Caterhams - what does 20k get me?
Discussion
Unfortunate typo in the topic, sorry… DOES
Considering exiting my Elise (as you may know, no small feat) and wondering about scratching my long standing caterham itch. Have driven one, once, but little familiarity with the endless variations out there. So… what can you get for 20k?
Mostly would be for road use with minimal track stuff, and probably not for long touring so much as garage —> somewhere —> garage drives.
I have fairly minimal mechanical expertise but do have a good garage and a selection of tools and keen to learn that also.
Some familiarity with k series…!
Considering exiting my Elise (as you may know, no small feat) and wondering about scratching my long standing caterham itch. Have driven one, once, but little familiarity with the endless variations out there. So… what can you get for 20k?
Mostly would be for road use with minimal track stuff, and probably not for long touring so much as garage —> somewhere —> garage drives.
I have fairly minimal mechanical expertise but do have a good garage and a selection of tools and keen to learn that also.
Some familiarity with k series…!
Edited by PlywoodPascal on Saturday 30th March 12:05
For £21k you get this. In my view, all you could want in a Caterham for the road. Enough, but not too much power. Wide track. LSD. 6 speed.
https://www.pistonheads.com/buy/listing/15070417
https://www.pistonheads.com/buy/listing/15070417
tsBack in October I paid just under £18k for a 2000 year 1.8 k series with lots of desirable options. 190 bhp, Apollo, laminova, wide track, big brakes etc.
It’s done a few miles at 48k, but looks and drives really well. I decided that a bit more power over lesser versions was worth the mileage hit.
Been waiting for the rain to stop, and finally taxed it yesterday. Can’t wait to start learning about what has been my dream car for a long time!!
It’s done a few miles at 48k, but looks and drives really well. I decided that a bit more power over lesser versions was worth the mileage hit.
Been waiting for the rain to stop, and finally taxed it yesterday. Can’t wait to start learning about what has been my dream car for a long time!!
Tvrtastic911 said:
For £21k you get this. In my view, all you could want in a Caterham for the road. Enough, but not too much power. Wide track. LSD. 6 speed.
https://www.pistonheads.com/buy/listing/15070417
Worth paying a little extra for an R400 if you can find one and the budget allows. Superb fun to drive and a bit more poke and character, especially the K-series.https://www.pistonheads.com/buy/listing/15070417
Slightly off topic, but one interesting option that sometimes comes up, is a crossflow engined car that's had its engine swapped out for a 2.0 Zetec.
A number of crossflow owners have done this, because crossflows need rebuilding from time to time (I remember owners on Blatchat suggested every 20-30K). It's an expense to have a crossflow rebuilt, and doing a swap to a brand new black top Zetec (when you could still buy them on Ebay for £800!!!) and all the electrics and other bells and whistles worked out hardly any more. You then got quite a lot of torque, great tractability and an engine that'll probably never need rebuilding again. 165 BHP as standard on ITBs. Works best on De Dion cars, as Ital live axle can't really handle the grunt.
And it's not technically a non-standard engine as you might think. Caterham did actually market the Seven with a 2.0 Zetec engine, but only for the American market. They don't come up super often, but there are a number of them out there. I would think £20K would easily get you one with several thousand in change to spend on mods to your liking.
Bit of a left field choice, but not without its charms if you're up for something a bit different. As with any older Caterham, check the rear chassis rails underneath aren't rusty.
A number of crossflow owners have done this, because crossflows need rebuilding from time to time (I remember owners on Blatchat suggested every 20-30K). It's an expense to have a crossflow rebuilt, and doing a swap to a brand new black top Zetec (when you could still buy them on Ebay for £800!!!) and all the electrics and other bells and whistles worked out hardly any more. You then got quite a lot of torque, great tractability and an engine that'll probably never need rebuilding again. 165 BHP as standard on ITBs. Works best on De Dion cars, as Ital live axle can't really handle the grunt.
And it's not technically a non-standard engine as you might think. Caterham did actually market the Seven with a 2.0 Zetec engine, but only for the American market. They don't come up super often, but there are a number of them out there. I would think £20K would easily get you one with several thousand in change to spend on mods to your liking.
Bit of a left field choice, but not without its charms if you're up for something a bit different. As with any older Caterham, check the rear chassis rails underneath aren't rusty.
911Spanker said:
I prefer something around 140bhp with the narrow rear tyres on road.
Can thrash it hard and be this side of 100mph.
Depends what you want in a car and what sort of driver you are of course.
Mine is 140bhp, and I do read that it is about the right sweet spot for the road for them. It will be interesting in time if I start to hanker for more power/performance though I reckon. I'm currently more than happy with it anyway. Can thrash it hard and be this side of 100mph.
Depends what you want in a car and what sort of driver you are of course.
As said anything non standard will be significantly cheaper, even if it is an engine that Caterham fit there is a significant premium on 'standard factory build' for example a k-series engine that has the same spec as a R400 but was not originally sold as an R400 will suffer at least 25% reduction in price, my 215bhp durance engined Caterham (basically 420 spec) sold last year for sub £18K because it started life as a 1.4 K series,
if you are going to maintain it your self then (and Caterham's are an ideal car to do that ) there are lots of bargains to be had, however if you are the sort of person who will take it back to a dealer when the ashtray is full, then stick with the key dealers as they will look after you and you can have that back up
if you are going to maintain it your self then (and Caterham's are an ideal car to do that ) there are lots of bargains to be had, however if you are the sort of person who will take it back to a dealer when the ashtray is full, then stick with the key dealers as they will look after you and you can have that back up
cerb4.5lee said:
911Spanker said:
I prefer something around 140bhp with the narrow rear tyres on road.
Can thrash it hard and be this side of 100mph.
Depends what you want in a car and what sort of driver you are of course.
Mine is 140bhp, and I do read that it is about the right sweet spot for the road for them. It will be interesting in time if I start to hanker for more power/performance though I reckon. I'm currently more than happy with it anyway. Can thrash it hard and be this side of 100mph.
Depends what you want in a car and what sort of driver you are of course.
I could get another 70 bhp but for the £10k ish uplift I don't think it will offer any more bang per buck for my use.
Have had mine for about 15 years and know it well so that has a lot of benefits too.
911Spanker said:
cerb4.5lee said:
911Spanker said:
I prefer something around 140bhp with the narrow rear tyres on road.
Can thrash it hard and be this side of 100mph.
Depends what you want in a car and what sort of driver you are of course.
Mine is 140bhp, and I do read that it is about the right sweet spot for the road for them. It will be interesting in time if I start to hanker for more power/performance though I reckon. I'm currently more than happy with it anyway. Can thrash it hard and be this side of 100mph.
Depends what you want in a car and what sort of driver you are of course.
I could get another 70 bhp but for the £10k ish uplift I don't think it will offer any more bang per buck for my use.
Have had mine for about 15 years and know it well so that has a lot of benefits too.
blackmamba said:
Worth paying a little extra for an R400 if you can find one and the budget allows. Superb fun to drive and a bit more poke and character, especially the K-series.
I’ve got one, and whilst it’s an incredible car and banzai fast, I’d tend to agree with some of the above comments that it’s perhaps outside the sweet spot for the OP’s brief of “mostly road use”. Unleashing 205bhp in such a light car is devastatingly effective, however the opportunities to fully let it rip gear after gear in the power band are few and far between on the road, and in many way my old car with “only” 125bhp was more fun as you could properly give it the beans without quickly ending up doing silly speeds. So yes, I think 140-150 bhp for road use is a decent compromise.
Hard-Drive said:
blackmamba said:
Worth paying a little extra for an R400 if you can find one and the budget allows. Superb fun to drive and a bit more poke and character, especially the K-series.
I’ve got one, and whilst it’s an incredible car and banzai fast, I’d tend to agree with some of the above comments that it’s perhaps outside the sweet spot for the OP’s brief of “mostly road use”. Unleashing 205bhp in such a light car is devastatingly effective, however the opportunities to fully let it rip gear after gear in the power band are few and far between on the road, and in many way my old car with “only” 125bhp was more fun as you could properly give it the beans without quickly ending up doing silly speeds. So yes, I think 140-150 bhp for road use is a decent compromise.
If on road and you like to really thrash a car hard, the lower powered stuff just works IMO.
Enough power to be fun but totally exploitable on the public road. And even a car with "only" 140bhp is still very quick in the right hands...
Here's my old dog. Had it many years and it spends much of its time on road with the shift lights flashing at me..
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