Help !!!! Caterham or Exige or Elise ??

General General Lotus Talk
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Thanks Mark. I think its a straight choice between the Caterham R300 and the Exige. The New Caterham is the slightly more expensive choice unless I go for one of these well priced private Exiges on offer. As I say I’m not mechnical in anyway and both cars will be a learing curve but I hope both would not give major grief or it would be back to the factor/dealer etc if it did. Which is why the private option ( and yes, I know dealers can sometimes be not forth coming as well ) is just a concern for the novice to all this!! But both have I’m told brill grip though I’d say the Caterham has the grunt advantage ?( may be the EXCaterham owner might shed light ). But the Exige has the practicallity adv. I know this is diff.& depends on how hard and for how long a car is driven but service wise and major bits to replace. What are the milestones that I’d be looking at on a say 4000-10000Mile car be i.e. 30K T-belt?clutch ??

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JohnThe Exige is for all intents & purposes unique. It’s not perfect, but it’s almost practical, & it’s fantastic on track (in wet or dry conditions).The Caterham is nowhere near unique (loads of different models from Caterham themselves, let alone Westfield etc, etc), it’s fantastic on track (in the dry at any rate), but it’s not at all practical for everyday use (in all fairness, it’s not intended to be either).Throw in the Exige’s looks…It’s been said before - if you want an Exige - you just do it. If you don’t feel that you MUST have one, then it’s not for you. That’s not a personal critcism, so no offence meant - every other Exige I’ve met feels the same way. I personally love Caterhams too, but I do prefer my Exige (Yep, I’m an old fart too, Jonny!!!)To emphasise the point, I know someone who has an F40 for trackdays, & he’s over the moon with his recently acquired Exige. He’d seen them on track, & as he says, the rest is history.At the end of the day, any difference in performance between the two cars which you fancy, will be negligable in practical terms. Running costs are also likely to be similar.That’s it - I not saying any more [image]http://www.exiges.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/grin.gif[/image]

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Thanks for that Pesky I know what you mean about if you want one then just do it!! I’m looking at a couple of them tonight and hopefully on Thur. So I’ll either abandon the Exige search and just go Caterham or make someone an offer if I like any of the cars I see in the next couple of days. Thanks again!!

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quote:Originally posted by Pesky:JohnIt’s been said before - if you want an Exige - you just do it. If you don’t feel that you MUST have one, then it’s not for you. [image]http://www.exiges.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/grin.gif[/image]Pesky’s absoloutely right, I remember coming home from a track day at Hethel featuring Elises and Exiges (when I had a Elise 160 Sport) and walking in the front door and saying to the wife “sorry dear but I think we have a problem - I’ve just got to get an Exige” - never looked back - she didn’t get joint custody of the car though [image]http://www.exiges.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/smile.gif[/image]However I am one of the famous 50+ owners club - perhaps it’s an age thing.David[This message has been edited by David Ward (edited 03 September 2002).]

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John,Just a thought regarding buying privatly or through a dealer, you could always buy extended waranty for peace of mind if you went the private route. I saved myself aprox 3-4K on the price. IMO If you pick carefully you should get a well sorted car from someone from this site. For the record I bought my exige from someone this site a year ago and have done 6k and 3 track days and it has not mised a beat.Happy hunting!Regards,Nick.

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Pesky is right - the Exige becomes something that you MUST have.I saw my first one in Aug 2001 (I’m from the other side of the pond) and right then I decided I had to have the Exige.So, about 8 months later I bought one. No regrets yet.

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John DHope you enjoyed your trip in my Exige & that you now appreciate a) the brakes & b)the handling.I saw one 2 years ago & HAD to have one. It either gets you by the heart or it doesn’t. Simple as that.Have fun making your mind up ref Exige v Caterham.Regards,Phil GT

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Hi PhilWas most impressed by your car lastnight. It is as you say a straight choice now. Caterham R300 or Exige Hmmmmm ???Many ThanksJohn D.

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why not have my superlight r for 23K ?400bhp/ton and utterly stonking on the track and it’ll only depreciate a few K every year. Doesn’t go click either.Crap on the road though … way too crazy.Get a nice orange Exige if mainly for road use… one of the best looking cars ever built.

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John D,How are you?How is the R300 you were going to buy?How does it compare with the Exige?Let us know.Regards,Phil GT

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Hi PhilWell I’ve decided to go ther r300 route. I was using the wrong termonolgy i.e. I stupidly used the word ‘practical’ when trying to decide between the Caterham and the lovely, Exige. But what I really want is raw driving experience and power to learn to control both on the track and roads. So the R300 gets it for the sheer driving experience. I’m sure ( cause I haven’t tried the Exige on track ) that both when driven in anger on a track are similar going round the bends etc, but I get such a buzz from the Caterham even at low speeds on the roads. Have to say it was a difficult choice as I really love the look of the Lotus.So I’ll hopefully get my new R300 ( looking just like the Blue one on the Caterham site ) end Oct. Can’t wait.Phil do you have a private email address ? You can contact me on [email protected] if you like.John D.

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" that both when driven in anger on a track are similar going round the bends "no they are very different, caterham very crude compared to teh exige and limit behaviour couldn’t be more different

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i think Pesky said it allone more detail : my wife wanted the car and she made me get one but she warned me never to even think about a Caterham : too dangerous in case of impact - ok on track days you see them with their safetycages all around but that makes them look like an ugly clown in prison - the Exige allways looks like the miss Universe of the cars - why did the McLaren F1 GTR stayed behind me yesterday for half a lap …

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Because you were doing a Fisichella? [image]http://www.exiges.com/ubb/NonCGI/images/icons/smile.gif[/image]Cheers

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I’ll be interested to hear the response to the Caterham R300 ( Track car of the year ) being described as ‘Crude’ on the BlatChat site!Always good to hear different opions though I guess both this and the caterham camps are going to have their obvious differences.My very limited experience in both cars suggest perhaps they both represent the top end of their own respective markets and comparisons are really, just that.

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Ironically Jackal is a Caterham SLR owner…

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John, many of the people on blatchat would Im sure take offence at the word crude 'cos they are still at the “marque worship stage” but some would agree and indicate that some of the reason the caterham design is as it is, is because of heritage. In fact I expressed there recently that i felt that a superlight R is not a very good road car and something like a 340r is much better balanced on the road and WW3 broke loose ! Their theory was that becuase the slr was lot faster, it had to be a better car ???Having owned a 111s, 340r and an SLR and about to buy my 2nd caterham… my personal view is that the nature of the caterham is pretty crude esp. when compared to the chassis, geometry and suspension technology of say the elise. The sublime ride quality/handling balance of an elise, the incredible body control of an esprit etc… this type of Lotus engineering is on another level to that seen in a caterham. Even westfield give them a slagging for still using a deDion tube. Doesn’t make it any more or less of a car though… but those are the facts. Chris, i dont see that as ironic. I’ve gone beyond any kind of blind love phase with car ownership now and regardless of what i own, am happy to realistically and honestly report how good or crap i think something is in certain areas.

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So you use the word Crude in the overall package comparison to the Exige. I have to say that I think they’re chalk and cheese and apart from how they perform on the track I think the concept/experience is just different. I’d make the extreme ( just for effect ) comparision between a rally car and a road legal single seater ( if such a thing existed ). You could go to the shops in the rally car bung the food in the back and then off to the track. Both excelent but very different the rally car is just that a car the other and this is my reason for going with the R300, is that its very different from my normal everyday car and certainly ‘crude’ in comparision. That’s what I think anyway. What are you getting Caterham wise ? and Why??

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john… either a new R400, another low mileage SLR or an ex-race SLR. I am getting it cos i like them for the track very very much and haven’t yet got teh space & time to get a proper singel seater.I think we cross wires here… im not really knocking the caterham and i wasnt talking about teh whole car… but rather how it goes through a bend as you first stated and trying to draw a distiinction whereas you said they would be the same hard in a corner.My only point here is that the suspension/chassis/damping etc… is quite crude compared to the elise in terms of technology (which it is) but i never said that 1) it wasn’t dam good fun and 2) it isn’t devastatingly effectiove however crude in designBut on teh road, teh superior tech of teh elise/exige comes into play and thats why i believe like jonny and others have said, the exige/elise is perhaps the car for you if you are doing a far greater proportion of road mileage. Having said that, looks liek you’ve gone R300 now so I reckon you’ll be doing way more than 4 trackdays a year in any case… you just wait will teh addiction creeps up.have fun

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Had a 7 till last week - a '90 on a q with burton head. Bloody loud and brilliant fun. I will defently have another 7 but right now I am looking at it from another angle Exige or Boxster S . Two v different cars. Exige is raw and also a winter cae unlike a 7. Boxster is v well balanced and handles great. My priorities are fun, depreciation, running costs, insurance costs and handling. Probably will end up with both but at different times. Anyone had any experiences of Boxsters.This is for a weekend car and 4 or so trackdays a yearHelpCrusher