New Member - Somerset

[Andy C]

Hello everyone.

I have ridden bkes for over 30 years, and following a recent nasty accident am now going to give up bikes, and I am considering replacing my bikes with a kit car.

I have a few questions which I hope someone can give me some guidance on.

1. Are Kit Cars easy / cheap to insure - are there are specialist insurers you recommend?

2. Any recommendation on the "best" cars to buy? Personally I like the caterham / westfield style.

3. Although very mechanically capable I would probably want to buy a ready built and registered example - is ebay the best place to look, or are there other specilist listings?

4. Any tips on what to look for in a used example.

5. Engine size / type - bike engined, or car engined - 1600, 2000 or a big V8 - just looking for something I can have some fun with.

Appreciate there are quite a few questions, but I am totally new to this.

Cheers.

Andy based in Somerset.

[greenwoo]

Hi Andy - and welcome.....
well each to their own, but here's my take...

1. Are Kit Cars easy / cheap to insure - are there are specialist insurers you recommend?
cheap as chips, A Plan are our favoured broker these days. Typically a 10k car can cost anything between £120-175 per annum to insure, depending on usual factors. You will NOT use an existing no claims discount, that's a stand-alone price/policy.

2. Any recommendation on the "best" cars to buy? Personally I like the caterham / westfield style.
as always £'s limit is a factor! Caterham will cost more than westie and in turn they'll be more than a Tiger/MK or whatever else. Caterham will hold residual value very very well, bought sensibly you could see zero/close to zero depreciation on the right car. Same is true for other kits, but teh rule i'd say is that a 5-7k car will generally stay in that range, buy any other kit for 15k today and it will depreciate. whereas a 15k Caterham will hold value.

3. Although very mechanically capable I would probably want to buy a ready built and registered example - is ebay the best place to look, or are there other specilist listings?
go and see if there are members of any club near you and learn what the differences are and what suits your frame/build. then Pistonheads/ebay.....

4. Any tips on what to look for in a used example.
There's a section in the Tips part of the forum that covers a large range of quetsions of this ilk....

5. Engine size / type - bike engined, or car engined - 1600, 2000 or a big V8 - just looking for something I can have some fun with.
can of worms....i won't even go there!

[Fury1630]

^^ what he said ^^

Engine size - entirely down to personal taste, if you're looking at Se7en types, V8s are quire rare, bike engine cars (BECs) can be more expensive to ensure / tiring on a motorway (so they say - never been in one myself) BECs also have the (no reverse gear" issue, some don't find it a problem, others do. The "sweet spot" in this club seems to be the 2.0 Zetec, they'll cruise the motorway if you're doing a road trip & spin up fast enough for the back-roads, but it really is down to what floats your boat.

The best advice I can give is to grab some passenger rides & see what makes you grin the most - NONE of these cars are dull None are anything like a Mondeo. There are a couple of clubs in the Bath area, or look out for a "Way Out West" run on here, & we'll give you a passenger in anything that takes your fancy.

[b33fy]

Welcome Andy, the world is your oyster when it comes to engines, just be mindful of catching a dose of the upgraditus where the only cure is some creative use of man maths and the arrival of some nice and shiny engine parts.. which ever option you choose you will love it.

[bigstuff]

Welcome Andy, my two pennyworth, every single one is different, son veiw each on its own merit. As for engines, small and revvy is highly strung and likely to break and the general consensus is that beyond 230 bhp ish is wasted as you can't lay the power down on the road. Happy hunting!

[Martin S]

Hi Andy and welcome,my best bet is go out in a few cars and see what floats your boat,if you can pop down to the group gathering on the 6th Sept,there's sure to be a mix of cars to look at, martin