind of service record up. Will be slightly more expensive, but the fact that you know your stuff and can do some work yourself will help Are there any major issues with the earlier cars 96/97? From what i know, they had different clutches, but these will have propbably been upgraded to the newer ones by now What in particular should I be looking out for over & above the usual things on a Chim? Dont really know Finally I know the only answer is to get into a Cerb but. Will it light my fire from a driving point of view (how do they drive compared to a 4.0ltr chim) or do I sell the Chim & upgrade the girlfriends car & build another westy? The performance of a cerb compared to a Chim is higher from what i can gather from passengar rides and the odd drive of a Chim. The Cerb sounds and feels more like a high tuned racing car, whereas the Chim has that classic V8 sound but does not seem quite as responsive. I know some of the question can only be answered by driving/looking carefully at Cerbs but some guidance would be appreciated. I would be limited to the low end of the Cerb market & it may be wiser to wait until I have more money to spend. I recon in Sept when I bought my Chim it was worth £12.5k (so not as much at the moment obviously) Due to house purchase I could only add another £2K to that. I would be looking to do a part ex? Am I only going to get a dog at that money?? If so I'll keep the Chim at least until June July, when the market has picked up of course Cerbs will be more expensive then but thats life. Who knows its a difficult one this. It seems people can pay anything from 15k to 30k for a Cerb, and there appears to be no pattern as to which are dogs or not Thanks for any info you guys can provide David >> Edited by dave the boat on Tuesday 22 November 20:23