Bye bye Discovery 4, best family car we’ve ever owned.
And to replace it? Hello Discovery 4...
Great service from the Jack at Inchcape Land Rover in York, with the added bonus of some watch chat... nice milgauss mate!
Yep that’ll be it. Yours looks good too. Don’t see many silver NAs
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Bye bye Discovery 4, best family car we’ve ever owned.
And to replace it? Hello Discovery 4...
Great service from the Jack at Inchcape Land Rover in York, with the added bonus of some watch chat... nice milgauss mate!
Re the Macan Turbo - am noticing more and more fast small SUVs, a niche I wouldn't have expected to take off in the way it has. I see loads of SQ5s and now Audi are pushing an RSQ5.
Curious as to which type of car the above are cannibalising sales from? M5s and RS6s? Presumably greater compliance on terrible roads and the higher driving position, which has is almost more attractive to women drivers.
In fact while writing this I realised that a friend has done exactly that - sold an E61 M5 and replaced with a Macan S, with much pressure from his OH to opt for it over an F10 M5.
My everyday car is a dull Lexus IS250, its great at its job of getting me to and from work in comfort but it isn't very exciting. Fun weekend cars are a Porsche 944 S2 and a (forever broken) Triumph GT6 MK 1
I don't think it's just women drivers. The cars are more comfortable like you say but also new 'sporty' cars (let's face it, most new cars seem to be a normal diesel car with bolt on tat) are getting lower and stiffer to the detriment of ride quality. It's harder to get in and out of the bucket like seats fitted to them. The fast SUV offers comfort, ease of ingress/egress and that slightly higher viewpoint. With modern electronics and clever bits you can have a big heavy car perform like a smaller lighter sports car.
Did you build it yourself? Is it the Ford engine?
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I prefer to be low rather than high (always feel like I’m sat on a bench in an suv). Agree with the overly stiff suspension however. I had an Octavia VRS a while back. Great car but you felt the bumps!
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Lovely looking car
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Very very jealous!!!
The steering wheel on that Caterham is really small!
Lovely
Can you build me one?
It's just a matter of time...
Had Herman for just over 3yrs now, my favourite car ever
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Cool.
But seriously, what would you estimate the time and cost to be to do a half decent job on one. Looks great. I’ve always wanted to try a Caterham, and I’ assume working one for maintenance after a build would be fairly straight forward compared to a more modern car.
Ive quite enjoyed doing a few bits on my cars in more recent years - even serviced two of my bikes myself this weekend :)
It's just a matter of time...
I did mine in 5 months, just working on it on most Saturdays and sometimes a couple of hours on Sundays, completely on my own except bleeding the brakes and when putting the engine in with
the hoist.
Cost is more difficult I bought quite a few extra tools (I probably went a bit over the top on the tools but did make it easier) plus some insulation material and spray on corrosion protector and a few other bits but didn’t keep a record of costs. I also bought a couple of mobile axle stands which were great as meant could move the car around in the garage giving me plenty of room whatever part of the car I needed to work on and also lifts the car higher than standard ones which was also very useful. Also bought an engine hoist and high lift jack but I sold all these after I had finished and didn’t lose much on them. Buying then selling the engine hoist cost me less than hiring one for a couple of weeks.
if you have some way of transporting the car to Caterham to do the post build check and are ok trying to get the car through the IVA test yourself then the in theory all it will cost you is the price of the test
and first registration and road tax which is £310.
however I got them to pick up the car and put it through the IVA and even though they know the cars backwards it took 3 attempts to pass because of front/back brake balance, if they do it you only pay for 1 test and don’t pay for the work to get it through. Also I believe most cars require some kind of work after the post build check they said mine was very good(although may say that to everyone) mine just needed some tidying up of the electrics cabling and they didn’t like they way I had attached the front wings and readjusted the handbrake plus I asked them to re bleed the brakes and clutch and adjust the headlights and ride height, you have to pay for work after the post build check.
For the pick up and SVA test it was £580 and work after the post build check was just over £300
could have got away with less on this if I hadn’t asked them to do a few of the things.
Overall you probably save very little building it yourself over the ready built price, although haven’t compared them recently, but think most people don’t go down the kit route to save money, Certainly
isnt why I did it.
You get a 2 year warranty but as you built it only on parts and would expect you to fit most things yourself but if it involves engine or gearbox removal then they assist.
It's a difficult one, as long as the preventative work is done then the running costs are not unreasonable. The earlier 3.4's are a safer bet as they very rarely suffer bore scoring compared to the later 3.6 and have the dual row IMS. There are many out there with moon mileage on the original engine. Too many online horror stories, the earlier 997's are a much more scarier proposition I think in terms of running costs (especially the 'S' 3.8)
I think you can't really go wrong with one of these if you choose wisely, setup with fresh suspension they are an amazing analogue steer, however saying all of that in some ways a properly sorted boxster (986) is as good a steer and in some ways more fun. This is the thing I found many of the parts are interchangeable with the 986 but you are still paying Porsche prices so thought a no-brainer to go for the 996 as maintenance is broadly the same
Hi Paul, we drove there and the wife was going to wait and drive back together but she then decided to go straight back and went off with the doors in the back and hadn’t bought her phone...was a very buffeting drive home on the M25, couldn’t keep my cap on either so have a rather red top of the head.
Very hot in the footwell as well think my feet are fried, shouldn’t have specced the heater.
Apart from that really enjoyed the drive and took it out for a run on slightly more suitable roads this afternoon, with the doors and a cap on.
It’s pretty loud already but might give the cat delete a try, was surprised how much it popped and banged on over run, that’s quite entertaining on a na car.
Nice to get back to something so analogue and feel and see everything the car is doing, quite entertaining to see the front suspension working.
A couple of more added to the collection of over the last few weeks.
The A45 replaces a Golf R that I just found so dull to drive.
The 500SL is one I just couldn’t say no to. It’s the second to last rhd 107 made & has been in a private collection for years, having only done 4000 miles from new.
4000 miles is a travesty in that GT!
How's the bodywork? I looked at one 2 years ago and lifted the boot carpet and could practically peel away the metal it was so badly rusted - the guy assured me the bulkhead was in good shape. I walked away!
I have a friend who has a beautiful blue one for sale (investor classics) that I've been tempted by for some time... I just can't get on-board with the roof mechanism vs my R129
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For the next week I’ll be driving this and only this!
About to start the Two Ball Rally Beach Route trying to raise some money for the Miscarriage Association should be a blast!
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From time to time I've considered a DiY Caterham but, as you hinted, there really isn't anything in it money wise. Chuck in the hassle/cost of SVA or getting the factory to do it for you and, IMHO, it's certainly not a way to save money. I suppose it depends upon how much free time you have.... maybe something to consider when I'm retired.... yeah right, so that's ever going to happen?!
Nice motor to have though :-)
That was my plan, build one when I retired but decided better not to wait do it while I could, so built it before I retired but ended up with it actually on the road 3 months after I retired.
It is very satisfying to have something you built on the road and I would say reason I bought one was 60% that I wanted to build it and 40% that I wanted a Caterham
to drive. This could change in the next few months now its on the road.
You can buy it if you like?!
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Thought so.
Thanks - I gather it was a problematic colour and didn't age well, plus its often seen as the "boring" colour so if they get repainted its often in a different colour.
Cosmetics aside its solid and largely original, although the original short nosed crank has succumbed to the dreaded wobble so its being replaced with an 8 slot at the weekend.
And I thought watches could be a money pit!
Some lovely stuff here..cant upload my photo's..
Last edited by ernie; 25th August 2018 at 13:16.
I picked this up last weeken -2003 jaguar 4.2 XKR.
As soon as I got the keys I drove 750 miles back to Berlin.
What a fantastic car, they look fantastic (IMO) and have a silky smooth supercharged v8! Hit the limiter on the autobahn quite easily too
Looking forward to some long legged European grand touring in it
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It'l be a classic one day haha!
Collected our STi S402 a couple of weeks ago from TorqueGT. An absolutely sublime car to drive, feels light, nimble and dynamically very sharp with a super tight 6 speed manual STi gearbox. A complete antidote to two M5's that came before it and exactly the kind of fun drive I was looking for now that Snowdonia is our weekend playground. Its remarkable how dulled down cars have become in just a decade, I dont know what is made in 2018 that could replace this.
IMG_20180803_202933a (Large) by Simon Gee, on Flickr
IMG_20180803_203020 (Large) by Simon Gee, on Flickr
IMG_20180803_202949 (Large) by Simon Gee, on Flickr
IMG_20180803_203157 (Large) by Simon Gee, on Flickr
I bought it in Japan through an auction with the help of a local broker based there. It took time to find the right car and then play the game over a few weeks as the car was passed in at auction several times over. I must say it has been worth the hassle and the long wait.
My last company car, before I retired was a Seat Leon Cupra R, in bright yellow, like this one:-
These days this is my main car:-
I also use this as a local run-about:-
And sadly this is languishing in my garage, unused for a few years now:-
Mondie as Spec B owner I am impressed and a bit jealous! Get a second set of alloys and some winter tyres and snow will never be an issue again. Cracking car.
Went for a van for an everyday vehicle, loving it, can’t see me going back to a car
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Topic says “what do you drive” doesn’t count if you just stand there with the bonnet up waiting for someone to tow it away.
Sorry mate you know I love it really!
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Used properly - good to see
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This is currently in having a few tweaks done. Quite good fun for what it is.
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