Caterham v Westfield - Whats the difference??
Discussion
You have to try some cars really. I am a Caterham owner and have never driven a Westie.
Note that recently there was a joint meeting of the WSCC and the L7C at Curborough sprint course; the fastest induvidial cars were Westies, collective points tally went to the Caterhams.
The rivalry is friendly and the banter accepted.
Note that recently there was a joint meeting of the WSCC and the L7C at Curborough sprint course; the fastest induvidial cars were Westies, collective points tally went to the Caterhams.
The rivalry is friendly and the banter accepted.
I've had a lot of experience of Caterhams and Westfields (and other sevens), you tend to get a wider diversity of engines/drivetrains with Westfields/other sevens as a lot are self built rather than assembled to a standard spec. like Caterhams. Caterhams tend to be more expensive but hold ther value well as they are generally built from new componentry wherease many Westfields are built from donor vehicles which are of necessity already well and truly secondhand. With Caterhams you tend to know more what you are buying as the specifications and models are well known and understood.
The quickest NA seven I know of is a Westfield with a near 290BHP K series. That said, some of the more powerful later K and Duratec Caterhams are fearsome.
Dave
The quickest NA seven I know of is a Westfield with a near 290BHP K series. That said, some of the more powerful later K and Duratec Caterhams are fearsome.
Dave
I think that Westfields are a bit more fibreglass than the Caterham and you are buying into the heritage bit with the Caterham. I have owned both but to be fair my Westfield was a Pre-litigation Seven some years ago and my Caterham is a late nineties model. The westfields are definitely more bespoke than Caterhams and when I was looking for mine it was quite easy to navigate through the range as Dave says. My local hillclimb is Loton park and the various class records are traded between Westield and Caterham. I think that to me it boils down to knowing that you have a really quick car and then justifying to all and sundry why you bought it instead of a Caterham 
, or owning a Caterham and not having to say how much better than all the clones it is 
I always wanted a Seven and when I could just afford it I bought a Westfield and set about trying to make it look like a Seven. I even bought a Lotus badge for it.
Years later I could afford it again and bought a Caterham
, or owning a Caterham and not having to say how much better than all the clones it is I always wanted a Seven and when I could just afford it I bought a Westfield and set about trying to make it look like a Seven. I even bought a Lotus badge for it.
Years later I could afford it again and bought a Caterham
IMO, the Caterham is less "kittish" than a westie. By that, I mean more caterhams are built to spec, and less end user customisation tends to go on.
With westies, the spread of different parts / donors / specs means hat there is a much wider sread of cars. With that spread in mind, a poor westie is less good than a caterham, and a very good westie will outperform a Caterham.
With regards to values, if resale easily is your thing, I'd go Caterham. Since they are more standard, they are easier to commit to buying (you don't need to be an expert), hence a bigger target market.
Either way you opt to go, you'll not have more fun on 4 wheels =)
With westies, the spread of different parts / donors / specs means hat there is a much wider sread of cars. With that spread in mind, a poor westie is less good than a caterham, and a very good westie will outperform a Caterham.
With regards to values, if resale easily is your thing, I'd go Caterham. Since they are more standard, they are easier to commit to buying (you don't need to be an expert), hence a bigger target market.
Either way you opt to go, you'll not have more fun on 4 wheels =)
GetCarter said:
This is easy. Caterhams cost lots more but hold more value.
Ah, that old chestnut...Actually, if you do the sums you'll find that whilst you'll lose a smaller percentage of value on a new Caterham, because they're so much more expensive in the first place, you'll usually lose more actual money.
And that's without factoring in the interest on the money that you'd have made/saved if you'd either invested it or didn't borrow it.
There is no financial advantage to buying a Caterham.
Sorry.
Sam_68 said:
GetCarter said:
This is easy. Caterhams cost lots more but hold more value.
Ah, that old chestnut...Actually, if you do the sums you'll find that whilst you'll lose a smaller percentage of value on a new Caterham, because they're so much more expensive in the first place, you'll usually lose more actual money.
And that's without factoring in the interest on the money that you'd have made/saved if you'd either invested it or didn't borrow it.
There is no financial advantage to buying a Caterham.
Sorry.
ETA... which would I prefer to own? Even easier.
Edited by GetCarter on Saturday 18th September 20:07
Sam_68 said:
GetCarter said:
This is easy. Caterhams cost lots more but hold more value.
Ah, that old chestnut...Actually, if you do the sums you'll find that whilst you'll lose a smaller percentage of value on a new Caterham, because they're so much more expensive in the first place, you'll usually lose more actual money.
And that's without factoring in the interest on the money that you'd have made/saved if you'd either invested it or didn't borrow it.
There is no financial advantage to buying a Caterham.
Sorry.
My own experience - I wanted a track slag - it didn't have to look pretty but I wanted lots of bang for buck, so I bought a bike engined westie, because I'd have to double my money to get a caterham remotely close to the performance. Caterhams do look better, are generally built better and are a lot more standard. The comment above that Westfields are more "kittish" is correct - they come with a far wider combination of parts etc - I like this as I feel it gives more freedom as what is acceptable modification, others wont like this.
If you want heritage, looks, build quality, standardisation I'd definitely go for Caterham - if you like to tinker more, and want pure bang for buck then I'd go westfield - both are great cars of a similar vein but have their strength and weaknesses.
Sam_68 said:
GetCarter said:
This is easy. Caterhams cost lots more but hold more value.
Ah, that old chestnut...Actually, if you do the sums you'll find that whilst you'll lose a smaller percentage of value on a new Caterham, because they're so much more expensive in the first place, you'll usually lose more actual money.
And that's without factoring in the interest on the money that you'd have made/saved if you'd either invested it or didn't borrow it.
There is no financial advantage to buying a Caterham.
Sorry.
Stu.
redmire said:
How is a Westie quicker than a Caterham???
Golf Juliet Tang said:
Note that recently there was a joint meeting of the WSCC and the L7C at Curborough sprint course; the fastest induvidual cars were Westies
redmire said:
...my money is on the Caterham! 
You'd have lost. 
Like for like in terms of technical spec is just about impossible to assess; even with identical engines, suspension set-up would make the biggest difference.
Cost for cost, the Westfield is likely to win (if competently set-up), because the price of even a moderately specced Caterham will buy you a lot more power and trick suspension on a Westfield. But as others have said, you'll need to know what you're doing to extract best benefit from them: the Westie isn't quite as Airfix-kit like as the Caterham. If you don't know what you're doing, best to stick to the Caterham.
In either case, pissing competitions about performance are fairly academic: the limitations of the basic 'Seven' design mean that if you want to win races (apart from against other Sevens), you'll be wanting something like a Radical or, at the very least, something like a Sylva Phoenix/Fisher Fury that doesn't have the aerodynamics of a brick s
thouse.Well, I have wanted to own a Seven since the early 60s. I gave serious consideration to the pre-litigation Westfield until said litigation put an end to that possibility. Try as I might to like the subsequent Westfields and I just couldn't. For me, something clad in plastic doesn't quite do it.
So I waited till I could afford the real thing and I'm pleased with that. As for the cost of ownership, the depreciation on a Caterham is glacial - you are going to loose way more on your top-top every year so it's not much of an issue.
So I waited till I could afford the real thing and I'm pleased with that. As for the cost of ownership, the depreciation on a Caterham is glacial - you are going to loose way more on your top-top every year so it's not much of an issue.
Colin Mill said:
...the depreciation on a Caterham is glacial - you are going to loose way more on your top-top every year so it's not much of an issue.
It depends where you catch them on their depreciation curve. The sensible thing to do with all highly specialised cars is to buy them when they are a few years old, as the depreciation tends to bottom out quite early.Having said which, another part of the self delusion/self justification mechanism most people use is to work out yearly depreciation on these sorts of cars, which both neatly sidesteps the fact that they tend to do very limited mileage and writes of a fair chunk of depreciation against inflation.
If you bought a high-spec Caterham new, just don't ever work out the depreciation per mile, adjusted against inflation - it will ruin your whole day and make buying a Kia Ceed with full options look like a sound financial investment.
Bottom end for a Caterham is what, £6000 ? Caterham is maybe £7000 ?
Of course the R500 Evos make the upper limit a lot higher, but you get Seights at £25,000 which is where a lot of Caterhams slot in.
2nd BEC Caterhams can be had for very good money.
So the blanket statement of "Westfields are much cheaper" really does sound like a troll.
Of course, self built cars never ever factor in the "free" labour costs. So you never see the true depreciation of something you "spent" hundreds of hours building. Write if off as fun if you like, but it isn't comparing the same thing.
Neither Caterham nor Westfield have put each other out of business over the decades. So one must conclude they are both doing something right.
The trick is figuring out what you want from the car, and then choosing.
Of course the R500 Evos make the upper limit a lot higher, but you get Seights at £25,000 which is where a lot of Caterhams slot in.
2nd BEC Caterhams can be had for very good money.
So the blanket statement of "Westfields are much cheaper" really does sound like a troll.
Of course, self built cars never ever factor in the "free" labour costs. So you never see the true depreciation of something you "spent" hundreds of hours building. Write if off as fun if you like, but it isn't comparing the same thing.
Neither Caterham nor Westfield have put each other out of business over the decades. So one must conclude they are both doing something right.
The trick is figuring out what you want from the car, and then choosing.
Sam_68 said:
Colin Mill said:
...the depreciation on a Caterham is glacial - you are going to loose way more on your top-top every year so it's not much of an issue.
If you bought a high-spec Caterham new, just don't ever work out the depreciation per mile, adjusted against inflationGoing back to the OP question, not a lot of difference except price, so on that basis if price is your first consideration then Westy, if heritage is your thing with price secondary then Caterham. I Love my Caterham but I also have a real soft spot for Westfield and looked at them when I was looking for my 7. Try both as both companies have demonstrators and make your own mind up. Hire one or go to the local club meet and get a ride. As for spec, it won't be long before you upgrade either 
If you need a bit of persuasion into the light thoughlook at this and look at the class records
http://www.hdlcc.com/images/uploaded/5336461_51948...
Sylva nah
Westy nah
Fisher nah
Caterham
If you need a bit of persuasion into the light though
look at this and look at the class recordshttp://www.hdlcc.com/images/uploaded/5336461_51948...
Sylva nah
Westy nah
Fisher nah
Caterham
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