taking the plunge
Discussion
Well the time has finally come, cash ready, new garage and driveway being done, wife / grandparents(camper n kids) primed for a summer tour of France and into northern Italy to visit friends,stelvio pass and that very high bridge in the south of France will be taken en route, trouble is, i cant decide which caterham to buy, 95 hpc with 190 bhp and flares or 97 1.6 160 bhp k series with cycle wings. both similar money, having not had a caterham before i need advice from those in the know, i am comfortable with fast cars but have only driven x flows so not sure what to expect from the fore mentioned choice,reliability issues,performance etc?, also taking in a road trip to the 'ring' in June accompanying brother on his zxr 750 and several other bikes plus few quick saloons,Dont get me wrong,I aint some spoil t rich git, I have saved like hell for this dream to reality so dont want to make a mistake, any advice greatly appreciated
Worms, can, open.........
Before long there'll be advocates of both cars on here, all saying one or the other is the bees knees and slagging off the other. The VX is a good strong reliable engine, probably running on carbs, I guess. Its detractors say it's a heavy old lump, which spoils the handling, and thirsty. The K-series is a sweet revving economical engine, significantly lighter so with better handling, and more economical. Its detractors say the head gasket will give you trouble.
Without knowing more about the full spec of each car, it's hard to say, but you can expect the K-series to be more user-friendly and many people say 160bhp is about right for a road car, especially for your first Seven.
Search through the archives here for lots of conflicting advice. If you haven't done so already, join the Lotus Seven Club, and have a look on their website as well, under Blatchat. As a non-member you can browse the forum and search the archives, just not post a reply.
Whatever anybody says, you'll have a huge grin on your face with either of them.
Before long there'll be advocates of both cars on here, all saying one or the other is the bees knees and slagging off the other. The VX is a good strong reliable engine, probably running on carbs, I guess. Its detractors say it's a heavy old lump, which spoils the handling, and thirsty. The K-series is a sweet revving economical engine, significantly lighter so with better handling, and more economical. Its detractors say the head gasket will give you trouble.
Without knowing more about the full spec of each car, it's hard to say, but you can expect the K-series to be more user-friendly and many people say 160bhp is about right for a road car, especially for your first Seven.
Search through the archives here for lots of conflicting advice. If you haven't done so already, join the Lotus Seven Club, and have a look on their website as well, under Blatchat. As a non-member you can browse the forum and search the archives, just not post a reply.
Whatever anybody says, you'll have a huge grin on your face with either of them.
both are for sale on pistonheads, planning to view both in next few weeks, they are the green/yellow stripe HPC with 60k and yellow k series with 14k mileage, I have a budget around £13000,but want to keep some cash in reserve for bits, jill judd, top suede qr momo, new tires if necessary and other bits n bobs on my wish list, feel i should buy soon as have been told to expect prices to rise with spring, tho presumably, having been following sales over a year loads will start to appear in next few months, colours are irrelevant as free access to pro sprayer (brother) and colour will prob change anyway.
Nobody has suggested the obvious yet - drive them both! If one of them speaks to you more than the other, then that's your car.
The other thing that nobody has commented on is the choice between clams and cycle fenders. Personally I like clamshells 'cause they are slightly out of vogue as compared to the cycle fenders and I like to be slightly different.
The other thing that nobody has commented on is the choice between clams and cycle fenders. Personally I like clamshells 'cause they are slightly out of vogue as compared to the cycle fenders and I like to be slightly different.
As Murph says, it's a buyers' market out there - for all cars regardless of make and despite the time of year. If the HPC really has covered 60k miles, it'll be a bugger to sell on again. HPCS are lovely cars and if set up well are a rewarding experience (I've owned a beauty), but it's a bit of a specialist market and there are some ringers out there....
1996/7 cars had crap powder coating - if you are looking to buy a car of this vintage, indeed any vintage, check the powder coating - a good place to check is the chassis frame around the fuel tank and especially the diagonals just behind the radiator.
You cannot go wrong with a Superlight. They are well balanced, have all the desirable goodies fitted already and tend to hold their value and to be easy to sell on. To my mind they are the Carrera 2.7 RS of the Caterham world. One of those is going to give you no more than 138 bhp in standard trim, but that is plenty for your first Caterham If you're looking at cars of the age you've mentioned, I doubt you have the budget to stretch to an R300...which does give you 160 bhp out of the box.
Best thing you can do is go along to your local L7 Club meet and speak to a few people. Sadly it's unlikely that at this time of year you'll find many people in their cars.
1996/7 cars had crap powder coating - if you are looking to buy a car of this vintage, indeed any vintage, check the powder coating - a good place to check is the chassis frame around the fuel tank and especially the diagonals just behind the radiator.
You cannot go wrong with a Superlight. They are well balanced, have all the desirable goodies fitted already and tend to hold their value and to be easy to sell on. To my mind they are the Carrera 2.7 RS of the Caterham world. One of those is going to give you no more than 138 bhp in standard trim, but that is plenty for your first Caterham If you're looking at cars of the age you've mentioned, I doubt you have the budget to stretch to an R300...which does give you 160 bhp out of the box.
Best thing you can do is go along to your local L7 Club meet and speak to a few people. Sadly it's unlikely that at this time of year you'll find many people in their cars.
Clams produce more lift than cycle wings at the front. My SLR understeered a fair bit as speeds got higher anyway.
I guess it comes down to whether you want the (slightly) purer driving experience offered by the K (lighter, revvier etc) or the slightly more relaxed (comparatively) Vx which will be torquier and more classically styled.
Either is still more intense than almost anything else and you'll have a ball.
I guess it comes down to whether you want the (slightly) purer driving experience offered by the K (lighter, revvier etc) or the slightly more relaxed (comparatively) Vx which will be torquier and more classically styled.
Either is still more intense than almost anything else and you'll have a ball.
Not too sure about the clams creating more lift than cycle wings. There are some stats around which show its the opposite, ie the clams act as a sort wing pushing the car down.
They certainly keep a lot more of the road crap out of the cockpit.
My first Caterham had clams, and I never experienced any ill effects, understeer etc is down to setup, not which wings you have. Infact before I sold the car, it was a 155bhp steel xflow, that really moved, on the road and track.
I now have a R300 engined car with cycle wings, and the handling is again down to setup, I just know I get a lot wetter with cycles
So is it an old wives tale that clams cause lift - IMHO yes.
They certainly keep a lot more of the road crap out of the cockpit.
My first Caterham had clams, and I never experienced any ill effects, understeer etc is down to setup, not which wings you have. Infact before I sold the car, it was a 155bhp steel xflow, that really moved, on the road and track.
I now have a R300 engined car with cycle wings, and the handling is again down to setup, I just know I get a lot wetter with cycles
So is it an old wives tale that clams cause lift - IMHO yes.
casbar said:
Not too sure about the clams creating more lift than cycle wings. There are some stats around which show its the opposite, ie the clams act as a sort wing pushing the car down.
They certainly keep a lot more of the road crap out of the cockpit.
My first Caterham had clams, and I never experienced any ill effects, understeer etc is down to setup, not which wings you have. Infact before I sold the car, it was a 155bhp steel xflow, that really moved, on the road and track.
I now have a R300 engined car with cycle wings, and the handling is again down to setup, I just know I get a lot wetter with cycles
So is it an old wives tale that clams cause lift - IMHO yes.
We owned a 1600 Roadsport with clams and for sure the front-end went light at lower speeds than on my Supersport. Old wives' tale?...not from me.....They certainly keep a lot more of the road crap out of the cockpit.
My first Caterham had clams, and I never experienced any ill effects, understeer etc is down to setup, not which wings you have. Infact before I sold the car, it was a 155bhp steel xflow, that really moved, on the road and track.
I now have a R300 engined car with cycle wings, and the handling is again down to setup, I just know I get a lot wetter with cycles
So is it an old wives tale that clams cause lift - IMHO yes.
rubystone said:
casbar said:
Not too sure about the clams creating more lift than cycle wings. There are some stats around which show its the opposite, ie the clams act as a sort wing pushing the car down.
They certainly keep a lot more of the road crap out of the cockpit.
My first Caterham had clams, and I never experienced any ill effects, understeer etc is down to setup, not which wings you have. Infact before I sold the car, it was a 155bhp steel xflow, that really moved, on the road and track.
I now have a R300 engined car with cycle wings, and the handling is again down to setup, I just know I get a lot wetter with cycles
So is it an old wives tale that clams cause lift - IMHO yes.
We owned a 1600 Roadsport with clams and for sure the front-end went light at lower speeds than on my Supersport. Old wives' tale?...not from me.....They certainly keep a lot more of the road crap out of the cockpit.
My first Caterham had clams, and I never experienced any ill effects, understeer etc is down to setup, not which wings you have. Infact before I sold the car, it was a 155bhp steel xflow, that really moved, on the road and track.
I now have a R300 engined car with cycle wings, and the handling is again down to setup, I just know I get a lot wetter with cycles
So is it an old wives tale that clams cause lift - IMHO yes.
Yeah, definately thanks jaycee, been blown away by general helpfulness of owners, reminds of my 2cv days.Was invited to the first firing up of a new home built 150 sigma engined 7, and while their, met a former caterham owner who was a wealth of knowledge, he's even offered to come kick some tyres and look round potential buys (cheers Steve and Rob if you read this.) went to NEC this weekend and spent ages on caterham stand, found them very helpful,thought they may have been aloof when i told em i was after a second hand one but they were nothing but helpful, telling me about the model I think i'll be after, 2.0 hpc, what performance to expect etc, all in all a cracking dayout.
Trotsky,
Glad you enjoyed chatting on the Caterham stand and have identified one of the model types that suits you. The 2 litre VX in the HPC is an excellent alround car that is ideally suited to the road and trackdays. Did you have a good look over the maroon JPE on the corner of the club stand? A superb car and owned by one of our local lads - Nick bought this car as a better touring seven to his other Caterham, another JPE...
T
Glad you enjoyed chatting on the Caterham stand and have identified one of the model types that suits you. The 2 litre VX in the HPC is an excellent alround car that is ideally suited to the road and trackdays. Did you have a good look over the maroon JPE on the corner of the club stand? A superb car and owned by one of our local lads - Nick bought this car as a better touring seven to his other Caterham, another JPE...
T
Tango 7,
yes sure did see the JPE, belter that got some nice pics of that (and most of the others) but not sure how to get em on here, not a computer minded type, not sure about the carbon v8, would love the engine, forget the rest, what were they thinking with those headlights?
hideous IMHO.Change for change sake? maybe they are taking the piss, needless to say they wont be appearing on my car, half expected neon lights under it and a huge Bass speaker in t boot innit.
yes sure did see the JPE, belter that got some nice pics of that (and most of the others) but not sure how to get em on here, not a computer minded type, not sure about the carbon v8, would love the engine, forget the rest, what were they thinking with those headlights?
hideous IMHO.Change for change sake? maybe they are taking the piss, needless to say they wont be appearing on my car, half expected neon lights under it and a huge Bass speaker in t boot innit.
I bought a Superlight R and it wasn't 'that much' more that you are talking about. It needed a good clean but you get the benefit of having most of the decent bits like dry sump, LSD etc already fitted. I am not sure if there will be a resurgance of SLR prices againt the R3/4/5's, maybe, maybe not. My advice is spend a bit more and mod less in the future.
Either way once you they get under your skin you wont enjoy anything normal again
Either way once you they get under your skin you wont enjoy anything normal again
regroo said:
I bought a Superlight R and it wasn't 'that much' more that you are talking about. It needed a good clean but you get the benefit of having most of the decent bits like dry sump, LSD etc already fitted. I am not sure if there will be a resurgance of SLR prices againt the R3/4/5's, maybe, maybe not. My advice is spend a bit more and mod less in the future.
Either way once you they get under your skin you wont enjoy anything normal again
Not at SLRs are dry-sumped though. It wasn't a standard fitmentEither way once you they get under your skin you wont enjoy anything normal again
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