Discussion
Hi guys, nipping over from the Tuscan forum. Had nearly 3 years of heavenly Tuscan owenership but find that I may soon be in the position where I'm needing a 3rd seat....
Don't really want to give up the love of my life (the tuscan and not the husband!) so was thinking about a Cerbie instead? I like the idea of the V8, hopefully a few less sleepless nights than with the Speed Six
and was really looking for some advice about what's best. Will have about £27k max to play with. There seems to have been a few engine variations and I'm not sure of the pros/cons like I am with the Tuscan so any advice on what to look out for would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Eve
Don't really want to give up the love of my life (the tuscan and not the husband!) so was thinking about a Cerbie instead? I like the idea of the V8, hopefully a few less sleepless nights than with the Speed Six
and was really looking for some advice about what's best. Will have about £27k max to play with. There seems to have been a few engine variations and I'm not sure of the pros/cons like I am with the Tuscan so any advice on what to look out for would be greatly appreciated. Thanks
Eve
well there are a few cerb 4.5 red roses which are extremely fast and powerful if you like going mental others are the 4.5'S which is just a standard 4.5 which are still mental and then the 4.2 which are pretty evenish with the 4.5 up to about 120 and then after that the 4.5's are alot quicker but with your money id say you could have a decent 4.5 with about 10k left over to play around with
they had slightly different interiors which had tuscan seats and various othere things in there to but i cant remeber,slightly more powerful engines me thinks because of the red rose ones which are very quick mind you all of the cerb's are serious brown seat machines.and they may go up in money because of milaeage which is obvious and all goes on condition,and it depends what things have been done to them like front and rear light upgrades which are more dessirable to some people as are alloy wheel like spiders
Get one with a bit of PH history if you can... As shown in the other thread, you can really guage how well a cars been looked after from various posts/ history logs.
At 26k, I'd be looking at a mint 97/98 4.5 and then contacting Cyclone, getting all those mods done... then with the (Couple of £k's) change, put it aside for any problems and be ready to enjoy a real 400bhp+ (with huge torque) kick in the back.
At 26k, I'd be looking at a mint 97/98 4.5 and then contacting Cyclone, getting all those mods done... then with the (Couple of £k's) change, put it aside for any problems and be ready to enjoy a real 400bhp+ (with huge torque) kick in the back.
leave it out tvr's are made for everybody including the younger generation which cant even drive yet (me)so leave her alone im sure she is just as good a driver as most of use lot out there and not like those that have seemed to have crashed your cerbs within a few weeks of ownership
Edited by dc53 on Monday 26th June 20:50
evostick said:
DC
Seems according to the pistonheads classifieds pre-99 is about £16-18k and post 2001 jumps to over £26k. Other than being a couple of years newer are there any other reasons for the big jump up in residuals?
Eve
Seems according to the pistonheads classifieds pre-99 is about £16-18k and post 2001 jumps to over £26k. Other than being a couple of years newer are there any other reasons for the big jump up in residuals?
Eve
In late 99 there was a model revision - The Lightweight.
Revisions included Tuscan seats, new pod style headlights and rear lights, colour coded pillar uprights, lighter bonet, to name a few.
Essential mods (even to Lightweights) seem to be suspension upgrades and bigger alloys - with most opting for 18" spiders cause they look so good (although TVR did start to offer an 18" upgrade on the Lightweight model). Obviously a lot of us prefer sports exhausts too.
Don't think any other mods are really necessary IMHO.
The 4.5 also came with upgraded brakes and Hydrtrak (limited slip diff) over the 4.2 and speed 6.
As you've owned a Tiv, then you know that an FSH is essential.
I purchased my 4.5 Lightweight for £24k from Fernhurst with 38k miles on the clock. She's got a full leather interior, 18" Alloys (originally), Air Con, Sports Exhaust, tinted windows, Rosso Pearl paint, heated Front Screen, gold badges, Ally Handbrake, Upgraded Stereo, all as extras - I know as I was the original purchaser of the car back in 99 (had to sell her but now have the same car back!). She's also had upgraded suspension and Spider Alloys fitted by one of the previous owners.
Should give you an idea of what you should be able to purchase for your money.
. Might be worth giving Michael a ring if your after a good example fully loaded. 
I think the model revision also included loads of small changes like windscreen types. They don't sound so important at first but when you see so many pre- 2000 models with delaminating screens you realise how important 'the small things' are but then again, I am only 5'7" - def go for post '99 with your wedge !
evostick said:
Betty, thanks for the support!
Greengoblet, are all post 99's of the lightweight spec? Sounds like your's is what I'm looking for. How are you finding it for running costs and reliablity?
Eve
Greengoblet, are all post 99's of the lightweight spec? Sounds like your's is what I'm looking for. How are you finding it for running costs and reliablity?
Eve
Yeah, all lightweight spec.
As MrCerbera stated, all the little changes add up.
I had her for 8 months first time around. Other than the initial 1k oil change and the 6k service she didn't cost me anything - small niggles were covered under warranty.
So far - I've only had her 2 months - nothing yet, although she had to go back to Fernies because of an intermittent MIL light. Turned out to be old fault codes logged in the ECU (causes intermittent MIL warnings periodically). Also when I got to Fernies water was p*ssing out everywhere. Lucky I was there when it happened. Turned out to be a leaking clip causing air to get in the system and hence a lack of circulation and cooling. The guys fixed it for me, lent me a car for the day, and didn't charge me anything.
to Fernies. I took nearly 9 months before I bought the Cerb - looking into it, test drives, and many chats with dealership mechanics. The Speed 6 was new, so it had to be a V8. Put simply I was told to run it in correctly (over 6k miles), not over rev until the engine is hot, periodic services (specifically oil changes), and although she has race car performance, she's still a road car and she won't last too long with continous track days.
Electrical issues... well I was told that was part and parcel of owning a TVR!
You'll see lots of figures re running costs.... personally I feel on average £2k a 6k mile year should cover all servicing and running costs for a good V8 (excluding fuel, insurance, and car tax). And by good V8 I mean FSH and been run-in.
If she's a few years old then I'd look for at least 10k miles on the clock, maybe had the clutch done, certainly the master and slave cylinders, and had a suspension upgrade.
Bill
dc53 said:
well there are a few cerb 4.5 red roses which are extremely fast and powerful if you like going mental others are the 4.5'S which is just a standard 4.5 which are still mental and then the 4.2 which are pretty evenish with the 4.5 up to about 120 and then after that the 4.5's are alot quicker but with your money id say you could have a decent 4.5 with about 10k left over to play around with
Totally depends on the car, a sorted 4.5 should be quicker but not always the case. A well sorted 4.2 can often be quicker, just look at the Autocar test results.
There really is little difference between the two, buy on condition.
Duke Thrust said:
Totally depends on the car, a sorted 4.5 should be quicker but not always the case. A well sorted 4.2 can often be quicker, just look at the Autocar test results.
There really is little difference between the two, buy on condition.
There really is little difference between the two, buy on condition.
Aw, c'mon, with £27k on the table, she could get a 4.2 with real gold paint & Bulgari diamond instruments. The 4.5's are not necessarily quicker out of the box, but can be made substantially quicker by Trackcar & co. The press car used for Autocar tests had less to do with an ordinary 4.2 Cerb and more to do with the race programme.
The only downside I can see to a 4.5 is the naff pseudo-LSD the factory insisted on fitting.
If the third seat required is for a sprog, rather than a toy-boy, make sure you source one of the second hand Recaro leather child-seats. You can't use these for the first nine months, but they take about that long to find...
Tam Lin said:
Duke Thrust said:
Totally depends on the car, a sorted 4.5 should be quicker but not always the case. A well sorted 4.2 can often be quicker, just look at the Autocar test results.
There really is little difference between the two, buy on condition.
There really is little difference between the two, buy on condition.
Aw, c'mon, with £27k on the table, she could get a 4.2 with real gold paint & Bulgari diamond instruments. The 4.5's are not necessarily quicker out of the box, but can be made substantially quicker by Trackcar & co. The press car used for Autocar tests had less to do with an ordinary 4.2 Cerb and more to do with the race programme.
The only downside I can see to a 4.5 is the naff pseudo-LSD the factory insisted on fitting.
If the third seat required is for a sprog, rather than a toy-boy, make sure you source one of the second hand Recaro leather child-seats. You can't use these for the first nine months, but they take about that long to find...
Exactly my point. The 4.5 should be quicker but in many cases will need aftermarket mods - with 27k to spend she can have a monster built.
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