sanity check please!

[S-Express]

seriously thinking of selling my now fully sorted S2 to buy a cerbera - am I being a c*ck?

will i regret it ?????

[Error404]

errr.. well then you'll just have another car to sort out And surely parts will be even harder to come by?

Massively fast cars though, and i'm sure they're a hoot to drive...... when they work... not sure i'd want to own one though

[Acidburn]

tempting, find a good one and you will love it, find a bad one and you know the story. s2's more solid and can be tuned to beat one.

[Jon441cc]

Go for a 4.5ltr lightweight they are quick as ****

[Jamo]

Haha, seriously? good luck on that one

[S-Express]

took the s2 on a Porsche only sprint day at Curborough a couple of weeks ago.
It was wet and I was quicker than all of them, overheard some of their comments, one of which was "that old audi's quick, is it a Quattro?" and then when they needed a car to pull a bent 928 out of the bank - who did they come and ask? mmmmm, maybe i should keep the S2. buy a cerb, get bored of it after 12 months, sell it and re mot the S2. After all, it gives great satisfaction whooping 80k's worth of 911 in a 16 year old car

[sam80quattro]

cerbera's are fast but they break lol all the time. keep the s2

[anthonys2]

Keep the s2 probably a little more reliable to, and you have the added advantage of that you like 4wd!!

[80Quattro]

I haven't been on here in ages so I was quite surprised to see a topic I can add some useful input to.

I sold my 80 2.8 quattro to buy a 98 TVR Cerbera 4.5. It's a fantastic car for how fast it goes and it gets quite a lot of attention (although mainly from small children!). I had it running for a year and the only problem I had in that time was the alternator failed in Northampton but that was a Land Rover part so I can't fault TVR too much for that. I've never really found it an easy car to drive it's good on an empty road but while there are other cars around I was always a little concerned. To give you an idea I was once driving in a straight line at no more than 3/4 throttle at 70mph in 3rd gear when suddenly I found myself going sideways with no warning.

The other thing to keep in mind is that the build quality is nothing like an Audi, things are held together with glue and velcro. There are many poor designs which makes working on it really difficult. A 4.5 is the one to get and that's not just beacuse it's the fastest but they are the most reliable, although a later 4.2 should be just as good. A clutch will last about 20k miles because there is no stop and the fingers on the pressure plate get over stressed and break but the slave cylinder seals only last about the same time anyway. A 4.5LW actually weighs more than an early 4.5 but has a different interior and a few other cosmetic changes.

By far the biggest problem and the reason mine has not been on the road for the last year are the chassis. Until around 2003 the powder coat on them was very poor and simply fell off. My chassis looked solid and had receipts for treatment but I hit my passenger side outrigger with a hammer to test how strong it was and a hole appeared. The body has to come off to repair it and I haven't got round to doing that yet as I have had other projects to do first.

The cars are very cheap to buy for what you get but you can expect it to cost you £3000 a year on avaerage to keep it on the road.

I don't mean to put you off as they really are great cars but you need a lot of money and a degree of patience to keep one going.

Hope this is of some help,

Matt

[als2]

Funny i thought about one a lil while back. Had a shot in one a few yeras ago. I sed to deal with the local TVR authorised repairer. Dropped a car off for some work and he gave me the 4.5 cerberra for the day. we had the usual dont they break down chat and a laugh and off i set.
What a hoot!!!!!!! awesome power delivery but as 80quattro said, a tad unpredictable! u get the feeling its gonna bite at any speed and any situation!
anyhows twenty miles later.........it died. nadda, nowt, nothing. spent 30min at side of country road trying to get her running. nope. come and get her! swapped for his twin turbo supra for the rest of the day, no probs! (pretend i was in fast and furious!lol)
that episode made me think, all cars break down but its seems to be so random with tvrs. dunno if i could live with it
anyways thats not helped u make up your mind one bit has it?
best o luck whichever u chose, its ur car after all

Al

[Rusty]

Keep the S2. Buy a sorted E30 BMW with a slippy diff. Learn rear steer. Job done.

[als2]

Thers an idea! Fancy one of those myself!! but think i need a porsche or merc to add to my german marques! lol

[Rusty]

Having had my E30 for nearly 2 years and just done a track day in it, it's a nice counter point to the S2 and is a very cheap car to run.

[istoo]

someone been reading PPc this month?!

One of my mates is on his second one (barrel rolled the first) and they are really very quick. I love the look ,noise and the power is bananas. A whisker over a ton and 400bhp... oh and RWD. Be prepared for it to try and kill you at every opportunity. I would if i had the money...

[S2central.net]

I have a TVR fetish as well - its mostly the noise but the looks are nice IMHO on the Griffith, Chimera and Cerbera. Definitely a bit of a handful and nothing like Audi reliability I expect.

The other itch I have to scratch is a Maserati quattroporte - in my dreams maybe but the noise and poise of one of those is just delicious.

Not sure I would sell a well sorted S2 for something like the TVR - they are such a different animal, and you could be chasing all sorts of niggles and breakdowns if the rear steering doesn't getcha.