Caterham as an only car?

[KM2]

I am about to start looking for a new car in about a month's time. The requirements will primarily be that it's fun to drive, as I do very limited mileage these days and mostly on weekends.

A caterham would get aproval from my significant other but it would need to pass on some criteria. There are two main ones - namely the dog needs to fit in the passenger footwell and there needs to be a chance of a reasonable weather protection, if so required.

The dog is small, a foxterrier but after having sat in a Morgan Aero 8 two days ago, where it would make it but only just, I am wondering if even a CSR or widebody 7 would have the same amount of footwell space?

On the second point, the car, while primarily a toy, will need to fulfill some transport needs occasionally, by which I mean getting us to the shops, not getting flatpacks from IKEA. And given the general weather situation here, the question is how long it takes to fit the roof and how practical is it? I've seen a CSR with a hardtop fitted but is that a feasible option in winter? Anyone who uses a Caterham as an only car, all around the year?

Finally, which one is the one to go for? Given my current 240hp saloon car any Caterham is likely to provide a quantum leap in performance. The CSRs I kind of like. I have not seen any advertised used, so I suppose the new route is the only option? In terms of running costs, what does one need to budget?

Any help would be appreciated

As a btw. the considered alternatives at the moment are an Exige S2, Noble GTO-3(R), NSX, Corvette Z-06.

Edited by KM2 on Wednesday 18th June 13:59

[ewenm]

Caterhams are feasible as an only car - I used mine as such for 5 years @ 10k miles a year.

Footwell size - not huge but not being up on dogs, I don't know how much you need. I'd recommend you go to your local Lotus 7 Club meet listed here www.lotussevenclub.com with the dog and someone will be happy to let you see there's enough space.

Roof - it takes me about 1 minute to put the roof up (others claim much longer). Once up it's snug and noisy but mostly watertight. The rear window rolls down for extra ventilation. I've driven mine in torrential rain and heavy snow without getting wet although the wipers leave something to be desired. A heated screen is very useful too.

Hardtops - a great idea but not sure there's an offical one out there, only homemade efforts.

Model - up to you really based on your budget and requirements. Bear in mind that even the lower-power versions will feel very quick as the car is so light. My original 115bhp (now 160) one could still outperform most cars on the road. There is a school of thought that you can have too much power in a 7, others say you can't

Again, get along to a local meet and have a sit/ride in a few different models. Lots should turn up now its the summer.

[KM2]

Thanks a lot - that was really useful. As soon as my current time sink - that is the PhD is finished I shall have a look. Do you just turn up for a meet? Or is some sort of pre-registration essential?

Anyway, will try and go try one out and see whether it works or not. As for busget, it does not fully depend on me, so I am not sure yet. It is likely to be anywhere between 25 and 45k but I'd like to keep some of it as a reserve for maintenance.

What are regular service intervals and what do you recon annual running costs at 10k miles a year would be?

Thanks!

[ewenm]

For the meets, just turn up and chat to people - they usually held on a weekday evening at a pub.

With that budget range you can get just about any 7 you like, so definitely try a few out (Caterham themselves do a day/weekend hire scheme).

Servicing - on my standard k-series car, it's about every 6000miles or so and varies between £200 and £500 (IIRC, do most of it myself now) depending whether it was an A, B or C service. Again Caterham will be able to give you an idea of their standard service costs but there are independents out there too.

[KM2]

Thanks, that sounds reasonable

Is the resale value affected by whether it is a Caterham dealer or independent specialist serviced one? And generally, I suppose depreciation is fairly low, right?

[ewenm]

KM2 said:

Thanks, that sounds reasonable

Is the resale value affected by whether it is a Caterham dealer or independent specialist serviced one? And generally, I suppose depreciation is fairly low, right?

Not sure about the resale value wrt servicing. I know Caterham will only buy-back (part exchange) a car if all upgrades have been done by them, but I don't know if that includes servicing.

Depreciation is low as long as you aren't doing mega miles - private sales are usually based on condition but this deteriorates with very high mileages.

One thing a number of people do is buy a 7 of roughly the right spec, use that to get an accurate wishlist of what they really want, then sell it and buy their ideal one.