servicing costs:some advice please chaps....

servicing costs:some advice please chaps....

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Discussion

bellerophon

Original Poster:

1,170 posts

280 months

Thursday 14th March 2002
quotequote all
Spring is in the air ,summer round the corner and so is the TVR Garage. Soo looks like the insurance company staff will be off to the Maldives for their company outing...anyway I digress...will be looking to purchase either a Chimaera or a Cerbera before the summer and would like an idea/ feedback/ random comments of the potential( who am I kidding) difference in, say, a years service bills for the two. Budget for purchase would be about £25k...

thanks in adavnce guys....

richb

54,098 posts

299 months

Friday 15th March 2002
quotequote all
Bellerophon (or can I call you Bell?) For 25k you should get a really decent example of either, so first off decide which you prefer. Despite appearances they are very different cars i.e. A Cerbera is not a Chimaera with a roof on! Do you want/enjoy roof down motoring? I love it so that rules out the Cerbra as far I am concerned. Engine wise they are also very different with the Rover based V8 vs TVR's own AJP V8 flat plane crank etc. etc. I wouldn't base my decision on th emaintenanc costs, get what you prefer. p.s. I expect the Cerbera would be more expensive to maintain. Rich...

bellerophon

Original Poster:

1,170 posts

280 months

Friday 15th March 2002
quotequote all
thanks for the input rich... actually had a Cerbera which I sold last year, 4.2 on an S plate. loved it, had always set my heart on a Chim until a devious Dealer suggested I test drive a Cerbera, the rest was history... all was well untill the first servive, I thought the Car was fine , no problems with anything as far as I could tell, bill came to £3500.... I dont know if that would have been a one off, and things progressed smothly after that, I know of the potential problems with the engine but that didnt need any work on it at all!! must say when i got the car back it was a different beast....really dont know how you guys kepp the 4.5's from taking off... anyway I love both cars but would be nice to have the top down for the summer , but then again the big dog is aways barking at your heels... really wanted a guestimate of the potential differential between keeping the two cars over any given year... you can call me bell if I can call you Dick....

plotloss

67,280 posts

285 months

Friday 15th March 2002
quotequote all
Bellerophon,

I agree with what Rich says, try them both and decide what you prefer in a car, they are both quick, the Cerbera being somewhat stupidly powerful.

As for servicing the 6000 mile interims are a bit more expensive on the AJP8 than the Rover V8 - probably about £100 on average and every 12,000 miles you need to get the tappets done and this is usually an extra £400 or so.

These are dealer prices from one of the more expensive dealers

Rover V8: 6000 - £500, 12,000 - £700, 24,000 - £800
AJP V8: 6000 - £600, 12,000 - £1200 including tappet work.

There are alternatives to dealers and I have heard they are very good and are significantly cheaper, just not used them myself.

Whatever you decide I am sure you will love it.

HTH.

Matt.

PetrolTed

34,447 posts

318 months

Friday 15th March 2002
quotequote all
Check here for some members' experiences of running costs:

www.pistonheads.com/members/fleet.asp

bellerophon

Original Poster:

1,170 posts

280 months

Friday 15th March 2002
quotequote all
Matt, I'm off to Waldonway on monday to try a 4.2 Cerb and a Chim 5.0 back to back , so hopefully that should help clear the cobwebs...although if the weathers like today should be a intersting hour or so... would probably consider using an independent as opposed to a Main dealer, have a feeling they may be a bit more realistic in their pricing policy..thanks Matt

Duncan

52 posts

299 months

Friday 15th March 2002
quotequote all
quote:

These are dealer prices from one of the more expensive dealers

Rover V8: 6000 - £500, 12,000 - £700, 24,000 - £800
AJP V8: 6000 - £600, 12,000 - £1200 including tappet work.

Hmmm. OK, these are the quoted figures, but what about bits that fall off?

My experience, owing a Chimp 4.0HC for five years and averaging about 6K per year, was that the annual service (plus bits that needed fixing/replacing at the service) ran to, bizarrely, 1/10 of the mileage in pounds. I sold it at 30K miles ...

Having said that, my 18 month old Tuscan is proving cheaper to run.

richb

54,098 posts

299 months

Friday 15th March 2002
quotequote all
What sort of Tuscan could you get for £25k 'ish? It would be the compromise between the Cerbera and the full roof-off 500 V8 experience? Rich... (aka dick)

bellerophon

Original Poster:

1,170 posts

280 months

Friday 15th March 2002
quotequote all
Rich, have considered a tuscan but , and this may cause a few toys to be thrown out of prams, IMHO i have never been that fond of the griffith shape and the tuscan seems to be based around that, plus there is the lottery of the S6 engine to consider...just had a check through the owners section and there are so gorgeous looking cars out there.... havnt seen a Tuscan up for less than £28k though....