Cost of a self build

[Nige W]

Hi there guys

As a present Lotus Exige owner I have to admit that I know very little about the Ultima GTR other than the fact that it looks amazing and they go well but whats the cost of building one myslf and do Ultima supply all of the bits?

Would be great to hear about any track days and gatherings that you guys hold as a GTR may be a good progression from the Exige as no doubt its a lot quicker and not so limited by lack of top end

cheers Nige

[Wacky racer]

Give Ted Marlow a ring at the factory for all the info, also Nigel(detail) Dean covered the build in fairly good depth a couple of years ago in Peter Filby's "Which kit??", before he moved over to Den Tanner's "Kit car"....

[GTWayne]

Hello Nige,
A pal of mine reckons he can build a car for £25K and I know of at least two other builders that have spent in excess of £100K, so there you have it, but an average seems to be between £45/£55K.
Everything that you need can be bought from the factory but there are huge savings to be made by shopping around and waiting for stuff to come your way.
Depends if you want immediate results or are looking at it as a long term project. If you would like to build your own car first and foremost then I would say buy a kit but if it is just an Ultima that you want to own/drive, buy pre built, you will save a lot of money and have an instant result.


Edit: There are no actual Ultima only track days so to speak but I for one am keen to get something organised.

Edited by GTWayne on Thursday 11th January 13:40

[v8owner]

Nigel Youve got no chance.. no way you could afford it..

As project lead it will be over budget, late, and the piping will be cr@p..!!

from the friendly piping team...

(if you want any info give me a call...)

Edited by v8owner on Thursday 11th January 14:19

Edited by v8owner on Thursday 11th January 14:22

[Emma B]

My Dad says he know you and you have a habit of being late or not turning up at all, but apart from that you are a very nice man and he sends his regards. Finally seen the light with the Lotus then.

[andygtt]

Ask Chris (STIG) as he had an exige before the Ultima.

[tuxman]

Hi Nige, have chased a couple of lotuses at some track days and round the twisty stuff they are pretty well matched but get to a good straight and well ..........buy buy!!!! .build cost will be 40+ if you go factory route, Can-am's are more expensive to build than GTR .

[GTWayne]

tuxman said:

Can-am's are more expensive to build than GTR .

Hello Simon,
Just curious to know, why does a Can Am cost more to build?

[stig]

andygtt said:

Ask Chris (STIG) as he had an exige before the Ultima.

Not me guv'nor - never had one?

Have blown a few away on track though

Edited by stig on Thursday 11th January 20:44

[stig]

GTWayne said:

tuxman said:

Can-am's are more expensive to build than GTR .

Hello Simon,
Just curious to know, why does a Can Am cost more to build?

Roof, 2 windscreens, 2 sets of sidescreens for starters....

Edited by stig on Thursday 11th January 20:45

[Pilot Pete]

[redacted]

[andygtt]

stig said:

andygtt said:

Ask Chris (STIG) as he had an exige before the Ultima.

Not me guv'nor - never had one?

Have blown a few away on track though

Edited by stig on Thursday 11th January 20:44

I thought you had an exige before the Ultimas.... sign of old age me mind going... got knows how bad it will be when I get to 40!

[vipernick]

I have been fortunate to have owned Lotus's in the past from 340r / elise / elan /esprit. Progressed to an Ultima GRT now Can Am. The Ultima has the same feel / handling as the Lotus ie very quick and direct neutral steering and handling amazing grip except the Ultima has Horse Power!

The Horse Power gives the Ultima another dimension!

[stig]

vipernick said:

I have been fortunate to have owned Lotus's in the past from 340r / elise / elan /esprit. Progressed to an Ultima GRT now Can Am. The Ultima has the same feel / handling as the Lotus ie very quick and direct neutral steering and handling amazing grip except the Ultima has Horse Power!

The Horse Power gives the Ultima another dimension!

You're fortunate to have a very fine example of the marque too Nick

[kell 88]

You could always have one built and tailor it to your own spec from the guys at AutoBionics

[tuxman]

Hi Wayne sorry mate don,t know extactly why but when we did the sums some time ago there was a difference for some reason at the time i thought the can-am would be cheeper as it has no roof !!!!

[xmind2006]

For an average cost (of ~50 Ultima owners):
www.markkoch.net/ultima/faq.asp#cost

($94316.58)

Edited by xmind2006 on Sunday 14th January 02:47

[eliot]

Here's a spreadsheet that someone posted several years ago (hence the prices are a bit out of date) - you can play around with switching options on and off - I found £45k was the lowest i could do it - by selecting a cheaper engine which i would upgrade later (as thats easier than skimping on other parts - that would detract on the overal value of the car). From what ive learned about turbocharging - i now know i would take that route rather than a highly strung engine - that way I get good around town manners and performance when i want it (and i would use an LS1).

http://homepages.nildram.co.uk/~eliot

[stainless_steve]

Stage 1 to 17 cost £15,711 +vat
GTR accessories,i'm guessing you need most of them,AC,rear wing ect £12,000.+vat
Do most people go for the uprated brakes and shockers if so add another £3,000.+vat
Then you need a gearbox+ adapter £?
Engine,LS7 crate £?
Plus injection,sump,engine mounts to fit it in the GTR ect £?
exhaust £2k ish
Plus loads more things i've forgot £ ?

Anyone fill in the blanks for me,if i can build a GTR with LS6/7 around 500/550 bhp for around £55k i'm interested
Way its looking its costing around £70k
I know some of you say you can buy somethings from other companies instead of the factory,but i cant see it saving £20k


Steve

[GTWayne]

Not possible to know for sure but I am willing to bet that 9 out of 10 builders go over budget (I know that I did) and to save a substantial amount like 20K on a would-be 70K project although not impossible, would not be easy, and will take a fair bit of time and patience. I speak from experience as the aforementioned figure is close to the amount that I have saved but my build still ended up into treble figures and took five years.