Jump to content

Anybody on here got a Caterham?


AVB
 Share

Recommended Posts

27 minutes ago, WalkedUp said:

Another Defender is the only acceptable answer. 

I enjoyed my Defender but feel you need to be more ‘hands on’ with them and I am not. Otherwise you spend a lot of money with garages. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, AVB said:

I enjoyed my Defender but feel you need to be more ‘hands on’ with them and I am not. Otherwise you spend a lot of money with garages. 

I’d be the same. No time, equipment or expertise. My wife’s uncle has a full garage, with pit and a full time handy-man / mechanic for his. He does the plant and farm machinery too, but I couldn’t even invest a full socket set. 

Edited by WalkedUp
Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 hours ago, nobbyathome said:

You will need to be hands on with a caterham as well if you can’t tinker don’t bother with one great fun but that’s it not a serious car just a good toy to have fun with

That’s a shame. How would maintaining one compare with a Defender? I appreciate they are not practical but I don’t need a practical  car. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, AVB said:

That’s a shame. How would maintaining one compare with a Defender? I appreciate they are not practical but I don’t need a practical  car. 

Less space to work in and much less to sit in!

They are snug

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, amateur said:

Less space to work in and much less to sit in!

They are snug

 

I have driven one years ago but only on a race track. I didn’t think it particularly snug (compared to something like a Lotus Elise). I appreciate it is smaller to work on but that must make it easier in some respect doesn’t it? You can reach into the engine bay etc. Anyway I don’t see myself doing much to it should I get one. 

 

20 minutes ago, Jaymo said:

What year and how much? 
live been waiting on a new Navara since the beginning of October and it’s still not even on the build line yet!


The Defender? It was a 2003 110. I sold it for £12k which was a bargain. So much so that the bloke came down from Edinburgh the next day, looked at it, transferred to money and drove it back. Didn’t bother with a test drive. I bought it for £12k 4 1/2 years ago so in that respect it was ok that I got my money back.  But I spent £10k on it during that time. !!!!!!!!!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 hours ago, AVB said:

That’s a shame. How would maintaining one compare with a Defender? I appreciate they are not practical but I don’t need a practical  car. 

My old man has had two over the last few years. A 1.6 k series and a R500 super light.

Neither one had a spanner turned on it in the years of ownership, only servicing. 
 

Are you after a factory built caterham or a home made kit car? They really have no similarities apart from vague looks. 
 

Happy to answer any questions if you have any. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, D_shooter said:

My old man has had two over the last few years. A 1.6 k series and a R500 super light.

Neither one had a spanner turned on it in the years of ownership, only servicing. 
 

Are you after a factory built caterham or a home made kit car? They really have no similarities apart from vague looks. 
 

Happy to answer any questions if you have any. 

You’re spot on, Caterham’s cost the money they do for a reason.....they’re not to be confused with a home brew x flow Westfield/bike engines locosts etc where the spec alters wildly. 
They’re proven, handle properly and use ‘proper’ parts that work well as a package. A lot of money for what they are but you’re buying the best, a friend of mine ran a race team that focused on Caterhams and they have great dealer/factory back up etc for such a small company and aren’t really unreliable as such (certainly no worse than a defender haha), due to such light weight they don’t need to run particularly highly tuned engines for starters.....even the low end 1.6’s are quick enough to have fun in on the roads! 
I don’t own one, but I’d love to and would only go for a Caterham kit car wise.....I do lots of trackdays in a hot hatch and often think about one as a replacement at some point. 

Edited by Wilts#Dave
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would prefer a Caterham over any of the cheaper kit car versions. You get a car that has been properly sorted and built to a standard.

With kit versions you are at the mercy of anyone who has assembled a few parts - none of which might be matching or correct. I have done a few kits cars and basically put on whatever brakes, suspension, engine took my fancy. The suspension was probably the Achilles heel as they were normally designed for heavier vehicles. 

One had a 1.6 Ford Pinto, followed by a 2.0 Pinto, followed by a tuned 2.0 Pinto and a Fiat 2.0 Super Mirafiori DOHC, with twin Dellortos. All were pretty quick, but even the slowest engine exposed the lack of proper handling. All were tail happy and I once did a 360 on a motorway roundabout, in the wet.

Whilst I thought at the time that I had taken care to do them properly, the internet wasn't there in its current format and it was mainly guesswork. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Son had a Westfield SEIW the wider bodied one. Great fun, I lowered the floors fitted a half cage and fitted racing pedal box with dual brake bias. High flow racing rad and ducted it, son wrapped all the exhaust under the bonnet. 

Done the four corner alignment, his mates a race engineer. Had some fantastic days out in it. Sadly he sold it to buy a VW transporter to convert.

If you get the modern ones they have enough room for me to drive, I'm by far no means small.  Size 13 feet and six three, choice of shoe is important.

Buy the 620R or 620s sons was the Westfield equivalent of the caterham 310 or 360,can't remember which. Nippy enough but could do with more power 😁

Buy one enjoy it and when done sell it on, they have good residuals.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was chatting with a Caterham driver in the car park last week. It was cold, filthy day so no idea why he was out ‘shopping’ in it. He said he just like driving it in all weathers but he did look frozen. I am going to take a look when car showrooms open again. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 minutes ago, AVB said:

I was chatting with a Caterham driver in the car park last week. It was cold, filthy day so no idea why he was out ‘shopping’ in it. He said he just like driving it in all weathers but he did look frozen. I am going to take a look when car showrooms open again. 

Two bits of advise,

1. Get lowered floors, it will help even if your not that tall. Don’t bother with a wide body, it ruins the looks and provides almost no real extra room. 
 

2. Buy one with the most power you can afford (r500,620s etc get very expensive) but avoid the 1.4/1.6 as you will only want more after a while. 
Having said that, no matter how good of a driver you think you are, go easy until you know how IT likes to drive!! 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Eyefor said:

Honda S2000?

Great build quality, 100% reliable and not too complicated to tinker with.

Now at the bottom of the depreciation curve so great value for money and a lot more comfortable than a Caterham. 


Nice car, but just that. Nothing compares to a caterham / 7 style car, if the OP wants that then an s2000 won’t even touch the sides.....
 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As above, the S2000 would feel.likeca lead deep sea diving boot compared to the caterham being a ballet slipper.

The Westfield my son had was built by a retired engineer to ridiculously high standards, my son's friend is a race engineer and was amazed at the paperwork and records, a shoe box full. All fixings torqued and ticked off on a check sheet and paint marked on the car. 

There are some great home built cars, in fact now you can't buy the same kit, the chassis comes done all welded. 

The factory do fully built cars. 

The 620s is the one to have with standard gearbox, the sequential can be a bit temperamental.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 25/01/2021 at 23:45, figgy said:

As above, the S2000 would feel.likeca lead deep sea diving boot compared to the caterham being a ballet slipper.

The Westfield my son had was built by a retired engineer to ridiculously high standards, my son's friend is a race engineer and was amazed at the paperwork and records, a shoe box full. All fixings torqued and ticked off on a check sheet and paint marked on the car. 

There are some great home built cars, in fact now you can't buy the same kit, the chassis comes done all welded. 

The factory do fully built cars. 

The 620s is the one to have with standard gearbox, the sequential can be a bit temperamental.


The only issue with the 620 is the price tag that comes along with them! 
 

My old man went for the r500 on the basis the real world performance was the same (manual not sequential) and actually made money keeping the car two years. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
 Share

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...