…when I was younger I always dreamt of owning a Caterham. Now I’m older they’re so bleedin’ expensive there’s no chance!! 🤣🤣

I have time on my hands now and fancy a bit of uncomfortable weekend fun. I’ve lost touch with the ‘kit car’ market so what would folks recommend?

Can anything like that be bought for £5k ish that may need a bit of work?

Ta!

Not a kit car but you’ll pick up a decent mx5 for your budget.

Even a ropey Caterham will be £10k+, a good one around the £18k mark as a start. Yes, I’ve always wanted one too!

Get onto one of the kitcar forums or Pistonheads and start asking around, you might find a long abandoned project that piques your interest.

I’d suggest an Mk Indy or a Sylva. The main thing is that the V5 accurately describes it and it’s not registered as a Sierra or something.

MK still make parts for the various older iterations of the Indy so getting parts is straightforward but might be stretching your budget.

There are kits available that from a construction viewpoint are as good as Caterham, some might be better. The chassis of a Caterham is pretty basic when you see it with the skin off. Getting something for 5k might be possible but it depends entirely what your expectations are. Caterham prices are buoyant to say the least but you get your money back when you part with the thing. Thinking Sylva Striker, Locost or possibly a Westfield. If it’s purely a track hillclimb/sprint car then there’s other options that aren’t road legal.

I was gonna say Westfield as an alternative, but the cheapest on pistonheads classifieds is 9k.
And the cheapest caterham is about 11/12k for either a vauxhall or ford engine

Same with Sylvia.. the one place I saw some listed they were heading towards 10k

If you stretch to a caterham… Then if things get tight, residuals are good and you’ll be able to sell for what you paid for it.

I bought mine (1.8k series, SV) and it’s been brilliant.

MX5 is a good shout as you’ll be able to pick up a mk1 or 2 for under £5k.

Having previously had a mk1 mx5 and currently a mk4 mx5, they are great fun cars to drive. Totally different to a 7, but great.

Alternatively, 5k would pay for a lot of weekend hires of a caterham & someone else gets the maintenance costs.

I had a Caterham 7 from 2000 to 2019. In all that time, including some dented side panels from a serious track day off, I sold the car for more than half what I paid for it new. Not many other cars have that sort of residual value after nearly 20 years and an accident. So yes, they are expensive – but as a hedge against inflation with a side dose of great weekend fun they are pretty much unbeatable. Take out a loan and buy the real thing 😁

I have time on my hands now and fancy a bit of uncomfortable weekend fun.

Cycling?

A friend has just bought a Caterham and is going to hire it out alongside an existing driving based company, as well as having some summer fun of his own in it. The price for a relatively low spec modern example was eye watering.

I’d recommend hiring one first, they’re not for everyone and all of these Lotus 7 inspired cars are fairly crudely built in honesty. Good residuals on a Caterham, but you’re just paying for the badge really. It’s quite unnerving sitting at a dodgy junction with the front of the bonnet 8ft in front of you, your arse virtually on the axe, and lorries flying by…

Seating position and ergonomics are fairly poor in lots of them generally.

If you’re dead set on one I’d go for something all up together documentation wise that needs some work, with your budget. Trying to pick something that parts are still available for will pay dividends in the long run, at least there’s a big classic ford scene to supply parts for anything with a X Flow or Pinto, or Escort/Cortina/Sierra suspension.

GBS stuff looks reasonable to me, though not seen it in the flesh: https://www.greatbritishsportscars.com/the-zero

Cycling?

been there, done that! 🤣

Are MX5s really that good? And do you need a 2ltr or does 1.8ltr have enough poke to be fun?

I built a ‘Locost’ from Stuart Taylor Motorsport between 2002 and 2005. It has a 1.6 MX5 engine and 5 speed gearbox in it. It took 3 years, 3-4 nights a week and cost about £8000.

It’s got about 100bhp and weighs 565Kg (I weighed it after I finished building). It does 0-60 in about 6 seconds and will do over 100 mph. Although anything over 80 mph is no fun at all!

I spent 10 years driving around in it and it’s still in the garage. I enjoyed building it (I’m an Engineer) and I love driving it and modifying it.

Get yourself over to Locostbuilders.co.uk and see if there’s anything for sale that takes your fancy :o)

In mk1 & 2 mx5s your choice is between a 1.6 and 1.8

The 2litre arrived with the mk3.

Mine was a 1.8 mk1 base spec. Engine is lovely and revvy, but needed to keep the revs up to keep the engine on song. Pretty much like a 7. They are fun to drive. Different to the way a 7 drives but fun, and the 5’s gearbox is lovely.

A 5 is easier to live with, mine was a daily driver for 7 years, 20k miles a year.
I remember going to test drive a 7 once while I had the 5 and afterwards nearly slamming the 5s clutch pedal through the footwell as it’s sooo much lighter than a 7’s clutch

But there is nowt like driving a 7.. tho my wife does question my sanity occasionally (like last year when we drove over to York at new years for an event… And got caught in a downpour on the way back and I hadn’t brought the roof with us .. rookie mistake..

I’d love a Caterham, but an MX-5 would be as much fun. And it would be cheaper.

One day I’ll buy such a car.

In the meantime, I ride a motorbike which, from an “experience” point of view, takes some beating!

Sticker prices can be high but if you are patient then you could get a good buy. My FIL sold his *very* well looked after Westfield (with a sweet Ford Puma Yamaha engine and lots of mods) for a decent price to a dealer. A few months later the dealer sold it for less than what he’d paid for it. And that was before the current squeeze on £££s.

MX5’s are rust boxes, so buy carefully

Caterham values have climbed a lot in the last couple of years, making it hard to justify tieing up so much cash. Westfield went pop earlier this year, but I’d guess that the moulds/jigs are either safe with the owners club or that the company will rise from the ashes, making parts supply not a problem. Sylva always get a good mention and with good reason, you can pick the same basic chassis concept with a bike-engined striker with aeroscreens through to a v8 stylus with doors + roof + heater, and anything in between, or go down the mid-engine route with mojo/R1ot. Virtually any kit will be a more raw driving experience than even the most basic mx5, and likely to be lighter/quicker. They don’t rot or crash in the same way as a monocoque construction, and ultimately tubes can be replaced easily if they do although it’s pretty rare. The original locost book seemed to prompt a whole range of new manufacturers of sevenesque cars, I wouldn’t know where to start to choose between them, but as long as you avoid anything questionable (Robin Hood 2B?) or home-brewed (so you can buy bits) then you could pick based on spec/condition/budget? Building a kit from scratch and doing IVA is a big undertaking obviously and rarely cheaper than buying something already registered.
If it was my £5k I’d be looking for a striker with a 4-pot car engine, ideally green/yellow like the one I remember parked at the cheddar challenge one year in the 90s. Smaller even than a non-SV Caterham and dead easy to work on/fix, fabricating parts as you see fit which isn’t really the done thing with Caterhams. I’m on my 2nd fury after learning a lot doing an original locost in 98, and it’s a toy you can pick up / leave alone as required without it deteriorating, especially if you can garage it.

Robin hood used to be the cheapest kit cars.

There’s also the GBS which uses a rusty mx5 as it’s base then add the kit when the mot is unpassable

MTB in a car… https://sportingtrials.co.uk/

Like Jag, I built a Stuart Taylor Locost in the early 2000’s. Mines got a Honda Fireblade engine (it was the fashion at the time). 400kg, 0 to 60 in about 4 sec and 11000 rpm red line. If I sold it I’d be lucky to get £5000 for it, so I”m sure you could find something like a Caterham, but not a Caterham.

But, as said above, have a drive first. Mine is pretty hard core, full face helmet is needed, and 30minute drives is the max before I’ve had enough!

Muffin man, I have a caterham 7 that I was thinking about selling, so if you’re interested let me know. It’s still over your budget though,I’d be looking for 15k ish. Can give you the full spec if interested.

1996 car, owned by me since 2000, not on a q plate, 1 owner before me. De Dion axle, quaife 5 speed straight cut gearbox, limited slip diff, 2.0 fuel injected ford zetec (200bhp), aim mxl digital LCD dashboard and data logger, full roll cage, 4 pot caterham ap brakes,wide track front end, etc.

Can send photos and full spec if needed, I just let the mot lapse as I was going to sorn it for the winter,but I can get it done.

I’d love a Caterham, but an MX-5 would be as much fun.

Maybe a personal thing but I would say no they are not. Apart from having no roof the cars are very, very different to drive with the much lighter weight being the thing that really stands out when handling a Caterham like car.
I had a factory built Westfield 2L Zetec 20 years ago and used it as my only car driving around 8,000 miles a year for 3 years. Was great fun to drive but paid £12K for it and when it came to selling I couldn’t get rid of out and if I remember I think I had to sell it for £6K in the end (one of the few cars I regret selling).
The prices you see them advertised for may not be the prices they actually sell for.

The cheapest and easiest to build kit car on the market is the MEV Exocet. It’s an MX5 but faster and with none of the rust issues. But then you’d have to live with the looks.

The GBS zero is a very good car but I’ve only seen the posh ones. They do a single donor version based on an MX5. They also do regular open days where you can do a factory tour and check out lots of owners cars.

I’d build a Zero but I’ve got too much on.

Friend has a Land Rover Trialler.
A few years (3?) it was £3k for the trialler and a trailer.

Can only be driven off-road but the local Land Rover club sorts that.

Came here to say MEV but beaten to it! Guy in our village has one, a lot of fun! Still got my eye on building one, there’s a surplus of donor rusty mx5s!

this is mine – (photo was taken to show the bike for a new bike day thread, so wasnt intending to show the car well!), can get better photos if interested

Whilst everyone’s here..

Is it reasonable to build a 7 in a garage that’s just over 3m wide internally? Seems like there’ll be a reasonable amount of room but I don’t know how much is needed..

I’ve known people build ridiculous cars in all kinds of horrible spaces including doing engine swaps in the street and stuff. A 3 metre wide garage is a luxurious option.

Came here to say MEV but beaten to it! Guy in our village has one, a lot of fun! Still got my eye on building one, there’s a surplus of donor rusty mx5s!

Some of them look good but I much prefer the racing version with the roll cage. I like the off road style Exomotive version that they mostly build in the USA. Not sure where you could use one over here.

The main problem with MEV is that most of the owners, including the owner of the company, have a taste for absolutely gopping colour schemes and they build some truly ugly examples. You’d have to show a little restraint I think.

I’ve seen them on track alongside much more expensive and powerful machinery and that’s when I started to see them as a serious option. They can really fly with modest power.

OP, Have you driven a Caterham/ Westfield  or many of the 7-ish variations ?

Some will accuse me of heresy no doubt but, (and this mostly applies to the sorts of inexpensive self builds that are in your price range) having owned a couple and driven countless of the years; honestly lots of them are not really very good. I mean they’re mostly fast and they (can) handle well if they’re well put together, but unless you have the sorts of empty A-roads near you that are in good nick that make for good driving, then they can be a complete PITA. M-Way driving on them isn’t pleasant, being under the rain-hood of one isn’t pleasant, being in stop start traffic is very unpleasant. unless you’re very much into being a hands on mechanic they can be a constant source of minor irritation. and parts can be very expensive or rare, and often you’ll find that that knocking coming from the rear that happens in 3rd under power is just something you’ll have to put up with because the chassis is misaligned or it’s been badly fabricated and there’s nothing you can [realistically] do about it.

The ones at £5K will have been pre-loved by “enthusiasts” (God have mercy on them) so they’ll all be hiding a carnival of minor and not so minor bodges and ‘temporary’ fixes that will all come as unpleasant surprises each time you want to “Really get to the bottom of the knocking noise”. There’ll be knackered K-series or Zetec engined, and with dodgy gearbox combos, and have lived off Halfords own brand lubes and oils all their lives, some (if you’re really unlucky) will have been fitted with twin webbers.

Honestly for £5K get the nicest MX5 you can find, and save it for the Summer and pub runs with the missus with the top down and the radio on. It’ll be better put together, will still be entertaining enough, and when you put your foot on the brake, it’s unlikely to go sickeningly straight to the floor…Trust me.

BMW Z4 3.0 for about £4k, strip some of the interior to get the weight down do ~1100kg and then save another £1500 and bolt on a supercharger kit. another £800-£1000 on fully adjustable suspension and you’re sorted. The brakes should be initially sufficient for the weight drop and speed gain, but can be easily update to the e46 M3 brakes and suspension if you choose – they’re bolt on.

Yes to building in a small garage. I even built a Westfield in a garage with no power, except an extension lead that was about 50m long!

A mate bought a decent MX5 for a couple of grand to use as a base for a kit car.

Plan delayed by Covid – he can’t get a builder to build the garage he needs in order to do the work 🤦‍♂️

I agree with everything nickc just said!

I know a few people who still try to run cars like this and they’re a constant drain on time and finances. They only really pay for themselves a few times a year.

Every time I’m offered a passenger ride now in a Hyabusa engined Westfield or something I politely make my excuses. It’s a horrible place to be if you’re not driving. Especially when you’re stuck in traffic and the bus on your left has an exhaust at your eye level and is blasting a hot plume of diesel fumes right into your face and there’s nowhere to go because you’re strapped into a harness.

I built a Hayabusa powered Westfield in a single garage. It was perfectly doable.

I had a great time and made lots of friends through it. I rarely drove it on the road and it was mainly a track car. It was a money pit due to upgraditus. It ended up turbo charged with a massive spec. Loved it though and made friends for life through it.

A mate bought a decent MX5 for a couple of grand to use as a base for a kit car.

Plan delayed by Covid – he can’t get a builder to build the garage he needs in order to do the work 🤦‍♂️

If he reckons he’s handy enough to build a kit car then he should be able to throw up a prefab garage…

MX5 and chuck a turbo on, really really good fun… great little projects.

I have driven lots of caterhams on track over the years, oddly, I’ve had more fun in fast road cars. I had a trackday booked in a 620 over the summer, but didn’t bother going in the end, if it was a shonky Japanese turbo then no doubt I would have been there. The 620 is a grippy, nuts, hypercar hunting machine though and that is compelling…

In essence, everyone enjoys different things for different reasons, so have a look around and maybe get yourself to some trackdays.

If he reckons he’s handy enough to build a kit car then he should be able to throw up a prefab garage…

That looks awesome but it’s bigger than my whole garden.

OP, set an ebay alert for ‘BBR MX5’ and see what pops up. That’s what I did but I ended up with a van.

@fossy

MX5’s are rust boxes, so buy carefully

Thought that was only the MkI and MkIIs? Are MkIIIs as bad?

@julians – cheers, but yes over budget I’m afraid! 🙂

And cheers all – never driven a Caterham, just always had this itch I wanted to scratch. You’re not selling the owning or driving experience though! 🤣

I know a few people who still try to run cars like this and they’re a constant drain on time and finances. They only really pay for themselves a few times a year.

something like a caterham is not meant to be a fit and forget car though is it? its supposed to be a hobby/something to do /upgrade etc. If you start thinking it should be a ford estate you have the wrong car.

The fast ones are mental when you are used to them but they dont really go around corners that much faster than a slow one and the corners are the best bit anyway. unless you are on track you wont get near using the performance of a fast one on the road.

I really want a caterham. i’ll buy one at some point. i’ll start with a cheap old slow one – so i wont die at the first corner.

something like a caterham is not meant to be a fit and forget car though is it?

I think that’s why Caterham are priced at “Proper Car Price” rather than “Some old rubbish thrown together with bits of Montegro” price. The point of the Caterham experience (sorry) is that it’s all the kit car fun with none of the usual kit car hassle. You can throw a blanket over it in Winter, and come back in the Spring and it will start.

Traditional kit cars are supposed to be the hobby as well as the vehicle at the end of it. For £5K that’s what you’re buying. If you have Caterham levels of expectation, buy one of those.

I know a few people who still try to run cars like this and they’re a constant drain on time and finances. They only really pay for themselves a few times a year.

As I said up there, not my experience. I did 24,000 miles in a Westfield over 3 years and loved every minute of it. Other than some tyres, oil/filter I can’t remember it costing me a penny in maintenance. It was factory built using a brand new Ford Zetec (2l 16v) engine which was as reliable as whatever Ford it was supposed to live in.
I realise I am not typical though and most people wouldn’t ride a brakeless fixed gear bike 5,000 miles every year on and off road…