Caterham build quality

[porson11]

Collected my new fully built 7 a few weeks ago, and only just had time to give it a good look over in daylight. I’m very disappointed in the build quality. Nothing wrong with the components, just scratches, nicks and chips everywhere indicative of a sloppy assembly and careless use of tools. I’ll be sending a list of problems to Caterham, but just wondered if this is the norm and my expectations are too high?

[David Long]

IMHO Caterham regard the car as a means to deliver their real product - the driving experience! Those who buy expecting more are generally disappointed. No excuses for poor work though! Get them to sort out any issues.

[BertBert]

when my kit was delivered in 2001, there were quite a lot of scrapes on the bottom of the chassis. I was not impressed. Mind you as it was an R500, there was much more fun to come after that! Still love 'em though.

Bert

[Purespeed]

Porson, yes I think your expectations are too high. You have bought a car that is put together with hand tools by human beings and not robots. I'd just get in and use it. or If just can't put up with it then you will have to buy a kit and either give it to someone like Mick Atree to build it or do it yourself. After all the factory guys will have a set number of hours to do it in and you can take your time and do a proper job of the build . This is exactly what I did after seeing a few factory built cars. It always makes me laugh when someone puts "factory built" on a for sale advert, I think well that’s worth less then...


Jason

Edited by Purespeed on Friday 15th April 20:42

[downsman]

I think Jason has a point there. I don't envy the factory guys having to make them to a deadline.

If the scratched paint is near the top front damper bolts.....they are a right pain to fit, and I chipped the paint on mine there.
Of course, then one of the dampers started leaking so I had to do it all again!

Shame you're not happy though.

Duncan

[anonymous-user]

It's built to be driven, not to be looked at.
As other have said, they're assembled by hand in a small industrial. Consider the marks as character.

[ChrisG C2S]

My car is a kit which I built myself but I have to agree with the original post to a certain extent. It arrived in a lorry plonked on top of the component boxes and had a few wee marks about it before I started. Having been down to Caterham Midlands I was surprised at some of the marks on a recently finished 'factory' car. I don't think it is expecting too much to have no faults on a car costing the wrong side of £35k.

That being said, I've had great aftersales support during and post build with a few snags. I really can't fault Caterham Cars.

I'm going to have to get over my car polishing/OCD hangover if I'm going to enjoy the car to the full!

[Steve-B]

porson11 said:

Nothing wrong with the components, just scratches, nicks and chips everywhere indicative of a sloppy assembly and careless use of tools. I’ll be sending a list of problems to Caterham, but just wondered if this is the norm and my expectations are too high?

If you nick the car, blemish it, etc whilst assembly I'd say that's down to you. Given the factory charges a premium to avoid things like that, a friendly call should sort it out. Give them a chance to see the information, and ask them for a respray if there's that much damage. I'd be more
than a bit shocked if there were more than 2 or 3 nicks .....

[huwp]

Three years of ownership from new (factory built) and:-

Two gearboxes (the first had an oil leak) and a further re-build due to faulty bearings
Three radiators
Replacement ARB
Replacement lambda sensor
Replacement rev counter

And despite all that I still get a buzz every time I start it up.

Oh, and I forgot it came with a big scratch on the scuttle which CC weren't bothered about.

[J DAVIES]

Bought CC Midlands x demo R300 which is obviously factory built, I am not impressed with the prep before I took delivery. There were some stone chips on the nose cone which they decided to respray so to keep the cost low they only sprayed half and masked it off to the black stripes. When I got the car home the rest of the car was full of overspray. I know the car is second hand but for £30 k I would expect better prep. I wouldn't buy another car from them.

[sam919]

The buyer has bought the privelage to decide the cars fate, it should be 100% right. They have been doing this for years now so some quality control should be high on the agenda.

[rubystone]

sam919 said:

The buyer has bought the privelage to decide the cars fate, it should be 100% right. They have been doing this for years now so some quality control should be high on the agenda.

100percent agree. After all, Morgans are hand built and they seem to avoid the issues that are mentioned here. I think it's churlish to ask the OP to forgive Caterham's poor quality control on the basis of the final result. Caterham may be lucky in that most people consider their product to be a kit car and thus have lower expectations of build quality, but I am sure that Ansar Ali doesn't perceive his product in this way.

[2slo]

What Caterham must be aware of is that their cars compete on price with other manufacturers sports cars, whether or not the Caterham buyer would consider anything else. I've had a Morgan (which was immaculate on delivery with no faults at all) currently have a Mercedes SLK (the same) and I seriously considered a Porsche Cayman before ordering a Caterham.

Now I accept that the Caterham is the purer driving experience and buyers tend to buy them more for driving than polishing, but I wouldn't accept compromises in build quality or faults on delivery based on any kit car heritage as was suggested above. When you pay, in some cases over £50k, you have every right to expect to receive a fault and blemish free car, hand built or otherwise. Metallic paint on a Caterham? £1500 or more.

The two extremes of this are Morgan as I mentioned above and at the other end of the scale Westfield. Many of us will remember the car Jason Plato tested on 5th Gear and the wonky bits of trim he was holding up. Now I've heard people making excuses about how the factory should never have allowed that car out in such a state, the fact is though, they did! If a demo car for a national TV programme was that bad, what chance would a customer have? I wonder how many people were put off Westfield watching that?

From what I've seen Caterham sit somewhere between these two extremes and on the whole owners are positive about CC putting faults right after cars are delivered. Thats all well and good but, for those of us who live a long way from either of CC's two UK bases, I've got to hope my car is right from when I pick it up.

Mark.

Edited by 2slo on Sunday 17th April 10:48

[ChrisG C2S]

To Caterham's defence, distance doesn't have to be an issue. I live up in the North East of Scotland and I've managed to resolve the issues I have with them by them sending out replacement parts. I accept I have to fit them myself. Mind you I'm not to happy about my diff noise (no surprises many will say) and I'm not sure how to go about challenging that.

[2slo]

ChrisG C2S said:

To Caterham's defence, distance doesn't have to be an issue. I live up in the North East of Scotland and I've managed to resolve the issues I have with them by them sending out replacement parts. I accept I have to fit them myself. Mind you I'm not to happy about my diff noise (no surprises many will say) and I'm not sure how to go about challenging that.

Have you got the BMW diff Chris?

[Markp13]

The sigma I was out in the other week had a terrible whine from the diff around 35-40mph then it disappeared as you pushed on. Is this a common thing?

I noticed the k series car never suffered from it though, it only required a seventh gear.

[Smollet]

Markp13 said:

The sigma I was out in the other week had a terrible whine from the diff around 35-40mph then it disappeared as you pushed on. Is this a common thing?

It is if you have an LSD.

[ChrisG C2S]

2slo said:

Have you got the BMW diff Chris?

No, older Ford type I'm afraid.

[s2t]

2slo said:

The two extremes of this are Morgan as I mentioned above and at the other end of the scale Westfield. Many of us will remember the car Jason Plato tested on 5th Gear and the wonky bits of trim he was holding up. Now I've heard people making excuses about how the factory should never have allowed that car out in such a state, the fact is though, they did! If a demo car for a national TV programme was that bad, what chance would a customer have? I wonder how many people were put off Westfield watching that?
Mark.

Edited by 2slo on Sunday 17th April 10:48

First of all I agree allowing a car to go on a national TV programme that hasnt been properly checked and reducing the opportunity for negative comment is poor PR management
Speaking as someone who bought a factory built Westfield then I can say my experience was different to that of the infamous 5th gear episode. Yes it is not a BMW finish but the niggles have been rectified by the factory by and large. Certainly any blemishes were rectified to my satisfaction.
Interestingly Westfields approach seems to be we would rather the customer did a 1000 mile test drive produce a snag list which we will sort rather than them doing a 50 mile test drive and resolving the minor niggles.
To a large extent I guess it is your own mind set and expectations.If we wanted a 'proper factory built' sportscar you would buy a Honda S2000 or BMW Z. My personal view if you are buying a Caterham/Westfield then it is because you are looking for something rawer and less cosseted.

[anonymous-user]

Remind me....is this the same forum where a reader was largely dismissed for raising the issue of CC delivering a car covered in road salt and kack after a several-hundred-mile delivery trip?