RE: Caterham Seven 160: Review

[Kolbenkopp]

TinyCappo said:

Decatted they sound so much better too. like a little bike

Waiting for a longer video (hint, hint ) to judge that, but agreed sounds a bit subdued from the short clip here.

[Kolbenkopp]

Speaking of which, just found another (very) short clip from a French mag: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53xK4BXEzcg .

[Lowtimer]

Sounds quite pleasant.

[Kolbenkopp]

Yup, agreed! Just found a short review with (not so nice) audio, engine sounds nice on that clip though: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUfcIJz3FU4
The guy also really seems to love it .

BTW, could not figure out why the Frenchies are all over the 165 -- until I saw what silly amount of "eco" tax they have to pay for even a 140 bhp sigma engined car...

[TinyCappo]

Kolbenkopp said:

TinyCappo said:

Decatted they sound so much better too. like a little bike

Waiting for a longer video (hint, hint ) to judge that, but agreed sounds a bit subdued from the short clip here.

This is similar in power and mods to the 165 just needs the exhaust decatting a VTA-BOV and a decent induction system to sound almost identical to this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Q8dXQs_bnk

[Kolbenkopp]

TinyCappo said:

This is similar in power and mods to the 165 just needs the exhaust decatting a VTA-BOV and a decent induction system to sound almost identical to this.

Holy Maiden of Forced Induction, I get your point. Very nice! Perhaps with less BOV noise for me, but then I'm an old fart (no pun .... ).

[bertie]

Kolbenkopp said:

TinyCappo said:

This is similar in power and mods to the 165 just needs the exhaust decatting a VTA-BOV and a decent induction system to sound almost identical to this.

Holy Maiden of Forced Induction, I get your point. Very nice! Perhaps with less BOV noise for me, but then I'm an old fart (no pun .... ).

Mind you this sounds nice too...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPabW9JVxgU

[StottyZr]

I wasn't sold until I saw the video, that looks like great fun.

I can imagine putting a passenger in and sliding around like that, they'd think I was mental and a driving god

[MarkRSi]

Sorry if this has already been asked, but what does Westfield or any other kit car company offer for £15k?

[mikesalt]

MarkRSi said:

Sorry if this has already been asked, but what does Westfield or any other kit car company offer for £15k?

Westfield Special Edition is £500 more, but usually can be ordered at the various kit-car shows with 15% off, which makes it £13174.15 if you take advantage of that offer. What you get seems to be another 70 BHP, but being from a Zetec engine, with a steel block, this would weigh quite a bit more than the little Suzuki engine. You also get alloy wheels and full independent suspension at the rear.

As for other kit car manufacturers that use all-new parts, I cannot think of any. I believe that even the gearbox in the Westfield kit is a rebuild, but the car can still be registered as new since the regulations permit one major part to be reconditioned.

Personally, I'll be going down the single donor vehicle route with something like a Roadrunner SR2 or MNR Vortx. Partly because I will relish the challenge of the build, but partly because Caterham are a bit rich for my blood at the moment. That's not to say they're not worth the money though since they've had years of development and polish.

Edited by mikesalt on Tuesday 29th October 14:57

[disco666]

I really wish I'd had a Caterham before getting into TVR's.
Mid 40's now, and with the roads getting busier I look to Jag's and AM's to give me the thrill when I grow out of TVR's.
Realistically I think I've missed the Caterham boat, which I regret a bit.

[dapearson]

Having raced a 100bhp caterham for a number of years, i can vouch that they're amazing fun.

An ex-race car can be had for half of that £15k price too...

[HustleRussell]

disco666 said:

I really wish I'd had a Caterham before getting into TVR's.
Mid 40's now, and with the roads getting busier I look to Jag's and AM's to give me the thrill when I grow out of TVR's.
Realistically I think I've missed the Caterham boat, which I regret a bit.

Why do you say that?

[teabagger]

Ive had a MNR with a R1 bike engine fitted (built by MNR and road registered for £14K) so I get the whole caterham thing.

I am struggling with this model though.

For anyone who is looking for a fully built fun car with a heater and a roof at this price, a MX5 2.0 sport tech has to be considered also.

Ive just had a look on the mazda site, they have possibly discontinued the cheaper soft top version. Even in coupe guise, with a rrp of £23K (minus any discounts available), you get a very capable car for every day of the week that can easily do a euro trip at the weekend.

I'll have the Supersport R though

Edited by teabagger on Tuesday 29th October 20:38

[Kolbenkopp]

Not sure an MX5, for (or rather because?) of all its merits really is a competitor here... By all conventional benchmarks better value certainly, but think how much more metal you could buy with ~ 20k, say in shape of a used Cayenne .

Some more driving impressions:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=belEPRoFQ_A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RbLvXXHXbcY

Still looks like a lot of fun IMO. Would really like to read / see more about it from PH though.

[braddo]

Looks excellent.

People seem to forget so easily that only the most recent and fastest hot hatches beat this car's quoted 0-60 of 6.5 secs. There is plenty of performance to enjoy from this car, especially on the skinny tyres.

It looks like B road manna.

[ajs178]

Kolbenkopp said:

And for what ever it's worth, here is what I'd end up with.

Base car in black, unpainted + lowered floors + carpets = € 20.530
+19% German VAT = € 24.431
Plus € 700 (guessed) delivery costs + an estimated € 1.500 in parts for the windscreen + weather gear.

So a total of € 26.631.

Hmhmhm. Bit more than I'd have hoped for. And the situation with the weather gear is a bit frustrating. Tempted still...

PS: anyone knows if Caterham offer pick up of new cars at the factory?

Nice work there obtaining the EU prices! Do we know what the Co2/km figure for the 165 is? This is crucial for Finland as we get a showroom tax on top of the list price based on the Co2 emissions.

I was thinking I would probably contact the factory directly and pick the car up from there. Ask them "offline" to install the full weather gear apart from the windscreen. Then take it through the registration with the aeroscreen on and afterwards it would be a simple case of unscrewing the aeroscreen and bolting on the windscreen as the rest of the weather gear would already have been installed at the factory. I would even ask them to make sure the holes for the windscreen installation are made on the bodywork so it would literally be an easy swap-job for the screens.

[ajs178]

Kolbenkopp said:

And for what ever it's worth, here is what I'd end up with.

Base car in black, unpainted + lowered floors + carpets = € 20.530
+19% German VAT = € 24.431
Plus € 700 (guessed) delivery costs + an estimated € 1.500 in parts for the windscreen + weather gear.

So a total of € 26.631.

Hmhmhm. Bit more than I'd have hoped for. And the situation with the weather gear is a bit frustrating. Tempted still...

PS: anyone knows if Caterham offer pick up of new cars at the factory?

My spec would be:

Spare wheel + carrier,
Carpeted interior,
Leather seats,
12V socket,
standard paint,
full weather gear

And this would be about €23,900 + VAT Finland = c. €30,000 + Finnish showroom tax (anyone's guess how much). I would imagine I'd be looking at around €35k toy here. Not sure if it is really feasible.

[Kolbenkopp]

ajs178 said:

Nice work there obtaining the EU prices!

Pleasure! CO2 score is 118 g/km, at least according to one German importer (PDF here: http://modix.de/vpdf/?format=65&chiffre=MDX-P5... ). Not bad at all considering the aero properties of the car and what seems (at least from the vids) like pretty short gearing. I hope that does not make it overly expensive for Finland. Seeing what the Frenchies have to pay in "eco" tax for even a standard 120 PS Sigma, the 165 certainly makes a lot of sense there...

Plan with having the weather stuff retrofitted sounds doable. But if they can't be convinced to do this ex factory, perhaps they could supply it built with 160 parts in strategic locations (panels with additional screen fixing points and installed wiper motor assembly). Would still be fully compliant I guess, and all remaining parts should be available (for the 160 kits or as spares) to simply bolt on.

While on the subject of hoods, I get the impression that the soft bits for sevens "half hood" seems pretty popular with the 7 crowd. No personal experience but it seems quite a few people prefer it to the official, more expensive solution. Might provide a little budget relief . Not sure if this is a good idea in .fi, but if it works for .uk ...

35k sure is a lot of money. And I thought we had it bad here because of all the issues with the control freaks from TÜV . Personally, with the cost involved on getting it weather proof, and as there is virtually no difference in insurance or tax over a used Sigma, I'm thinking more towards alternatives at the moment. And I still need to sort parking. The joys of inner city car ownership :/.

Edited by Kolbenkopp on Monday 4th November 17:27

[coppice]

disco666 said:

I really wish I'd had a Caterham before getting into TVR's.
Mid 40's now, and with the roads getting busier I look to Jag's and AM's to give me the thrill when I grow out of TVR's.
Realistically I think I've missed the Caterham boat, which I regret a bit.

I'm 61 and life without a Seven would be unthinkable. Mid 40s- nobbut a bairn...