General tips for a newbie & do I really need a 6-speed box?

[abaddon100]

Hello,

Bit of a Caterham newbie, so appologies if I ask anything stupid. I'm planning on buying a second-hand Caterham SV in the next few weeks and am looking for a bit of advice. Car will be mainly for fast road use with a few track days thrown in. It'll be my main car for summer, but will probably buy an old banger for Dec-Feb. So needs the weather gear & probably a heater since it won't be garaged. Also want something fairly quick, so at least a 1.8VVC engine. Budget is 20k max.

Should I be looking out for a 6-speed box or are the 5-speed boxes OK with this engine? I've heard that the 5-speed box doesn't work with some of the lower spec engines - problems keeping it in the power band and all that. Is this still true for the VVC engine?

What options are absolute must-haves? Brake upgrade? LSD? etc

Any other advice? In particular any pointers for when I'm looking over second hand cars. Things to look for to avoid buying a dog, stuff to watch out for... that sort of thing.

Cheers.

[ewenm]

I have a VVC in my 7 and a 5-speed box. 1st gear is pretty useless but I find the long 5th useful as I do a lot of touring (averaged 10000 miles per year in it for 6 years). I am intending to get the box refurbished with different ratios soon though. I also do trackdays and will be sprinting the car this year.

I wouldn't choose to buy a 7 based on whether it had a 6spd box or not. It might be on a list of "nice-to-haves" but not essential.

[POORCARDEALER]

If you buy a 5 speed you will wish you had bought a 6, so get a 6 to start with......I have owned both and the 6 was better............dont think on a 20K car you will pay a premium for a 6 speed so go for it. |good Luck

[oj]

Be careful, not sure about road cars, but on the racers the 6th is about the same as 4th on the 5 speed, making the potentially long journey to and from a track day a fairly noisy experience I would imagine

In terms of driveability though, there's no contest, 6 speed all the way

[murph7355]

On a VVC, the 5spd would do. Shift quality's shit, but the box should work OK.

Do you really *need* an SV? Try and spend a bit of time behind the wheel of a std chassis first.

Look for a car with a FIA bar and possibly a decent exhaust (4 primary exhaust pipes join outside of the car). Other than that, for a road car just look for the best car you can find. Upgrading them's part of the fun and on the road you don;t *need* much more than standard spec.

[mechsympathy]

A 5 speed is probably fine, but 6 speed is more fun. Mine does 5k rpm at about 90. It's a bit of a pain on dual/mways but that's not what the car is about and the box more than makes up for it when you hit the smaller roads.

I have an SV for sale for a bit less than your budget. PM me if you want details and pics.

[Shaun_E]

Although 6th on the 6 speed is 1:1 (as is 4th on the 5 speed), the diff ratio is different. 5 speed cars normally have a 3.92 diff whereas 6 speed cars normally have a 3.62 diff. This means the rpm at cruising speeds is not that different (about 600rpm difference at 90mph). Anyway the road/wind noise drowns out the engine at those sort of speeds.
I would get the 6 speed if possible but the 5 speed isn't going to ruin the experience for you.

[sjmmarsh]

Shaun

The superlights tend to have a 3.62 diff but the roadsports are more likely to have a 3.92 diff. That's how my SV came from the factory with a 6 spd.

In practice it doesn't make a real difference as the car still maxes out (just) before it hits the red line. It does help acceleration in gear though!

Steve