What goes wrong then?
Discussion
Hello all
I'm thinking about buying an early 4.2 Cerbie (all I can afford) and I was wondering if people could tell me what goes wrong with these cars. I currently own a wedge and so I'm used to the odd niggle but have yet to have anything (touch wood) which will has left me stranded, can I expect the same? Or do the cars need upgrading from standard? Also as I work in an engineering firm I could easily make pieces to replace those which could do with beefing up a bit. And will happily knock out few if others have a need to solve a common problem.
Ta
Matt
Cerbera's are like all TVR's, there are good ones and bad ones around. Mine is a 1996 4.2 and has only had 2 major "problems" in the 2 years I've had it. One was an immobiliser failure which happens to all cars and a clutch slave cylinder failure, again the clutch can go on any car. So I might have been lucky so far but then again and I think I've said this before you only hear about the bad things that happen to Cerbera's and since on this gassing station there has probably been 20 people moaning about their cars and over 2000 Cerbera's made I think the odd's on getting a reliable car that suffers only from niggling but easily fixed problems like flat batteries, slow window motors, door button problems, exhaust rattles (for god sake get on your hands and knees with a spanner and tighten the thing up then!) is pretty good. Go for a well kept fairly high milage motor and you will know it's a good one.
Avoid older cars with spotless body work (unless they have invoices for stone chip repairs/resprays) and low milage as these will be the ones that have spent their time in garages being repaired. check also for the track day nightmare. The majority of these are only there due to the drivers abusing them by taking them to the rev limiter before warming the engine, not checking oil & water levels regularly, driving too fast over uneven "B" roads and crashing the gearbox.
My car is kept outside in all weathers, the chassis has been waxoyled and after letting it warm up for a few minutes every morning I do give it a good thrasing, as long as you drive yours regularly and look after it you will have no problems.
Trust me I'm a TVR owner 
Edited by fourwheeldrift on Wednesday 14th March 08:55
Edited by fourwheeldrift on Wednesday 14th March 08:55 Ive owned a 4.2 1997 Cerbera for 7 months. I have had the odd electrical problem but one major problem. The Auxillary shaft in the Engine snapped losing all oil pressure, this shaft drives the oil pump etc. This was the first apparently that TVR have seen in the AJP engine, it was actually off the road for 7 weeks. I had purchased a warranty about 3weeks before as it would have cost £1800.
Apart from this the car has never failed to start and I use it daily for work. Once you drive a Cerbera you will know why people put up with the odd problem
Take a butchers at www.joospeed.net there is loads of good cerby advice on what to look for.
I'm in a similar boat love my Chim, would love to trade up to a cerby but a bit nervous ( probably unfounded)
I was also thinking of persuading joolz to look over a couple of motors for me....
If i ever have any cash again!!!!!
Graham W
I too will probably be in the market for a Cerbie this year providing I can get a decent price for my Griff 500. There seems to be the odd 4.5 at reasonablish money - are they worth the extra dosh?
Also does anyone have a list of the major updates to check for? Is it safe to assume most of the early cars would have had them by now?
Cheers,
Graham
Edited by Graham B on Wednesday 14th March 10:20
Most of the earlier car should have had most of the problems ironed out. I bought a 4.2 97 Privately and the owner had kept all the recipts etc, a great help as it gives details on what has been replaced or repaired. Another suggestion is look for one which has just had a service.
Mick
Mine is a 4.5 which was written off after 900 miles in the first year. It is 3 years old and when purchased from a non-TVR dealer, it had spent a year in the dealer. It reduced in price drastically during that period. I believe it is still the cheapest 4.5 I have seen advertised. I bought it 6 months ago when it had 5000 miles. It now has 10000 miles. I am having problems associated with it not having ben used much but why o why does a car this new need new servo clutch seals. Will I have to renew them every few thousand miles? It is definitiely a nice car and will be very good after I have redesigned some of the niggles - I have just redesigned the dim dip module connections which have burnt out - definitely under engineered and my son and I are designing a panel so that you can see whether the air con is on and what the fan settings are. I also need to improve radio reception. I guess I may have to redesign the clutch slave cylinder which my local TVR dealer says is used in NASCAR racing. His excuse is they strip these cars after every race! Finally why does the oil pressure switch fail after so few miles?
Edited by jeffa on Thursday 15th March 20:37
Edited by jeffa on Thursday 15th March 20:39
quote:Don't get this bit, you say it's written off but you still have it?????
Mine is a 4.5 which was written off after 900 miles in the first year.....
Anyway there are dogs made by all manufacturers, you would probably be suprised how many maintsream "nice" cars have problems - Mercs (C Class Auto boxes, faulty bonnet release), BMW's (Exhaust blowing on 6 cylinder models, rainwater leaks through poor fitting window seals), Porsches (968 leaking power steering, 911 oil leaks noisy gearboxes), Jaguar XK8 immobiliser failures, Lotus Elise (trim defects and dodgy window mechanisms).
It happens to all manufacturers even solid Germanic brands. We just happen to own a British one, which is pretty rare these days! It was written off then repaired. This is why it was cheap enough for me to buy. Otherwise I would have bought a 4.2. The point is that there are design defects. I suspect the clutch seals are a design fault. The problems I have had have meant I have had to carry on using the British car it was supposed to replace - a 14 year old 180,000 mile jaguar which had its own problems but is considerably more reliable than my 10000 mile Cerbera (so far).
Anyway there are dogs made by all manufacturers,
We just happen to own a British one, which is pretty rare these days!
Edited by jeffa on Friday 16th March 17:26
Edited by jeffa on Friday 16th March 17:28
quote:Don't get this bit, you say it's written off but you still have it?????
Mine is a 4.5 which was written off after 900 miles in the first year.....
Anyway there are dogs made by all manufacturers,
We just happen to own a British one, which is pretty rare these days!
Edited by jeffa on Friday 16th March 17:26
Edited by jeffa on Friday 16th March 17:28 
BUY ONE
I bought a cerby 4.2 after trying seven (very) different ones including a couple of 4.5s. Back to back I could hardly tell the difference between a 4.2 and 4.5. Only problems in 2500 miles are ones I knew about at the time of purchase - diff oil leak - a seal replacement and an intermittent window problem traced within half an hour to the wire into the door.
They are incredible cars for the money - just choose carefully, preferably from an enthusiast who warms it gently (never exceed 3000rpm before hot) and has obviously looked after it.
I bought a cerby 4.2 after trying seven (very) different ones including a couple of 4.5s. Back to back I could hardly tell the difference between a 4.2 and 4.5. Only problems in 2500 miles are ones I knew about at the time of purchase - diff oil leak - a seal replacement and an intermittent window problem traced within half an hour to the wire into the door.
They are incredible cars for the money - just choose carefully, preferably from an enthusiast who warms it gently (never exceed 3000rpm before hot) and has obviously looked after it. Hi,
I'm looking at purchasing my first TVR in the next month or so. I have my
heart set on a 98 Cerbera 4.5 (if possible, although a 4.2 would be fine).
My budget is up to ~ £27K.
I've being 'doing my homework' on the net, trying to find out as much info
as possible on buying and owning. I have a couple of questions:
1. I'm no technical expert on cars or a mechanic (although I've rebuilt a
couple of Mini's in my teens!!), how much day to day (or weekly) maintenance
do they need, ie more than a conventional car?
2. What kind of mileage should I look at, since I have read reports stating
that Cerbera's which have clocked up around 15K are likely to be a bit more
reliable since all the 'new car' gripes have be resolved. With this in mind,
should it be better to have mileage as a more important criteria than age,
ie 96 N Cerbera, 15K compared to a 98 R Cebera 6K. Would the 96 N Cerbera be
better, since its well run in?
3. Since I commute to work each day, the Cerbera would only get used at
weekends, or possibly used for short distances (<10miles) during the week.
How do Cerbera's take to being driven infrequently (if indeed you class
every 5-6 days infrequent). II would, of course be taken out at the weekend
for a good drive anyway!
4. Looking at the servicing point of view, is it really neccessary to
service it every 6months, even though it will do much less that 6K. Or is
that just a guideline.
Cheers
Steve
re do you need to service every 6 months even if you haven't done 6,000 miles. I would always vote yes -- first changing oil is a good idea as it degrades over time (Mobil 1 is very good though) and 2nd if you are trusting your life to a car at 180mph (track/autobahn only officer) you want to make sure it's in top form. In addition I am really careful about tyre pressures and visually inspect inside and outside sidewalls and treads weekly as it's very hard to tell if they are a bit flat from behind the wheel and you don't want one to let go at a bad moment. I guess the advice is always simple, if you can't afford to maintain it properly it may be best not to buy in the first place.
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