R500D. Unreliable?

[kenno78]

Thinking of getting back into 7 ownership and popped along to CC Gatwick. Salesman said they won't resell a R500D due to 'issues' and suggested I look at the 620.

Now I guess that it's very probable that he's only steering me this way as he didn't have a R500D in stock, but are there any known problems with that derivative? (I realise they're like hens teeth at the moment.)

[short-shift]

Can only assume that's a somewhat disingenuous response.

R500 Duratecs are, indeed, like hen's teeth to come across, mainly because they are now owned by people who intend to keep and enjoy them for the long-term; they're pretty epic.

I think you may well find that the 620, despite its 'newness', has rather more inherent problems (including overcooling, engine calibration/mapping/overfuelling, etc) than is the case with the older R500 Duratecs. All sortable, of course, and at the end of the day both are tremendous fun - but holding out for an R500 would be entirely understandable!

James

Edited by short-shift on Wednesday 29th December 07:40

[DCL]

Apart from a few early problems, the R500 Duratec was pretty reliable for a 260 BHP 2L normally aspirated engine. I think you are being fed a line to dispose of 620 stock that seems to have a habit of passing through owners pretty quickly. I know which one I would choose to drive and keep.

[kenno78]

shortshift/DCL. Thank you. Good to know there aren't any inherent issues. 130bhp per litre does make you pose the question though!

Due to availability, has anyone gone down the route of buying a sigma and swapping the engine out for something from Raceline?

[jimhcat]

Would you be better buying an R400 Duratec and upgrading it to R500 spec rather than starting with a Sigma?
I think new 2L Duratec engines are quite hard to find now and it's easier to get a 2.5L crate engine

[Paynewright]

Perhaps he meant R500Ks :-)

[SKC]

We've had a couple of R500 Duratecs in for repair. One had swallowed an intake trumpet screw, the other a broken valve spring. If I owned one of these, I'd "life" the valve springs and have it re-mapped. Although we've also re-mapped one or two of these before and found some to be performing well below target.

The ones we've rebuilt have made target figures. I've driven these on the road with a sequential box and they are very quick.

Good luck.

SKC

[Olivera]

short-shift said:

I think you may well find that the 620, despite its 'newness', has rather more inherent problems (including overcooling, engine calibration/mapping/overfuelling, etc)

Given home and aftermarket mappers can almost perfectly map any ECU/engine given enough time and knowledge, how come Caterham cars are renowned for having produced a turd of a map on the 620?

[ginger steve]

I think its worth driving both the 620 and the r500 as they are very different cars. My 280bhp Duractec is a beast of a car on track and its decent on the road, but I prefer the 620 for the balance of driving that I do, which is predominantly on the road. The performance in the 620 is more accessible, more of the time. They both feel fast but in different ways. Agree that the mapping isn't great in the 620, which is something that I'm in the process of sorting out.

Not had any reliably issues with the Duractec, I wouldn't take the salesman comments too seriously.