Griffith or a cerbera?

[mhale]

hiya,

looking to buy a TVR,
have about £14000 to spend,
which would be the best car to buy?
the griffith (5.0ltr) has that great sound, but not the fastest car though.
the cerbera has the speed, not sure if they sound as sweet as the griffith though?
undecided which to buy,

HELP!!!
any advice??

thanks

mark

[s7paul]

I think we need a bit more info, e.g. do you want a convertible, and how much are you prepared to spend on maintenance?

[Wilder]

If your running it to a budget -then

dont get a Cerbera.

The AJP8 sounds like a track racer (mine does with a sports exhaust), and its got looks to die for. If you want something you can use everyday & cover a lot of miles,

dont get a Cerbera

(higher running /servicing costs)

also: if you really dont want to be scared shless

dont get a Cerbera

If you dont want to become addicted to driving a car- even when you really dont need to go out & drive

dont get a Cerbera

[Gadaffi Duck]

Griffith.
I may be corrected rather strongly, but I belive for the budget you have, you would PERHAPS get a speed 6 engined Cerb. and they are more fragile. The AJP V8 motor version will set you back another 6 grand or more. Of course the sp6 are a fine car , but an engine rebuild at around 40k miles is not amusing if on a budget and it seems it's quite common.
You'd get a good Griffith for 14k, or an average at best Cerb. speed 6.

In my opinion. Not gospel. Nobody hit me.

[PetrolTed]

For the experience: Cerbera (although you're pushing it on that budget)

For a great experience and relative ease of ownership it's the Griff.

[Cooky]

PetrolTed said:

For the experience: Cerbera (although you're pushing it on that budget)

For a great experience and relative ease of ownership it's the Griff.

WTF would HE know

Cerbera

[jagdpanther]

Cooky said:

PetrolTed said:

For the experience: Cerbera (although you're pushing it on that budget)

For a great experience and relative ease of ownership it's the Griff.

WTF would HE know

Cerbera

MX5


ooooppppsss sorry....wrong thread

[trackcar]

.. or a cerbera engined griff though you'd need a highish budget to do that .. though i know of one car in build and another two potential builds on the horizon

[Cooky]

trackcar said:

.. or a cerbera engined griff though you'd need a highish budget to do that .. though i know of one car in build and another two potential builds on the horizon

or even better would be a road legal AJP Tuscan Racecar....Joo we must talk

[jagdpanther]

Cooky said:

trackcar said:

.. or a cerbera engined griff though you'd need a highish budget to do that .. though i know of one car in build and another two potential builds on the horizon

or even better would be a road legal AJP Tuscan Racecar....Joo we must talk

Can I borrow it when its done Cooky?

[sam gamgee]

Seems to me theres plenty AJP engined cerbs around at 14k or less?!


Dave.

[V8Cerbera]

Hmmmmm..... where have you been looking and only finding Sp6 Cerbs for £14k? There are plenty of AJP ones around for that money.

And to answer your question - Get a Cerb (AJP - NOT Sp6)

[sam gamgee]

V8Cerbera said:

Hmmmmm..... where have you been looking and only finding Sp6 Cerbs for £14k? There are plenty of AJP ones around for that money.

And to answer your question - Get a Cerb (AJP - NOT Sp6)

Wot e said!

Dont see any problem in having a decent sorted 6 but would agree that the cerb is suited, somehow, to the AJP. However, if/when I start to seriously consider either (maybe soonish, perhaps-though I like the Tam and an open top)I wouldn`t be put off if the car had a sorted sp6 dooby in it! Oh and the speed thing....are you really going to use it ie track it or just regular every day use?


Thing is prices are fair, currently and will be some time before I buy.


So if ya gonna get a cerb or indeed almost any Tiv now seems to be a good time, yes?

Dave.

Edited by sam gamgee on Sunday 22 April 11:09

[Jay Ayegees]

Best solution if you just wait a while you'll be able to get one of each. The way TVR prices are going it's only a matter of time before Tesco do a BOGOF deal!

Jay

[V8Cerbera]

Jay Ayegees said:

Best solution if you just wait a while you'll be able to get one of each. The way TVR prices are going it's only a matter of time before Tesco do a BOGOF deal!

Jay

Edited by V8Cerbera on Sunday 22 April 12:51

[bjwoods]

mhale said:

hiya,

looking to buy a TVR,
have about £14000 to spend,
which would be the best car to buy?
the griffith (5.0ltr) has that great sound, but not the fastest car though.
the cerbera has the speed, not sure if they sound as sweet as the griffith though?
undecided which to buy,

HELP!!!
any advice??

thanks

mark

have you driven either, probably find they are BOTH 'quite' quick

A good griff, on average is 'proably' a bit cheaper to run than a good cerb

B

[lazyitus]

mhale said:

the griffith (5.0ltr) has that great sound, but not the fastest car though.

Might not be quite as quick as a Cerbera but they are still a very, very quick car. Will blow most other cars that it comes across into the weeds.

[mhale]

many thanks for all your replys,
sorry im new to TVRs, whats a AJP8? whats A J P stand for?
at the moment i aint driven either so dont know how quick they are, but im just going by what read in car books.
At the moment im driving a Jaguar xjr v8, which is also a very quick car.
does anyone know the 0-60 times of a
Griffith 5.0ltr
cerbera 4.2
" " 4.5

again thanks for the replys

mark.

[Cooky]

I nearly went for an V8 XJR the other day, but deceided upon an XJS convertible, yes the XJR is very quick and most comfortable but positively lightyears behind my 4.2 Cerb for speed.

AJP stands for Al,John,Peter the principals behind it's development at TVR.

I suggest someone post up the standing mile clip to show just how quick a Cerbera is

[V8Cerbera]

mhale said:

many thanks for all your replys,
sorry im new to TVRs, whats a AJP8? whats A J P stand for?
at the moment i aint driven either so dont know how quick they are, but im just going by what read in car books.
At the moment im driving a Jaguar xjr v8, which is also a very quick car.
does anyone know the 0-60 times of a
Griffith 5.0ltr
cerbera 4.2
" " 4.5

again thanks for the replys

mark.

You have two types of V8 in a TVR. The Griff and Chimaera, being slightly older models had RV8s - Rover V8's, basically a transplant straight from your Rover Vanden Plas but with some serious TVR fettling to up the power and fun factor, but still basically a Rover unit. However, that just wasn't enough for some of the TVR puritans, they wanted an engine that no matter well upgraded / fettled / rebuilt was designed and manufactured entirely by TVR and wasn't shared with any other vehicle on the road. Thus the AJP8 was born - I must admit that I don't know what AJP stands for. It was in the tuscan challenge race cars and has also been transplanted into a griff or two as project cars but basically as a direct sale unit, it lives in only one beastie - The Cerbera

The RV8 does not produce quite as much power as an AJP8 and they sound very different as well. Some like the smooth, lazy buzz of a RV8, whereas others, myself included prefer the pure brutality of the AJP8. If you like noise, then the AJP is the way to go. But that said, it is a racing designed engine, so it costs more to fix if it does go wrong and spares are propriatry to that unit.

The RV8 Griff comes in the following variants and speed ratings (by the book).

1991 Griff 3.9 RV8 - 240BHP - 0-60:4.9 - 148Mph top
1992 Griff 4.2 RV8 - 280BHP - 0-60:4.4 - 155Mph top
1993 Griff 5.0 RV8 - 340BHP - 0-60:4.6 - 157Mph top
1996 Cerb 4.2 AJP8 - 360BHP - 0-60:4.2 - 180Mph top
1997 Cerb 4.5 AJP8 - 420BHP - 0-60:4.1 - 180Mph top

*Footnotes
1. All quoted TVR horsepower figures are to be taken with a pinch of salt and can vary quite a bit from the book figure - Get it dyno'd if in doubt.
2. From 1/4mile recorded data, the 4.2 Cerb gets to 60 in 4.1 and completes the run in 12.3sec (119mph terminal velocity), the Griff 5.0 did it in 4.3sec and crosses the line @ 12.72sec (112mph), so there ain't that much in it.
3. There is of course a 4.0 litre straight 6 (aka the speed6) cerb, but you asked about V8's so I'll leave that one for now.

IMO, go drive one of each. Pick the one you prefer driving and like the sound of more.

Edit to include JS Reads' 1/4 mile simulator: www.jsread.com/tvr/quartermile.html

Put a few TVRs up against each other for comparison, or if you really want a giggle then put a Cerbie up against a Fiesta Zetec S! - Yes the Bugatti Veyron data on the sim is very flawed, but then you're not looking to buy one of those are you?
Subnote: The 4.5 Cerb featured in the sim an RR - Red Rose. This is a higher state of tune than most 4.5's. Bear this in mind. It was a factory option and is an upgrade option but it's not quite standard.

Edited by V8Cerbera on Sunday 22 April 18:00