RE: Inside story: the Alpine-Caterham

[rajkohli81]

Can you start a paragraph with 'Which could imply'?

[odyssey2200]

rajkohli81 said:

Can you start a paragraph with 'Which could imply'?

probably not, not if you don't want to fall foul of the PH grammar Nazis.
but I woun't hold it against you so , go on, if you like.

Edited by odyssey2200 on Tuesday 5th February 15:49

[rajkohli81]

odyssey2200 said:

rajkohli81 said:

Can you start a paragraph with 'Which could imply'?

probably not, not if you don't want to fall foul of the PH grammar Naxis.
but I woun't hold it against you so , go on, if you like.

It was rhetorical.

I just find DT's articles poorly written in general and lacking flow.

[odyssey2200]

rajkohli81 said:

It was rhetorical.

I just find DT's articles poorly written in general and lacking flow.

DT??

[Dan Trent]

[odyssey2200]

Dan Trent said:

DOH!!!

my bad.

[trig9k]

Sounds a lot like a Lotus M100 Elan ......small 2 seat, 1.6 turbo with 200hp
Infact why not buy the old moulds for the M100 and re-make it rwd with the Evora floor pan

[RTH]

The fact that it is the cheapest Lotus, money can buy tells you it was not a popular concept - so best not.
Just six and a bit will buy you one today

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/l...

[trig9k]

RTH said:

The fact that it is the cheapest Lotus, money can buy tells you it was not a popular concept - so best not.
Just six and a bit will buy you one today

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/l...

The one you have linked is well over priced for a N/A should be 3-4k , there cheaper than most Lotus because there are so many good one's out there,,they are a bargain under rated car

[chickensoup]

Any news at all on the chassis - tubes / ali / composites?
Other than the fact it will have a renault engine and wont look like the concept (and will cost more than £30K) did I miss anything

[stephendell]

dan trent said:

The 30K comment was pretty interesting. It's affordable without being to much of a stretch.

I thought they said 40,000 euro which yes at current rates is £34,000 and cheaper than a Cayman in the UK at least which starts at £40,000.

Can't see the list price for a Cayman in France at the moment though. Website is strangely POA.

Sadly historically any performance Renault that ends up in the UK normally ends up with an 'exchange rate' much closer to 1:1 rather than market rate.

[Kolbenkopp]

stephendell said:

Can't see the list price for a Cayman in France at the moment though. Website is strangely POA.

Cayman starts at 52.527,00 € in France. Really hope they get the price for the Alpine near 30k. I wouldn't mind lots of off the shelf parts in it as long as it drives right. I'm also in the "pick 2" camp. Noway this will be like the specs and at that price. Bit more realistic than the 4C, but still...

[BuzzLightyear]

I've liked the look of this concept right from the start and I'll be optimistic and say that they will pull it off - give or take a few £s and lbs - and we'll get a cracking new sportscar which will fill a niche from which most of us would like to buy.

I have registered my interest with Caterham.

[spameister]

J-P said:

And in the case of the Toyobaru - it's simply too slow for me for the money,

fixed

[auyt]

Great article Keep the info comming the concept is one to watch but...

"£30K, weigh around 1,000kg, use a version of the new Clio 200’s 1.6-litre turbo engine with 200hp-plus and be pitched as both purist and usable."

YAWN..........

Try
"£30K, weigh sub 1,000kg, use a version of Quad Cam V6 engine with 250hp-plus and be pitched as both purist and usable." gets my attention.

[Glade]

Surely this can not be cheaper than an Atom or XBow and unlikely to perform as well.

Sadly I think we'll all be dissapointed - again.

[ewenm]

Glade said:

Surely this can not be cheaper than an Atom or XBow and unlikely to perform as well.

Sadly I think we'll all be dissapointed - again.

They're planning much bigger volumes than Atom/X-Bow and presumably making use of Renault's buying power.

From Caterham's point of view, they've already got a car that performs like the Atom or X-Bow in the 7, so this car needs to be more grown-up to sell bigger volumes and to differentiate from the 7.

[Glade]

ewenm said:

Glade said:

Surely this can not be cheaper than an Atom or XBow and unlikely to perform as well.

Sadly I think we'll all be dissapointed - again.

They're planning much bigger volumes than Atom/X-Bow and presumably making use of Renault's buying power.

From Caterham's point of view, they've already got a car that performs like the Atom or X-Bow in the 7, so this car needs to be more grown-up to sell bigger volumes and to differentiate from the 7.

Unfortunelty I can't see how they will get the Volume though...

The data linked below is presumably UK sales, which I understand are a large % of the Renaultsport market... so total renaultsport sales are maybe 3x, 4x this.
Those sales were over many years and production was only made viable because the cars are based on shopping trolleys.
The bulk of the Renaultsport sales are the Clio - cheaper end of the Renaultsport range, with a bigger engine, better suspension and some nice wheels and seats.

Perhaps the market is different for this type of car, but Renaultsport buyers are small proportion of the population.
The number of people wanting a more niche, expensive Alpine must be even less.
The number of people who buy Caterhams who might "upgrade" less again.

http://www.renaultsport.co.uk/roadcars/heritage/De...

197 f1 - 500 cars
Megane 255 F1 Team - 149 cars
255 trophy - 159
255 cup - 99
255 - 1320
Clio V6 - 610
Clio Trophy - 500
Clio 182 cup - 539
Clio 182 - 5222 - now we're talking....
172 cup - 2392
172 - 4416

[griffdude]

Janosh said:

How about the Ginetta G40?

Perhaps a little more track focused, but surely made with the same ethos?

+1

Rev hungry engine & proper gaerbox too.

[J-P]

spameister said:

J-P said:

And in the case of the Toyobaru - it's simply too slow for me for the money,

fixed

Performance per £ is poor. I know it's about driving and handling and there's a lot of fun to be had keeping the momentum up but a 0-62MPH time of 7.6s was fast in the 80's and 90's and is pretty pedestrian today, especially for a sportscar. A BMW 320d is quicker! And you won't have to work as hard to access its performance (which could be a bad thing when you're in the mood but for normal road drives is likely yo be a pain). On a track day, nearly everything would overtake you on the straights too, which is really frustrating if you're much faster in the corners. Lovely cars but need more power!