noob questions
Discussion
jbtco said:
I am also thinking of a Caterham. I am just passed my 60th birthday and pretty much retired. I am rethinking my car usage. I live in the Scottish Islands so can't readily pop doen to a Caterham. Have booked a one day hire in Yorkshire in early October if the weather isn't too bad and as will be as far South as Hampshire will visit one of the Caterham outlets at some point in our travels.
I have been trying to get as much info as I can online in the meantime.
As I am getting on a bit and am no great mechanic I would probably be too old to drive the thing before I finished building it so will probably opt to buy a bult car either new or used.
Don't let the age thing worry you; there are plenty of club members (much!) older than you. And a few owners in the islands too. I'd highly recommend joining the Lotus Seven Club too, http://www.lotussevenclub.comI have been trying to get as much info as I can online in the meantime.
As I am getting on a bit and am no great mechanic I would probably be too old to drive the thing before I finished building it so will probably opt to buy a bult car either new or used.
Alan
Fergus,
Thank you very much for your detailed replies. Lots to think about. A lot more to Caterham buying than deciding which colour you want.
One further question. Is the lowered floor option for space or has it more to do with lowering the centre of gravity.
Are there problems with speed bumps ? - sorry that is 2 questions.
Thank you very much for your detailed replies. Lots to think about. A lot more to Caterham buying than deciding which colour you want.
One further question. Is the lowered floor option for space or has it more to do with lowering the centre of gravity.
Are there problems with speed bumps ? - sorry that is 2 questions.
jbtco said:
Is the lowered floor option for space or has it more to do with lowering the centre of gravity.
Are there problems with speed bumps ?
The lowered floor option, drops the floor 50mm. As well as providing more space, it will also naturally lower the CofG, although the roll centres won't be massively affected.Are there problems with speed bumps ?
In terms of speedhumps, this partially depends on what type of sump you're engine is running and how high your ride height is. I run a dry sump and with a rear height of 135mm and a front height of 120mm, I only have circa 65mm clearance under my sump. I've fitted a large home made 4mm thick ally sump guard which is sacrificial. I've had to replace a sump pan before due to excessive wear. The sound of it scraping still makes me wince, even though I know it's doing it's job. Going round the Karussel at the 'Ring is interesting!
Ok, been down to Caterham Cars today.
That was a bit of an eye opener for starters. Paint brushes are obviously in short supply in Surrey.
Was quite surprised how tatty the overall condition of the place is TBH.
Anyway, I had a quite long and detailed chat with one of the Sales guys, and got to sit in a variety of different chassis/seat arrangements.
The overall upshot of it all is that the correct car for me is an SV with leather seats and a lowered floor.A days hire with a car of this spec would be the next step.
This, however, presents a much bigger problem.Namely, price.
When I first started to look at Caterhams, I set my budget at a max of around £12k. This is now blown apart, as theres is no way (that I can see)of getting into an SV for less than around £18-19k.In reality, this nearly puts Cats out of my reach.
So, Im not sure if today has been of any real help or not.On the one hand, Im still very keen to own one, but on the other, the only variant that will fit my use is almost to dear.
Coming home in the car, my mind strayed to Westys, but if Im honest, I dont think I could drop more than around £8500 on a Westy,not the bigger figures others do.
And if Im dropping nearly £20k, then that surely opens up a whole new ball game.
So, once again, Im confused, and ashamedly skint, of Tring.
That was a bit of an eye opener for starters. Paint brushes are obviously in short supply in Surrey.
Was quite surprised how tatty the overall condition of the place is TBH.
Anyway, I had a quite long and detailed chat with one of the Sales guys, and got to sit in a variety of different chassis/seat arrangements.
The overall upshot of it all is that the correct car for me is an SV with leather seats and a lowered floor.A days hire with a car of this spec would be the next step.
This, however, presents a much bigger problem.Namely, price.
When I first started to look at Caterhams, I set my budget at a max of around £12k. This is now blown apart, as theres is no way (that I can see)of getting into an SV for less than around £18-19k.In reality, this nearly puts Cats out of my reach.
So, Im not sure if today has been of any real help or not.On the one hand, Im still very keen to own one, but on the other, the only variant that will fit my use is almost to dear.
Coming home in the car, my mind strayed to Westys, but if Im honest, I dont think I could drop more than around £8500 on a Westy,not the bigger figures others do.
And if Im dropping nearly £20k, then that surely opens up a whole new ball game.
So, once again, Im confused, and ashamedly skint, of Tring.
Furyous said:
This, however, presents a much bigger problem.Namely, price.
When I first started to look at Caterhams, I set my budget at a max of around £12k. This is now blown apart, as theres is no way (that I can see)of getting into an SV for less than around £18-19k.In reality, this nearly puts Cats out of my reach.
Furyous, YHM!When I first started to look at Caterhams, I set my budget at a max of around £12k. This is now blown apart, as theres is no way (that I can see)of getting into an SV for less than around £18-19k.In reality, this nearly puts Cats out of my reach.
Jonny
BaT
Furyous,
Sounds like you are going through exactly the same quandries as myself. I started looking at Westfields a while back, but didn't take the plunge. For a little more I could get an S1 Elise, different style of car I know, but no garage at the time and safety concerns put this more in the picture.
Lots of dithering later, we now have a house with a garage and the budget has crept up slightly. I visited Caterham in the Midlands with a friend, spending a good half a day talking to the guys there, being driven in one of the cars and finally having a go ourselves. That was that, Lotus out the window, Caterham's appeared better built (to me) than the Westfields I'd seen, so current thoughts focussed on them.
Strangely, my car of choice will be an SV, with leather seats, with lowered floor pan, sound familiar?
Seeing the price these go for though, as you say 18-19k seems the general ballpark, it's a way on from 8-10k I was originally planning, albeit a few years back. 18-19k will get a lot of different cars, but not the fun factor. I understand the return on the Caterham will be higher, but my mate and I struggle to see where the money goes. If I specced up an ideal new car, I'd be looking at 30k on what we think is a relatively simple car.
I'm constantly on the classifieds looking for a good deal, but SVs seem few and far between, damn my genes for making me this tall! Hopefully you'll get sorted within your budget, and hopefully I will. I'm not sure how seasonally affected Cat. prices get, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that something pops up at the right price soon!
Best of luck finding the car,
Steve
Sounds like you are going through exactly the same quandries as myself. I started looking at Westfields a while back, but didn't take the plunge. For a little more I could get an S1 Elise, different style of car I know, but no garage at the time and safety concerns put this more in the picture.
Lots of dithering later, we now have a house with a garage and the budget has crept up slightly. I visited Caterham in the Midlands with a friend, spending a good half a day talking to the guys there, being driven in one of the cars and finally having a go ourselves. That was that, Lotus out the window, Caterham's appeared better built (to me) than the Westfields I'd seen, so current thoughts focussed on them.
Strangely, my car of choice will be an SV, with leather seats, with lowered floor pan, sound familiar?
Seeing the price these go for though, as you say 18-19k seems the general ballpark, it's a way on from 8-10k I was originally planning, albeit a few years back. 18-19k will get a lot of different cars, but not the fun factor. I understand the return on the Caterham will be higher, but my mate and I struggle to see where the money goes. If I specced up an ideal new car, I'd be looking at 30k on what we think is a relatively simple car.I'm constantly on the classifieds looking for a good deal, but SVs seem few and far between, damn my genes for making me this tall! Hopefully you'll get sorted within your budget, and hopefully I will. I'm not sure how seasonally affected Cat. prices get, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed that something pops up at the right price soon!
Best of luck finding the car,
Steve
jleroux said:
Furyous said:
This, however, presents a much bigger problem.Namely, price.
When I first started to look at Caterhams, I set my budget at a max of around £12k. This is now blown apart, as theres is no way (that I can see)of getting into an SV for less than around £18-19k.In reality, this nearly puts Cats out of my reach.
Furyous, YHM!When I first started to look at Caterhams, I set my budget at a max of around £12k. This is now blown apart, as theres is no way (that I can see)of getting into an SV for less than around £18-19k.In reality, this nearly puts Cats out of my reach.
Jonny
BaT
Just to update this really...
Had my days hire of an SV175 with lowered floor last Thursday.
Had a very enjoyable drive down to Brighton and back in the last of the summer sun.
Upshot is, Ive sold myself on the idea of the car, and in an ideal world, Id try and buy the car I drove. But I cant really stretch to the £23k or so that would demand.
So, Caterham people, talk to me about self build using the starter kit route...
Im aware of not going for a Q plate, so as I understand things, Im only allowed one recon item - surely the engine assembly ?
Is it possible - just - to build a nice 5 speed torquey (1.8k or 2.0 Dtech) for around £15 ?
Had my days hire of an SV175 with lowered floor last Thursday.
Had a very enjoyable drive down to Brighton and back in the last of the summer sun.
Upshot is, Ive sold myself on the idea of the car, and in an ideal world, Id try and buy the car I drove. But I cant really stretch to the £23k or so that would demand.
So, Caterham people, talk to me about self build using the starter kit route...
Im aware of not going for a Q plate, so as I understand things, Im only allowed one recon item - surely the engine assembly ?
Is it possible - just - to build a nice 5 speed torquey (1.8k or 2.0 Dtech) for around £15 ?
Hi Mark
Reply to your email and all IMO, after building a 210bhp duratec Caterham with similar spec to an R400 from a starter kit.
You can save a fair amount of money just buying the engine, gearbox, LSD, ECU etc.. from non Caterham sources. The rest can be bought from Caterham in package lots they work out as quite good value. I think the other point here is you can spec some nice items from new that a lot of people replace / upgrade over the years.
Getting a new reg I found to be very easy without a certificate of newness from Caterham but I did buy 100% new parts. From my experience of the young girl from the DVLA who inspected and issued the reg I think I could of handed over a washing machine receipt and still got a new reg there only concern was the mileage on the clock and colour!
The starter route was right for me as I was looking for the best spec (subject to budget) new Caterham that I could build and was sure I wanted a 2.0l Duratec, something that I could never have been able to afford in the R300/R400 kits complete from Caterham.
It all came down to owning an offical sigma 150 or home brew R400ish duratec and after 6000 miles and 2 trips to the ring and Davos 'm very happy with the choice.
If I was looking for value for money as others have said Used Cars are best option.
Andrew
Reply to your email and all IMO, after building a 210bhp duratec Caterham with similar spec to an R400 from a starter kit.
atom-ick said:
1. Starter Kit - the bare minimum - buying chassis, component and so on as you need them, possibly using bits you already have from other cars (engine etc). Pros: you can spread the cost. Cons: As Caterham point out, they don't hold their value and often are registered on a "q" plate if old parts have been used. I am sure i've read this route actually work out more expensive too. Usually a long term project.
Caterham will always point out the value bit as they are trying to sell you a car and all the bits! They will just forget to mention that it will cost less in the first place. The bottom line here is it will cost you less to build if you buy parts from 3rd party's so common sense tells you it will be worth less. Edited by atom-ick on Friday 14th August 12:05
You can save a fair amount of money just buying the engine, gearbox, LSD, ECU etc.. from non Caterham sources. The rest can be bought from Caterham in package lots they work out as quite good value. I think the other point here is you can spec some nice items from new that a lot of people replace / upgrade over the years.
Getting a new reg I found to be very easy without a certificate of newness from Caterham but I did buy 100% new parts. From my experience of the young girl from the DVLA who inspected and issued the reg I think I could of handed over a washing machine receipt and still got a new reg there only concern was the mileage on the clock and colour!
The starter route was right for me as I was looking for the best spec (subject to budget) new Caterham that I could build and was sure I wanted a 2.0l Duratec, something that I could never have been able to afford in the R300/R400 kits complete from Caterham.
It all came down to owning an offical sigma 150 or home brew R400ish duratec and after 6000 miles and 2 trips to the ring and Davos 'm very happy with the choice.
If I was looking for value for money as others have said Used Cars are best option.
Andrew
i've been in touch with a few of you about the ex-rental BaT Cats that we're selling off. the first has just gone on eBaY if anyone's interested:-
Clicketh thee here
Jonny
BaT
Clicketh thee here
Jonny
BaT
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