Interested in getting a Cerbera. Advice please.

[hurricaneX75]

Hi all.
I am considering buying a Cerbera.
I am sure that you guys can give me some advice on what to look for and which are the best and worse models.
Looking to spend up to about £20k.

[DonnyMac]

I had loads of help when buying mine - loads of your questions should be answered here -

http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/gassing/topic.asp?h=0...

Also, do a search for Oli Quick (you should see his profile from the above thread), he's selling a blue 4.5 which looked very good to me.

Good luck.

[hugepiece]

you will have plenty of choice for that money, should get an 00/01 or maybe even slightly later 4.5 LW for that. If I was you I would look at the classifieds here and buy a known car from another PHer. Good luck!

[hbeck]

hugepiece said:

you will have plenty of choice for that money, should get an 00/01 or maybe even slightly later 4.5 LW for that. If I was you I would look at the classifieds here and buy a known car from another PHer. Good luck!

yup my, 4.5 2001 L/weight see here http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/175466.htm

[Cyclone1]

hbeck said:

hugepiece said:

you will have plenty of choice for that money, should get an 00/01 or maybe even slightly later 4.5 LW for that. If I was you I would look at the classifieds here and buy a known car from another PHer. Good luck!

yup my, 4.5 2001 L/weight see here http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/175466.htm

Nice car and great colour combi................

Jules.

[hbeck]

Hi Jules,

seen you on RS246.COM didn't know you went for an S6 after the Cerb.

I'm still getting used to the jiggly ride of the RS6+.

[Ireland]

hugepiece said:

..... and buy a known car from another PHer.

Good advice.

[Cyclone1]

hbeck said:

Hi Jules,

seen you on RS246.COM didn't know you went for an S6 after the Cerb.

I'm still getting used to the jiggly ride of the RS6+.

Hi Howard,

I didn't go for an S6 after the Cerb, I (we) ended up with a Cabriolet which has now just been sold. Would love an RS6 but I'll be doing around 25-30k miles a year in my new job, so company car is looking the best option at the moment (can opt out).

Good luck with the sale......

Jules.

[InverCerb]

Cyclone1 said:

hbeck said:

hugepiece said:

you will have plenty of choice for that money, should get an 00/01 or maybe even slightly later 4.5 LW for that. If I was you I would look at the classifieds here and buy a known car from another PHer. Good luck!

yup my, 4.5 2001 L/weight see here http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/175466.htm

Nice car and great colour combi................

Jules.

Seconded. Similar to mine in colour, condition and cost, except you have had some essential work done, so a great buy for somebody. Not a big fan of black interiors though, but probably more practical.

To the OP, buy the above mentioned car

[Caviar]

Is it possible to get a Cerbera and completely overhaul the electronics and whatever gremlins the car is known for and get it to run twice a week without much problems at all? I'm looking at close to Porsche reliability. The heart of my question would be, is the mechanicals of this car of high standard that it won't be the mechanicals that fail? And are the weaknesses changeable to modify. I love this car to death but I am not an admirer of faulty cars and I think I also do represent a lot of people who feel the same way.

[big_treacle]

Caviar said:

Is it possible to get a Cerbera and completely overhaul the electronics and whatever gremlins the car is known for and get it to run twice a week without much problems at all? I'm looking at close to Porsche reliability. The heart of my question would be, is the mechanicals of this car of high standard that it won't be the mechanicals that fail? And are the weaknesses changeable to modify. I love this car to death but I am not an admirer of faulty cars and I think I also do represent a lot of people who feel the same way.

Maybe you should get a Porsche?
There is a guy that has stuck a corvette engine in his, I think they're supposed to be pretty bullet proof. Costs a lot though. You could then, I guess, stick an entire new set of electronics in. But it would cost a lot.

I would always suggest getting a Cerb for caning about & a shed cheap reliable boring car for all other times. I use my Cerb for a couple of thousand work miles a year & and maybe 6 more thousand hooning about miles. Had a couple of show stopper problems but didn't bother me as I had a standby shed.

[Gazzab]

Caviar said:

I want a porsche

There are plenty of pretty reliable cerbs out there. If you buy a good one then you wont need to overhaul it. In fact if you start fiddling you are bound to start creating problems. If you want one then buy one - sounds like you should buy as late a model as poss, from a dealer and ensure that they will underwrite the car for relaiability etc....
Ultimately buying a car is a risk. If a cerb goes very very badly wrong then it could take £10K to sort over a yr or so. If a porsche goes badly wrong then it could cost a lot more than the TVR. But generally the porsche is less likely to go wrong (but it is a lot slower and isnt an 'event').

[hugepiece]

Caviar said:

Is it possible to get a Cerbera and completely overhaul the electronics and whatever gremlins the car is known for and get it to run twice a week without much problems at all? I'm looking at close to Porsche reliability. The heart of my question would be, is the mechanicals of this car of high standard that it won't be the mechanicals that fail? And are the weaknesses changeable to modify. I love this car to death but I am not an admirer of faulty cars and I think I also do represent a lot of people who feel the same way.

I've been using mine 3 or times a week and its been good as gold for 4 months, ok not perfect but it's a bargain supercar at the end of the day. I may get the odd funny noise or rattle occasionally but it's never failed to start or let me down. In fact my previous 911 3.2 carrera gave me plenty more problems. OK so the cerb may need tweaking every now and again and some spanner hours on the weekend for little niggly things but it's a different league fun wise that a 911 in my view.

[carl_w]

big_treacle said:

There is a guy that has stuck a corvette engine in his, I think they're supposed to be pretty bullet proof.

But it isn't just the engine that contributes to "unreliability", it's all the bits it's attached to. A plastic-bodied car will always be more likely to have electrical problems due to lack of a decent earth, for example.

[Byker28i]

I use mine intermittantly and it works just great. I keep it on a battery optimiser when not in use and garaged.

The main electrical problems seem to be design issues but similar to a lot of other cars I've owned i.e. dirty contacts, water ingress to plugs etc. However these don't in my case appear to be much of a probelm in my 10 year old car.