2000 TVR Cerbera 4.5 LW review from UK and Ireland

Clutch master cylinder seals failed. Replaced for £50.

Clutch fingers snapped. This is a common fault on these AP Racing twin plate clutches, giving them a life of around 20k miles. There are now after-market options where this 'shouldn't' happen - which is what I have fitted now.

Throttle cable tensioning bracket snapped. Weak spot-weld failed, which I got re-welded by a bloke in a metal fabrication place for the moddest price of, 'a listen to the engine revving'!

Purple intake pipes wore out. Engine vibration causes these to wear against the bonnet. Aftermarket replacements combined with a remap offer increased torque & power nearer to the quoted power figures.

Frayed oil cooler pipes. Had to have replacements custom made to avoid a long wait. Cheap though.

Differential bushes worn out. Cheap part to replace, but a pig of a job to do & it takes HOURS, which is obviously not cheap (!).

This might be a bit rambling as I remember different features from the car...

Coming from a TVR Chimaera 400 I thought a Cerbera would be similar performance-wise, just with a roof and madder interior. I hadn't really prepared myself though.

As soon as you hit that black button & the engine fires up & the car idles & vibrates, it really reminds you that this is no GTi or hot saloon. There is an amazing sense of occasion.

Performance wise, these cars really are something else. The 4.5 AJP8 is a TVR V8 as found in the Tuscan race cars. It's a very free revving racecar style engine (flat plane crank V8 giving high revs like Ferrari or Lotus Esprit V8 as opposed to the low revving american style or the Rover V8's found in the other TVR V8 cars). Acceleration is violent. 0-60 times are almost irrelevant in a car like this. The real deal is when you give it some at motorway speeds. Putting your foot down in 3rd gear at 70mph will pin you in your seat & it is unrelenting. Sports bikes will move over for you to overtake. Not for the fainthearted. Note that although these engines don't have the instant low down torque of the rover lumps, they do have a lot of it at higher revs & so the uninitiated are still liable to spin the car on down changes if they don't match revs with engine speed!

The engine note is fantastic with LOUD pops and bangs on overrun. With decat pipes you also get flames.

Handling is good. These cars have high levels of grip & it generally feels very well planted. It is unsurprisingly fairly easy to unhook the rear end, but the long travel throttle (TVR traction control) stops this being a major problem so long as you don't allow your concentration to wander! Cold, damp & wet conditions obviously make it more of a handful - it's common to lose a few Cerberas each autumn as new owners from the summer lose it on roundabout exits & sliproads on to motorways especially as the engine comes on cam in 3rd gear.

The T5 gearbox feels nice and chunky, and as the driving position puts you right low down next to the transmission tunnel, it feels like it's in the right place next to the steering wheel.

Clutch can be a bit heavy in traffic. Not an issue on open road driving, but it can be tiresome on a motorway traffic jam or in town. Similarly, the engine can be a bit lumpy around 2.5k rpm making it not so fun town driving.

Big AP racing brakes have awesome stopping power. Of course, there is no ABS which might put some people off.

Steering is assisted, but not light in any way. It has excellent feel - not quite every tiny grain of sand, but enough to feel exactly what the road is doing.

Interior looks fantastic. I think the seats could do with being a bit more supportive though.

So the downsides. Cerberas need maintenance - they like tyres, brake pads, oil, petrol. Servicing isn't cheap. And some parts used by TVR are fragile or poor quality, or sited in daft places where they get too hot resulting in the occasional niggly problem. For example, the light control boxes are prone to burning out. Electric door controls can go mad. AP clutch has a design fault. 100Amp fuse gets hot and disintegrates. Starter motors get too hot and fail.

Also the chassis needs anti corrosion treatment each year (spray on some waxoil) and the windscreen wipers suck.

A £600 service can easily cost a grand & you might need to see a man a couple of times to fix a niggly problem or two. Having said that, parts & work are relatively cheap for a car of this performance compared to say Porsche or Ferrari.

The Cerbera is an amazing experience & I can't think of anything that could replace it this side of 100 grand!