CATERHAM/LOTUS 7 OR TVR GRIFFITH, HELP ME DECIDE!
Discussion
MY DILEMMA:
I HAVE JUST SOLD MY LOTUS ELISE. I HAVE BEEN TO LOOK AT A 5LTR GRIFFITH AND A CATERHAM SUPERSPORT 1.6K AND CANNOT DECIDE BETWEEN THE TWO. I'D REALLY APPRECIATE IT IF ANY OWNERS OF THE ABOVE CARS CAN POST BACK WITH SOME HELPFUL PLUS AND MINUS POINTS ON BOTH CARS, AND IF THERE'S ANYONE WHO HAS OWNED BOTH, AND CAN GIVE A GOOD COMPARISON AND RUNDOWN OF THE PRO'S AND CON'S OF EACH, THAT WOULD BE FANTASTIC!! CHEERS FOLKS!
I HAVE JUST SOLD MY LOTUS ELISE. I HAVE BEEN TO LOOK AT A 5LTR GRIFFITH AND A CATERHAM SUPERSPORT 1.6K AND CANNOT DECIDE BETWEEN THE TWO. I'D REALLY APPRECIATE IT IF ANY OWNERS OF THE ABOVE CARS CAN POST BACK WITH SOME HELPFUL PLUS AND MINUS POINTS ON BOTH CARS, AND IF THERE'S ANYONE WHO HAS OWNED BOTH, AND CAN GIVE A GOOD COMPARISON AND RUNDOWN OF THE PRO'S AND CON'S OF EACH, THAT WOULD BE FANTASTIC!! CHEERS FOLKS!
What did you like & what did you dislike about your Elise? That might give us a clue....Why did you sell it?
The Caterham is going to be like your Elise, only more so (fits like a shoe, instinctive handling, cramped)
The Griff on the other hand is going to feel like a very fast, very scarey "floaty boat" compared to the Elise.
The Caterham is going to be like your Elise, only more so (fits like a shoe, instinctive handling, cramped)
The Griff on the other hand is going to feel like a very fast, very scarey "floaty boat" compared to the Elise.
Depends on how practical you need to be - Elise S1 great to drive difficult to get partner in and out of;
TVR great to drive, relatively expensive to run, easy to get in and out of, Caterham (or in my case Westfield SEight) more grin per spin than either of the above but don't get caught in the rain or want to carry a passenger for more than 5 miles unless they're as mentally deficient as you (and me)
TVR great to drive, relatively expensive to run, easy to get in and out of, Caterham (or in my case Westfield SEight) more grin per spin than either of the above but don't get caught in the rain or want to carry a passenger for more than 5 miles unless they're as mentally deficient as you (and me)
let me help, had cerbera speed 6, 3 blown engines in 13 months. 8-9 months sitting in blackpool.
get rid of decrepid cerbera.
bought caterham SV with VHPD engine. tweaked engine / exhaust to 210bhp.
9,000 99.9 % trouble free miles.
with money saved, bought 5 month old M5 from local forecourt.
still money ahead, twice the fun all the time.
no niggles, cars being gone for seemingly ever, lots of fun.
YMMV
get rid of decrepid cerbera.
bought caterham SV with VHPD engine. tweaked engine / exhaust to 210bhp.
9,000 99.9 % trouble free miles.
with money saved, bought 5 month old M5 from local forecourt.
still money ahead, twice the fun all the time.
no niggles, cars being gone for seemingly ever, lots of fun.
YMMV
the cerb experience isn't really relevant IMO.
different engine ( tvr's own ), and everyone around tvrs knows that they had problems initially, but my chief has a 4.2 ( for the past year ) and has had no major issues.
i drove a griff 500 and wanted one right away, but BE CAREFUL, as they are a handful when you forget just how much power you have under your right foot. i lost the one i borrowed for a while, in the dry, due to the massive level of torque. caught it though
lovely cars and wish i had one.
however you do need to look after them and the cooling system is marginal as standard ( though there are plenty of mods around to sort that if the system is basically working ok ).
on the other hand i still hanker after an elise, and would still like to ( and may, in a year or two ), build a caterham myself. this is mainly because i will then be able to fix it myself, as i will know where everything is, and the bits should be pretty cheap for the k-series.
otherwise the driving experience will be quite different, and what others have said about covers it.
don't believe what you hear about the 500 being grumpy in traffic - they are not ( though individual cars maybe ). cracking cars all the way around IMO.
different engine ( tvr's own ), and everyone around tvrs knows that they had problems initially, but my chief has a 4.2 ( for the past year ) and has had no major issues.
i drove a griff 500 and wanted one right away, but BE CAREFUL, as they are a handful when you forget just how much power you have under your right foot. i lost the one i borrowed for a while, in the dry, due to the massive level of torque. caught it though
lovely cars and wish i had one.
however you do need to look after them and the cooling system is marginal as standard ( though there are plenty of mods around to sort that if the system is basically working ok ).
on the other hand i still hanker after an elise, and would still like to ( and may, in a year or two ), build a caterham myself. this is mainly because i will then be able to fix it myself, as i will know where everything is, and the bits should be pretty cheap for the k-series.
otherwise the driving experience will be quite different, and what others have said about covers it.
don't believe what you hear about the 500 being grumpy in traffic - they are not ( though individual cars maybe ). cracking cars all the way around IMO.
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