First Caterham Purchase - CDX?

[bushhpd]

Am considering purchasing a Caterham, and am being drawn to the CDX.

Is this a good choice as a first Caterham?

Are there any drawbacks to the K-Series Supersport 135 as opposed to the new Ford Sigmas?

Thanks.

[Fat Arnie]

bushhpd said:

Are there any drawbacks to the K-Series

Cue some lengthy debate.....

[OJ]

K-Series is lighter and more powerful in standard tune, but some say requires more attention. From personal experience, I've utterly abused them in race cars with minimal maintenance with no problems

Personally I wouldn't have a problem buying a new K-Series car HOWEVER it might be worth less than a Sigma in the long run.

Also, I believe the CDX comes with Avon CR322 tyres. Unless you intend to arse about on a skid pan then I'd dispense with them

[darth_pies]

CDX is a good spec and good value for a new Caterham.

The 1.6 K is still a great engine, particularly in rev-tastic supersport tune.... and inherently more powerful than the 1.6 Sigma.

It is true that it might be worth a bit less like for like than a new Sigma car in years to come because its the 'old' engine...but that's why they're offering a good deal in the first place!

[MarchHare]

If you are in any doubt how good this car is read the review (Anatomy of a Drivers Car) on Drivers Republic.

http://www.drivers-republic.com/features/?page=2&a...

[bushhpd]

Is there anything specific that makes this better than an equivalently specced Roadsport Sigma (either the 125 or 150)?


From what I can work out the Sigma would cost about £2k - £3.5k more depending on whether it was 125 or 150bhp, but is a much newer engine and will hold its value better - Is it worth paying the extra?

Thanks!

[OJ]

Slippy diff's probably worth a bit more in there too

I think its whether you intend to keep it long or not... I personally can't see the K-Series dropping far below the Sigma, so it looks like unusually decent value from Caterham

[MarchHare]

I should declare an interest here as I am taking delivery of a CDX kit next week! My reasons for choosing it are as follows;
- It cheaper than the Sigma, a CDX kit costs £17,495, just £500 more than the base Sigma engined Roadsport kit. However the CDX comes with black paint, black pack, limited slip dif.,leather seats, track day roll bar, battery master switch and 4 point harness. That lot would cost £2,750 so a saving of £2,250 over the Sigma engine.
- The K series is more powerful than the Sigma (135 bhp vs 125 bhp)
- Having raced a K series Caterham for three years (albeit a less powerful, non-supersport 120 bhp car) I think the engine characteristics are very well suited to the Caterham and I had over 5,000 trouble free track miles.
- I prefer the exhaust system to be on the passenger side. This is both for weight distribution and comfort as heat sink from the exhaust can make the footwell rather warm.
- Aftermarket tuning of the k series is well established if you want to go down that route (although, personally I think 135 BHP is fine, there are few cars quicker than even a low powered well driven Caterham on a track day.
- If you can stretch to a few more extras that £2,000 saving can be used for further upgrades, I went for lowered floors, QR steering wheel, anti-cavitation tank, heater, CR 500 tyres, wide track suspension, rear ARB, watts link, uprated master cylinder, quick rack and stack/carbon dash, all of which took the price to a smidge over £20,000 or about the same as a factory built basic, unpainted Sigma Roadsport.

Edited by MarchHare on Friday 7th November 14:38