Exige or Caterham R500 Advice Please

[Audio Addict]

Dear All I’m looking for some advice from people in the know

I’ve been looking at buying a car to do 5 or 6 track days a year and some weekend blasts, I’ve narrowed it down to either a supercharged Lotus Exige S2 or a Caterham R500. My budget is £30-£35k.
Quite a few years back I had the Naturally Aspirated S2 Exige and loved it, I sold it just as the supercharged version came out and moved onto Mitsubishi Evos. I’ve never driven a Caterham so I don’t know what they are like other than people talking about them and videos on youtube but I’m going to book in for a test drive in the next couple of weeks.

A couple of things I was thinking with the Caterham is the weather protection, the weather in the UK is unpredictable and quite often crappy so is the canvas hood any good at keeping the weather out at speed and is it a serious handful in the wet. Also I’ve seen an R500 for sale with the sequential box and wondered what that’s like on the road.

Interested to hear from people who have owned both vehicles and used them for road and track.

Any help would gratefully be received.

Thanks

[Audio Addict]

Dear All I’m looking for some advice from people in the know

I’ve been looking at buying a car to do 5 or 6 track days a year and some weekend blasts, I’ve narrowed it down to either a supercharged Lotus Exige S2 or a Caterham R500. My budget is £30-£35k.
Quite a few years back I had the Naturally Aspirated S2 Exige and loved it, I sold it just as the supercharged version came out and moved onto Mitsubishi Evos. I’ve never driven a Caterham so I don’t know what they are like other than people talking about them and videos on youtube but I’m going to book in for a test drive in the next couple of weeks.

A couple of things I was thinking with the Caterham is the weather protection, the weather in the UK is unpredictable and quite often crappy so is the canvas hood any good at keeping the weather out at speed and is it a serious handful in the wet. Also I’ve seen an R500 for sale with the sequential box and wondered what that’s like on the road.

Interested to hear from people who have owned both vehicles and used them for road and track.

Any help would gratefully be received.

Thanks

[Audio Addict]

Thanks for all the responses it's interesting to hear everyone's views, I agree they are very different cars and difficult to compare which is why I'm having a dilemma lol.

I do like the v6 exige but all the ones I've seen are 45k+ so out of my price range and I don't want finance. Also I probably wouldn't want to track it at that value, I sold my R35 GTR for that reason (plus the silly cost of tyres).

I'm going to try out this white exige with a few upgrades and 247bhp at the wheels http://www.snowsgroup.co.uk/lotus/used-cars/441628...

I'm also going to enquire about this Caterham http://uk.caterhamcars.com/pre-owned/1565-superlig... , there's also an R400 which looks interesting. This one has the sequential box http://uk.caterhamcars.com/pre-owned/1651-superlig...

[Audio Addict]

gashead1105 said:

Indeed. If the OP does go to a main dealer to test an exige he needs to avoid going out in the V6 demonstrator because he will be smitten and then man maths will come into play. I've got 3 years warranty and servicing on mine and I actually think it's a much better and more usable car if you are only planning for 5/6 trackdays a year than an S2. My S2 by the time I finished modifying it was a great track car but nowhere near as usable as my V6 is now!

Dont worry I won't fall into that trap again, I had my Evo 9 FQ360MR for 5 years tuned it to 560bhp and one xmas decided to go out and have a test drive in an R35 GTR. My wife was saying here we go again.......I was like no i just want to try one out of interest......a month later i bought one lol.

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I can see whats going to happen I'll try both cars and I'll be blinded by the performance of the Caterham and all thoughts of practicality will go out of the window

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Alex L said:

Thanks to this thread you've got me thinking about the R500 again, have only had the 2-11 for 6 months!

Just so we are clear...I can't be held accountable for you changing your car

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Impasse said:

It's worth mentioning the Zenos E10 in this thread, if only to bring to your consideration. They have a service agent in Petersfield, only a short hop across country from the white Exige at Snows.

That's interesting, Petersfield is 15mins down the road from me......are they any good?

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Bebee said:

That's exactly what happened to me, I have worked out the man maths but have SWMBO to deal with yet.

Dealerships should offer help and advice on getting round the other half, perhaps a 'how to' booklet.

Yeah I think dealerships are missing a trick with that, they might get a few more sales if they offered other half persuasion techniques

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Kiltie said:

That's a good point.

Possibly the only thing I find an inconvenience is not being able to drive in shoes.

I probably look a bit odd arriving in the office wearing an M&S suit and OMP bootees.

My noble was like that the clutch and brake pedals were really close so you couldn't wear shoes, I ended up buying some racing boots

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Viperzs said:

Depending on your size you might struggle with a Caterham. They are VERY tight for personal space but also with the pedal box.

I have a 240S Exige and a friend of mine has a Caterham. Following him you can see the back end skipping about round corners all the time, they're a lot more hands on.

The exige grips better out of corners and is a lot easier to jump in and drive whenever you like, unlike the Caterham.

I'm 5'10" and 12 stone so I should fit ok looking at some of the people that fit in them.
The exige is a more practical choice having a proper roof and a boot. I'm looking forward to trying out both cars........just need to sell my car first to fund the move

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I went to Caterham South last Friday and had a look around, the salesman Justin really looked after me which is quite refreshing. I've dealt with some proper idiots in garages before and had to walk away.
He had me sitting in different cars to see which chassis felt right and I settled on a series 3 with lowered floors.

I tried out an R400 with a 6 speed box which I thought was amazing to drive, I loved how responsive it was and being able to feel everything the car was doing being sat over the rear axle.

Next I had a go in an R500 with a sequential box, to be honest I think I would get annoyed with the sequential box on the road and it's bloody noisy lol. My god when you hammer it it's like going into warp speed and the induction noise is mental. The guy said it would need a rear exit exhaust and and an adaption for the air filter to quieten it down to get through drive by noise restrictions on a track.

If I go for one it would be a second hand R400 or a brand new 420R with a six speed box, I think it would be a good balance for road and track.

I just need to go and try the Exige I've got my eye on to see which one I prefer

[Audio Addict]

RobM77 said:

Sounds good Yes, you'll find salesmen in this sector of the market far more receptive, enthusiastic and good at knowing who's serious and who isn't.

In my mind, the R400 and 500 are like being in the front row of a rock concert and the Exige is like listening at home on a really nice hi-fi. In other words, the Exige is far more subtle and detailed with its feedback, whereas the 7 is the more full on singular experience. I love both, they're just different. Safety is one big difference of course, the Exige is a very safe car, and the Caterham less so.

Ha ha I love that analogy