Advice on Caterham purchase
Discussion
I plan to purchase a caterham in time for the summer and when I have sold my current 7 BEC to help part fund the car www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/123745.htm .
Is the difference between a circa £10,000K ZETEC www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/111121.htm and a superlight circa £15,000 www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/117793.htm worth the extra £5000. I know about all the extra carbon bits and LSD etc but on the road is it worth the extra cash unless you are doing track days?
What do you think if I buy a £10,000 caterham will I regret it and wish I had gone for a superlight in the first place?
Cheers Harry
Is the difference between a circa £10,000K ZETEC www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/111121.htm and a superlight circa £15,000 www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/117793.htm worth the extra £5000. I know about all the extra carbon bits and LSD etc but on the road is it worth the extra cash unless you are doing track days?
What do you think if I buy a £10,000 caterham will I regret it and wish I had gone for a superlight in the first place?
Cheers Harry
Edited by mkindy on Friday 12th January 15:42
murph7355 said:
I'd go the other way.
Superlights need not be unreliable if looked after properly. I suspect it'll hold its value and be easier to sell too.
It's not just the carbon and LSD either. You have a totally different chassis.
Superlights need not be unreliable if looked after properly. I suspect it'll hold its value and be easier to sell too.
It's not just the carbon and LSD either. You have a totally different chassis.
That's a new one, what's different with the chassis then? Is it just the real wheel carrier, which has been cut off on the Zetec car. Otherwise, the chassis are pretty much the same arn't they?
Or are you talking about Live axle vs De-dion?
Edited by casbar on Friday 12th January 18:55
casbar said:
That's a new one
hey, less of the aggression man - what about the standard parts on a SL - widetrack, big brakes, lsd, not to mention carbon as standard, tillets as an option, aeroscreen, 6 speed 'box...in short, all of the go faster bits you will want to have...and it is recognised as a classic in its own right. A SL weighs in at circa 470 kgs right?...a standard car is 80 kgs or so more isn't it?....what accounts for that weight overhead?
Isn't the Zetec engine heavier too?
Me aggressive, No 
Difference in weight are the carbon bits, no heater etc. If you load the car up with heater, screen etc, there isn't a lot in it, weight wise. A live Axle car is lighter anyway, as the de-dion bit is heavy.
Apart from the axle bit, the chassis are the same, a narrow track Roadsport has the same mounts as a wide track car, all the tubes are the same, I believe you could even spec a SL with a wheel carrier (its only welded on).
A Zetec is quite a heavy engine, but if its 200 odd Bhp and sorted, it will be just as quick if not quicker than a standard SL. I would agree that a SL is more desirable, as its a standard Caterham offering, and a Zetec wasn't in the UK.
Difference in weight are the carbon bits, no heater etc. If you load the car up with heater, screen etc, there isn't a lot in it, weight wise. A live Axle car is lighter anyway, as the de-dion bit is heavy.
Apart from the axle bit, the chassis are the same, a narrow track Roadsport has the same mounts as a wide track car, all the tubes are the same, I believe you could even spec a SL with a wheel carrier (its only welded on).
A Zetec is quite a heavy engine, but if its 200 odd Bhp and sorted, it will be just as quick if not quicker than a standard SL. I would agree that a SL is more desirable, as its a standard Caterham offering, and a Zetec wasn't in the UK.
casbar said:
...Apart from the axle bit, the chassis are the same, a narrow track Roadsport has the same mounts as a wide track car, all the tubes are the same, I believe you could even spec a SL with a wheel carrier (its only welded on).
A Zetec is quite a heavy engine, but if its 200 odd Bhp and sorted, it will be just as quick if not quicker than a standard SL. I would agree that a SL is more desirable, as its a standard Caterham offering, and a Zetec wasn't in the UK.
A Zetec is quite a heavy engine, but if its 200 odd Bhp and sorted, it will be just as quick if not quicker than a standard SL. I would agree that a SL is more desirable, as its a standard Caterham offering, and a Zetec wasn't in the UK.
I thought the live axle chassis was quite different to a deDion one in other respects too, but am by no means an expert on live axle cars (I couldn't fit in them when I bought my car, so it was something I didn't look into).
I was under the impression that there were different tubes on a deDion chassis making it torsionally stiffer, that there were differences in the cockpit area (making it smaller) and that the front suspension area was, as standard, different. This could all have been on much older live axle chassis. I could also be very wrong full stop.
Either way, just the axle is a big "just" in my opnion. The rides widely regarded as a significant improvement on the deDion car (think the poster is after a predominantly road car, so this matters) and the live axle has never been regarded as the strongest part of these cars...they weren't designed to take the loads they get with modern engines. May not be 5k's worth on its own, but when you factor in *all* the other nice bits you get on the SL, that the SL is often regarded as the best car Caterham have done thus far and that the residual/saleability factor is significantly better, it'd be 5k well spent.
If the Zetec were in a deDion chassis then it may be a different proposition (I suspect the prices would be much closer however). But as a first buy, I still think the SL is by far the safer bet. Things are often cheap for a reason.
That said, if you don't have the extra 5k to spend, get the Zetec. ANY Caterham is a life changing experience (in terms of driving pleasure).
“Live axle” cars all have circa pre 86 chassis, the de-deion chassis has gone through changes many times since. The Superlight chassis is different from a R3/400 which uses a standard (from my invoice) SLR chassis and differ again form the new supplier
“K” series cars up-graded to 160 bhp with roller barrels wouldn’t really be classed as a R300, there are differences
“K” series cars up-graded to 160 bhp with roller barrels wouldn’t really be classed as a R300, there are differences
Edited by Bafty_Crastard on Saturday 13th January 22:59
Yep, I agree, Roadsports upgraded to the R300 spec engine, is classed as a Supersport R. After many conversations with Bruce at Arch with regard to chassis, there is not a lot of difference between R*** chassis, or SLR Chassis,. Except for revisions which were made to all chassis as time moved on. So take the wheel carrier off a Roadsport De-dion car, and looking at it, it will not have any stiffer tubes or any special bits, except the later SL chassis, have the boss's for the SLR roll cage. My mates 51 SL chassis, doesn't have the extra bushes, so even that is a lottery.
The Superlight in question looks like one of the first 1600 K-Series supersports with around 133bhp so the Zetec would probably outrun it, although with the extra weight there may not be much in it. As far as depreciation is concerned, the Superlight seems to be priced quite high for its age and mileage.
However, the Zetec looks like a good package - painted nicely and lower mileage etc... but have you considered servicing and parts if you needed them? Caterham themselves and their appointed service centres would probably not want to go anywhere near it as it's not a recognised engine! They only deal with the Rover engines and the various ones that came before that (eg. vauxhall, ford X-Flow etc...)
If you want my opinion I'd go for the Rover Superlight.
However, the Zetec looks like a good package - painted nicely and lower mileage etc... but have you considered servicing and parts if you needed them? Caterham themselves and their appointed service centres would probably not want to go anywhere near it as it's not a recognised engine! They only deal with the Rover engines and the various ones that came before that (eg. vauxhall, ford X-Flow etc...)
If you want my opinion I'd go for the Rover Superlight.
casbar said:
A Zetec is quite a heavy engine, but if its 200 odd Bhp and sorted, it will be just as quick if not quicker than a standard SL.
Way way quicker. My mates Zetec will run a 48 at anglessey.
Another friends zetec westfield was around the same speed as my 220bhp Duratec caterham in a straight line.
And outside of meaningless arguments on blatchat, in a trackday scenario the extra weight means zero !
An SL wouldnt even see which way the Zetec has gone !
And no matter how many people post up their great experiences, a zetec is miles more reliable than a K series.
see here:
www.teamtamunshen.com/thecar.html
Edited by jackal on Monday 15th January 17:29
there is another 2.0 Zetec: www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/125477.htm
A known car in cheshire & Staffs as well as the Merseyside areas in the Lotus 7 club... both owners are members of L7C
from postings on Blatchat - the zetec has a lot more torque than the K
A known car in cheshire & Staffs as well as the Merseyside areas in the Lotus 7 club... both owners are members of L7C
from postings on Blatchat - the zetec has a lot more torque than the K
buy a £10 k one - less to depreciate & you will know within a year exactly what you want.
Just don;t spend a fortune on modifying one - decide what you want and get it when you are ready.
Zetecs can be hard to sell though - tbh, they all can - limited market place compared to a focas.
p.s. no-one needs 200bhp in a caterham expecially on the road.
Just don;t spend a fortune on modifying one - decide what you want and get it when you are ready.
Zetecs can be hard to sell though - tbh, they all can - limited market place compared to a focas.
p.s. no-one needs 200bhp in a caterham expecially on the road.
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