Changing Chim for Cerb, your advice please!
Discussion
I am about to part ex my Chim for a Cerb (when I find the right car) Last time I went to buy a Cerbera I backed out for the following reasons.
1/. It sounded like a bucket of nails when idling (and so did the other 2 I tried at the same garage, although one of them did seem slightly quieter (1998)car?
2/. I noticed on 2 of the cars stress cracks where the roof joins the rear wing (is this normal wear)?
3/. Windows didn't seem to keen to close properly, again this happened on the 2 older cars (1997)models.
4/. The car had covered 34000 miles, so before purchasing it I telephoned TVR to ask if all the upgrades had been sorted (even though I didn't know what upgrades there were) They asked me the mileage, so out of curiosity I asked them what sort of mileage I could expect out of the engine. They stated that they have seen Cerbs with 75000 miles on the same engine, I asked them what or if there is an average when a rebuild is req. I was told that the average was 54000 or less, and a rebuild is 7000.00 so I backed out of the deal. (How many Cerb owners on here have bought the car, and then had to have an engine rebuild and at what mileage)?
5/. A mate of mine who owned a 4.5 Cerb kept having to replace starter motors, he put it down to being caused by the extra compression over the 4.2. (how many 4.2 owners have had starter motor problems, compared to 4.5 owners).
Having owned TVR's for 15 years I am not here to put down the marque, I just require advice on whether I am going to make a big mistake. (I personally think the Cerb is the best looking of all TVR's).
A few more questions.
1/. Anyone here change from a Chim or Griff to a Cerb,
and if so are you glad you did?
2/. Has anyone owned a 4.2 and then a 4.5, and if so which was the most reliable, and what problems have you encountered.
3/. What year vehicle could I expect to purchase for say 25000,
4/. Finally what upgrades have there been on Cerbs post 1998?
Thanks
1/. It sounded like a bucket of nails when idling (and so did the other 2 I tried at the same garage, although one of them did seem slightly quieter (1998)car?
2/. I noticed on 2 of the cars stress cracks where the roof joins the rear wing (is this normal wear)?
3/. Windows didn't seem to keen to close properly, again this happened on the 2 older cars (1997)models.
4/. The car had covered 34000 miles, so before purchasing it I telephoned TVR to ask if all the upgrades had been sorted (even though I didn't know what upgrades there were) They asked me the mileage, so out of curiosity I asked them what sort of mileage I could expect out of the engine. They stated that they have seen Cerbs with 75000 miles on the same engine, I asked them what or if there is an average when a rebuild is req. I was told that the average was 54000 or less, and a rebuild is 7000.00 so I backed out of the deal. (How many Cerb owners on here have bought the car, and then had to have an engine rebuild and at what mileage)?
5/. A mate of mine who owned a 4.5 Cerb kept having to replace starter motors, he put it down to being caused by the extra compression over the 4.2. (how many 4.2 owners have had starter motor problems, compared to 4.5 owners).
Having owned TVR's for 15 years I am not here to put down the marque, I just require advice on whether I am going to make a big mistake. (I personally think the Cerb is the best looking of all TVR's).
A few more questions.
1/. Anyone here change from a Chim or Griff to a Cerb,
and if so are you glad you did?
2/. Has anyone owned a 4.2 and then a 4.5, and if so which was the most reliable, and what problems have you encountered.
3/. What year vehicle could I expect to purchase for say 25000,
4/. Finally what upgrades have there been on Cerbs post 1998?
Thanks
Well, I have some answers for you. 
They all sound like a bucket of nails when idling, and worse than that when they are first started up for the first 5 minutes or so of life.
My car cracks as the roof (B-Pillar?) meets the rear wing. I think it is a case of TADTS!!
The windows not closing properly could be caused by a number of things - the first I would suspect is that the rubbers have been updated on the door to make them more weatherproof, but the chip in the window control box hasn't been upgraded to provide the windows with greater current to work against the increased resistance. Fix? £20 chip. Other than that it would be the alignment of the windows.
I believe starter motors go because of the heat under the bonnet drying out the lubrication in the motor (but I could be wrong). It could be a case that the people whose starters last longer are the people who don't sit in traffic quite as much?
I don't think buying a Cerbera is a big mistake at all - but I am biassed.
Happy hunting.
They all sound like a bucket of nails when idling, and worse than that when they are first started up for the first 5 minutes or so of life.
My car cracks as the roof (B-Pillar?) meets the rear wing. I think it is a case of TADTS!!
The windows not closing properly could be caused by a number of things - the first I would suspect is that the rubbers have been updated on the door to make them more weatherproof, but the chip in the window control box hasn't been upgraded to provide the windows with greater current to work against the increased resistance. Fix? £20 chip. Other than that it would be the alignment of the windows.
I believe starter motors go because of the heat under the bonnet drying out the lubrication in the motor (but I could be wrong). It could be a case that the people whose starters last longer are the people who don't sit in traffic quite as much?
I don't think buying a Cerbera is a big mistake at all - but I am biassed.
Happy hunting.
I have just changed my one owner, 1998, Chimp 450 with a mere 8000 miles for a 2000, 4.5 Lightweight Cerbera with 18,000 miles, and quite frankly the jury is out on whether I have done the right thing.
There is plenty that I love about the Cerbera, but they are largely focused around looks. It's a breathtakingly stunning machine, whereas I had become very bored (with familiarity largely) with the Chimp (which was my second across an 8 year period).
Many people in these forums rave about the performance of the Cerbera. On UK roads, if you want a chance of holding onto your licence, you are unlikely to notice the difference. I actually feel the chimp 450 was faster off the mark than the Cerbera, and was plenty fast enough to leave everything behind I ever wanted to. We all know that there are fast and slow TVRs, with a lot depending on how well it is treated during it's early life - so perhaps I now have a slow Cerbera, and am comparing to what I know was a fast chimp (as I owned it from new). I would be very interested in other members views on this.
There's also lots of talk in these forums about cost of ownership of a Cerbera being roughly double a griff or chimp. I cannot comment on that as it's early doors for me.
As for the engine sounding like a bag of bolts, indeed they all do until warm, so instead of impressing the hell out of passengers when I used to start the chimp, they now say "bloody hell, this car sounds knackered" when I start the Cerbera.
Many people also rave, in these forums, about the roar from the Cerbera (engine and exhaust). I prefer the deep booming Rover V8 rumble from the chimp. I also didn't at first like the constant popping, firing and overrun from the Cerbera exhaust, but now love it!
Something else I wasn't quite ready for was the crap turning circle on the Cerbera. I live in London and have been caught out a few times pulling out of/into narrow street and not being able to make it around without a bit of reversing. No big deal, just something to be aware of.
I don't have any problems with the stress cracks you mentioned and my windows close fine. Starter motors doea seem to be a common failure, which I have yet to experience.
In summary, my first month of Cerbera ownership has been mixed (it's been back to the dealer twice for repairs: electrical and air con). I love how it looks, and love driving it, but can't seem to shake the idea that it's actually slower than my old Chimp.
Hope this helps. Happy to talk further if you need more info.
There is plenty that I love about the Cerbera, but they are largely focused around looks. It's a breathtakingly stunning machine, whereas I had become very bored (with familiarity largely) with the Chimp (which was my second across an 8 year period).
Many people in these forums rave about the performance of the Cerbera. On UK roads, if you want a chance of holding onto your licence, you are unlikely to notice the difference. I actually feel the chimp 450 was faster off the mark than the Cerbera, and was plenty fast enough to leave everything behind I ever wanted to. We all know that there are fast and slow TVRs, with a lot depending on how well it is treated during it's early life - so perhaps I now have a slow Cerbera, and am comparing to what I know was a fast chimp (as I owned it from new). I would be very interested in other members views on this.
There's also lots of talk in these forums about cost of ownership of a Cerbera being roughly double a griff or chimp. I cannot comment on that as it's early doors for me.
As for the engine sounding like a bag of bolts, indeed they all do until warm, so instead of impressing the hell out of passengers when I used to start the chimp, they now say "bloody hell, this car sounds knackered" when I start the Cerbera.
Many people also rave, in these forums, about the roar from the Cerbera (engine and exhaust). I prefer the deep booming Rover V8 rumble from the chimp. I also didn't at first like the constant popping, firing and overrun from the Cerbera exhaust, but now love it!
Something else I wasn't quite ready for was the crap turning circle on the Cerbera. I live in London and have been caught out a few times pulling out of/into narrow street and not being able to make it around without a bit of reversing. No big deal, just something to be aware of.
I don't have any problems with the stress cracks you mentioned and my windows close fine. Starter motors doea seem to be a common failure, which I have yet to experience.
In summary, my first month of Cerbera ownership has been mixed (it's been back to the dealer twice for repairs: electrical and air con). I love how it looks, and love driving it, but can't seem to shake the idea that it's actually slower than my old Chimp.
Hope this helps. Happy to talk further if you need more info.
1. TADTS!
2. Mine is a '97 car with 40k miles - no stress cracks, but plenty of stone chips!
3. As mentioned, probably a chip/rubbers problem, although my windows are ridiculously slow; so much so that I make a point of pressing the 'up' button long before I park the car, just so i'm not sitting there waiting for them to close!
4. As I said, mine's done over 40k miles and although it seems to be getting slightly noisier, apparently that's not a bad thing as apparently a 'quiet' AJP is worse .. something to do with clearances. Also, it was rolling roaded about 6 months ago and get 353BHP - so it can't be that knackered! Also, apparently I do the worst kind of journeys - lots of short 10 min trips
5. No idea about the starter motor; i'm on my second one and it's just about giving up the ghost - lots of gnashing and whirring before it catches - a bit embarrassing, but i've lived with it for about a year because, frankly, there are more important things to worry about/spend your money on!
1. Yep, had two Griffs before the Cerb - a 4.3 and 500. I'm not a great fan of the rag-tops, so if you ignore the obvious difference, the Cerb is in a different league - whereas the Griff was a short wheelbase, stiffly sprung scary monster but the Cerb felt like it had *much* more sophisticated suspension - for me, the sheer grunt of the Cerb dawned on me later - it's only after you get confident that you actually start to grab it by the scruff of the neck - with the Griff, it had no more to offer, the Cerb just keeps on going and going!
2. Nope.
3. Don't know!
4. Don't know!
I love the styling of the Griff, but it's just not as good a car as a Cerb. IMHO
2. Mine is a '97 car with 40k miles - no stress cracks, but plenty of stone chips!
3. As mentioned, probably a chip/rubbers problem, although my windows are ridiculously slow; so much so that I make a point of pressing the 'up' button long before I park the car, just so i'm not sitting there waiting for them to close!
4. As I said, mine's done over 40k miles and although it seems to be getting slightly noisier, apparently that's not a bad thing as apparently a 'quiet' AJP is worse .. something to do with clearances. Also, it was rolling roaded about 6 months ago and get 353BHP - so it can't be that knackered! Also, apparently I do the worst kind of journeys - lots of short 10 min trips
5. No idea about the starter motor; i'm on my second one and it's just about giving up the ghost - lots of gnashing and whirring before it catches - a bit embarrassing, but i've lived with it for about a year because, frankly, there are more important things to worry about/spend your money on!
1. Yep, had two Griffs before the Cerb - a 4.3 and 500. I'm not a great fan of the rag-tops, so if you ignore the obvious difference, the Cerb is in a different league - whereas the Griff was a short wheelbase, stiffly sprung scary monster but the Cerb felt like it had *much* more sophisticated suspension - for me, the sheer grunt of the Cerb dawned on me later - it's only after you get confident that you actually start to grab it by the scruff of the neck - with the Griff, it had no more to offer, the Cerb just keeps on going and going!
2. Nope.
3. Don't know!
4. Don't know!
I love the styling of the Griff, but it's just not as good a car as a Cerb. IMHO
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