Ariel Atom to Caterham 160?...
Discussion
Well i say Ariel Atom to Caterham 160, the Atom is off, the Caterham 160 is under serious consideration.
Love the idea, seems a cross between a gt86 and a wheeler, have a test drive tomorrow, i guess the key to the 160 is the tyres, have high hopes that this is potentially the best road car you can buy (if you like fun at legal cornering speed).
Still trying to get my head around the price, looking at 23k for factory build with all the bits i'd like. Is the price typical Caterham? from the classifieds it looks like Caterhams hold the value extremely well.
Realistically i can get a mint S2000 for 10k, but love the Atom lightness, hence even the consideration for 23k on a 80hp car. hmmm...
Love the idea, seems a cross between a gt86 and a wheeler, have a test drive tomorrow, i guess the key to the 160 is the tyres, have high hopes that this is potentially the best road car you can buy (if you like fun at legal cornering speed).
Still trying to get my head around the price, looking at 23k for factory build with all the bits i'd like. Is the price typical Caterham? from the classifieds it looks like Caterhams hold the value extremely well.
Realistically i can get a mint S2000 for 10k, but love the Atom lightness, hence even the consideration for 23k on a 80hp car. hmmm...
Some Gump said:
Imo, if you have 20k available for a caterham, get an r300, r400 or superlight r.
A 7 is a fantastic thing, but to enjoy n the roads you need to overtake safely. A 140 horse superlight is bordering on frustrating on tisties with any traffic, i can't imagine 80 horse would be fun.
I don't disagree about the r300/r400 suggestion, but 140bhp superlight isn't fast enough to overtake. Really?A 7 is a fantastic thing, but to enjoy n the roads you need to overtake safely. A 140 horse superlight is bordering on frustrating on tisties with any traffic, i can't imagine 80 horse would be fun.
Bert
BertBert said:
I don't disagree about the r300/r400 suggestion, but 140bhp superlight isn't fast enough to overtake. Really?
Bert
I agree. I've never had problems overtaking in my 140. The only times I have had "problems" are places where you probably shouldn't be overtaking anyway. In which case, patiently wait Bert
I agree totally on the 160 vs. R300/R400 debate, makes little sense.
Unless you are some sort of race driving genius (or in other ways accustomed to oodles of bhp), I would think that a 140bhp Caterham would seem quite fast. I know that my 140bhp Roadsport have scared the pants of me on more than one occasion
Unless you are some sort of race driving genius (or in other ways accustomed to oodles of bhp), I would think that a 140bhp Caterham would seem quite fast. I know that my 140bhp Roadsport have scared the pants of me on more than one occasion
Bert et all - the 140 is plenty quick, but where i used to live (northumberland), you have high hedges, a vibrant superbike community, and a lot of short straights. By the time you've got to the straight part, the bloke in front is accelerating back to 60, and with "only" 140hp it can be a wait to get a gap that allows you to be safe even if a biker comes at you at 90+
I might just have an overly high risk aversion, but i always used to drive the 7 very much in the "can stop where you can see" mould - no abs, limited visibility and car / bike / horse country isn't a good mix.
I might just have an overly high risk aversion, but i always used to drive the 7 very much in the "can stop where you can see" mould - no abs, limited visibility and car / bike / horse country isn't a good mix.
Some Gump said:
I might just have an overly high risk aversion, but i always used to drive the 7 very much in the "can stop where you can see" mould - no abs, limited visibility and car / bike / horse country isn't a good mix.
Just sounds like good driving practice to me stormcloud123 said:
Well i say Ariel Atom to Caterham 160, the Atom is off, the Caterham 160 is under serious consideration.
Love the idea, seems a cross between a gt86 and a wheeler, have a test drive tomorrow, i guess the key to the 160 is the tyres, have high hopes that this is potentially the best road car you can buy (if you like fun at legal cornering speed).
Still trying to get my head around the price, looking at 23k for factory build with all the bits i'd like. Is the price typical Caterham? from the classifieds it looks like Caterhams hold the value extremely well.
Realistically i can get a mint S2000 for 10k, but love the Atom lightness, hence even the consideration for 23k on a 80hp car. hmmm...
I like the idea of the 160 as well, and it gets a very good review in Evo this month.Love the idea, seems a cross between a gt86 and a wheeler, have a test drive tomorrow, i guess the key to the 160 is the tyres, have high hopes that this is potentially the best road car you can buy (if you like fun at legal cornering speed).
Still trying to get my head around the price, looking at 23k for factory build with all the bits i'd like. Is the price typical Caterham? from the classifieds it looks like Caterhams hold the value extremely well.
Realistically i can get a mint S2000 for 10k, but love the Atom lightness, hence even the consideration for 23k on a 80hp car. hmmm...
I have to say 23K is a huge amount, it sounds a bit better if you build it yourself, but even then you only save about 2K.
I doubt you'd be interested in R300 etc as with all that power you need high grip tyres and inevitably the limits get too high for road fun at least in the dry.
It might be worth considering a 2nd hand 125 Roadsport, the 185 tyres will have more grip, but if you get hard cheap tyres, not that much more and with 50% more power and more importantly torque at lowish revs there is plenty of opportunity to have a good thrash on the road without going silly fast
Tell us how you get on with the test drive!
Well I came from an Ariel Atom 3 245bhp, to a 140bhp roadsport and then onto a 160bhp R300.
First off the only caterham that accelerates at same speed as the Atom is the R500. However once on the move , it's possible to have a 140bhp caterham attain similar speeds along the twisties. Loved mine and managed 5k miles of fun in a year.
Now with the R300, it's probably the perfect spec for fast road use. My vote goes here.
Good luck, Dave
First off the only caterham that accelerates at same speed as the Atom is the R500. However once on the move , it's possible to have a 140bhp caterham attain similar speeds along the twisties. Loved mine and managed 5k miles of fun in a year.
Now with the R300, it's probably the perfect spec for fast road use. My vote goes here.
Good luck, Dave
Thanks for the comments, all very informative.
I did manage to eventually get myself to Caterham South today, however by the time i rolled up it was getting dark and the Crawley rush hour madness had started, so have had to postpone my test drive for another day.
I did have 2 coffees and a good hour chat and nose around the 160, it looks marvelous in my eyes, next to the other 7's it looked more like a classic than a base model of the range. Pulling in the rear arches seems to have tidied up the back, that coupled with the narrow tyres makes the car look like a throw-back to a bye-gone age.
I'm not that experience in the Caterham ways but have had plenty of px laps, getting in the car (roof on) seemed even tighter than previous experience, the car genuinely feels as small as a Caterham can go. I would liken it as I imagine the first drives of the original mini. Once seated, it was like a glove, salesman says lowered floor should be "a given" for all but the smallest frames (this 160 had lowered floor). I'm 5,11 10.5 stone and twiglet like in stature, the car seemed perfect for my frame, and finally a small nimble sports car (in this case tiny) that i sit in rather than on.
Did really get the feeling that once you start driving this little thing you'd only be stopping to put more fuel in to go again. Fired up the car, exhaust makes quite a nice throb considering the plant under the hood. exhaust passenger side as well, which will help skin peel issues for the driver...
Not much more to report, i'd like a black pack to black frame the screen, salesman also pushing for black steelies to be added to black pack options, coincidentally my first thought was to respray the steelies in a dark steel grey, the steelies on my poverty spec dacia are looking a lot better now i have built up a good amount of brake dust.
I love the old school charm of small light cars from yesteryear, this looks to be perfect. Rather than a cheap Caterham i'd see this more as a Caterham built for the road (and road only), it looks classic Sunday morning drive stuff. Something that you'd have fun with, but wouldn't have to tinker with, next the the 160 the other Caterhams look like track versions of the 160. An old throw back with a 0-60 time of 6.5 should be plenty for lots of fun in a car so light.
I expect the R300 is the value for a nice bhp Caterham and the 160 is clearly too close / overprioed, but IMO the 160 is not an underpowered Caterham, just Caterhams solution to enjoying just going for a drive. As long as the car is not dreadfully slow I can see me placing an order in the new year.
A.
I did manage to eventually get myself to Caterham South today, however by the time i rolled up it was getting dark and the Crawley rush hour madness had started, so have had to postpone my test drive for another day.
I did have 2 coffees and a good hour chat and nose around the 160, it looks marvelous in my eyes, next to the other 7's it looked more like a classic than a base model of the range. Pulling in the rear arches seems to have tidied up the back, that coupled with the narrow tyres makes the car look like a throw-back to a bye-gone age.
I'm not that experience in the Caterham ways but have had plenty of px laps, getting in the car (roof on) seemed even tighter than previous experience, the car genuinely feels as small as a Caterham can go. I would liken it as I imagine the first drives of the original mini. Once seated, it was like a glove, salesman says lowered floor should be "a given" for all but the smallest frames (this 160 had lowered floor). I'm 5,11 10.5 stone and twiglet like in stature, the car seemed perfect for my frame, and finally a small nimble sports car (in this case tiny) that i sit in rather than on.
Did really get the feeling that once you start driving this little thing you'd only be stopping to put more fuel in to go again. Fired up the car, exhaust makes quite a nice throb considering the plant under the hood. exhaust passenger side as well, which will help skin peel issues for the driver...
Not much more to report, i'd like a black pack to black frame the screen, salesman also pushing for black steelies to be added to black pack options, coincidentally my first thought was to respray the steelies in a dark steel grey, the steelies on my poverty spec dacia are looking a lot better now i have built up a good amount of brake dust.
I love the old school charm of small light cars from yesteryear, this looks to be perfect. Rather than a cheap Caterham i'd see this more as a Caterham built for the road (and road only), it looks classic Sunday morning drive stuff. Something that you'd have fun with, but wouldn't have to tinker with, next the the 160 the other Caterhams look like track versions of the 160. An old throw back with a 0-60 time of 6.5 should be plenty for lots of fun in a car so light.
I expect the R300 is the value for a nice bhp Caterham and the 160 is clearly too close / overprioed, but IMO the 160 is not an underpowered Caterham, just Caterhams solution to enjoying just going for a drive. As long as the car is not dreadfully slow I can see me placing an order in the new year.
A.
I had a swift blast in the 160 demonstrator whilst I was at the showroom looking for something else. Very surprised indeed actually. Power-to-grip ratio is spot on as are the gear ratios. I do understand the argument that you can have an R300/R400 but the 160 was more fun (and more involving) than both of those models at 50mph!
Just a personal opinion .... the folks at Caterham are currently doing a lot of messing around with car specs and "ideas", the Suzuki engined 160 is one such idea that has been put out commercially. But how long before they replace it with something else? If they do replace it the ones on the road will not have the same bomb-proof residuals that Caterhams generally enjoy. If you're up to £23K I'd be looking at a Roadsport 125 or an older Supersport.
The old Classic model didn't sell in great numbers, and I always thought it was just a way to get people into the showroom.
It was £13000 for a 1.4 without, heater, screen etc and once the punter was there looking at it, they were tempted by the next model up that seemed better value as it was at least a complete car as standard
I think the 160 makes much more sense when looking at the asian market where it will fit in with regulations very well by all accounts.
A fun car to drive I'm sure, but not more fun than a 1.6 De Dion seven
It was £13000 for a 1.4 without, heater, screen etc and once the punter was there looking at it, they were tempted by the next model up that seemed better value as it was at least a complete car as standard
I think the 160 makes much more sense when looking at the asian market where it will fit in with regulations very well by all accounts.
A fun car to drive I'm sure, but not more fun than a 1.6 De Dion seven
I don't really get the 160 for UK use either but I've not driven one. Skinny tyres and low power might be a bit of fun for a short while but I think the novelty would soon wear off and I can't imagine it getting to 60 in 6.5 either - low grip, low power and 2 gearshifts (has anyone figured it properly yet?).
Besides, I have a less than 12 month old 1.6 Roadsport I think I'm about to sell (Academy car) which must be much better value
Besides, I have a less than 12 month old 1.6 Roadsport I think I'm about to sell (Academy car) which must be much better value
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