What do I do.....
Discussion
I have been toying with the idea of getting a cerby on and off over the past few months and had decided it was not for me, due to reliability and running costs. Last weekend I tried a 5ltr Chimp which did not inspire me and preferred the cerby and last night after watching one of Jeremy Clarkson's best and worst cars and the Cerby eliminating the opposition my other half says I think we should get one of those.
What do I do now, she is happy to sell her Lexus, but still at the back of my mind I can hear the reliability and running cost problems ticking away.
Help, I need good down to earth advise and running costs. I would be having it looked after by Peninsular.
What do I do now, she is happy to sell her Lexus, but still at the back of my mind I can hear the reliability and running cost problems ticking away.
Help, I need good down to earth advise and running costs. I would be having it looked after by Peninsular.
Gazza,
Its a 1993 C2 (964). Although the 964 hasn't got a great reputation for reliability, mine has been very good and in 1.5 years of ownership it has only needed regular maitenance work.
Having said that, I don't do many miles a year (6k?) so thats why I've considered a Cerbie. As you say, it seems more 'mental' than the relatively calm 911.
On the other hand, I am fine with spending about £2k (roughly) on maintenance a year, but I hate having to worry about the car nor starting, or being afraid of driving it for fear something v pricey may brake (like a clutch).
Its a 1993 C2 (964). Although the 964 hasn't got a great reputation for reliability, mine has been very good and in 1.5 years of ownership it has only needed regular maitenance work.
Having said that, I don't do many miles a year (6k?) so thats why I've considered a Cerbie. As you say, it seems more 'mental' than the relatively calm 911.
On the other hand, I am fine with spending about £2k (roughly) on maintenance a year, but I hate having to worry about the car nor starting, or being afraid of driving it for fear something v pricey may brake (like a clutch).
RGubbioli said: On the other hand, I am fine with spending about £2k (roughly) on maintenance a year, but I hate having to worry about the car nor starting, or being afraid of driving it for fear something v pricey may brake (like a clutch).
It depends if you're bugeting 2k and hoping for the best (i.e. less) or looking at 2k plus being prepared to spend a bit more if necessary.
I've had a new clutch which cost be about 1k, iirc (I try not to think about it too much after signing the cc receipt
) Remember that pretty much half of your 2k is going to be spend on scheduled maintenance. But in my experience, the car will fun fine for ages and then several things will happen at once, and make it seem like the thing's costing the earth.
Perhaps I'm missing the point here (and possibly tempting fate) but all cars cost money to maintain.
I've spent more on my V6 Vectra in the last 12 months than I have in total during the ownership of an S2, Chim and Cerb. Albeit I've only had the latter only 3 months.
Possibly I've been lucky - I don't know.
I do try and keep on top of things and get them sorted before they get too serious.
TVRs do need TLC rather than drive & foget. But isn't that half the fun of owning a TVR???
I've spent more on my V6 Vectra in the last 12 months than I have in total during the ownership of an S2, Chim and Cerb. Albeit I've only had the latter only 3 months.
Possibly I've been lucky - I don't know.
I do try and keep on top of things and get them sorted before they get too serious.
TVRs do need TLC rather than drive & foget. But isn't that half the fun of owning a TVR???
I'd agree with that (whatever) . If you want to be sure I'd budget more like £4k for service and maintenance. Maybe more if you want stuff done at a main dealer.
(12,000 miles a year = £2k+ for a TVR service history..and this is without anything else going wrong, no tyres or insurance etc....)
I'd paid hardly anything out one year and then had an engine problem and the clutch went = £3k in one go!
If you think you'll struggle with the bills I'd go for a Griff or Chim. You don't want to end up hating the car for making you so poor and financially worried !!
I can see this happening a lot more now that the Cerberas are so cheap to buy. What people may not realise is that the reason they are so cheap to buy is that they are soooo expensive to run !
>> Edited by bandit on Tuesday 4th March 13:41
(12,000 miles a year = £2k+ for a TVR service history..and this is without anything else going wrong, no tyres or insurance etc....)
I'd paid hardly anything out one year and then had an engine problem and the clutch went = £3k in one go!
If you think you'll struggle with the bills I'd go for a Griff or Chim. You don't want to end up hating the car for making you so poor and financially worried !!
I can see this happening a lot more now that the Cerberas are so cheap to buy. What people may not realise is that the reason they are so cheap to buy is that they are soooo expensive to run !
>> Edited by bandit on Tuesday 4th March 13:41
I'd paid hardly anything out one year and then had an engine problem and the clutch went = £3k in one go!
£3K! for a clutch. I got mine done at a main dealer for £1300 including updating to the new bell housing etc. An independant like Joolz would have been even cheaper I suspect.
Cheers, Steve
Grey 4.2 Cerbie
Mine cost close to 4K within 2 months but alot of that would have been covered if I had bought the warranty earlier. If I had bought the car from a dealer I would have paid closer to 40K for the car I got. Check out my profile for the costs incurred. I seem to have a love / hate relationship. When things go wrong, you think "why bother with all this sh@t". On a sunny day with the car nicely warmed up, there's nothing better. You need to weigh up the pro's & cons. The pro's will always win. IMO.
grey42cerbie said:
£3K! for a clutch. I got mine done at a main dealer for £1300 including updating to the new bell housing etc. An independant like Joolz would have been even cheaper I suspect.
Cheers, Steve
Grey 4.2 Cerbie
3k for the clutch AND engine work !!
I would have had a heartattack if the clutch had been £3k too !
I think I ended up paying £1300 for the clutch at a main dealer as well. Wish I'd known about APM before that !
Well from what I read here I think running costs of 2 and 3k are too high. You cant include insurance and things in "running costs". It also depends how long you plan to keep the car. The longer you have it the more you benefit from averaging down.
the AVERAGE running costs for a Cerb doing about 6k a year (seemingly the TVR routine mileage) over say 3-4 years would be under 2k imho.
the AVERAGE running costs for a Cerb doing about 6k a year (seemingly the TVR routine mileage) over say 3-4 years would be under 2k imho.
Jamesk said:
the AVERAGE running costs for a Cerb doing about 6k a year (seemingly the TVR routine mileage) over say 3-4 years would be under 2k imho.
Jamesk, not meaning to be funny, but it looks like you own a BMW ! Trust me, if you're going to be running a Cerbera and keeping it in top notch condition (especially if you want a TVRSH), it will cost you a fair bit more than £2k per year.
Saying that, If you cut corners, use a good independent, are not bothered about FTVRSH and only do around 6,000 miles a year I guess costs could come down to under £2k.
They ain't cheap though !
Jamesk said: Well from what I read here I think running costs of 2 and 3k are too high. You cant include insurance and things in "running costs". It also depends how long you plan to keep the car. The longer you have it the more you benefit from averaging down.
the AVERAGE running costs for a Cerb doing about 6k a year (seemingly the TVR routine mileage) over say 3-4 years would be under 2k imho.
The problem is that you still need the pot to start with -- the car might not co-operate with "averaging down"!
If the car needs 1k in month 1 then you've pretty much blown your 2k budget straight away, and there's usually top-up maintenance (which can sometimes be done at home).
The bottom-line is that if 2k is the limit then there's a significant risk of the whole ownership experience turning unpleasant at some stage. Sod's law says it'll be soon, too.
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