Another "thoughts on a car please" thread
Discussion
Can anyone offer words of wisdom on the following car:
http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/2201706.htm
It is at my local Lotus dealer and I will go have a look at it at the weekend. I have a good relationship with the Dealer, but I don't really know enough about Caterham R300s to know whether the price is in the right ballpark or whether the spec has any glaring plus or minus points or if there is anything specific I need to ask about.
Also, is there a ballpark figure for the price of a change of colour respray on these cars?
Cheers in advance.
http://www.pistonheads.co.uk/sales/2201706.htm
It is at my local Lotus dealer and I will go have a look at it at the weekend. I have a good relationship with the Dealer, but I don't really know enough about Caterham R300s to know whether the price is in the right ballpark or whether the spec has any glaring plus or minus points or if there is anything specific I need to ask about.
Also, is there a ballpark figure for the price of a change of colour respray on these cars?
Cheers in advance.
Spec looks the biz to me. It's not dry-sumped, but has the standard apollo tank. That's ok unless you plan to do lots of track work on slicks.
I'm not as geeky as I used to be, but is that the k-series with throttle bodies version, rather than the VVC version? The early R300s were done like that which appeals to me.
It has a 7 workshop sticker on, so possibly looked after by known good people. Looks brill. It's a toppy price for a 6 year old car, but not that bad. Negotiate a price below 20k and looks good to me.
As a personal pov, I wouldn't change the colour (not because I like the colour specifically), but it's just money and effort to get a proper job done, it'll never be original and you should spend that money on track days or tours!
Bert
I'm not as geeky as I used to be, but is that the k-series with throttle bodies version, rather than the VVC version? The early R300s were done like that which appeals to me.
It has a 7 workshop sticker on, so possibly looked after by known good people. Looks brill. It's a toppy price for a 6 year old car, but not that bad. Negotiate a price below 20k and looks good to me.
As a personal pov, I wouldn't change the colour (not because I like the colour specifically), but it's just money and effort to get a proper job done, it'll never be original and you should spend that money on track days or tours!
Bert
Thanks to both. Any other thoughts welcome 
My use wouldn't really be heavy track stuff. Perhaps the occasional day at Knockhill but would more likely be something for a sunny sunday cross country blat for lunch somewhere and back. I did think the price was high(ish) but after a browse around the various classifieds it seems that they do seem to have a certain value.
Another question: Does the wet weather gear fit in the "boot" or do you have to decide before leaving home whether it will get wet?
My use wouldn't really be heavy track stuff. Perhaps the occasional day at Knockhill but would more likely be something for a sunny sunday cross country blat for lunch somewhere and back. I did think the price was high(ish) but after a browse around the various classifieds it seems that they do seem to have a certain value.
Another question: Does the wet weather gear fit in the "boot" or do you have to decide before leaving home whether it will get wet?
BertBert said:
As a personal pov, I wouldn't change the colour (not because I like the colour specifically), but it's just money and effort to get a proper job done, it'll never be original and you should spend that money on track days or tours!
Agreed. If you're looking for a specific colour then buy a car in that colour to start with... it will be cheaper and you won't have DVLA colour change on the V5/HPC check.We spent 15 month's loking for car for Swmbo. IMO it's way OTT on price.
Colour suits the car but Yellow is a common colour on 7's, So if I bought it I'd get the nosecone and wings sprayed another colour to make the car stand out from the crowd
cheap to get the wings and nose sprayed coz you can remove 'em, and either spray 'em yourself or take 'em to the local spray shop, shouldn't cost more than £100 either way. and after that you have a car which is different.
I think you'll be lucky to knock much off the price -it's a dealer and we all know what they are like
- you're better off looking privately - good luck
Colour suits the car but Yellow is a common colour on 7's, So if I bought it I'd get the nosecone and wings sprayed another colour to make the car stand out from the crowd
cheap to get the wings and nose sprayed coz you can remove 'em, and either spray 'em yourself or take 'em to the local spray shop, shouldn't cost more than £100 either way. and after that you have a car which is different. I think you'll be lucky to knock much off the price -it's a dealer and we all know what they are like
- you're better off looking privately - good luckrenmure said:
Another question: Does the wet weather gear fit in the "boot" or do you have to decide before leaving home whether it will get wet?
Yes, easily. You can get a hood-bag that straps to the rollbar and rests on top of the boot-cover and the roof rolls up into that. The boot is actually pretty good for the size of the car, provided you pack in squashy bags 
S47 said:
I'd get the nosecone and wings sprayed another colour to make the car stand out from the crowd cheap to get the wings and nose sprayed coz you can remove 'em, and either spray 'em yourself or take 'em to the local spray shop, shouldn't cost more than £100 either way.
It certainly wouldn't be worth £20k after that modification - who the hell's doing your paintwork? It's got to be either Stevie Wonder or the Dulux dog at that rate. cheap to get the wings and nose sprayed coz you can remove 'em, and either spray 'em yourself or take 'em to the local spray shop, shouldn't cost more than £100 either way.sfaulds said:
S47 said:
I'd get the nosecone and wings sprayed another colour to make the car stand out from the crowd cheap to get the wings and nose sprayed coz you can remove 'em, and either spray 'em yourself or take 'em to the local spray shop, shouldn't cost more than £100 either way.
It certainly wouldn't be worth £20k after that modification - who the hell's doing your paintwork? It's got to be either Stevie Wonder or the Dulux dog at that rate. cheap to get the wings and nose sprayed coz you can remove 'em, and either spray 'em yourself or take 'em to the local spray shop, shouldn't cost more than £100 either way.
That's a lot of money for a K R300, but it's a stealer.
In terms of cost to respray, strip it yourself, all suspension off, seats out, cage/bar off, lights etc off, no need to remove engine/g/box & get it to Tony the brush at TSK in Dartford. £1200 full back to bare metal respray, you won't find a better 7 painter anywhere.
In terms of cost to respray, strip it yourself, all suspension off, seats out, cage/bar off, lights etc off, no need to remove engine/g/box & get it to Tony the brush at TSK in Dartford. £1200 full back to bare metal respray, you won't find a better 7 painter anywhere.
sfaulds said:
S47 said:
I'd get the nosecone and wings sprayed another colour to make the car stand out from the crowd cheap to get the wings and nose sprayed coz you can remove 'em, and either spray 'em yourself or take 'em to the local spray shop, shouldn't cost more than £100 either way.
It certainly wouldn't be worth £20k after that modification - who the hell's doing your paintwork? It's got to be either Stevie Wonder or the Dulux dog at that rate. cheap to get the wings and nose sprayed coz you can remove 'em, and either spray 'em yourself or take 'em to the local spray shop, shouldn't cost more than £100 either way.
Stu.
Hi Renmure
That's a very nice R300 with a great spec especially with LSD. Nice low mileage and in a unique shade of yellow too which is rare, the big advantage with yellow is that the car will be very visible to other motorists especially at night so from a safety point of view i wouldn't dismiss the yellow at all. The price is good for a dealer as Caterham would probably sell it for around 22k but you could haggle over the stone chips to get the price down a bit and being a Lotus dealer you may well get a decent years warranty thrown in too...Caterham only do 3 months..if you wanted to make the car look a bit different then get a set of Superlight stripes added in your choice of colour for £100 from Caterham...so to sum up, go for it, it's a Peach
That's a very nice R300 with a great spec especially with LSD. Nice low mileage and in a unique shade of yellow too which is rare, the big advantage with yellow is that the car will be very visible to other motorists especially at night so from a safety point of view i wouldn't dismiss the yellow at all. The price is good for a dealer as Caterham would probably sell it for around 22k but you could haggle over the stone chips to get the price down a bit and being a Lotus dealer you may well get a decent years warranty thrown in too...Caterham only do 3 months..if you wanted to make the car look a bit different then get a set of Superlight stripes added in your choice of colour for £100 from Caterham...so to sum up, go for it, it's a Peach
Edited by StEVEN7 on Friday 29th October 22:26
There is no mention of service history which I would want to check out for that sort of money.
Agree with comments on colour, leave as is, original is always best.
Currently sits on 15 inch wheels which you will probably want to change for 13's in the near future. Price seems a little steep, I would be wanting to get as near to £20k as possible
Agree with comments on colour, leave as is, original is always best.
Currently sits on 15 inch wheels which you will probably want to change for 13's in the near future. Price seems a little steep, I would be wanting to get as near to £20k as possible
Couple of points - IMO price is too rich, by about £1.5k at the v. least.
It states in the spec that's it's got a stack dash but the pohotos show otherwise.
I have the same spec car & love it, but I bought mine 4 years ago for a lot less than that....& from a dealer...& with a good PX price too
It states in the spec that's it's got a stack dash but the pohotos show otherwise.
I have the same spec car & love it, but I bought mine 4 years ago for a lot less than that....& from a dealer...& with a good PX price too
Thanks to everyone for the advice.
I went through to see it yesterday.
Unfortunately the sales folk were all really busy and I did turn up unannounced so there wasn't any opportunity to go over paperwork or have a test drive.
However, 1st impressions were that it was... ok. There were perhaps a few more little scuffs and stone chips than I was expecting, but that might be me being unrealistic. Have to confess that getting into the seat was fairly "neat" but once in position it was comfortable enough. There was a nice "pop" when I squeezed my bum out the seat. Anyhow, the deal isn't quite dead.
I went through to see it yesterday.
Unfortunately the sales folk were all really busy and I did turn up unannounced so there wasn't any opportunity to go over paperwork or have a test drive.
However, 1st impressions were that it was... ok. There were perhaps a few more little scuffs and stone chips than I was expecting, but that might be me being unrealistic. Have to confess that getting into the seat was fairly "neat" but once in position it was comfortable enough. There was a nice "pop" when I squeezed my bum out the seat. Anyhow, the deal isn't quite dead.
I took a look at this car in Jan when it was for sale in Swindon (dealers name escapes me). Glad to see the person who bought it changed the Avon ZV3's the dealer put on in. I will check when I get home but I think it's done about 3000 miles since I saw it and the price is either the same or increased a little...
PC7 said:
Might be worth a chat with Chris at the 7 workshop re service history?
01992 470480
Cheers. I have given him a ring and he is going to get back to me with some info 01992 470480
Ca11um said:
I took a look at this car in Jan when it was for sale in Swindon (dealers name escapes me). Glad to see the person who bought it changed the Avon ZV3's the dealer put on in. I will check when I get home but I think it's done about 3000 miles since I saw it and the price is either the same or increased a little...
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