Jump from Chimaera to Cerbera: advice please!

[loudpedal]

I am considering going from 4.0l Chim to Cerbera. I have to give it some serious thought and there are lots of questions I need answered... all help greatly appreciated!

1) ball park figure wise, how much more expensive to run is a cerb likely to be (in the normal course of events)?
2) the ground clearance on my chim is only just enough to get on and off my drive... is a cerb lower? it looks it...
3) 4.2 v8 or sp6? like the noise of both, more concerned about reliability/costs and usability of the power
4) how does the handling compare?
5) do cerbs leak and do i need air con?

also, if theres anything else I should know about cerb ownership, I am very interested!!

btw, I am not the worlds biggest fans of soft tops (chim was my first), so wont miss that....

cheers all...

[rolexblue]

Loudpedal

There are bucket loads of treads on here about this but IMHO, having recently binned my Chim 450 for a Cerbera 4.5 they’re two very different machines. Servicing is going to be double’ish although insurance was the same for me. Fuel consumption is phenomenal and I don’t even look how much I’m putting in these days. I’m not sure the Cerbera is lower but it’s certainly harder and compared to a Chim it does handle much better. My Cerbera seems to get hotter then hot thing that’s very warm and would say A/C would be very desirable though the summer. Never had any leaks (touching wood quickly!) even when raising paintwork off with a hose. Finally theres lots of tread on sp6, 4.2 or 4.5 and the V8’s seem to be the ones to get from a reliability point and the early 4.2’s are probably as quick as some of the 4.5’s.

Happy hunting
Paul

[VYT]

I made the same change in June this year haven't regretted it yet. I have a '96 4.2. It has been well sorted and has not caused me any grief. I do not have air con, I did in the chim. It can get warm but it was never unbearable last summer.
They can leak, door seals and Brake Master Cylinder seals seem to be the main problem. Not too difficult to fix.
Can't say too much on servicing costs as I haven't incurred any as yet. Uses about the same amount of petrol, insurance was £200 cheaper for the Cerbera. For sure the rear tyres won't last as long. Looks like 5k will be it. New Toyo's quoted at £79 each fitted.
The gound clearance is the same on the standard 16" wheels but the wheel base is longer so it is easier to ground over speed bumps etc.
I found it very difficult to drive the Cerbera smoothly at first. The clutch is a bit fierce and the engine dies of its own accord if it drops below 750rpm. The steering is very quick compared to the chim.
I tried 4.2's and 4.5's there didn't appear to be much in the performance on the road. I would have liked to have driven a S6 but never found one.
I think the Cerbera has better grip than the Chim, handling is good once you get the feel of the steering. I do have a damper upgrade on the Cerbera which is supposed to make a big difference.
Its hard to compare the Cerbera and Chim for performance. If you keep the RPM <3k the Rover lump is better. Over 3k and the AJP engine comes into its own. I can't say that I notice the Cerbera is much quicker on the road, even though I am sure it would be. I tend to keep the RPM down othewise you can here me coming from the next county.
One thing to note is that the brakes are much better on a Cerbera than on a standard Chim.

I didn't buy privately, I used a local independant. I know I could have bought a newer car privately but I would rather have one that has been properly sorted.

[loon]

Changed from a 5.0 chimaera to a 4.5 lightweight cerbera almost a year ago and I can say that the cerbera is a little less user friendly in terms of drivability than the chim as the difference in performance is phenomonal once you get to around 3000rpm. As you said, soft tops never really done it for me either but I had to try one to get it out of my system and now after making the change to the cerbera will never look back. Fantastic car all round but be careful of earlier models as they seem to be the era of the problematic ones. (mines a 2000 model year)
Haven"t noticed any difference really with regards to running costs but I guess that servicing will be the main difference. Good luck, and happy hunting..
Regards
Tony..

[simond001]

When i was lucky enough to run two, The Chimp sat in the garage and the Cerb was always used. When one had to go, it was bye bye Chimp.

Servicing doesnt have to break the bank, my last 12k serice, with tappets, and a new clutch fitted was under £1000 (Classic Dream machines).

Brakes cost a lot, but a caal to Joolz will get them half price.

(anyone got a tin opener for the summer please?)

[johnmckenzie]

VYT said: For sure the rear tyres won't last as long. Looks like 5k will be it........... One thing to note is that the brakes are much better on a Cerbera than on a standard Chim.

What are you doing to your rear tyres? If you dont do track days, rears should go at least 9-10K miles.I got 19K out of one set!!! - admittedly about half the miles were motorway and I don't do traffic light Grand Prix. If you track days then all bets are off. I wore a nearly new set of rears down to 3mm in under 50 laps of Silverstone full GP circuit - but then I was trying!

As to brakes, very, very good when they are new but they cease to inspire confidence very quickly. Take at look at all the threads on Cerbera brakes - 4.5's warp very easily and work badly once this occurs (grab and lock up too quickly) 4.2's seem to suffer less so but many owners have reported issues with them. I usually find myself driving less quickly than I might as I never quite know what the brakes will behave like next.

Regards

John

[VYT]

John

Don't do the loon stuff, 5k miles really based on changing at 3mm tread depth which is the minimum I am happy with on a wet road. Current tyres are S02's they were pretty decent on the chim I did 10k with those and the chap I sold it to got another 5k.

Cheers

Bob

[mycerbera]

johnmckenzie:
So you've owned a 4.2 and a 4.5?!
How do they compare?? 4.5 worth the extra money? I've had a 4.2 but not driven a 4.5, but it seems the logical next step up in TVR ownership after a 4.2, what's your views from experiance?

[johnmckenzie]

mycerbera said: johnmckenzie:
So you've owned a 4.2 and a 4.5?!
How do they compare?? 4.5 worth the extra money? I've had a 4.2 but not driven a 4.5, but it seems the logical next step up in TVR ownership after a 4.2, what's your views from experiance?

It's a little bit difficult to be objective as my 4.2 was a very early one - about no. 96 off the line and so it was a bit of a dogs dinner to say the least(mind you, my 4.5 was amongst the first 100 built too!). However here goes.

Ignoring the built quality and breakages (early car) the 4.2 had good and bad points. The early 4.2 throttle response was spectacular - a light touch on the throttle in neutral sent the revs up like a rocket and it would fall to idle virtually instantaneously - brilliant if you like to heel and toe! Later 4.2's and 4.5's don't do it quite so well - the flywheel was beefed up I believe, I suspect to overcome nasty resonances at around 3500 - 4500 rpm from the AJP that boomed throughout the whole car - very unpleasant I can tell you. Power delivery on the 4.2 engine was different. Under say 2200 r.p.m it felt pretty weedy but then would begin to pull strongly until about 3500rpm - then light blue touch paper!!! The 4.5 has a bucket load of torque from tickover (800 rpm in my case) to about 2500 rpm. I can walk the car in 2nd gear @ 1000 rpm up a mates 1/2 mile rough driveway which is about 1 in 7 uphill at times! From 2500 to 3500 rpm the increase in torque seems sluggish, almost like there is a kink in the torque curve. At 4000 rpm, light blue touch paper as above but even more so! In spite of the waffle about 4.2 Vs 4.5 horsepower subjectively I believe that once above 4000 rpm the 4.5 is delivering significantly more than a 4.2. Between 2000 and 4000 the 4.2 scores better (but remember mine was an early engine, reputed to be far superior to later ones even if more fragile).
The old 4.2 (16" rims) is without doubt under-tyred and without the benefit of Hydratrak as standard meant that it was all to easy to get sudden breakaway on exits to curves when pressing on. The 4.5 is much better behaved in this respect - however, the 4.5 standard rear suspension set-up felt softer than my old 4.2 (dont know if thats true). This gave it's own problems because it would bottom out on undulating country roads with consequent grauching of sports exhausts. I've since changed to a much stiffer set-up and Nitron dampers (see separate thread). The 4.2 brakes never gave me an ounce of trouble. The 4.5 warps front discs like Captin Kirk on his way to meet the Klingons!!! On my 4th set now and these are getting bad (done 38,000 miles on the car now). In terms of general reliability, both 4.2 qnd 4.5 are, IMHO C**P!!!!!!! But then thats just a TVR thing generally. Both suffered from dozens of minor maladies.
So final verdict? - never regretted losing the 4.2, even ignoring it's fragility. In the real world the 4.5 is usefully quicker over 50 m.p.h. and has generally better behaved handling (at least more predictable) but then I don't know what the very latest 4.2's are like. I've driven a '99 4.2 and that was no better behaved than my early '97. The 4.5 is much more user friendly around town (low end torque), consumes it's Optimax at a lesser rate (about 3 mpg better on average) and is subjectively a much more satisfying drive cross county.
There you have it - sorry it went on. Hope it helps a little

Regards

John

[p7ulg]

I actually went from a Cerbera to a Chimaera ( Via a Tuscan) mainly through financial reasons.The cerbera had very low ground clearance and I actually had to make two wooden ramps to get it off the drive. I thoroughly enjoyed owning the Cerbera but I find the Chimaera a lot more practical.Yes the Cerbera has blistering performance and stunning looks, but the fact the roof does'nt come off was a negative point for me.As the TVR is a second car it is kept for sunny days and who wants to be in a coupe when the sun is shinning.Servicing costs on the cerbera are also a lot higher.While like everything else the choice is down to personnal taste I find I have used the Chimaera more frequently due to its ease of use