Hello Folks,
First impressions of the car after driving it all day, coming as an ex fast caterham owner
Easy to drive round town. Clutch is a doddle.
Engine is 190thingumajig with an aftermarket sports exhaust (don’t know what type yet), pulls well, sounds great on throttle blip and tickover, sounds just noisy over 5000rpm no real note to it. Not a particularly nice tune it plays but I’m sure I’ll learn to love it.
Handling is exceptional, especially turn in, feels less dancy and more planted than the Caterham especially on country roads. On a track I would say it would be a close run thing handling wise.
Not enough power for wild full lock action in the dry, but in the damp it seems to be chuckable.
Cabin is comfy and warm, and has a radio that I can actually hear! Amazing. Oooo OoOoo and a heater!
Brakes have been uprated and have all the right bits, braded hoses, vented disks, racey pads, but are not a patch on Caterham for stopping power and feel (2* the weight I suppose). Not confidence inspiring. That’ll be the first bit of fettling. Coming from a competition background this is the thing I found most dissapointing.
Old car was 230bhp and 500kg, so I guess I can’t compare for raw grunt and acceleration. Exige is as expected in this regard, thumbs up
Felt like I was driving round with a big neon sign saying “look at me!” but then I did buy a yellow one! No negative coments on looks, even from peeps who frowned when I said it would be yella. Had about 20 pics taken on mobile phones by young kids to old geezers. Well Cool
Its actually harder to get in and out than the Caterham, more of an origami excersize, but my belly is an acceptable distance from steering wheel.
So, to summarize : Well Chuffed with it all, except the brakes which need work.