Hi all, looking for advice on 7s....

[Mark_Herts]

Firstly, a quick Hi from me in Herts.....

I used to run bikes, then Drag bikes, and eventually built a ZX9 Fury that I tracked to death and loved.

Been missing a proper no compromise toy for to long now and have decided to start looking at 7s again.

Ive driven a few various Cats and only one Westy so far...

The Cats were all fatboy SV chassis with lowered floors and leather seats, and the Westy was a Pinto'd SEi with posh leather seats.

I could easily drive the Cats all day, but could barely fit in the Westy.

My main question(s) is/are probably the most commonly asked......

Given a budget of £14500 max, what would you say is better from me ?

I genuinely dont know if I comfortably fit into a Westy and drive it well - am 6'4 and a bit of a lump.

My main use will road and some track - I love going sideways so it can be a little mental if required.

Sorry if the subjects been done to death already.

[Skypeller]

Try the Westfield sew or seiw there’s a lot more room than a caterham s3( caterham narrow ) and about the same as an SV from what I gather. I can fit In and have driven an s3 caterham for 300+ miles In one day. 

I couldn’t even fit in a narrow (se) Westfield in the slightest,

westfield wide body with lowered floor was luxury, I now own a Westfield wide (sew&seiw are the ones you want one is live axle one is independent rear suspension hence the “i”) and it’s not much different without the lowered floor etc - it’s really comfortable!! 

Im 6foot 3 and 36” waist not ‘fat’ but not a slim jim. 

[Andy Banks]

You'd do well to pop along to one of the local meets. Herts, Beds and Bucks can't be too far from you and there are a few of us in North London / Herts borders with wide cars, std and lowered floor. You'd be welcome to have a sit in one or two I'm sure.

For that kind of money, you'd also pick up a really good Westfield - more bang for your buck...

[Steve (sdh2903)]

I meet your description of 6ft 4 and a bit of a lump. Seat choice is critical for me. There's a big difference between fitting in and being comfortable. I can fit into an seiw with sport turbo or other padded leather/vinyl seats but I cannot get comfy and couldn't stomach a long drive. 

Using the grp style seats with the pads such as JK seats I fit a treat and can and have sat there all day. The extra wiggle room forward and aft and the fact they get you sat a bit lower makes driving a westfield possible for me. 

Seat choice is such a personal thing though so as above try and get to sit in a few examples if you can.

[Mark_Herts]

57 minutes ago, Andy Banks - Chairman said:

You'd do well to pop along to one of the local meets. Herts, Beds and Bucks can't be too far from you and there are a few of us in North London / Herts borders with wide cars, std and lowered floor. You'd be welcome to have a sit in one or two I'm sure.

For that kind of money, you'd also pick up a really good Westfield - more bang for your buck...

Hi Andy - is that the group that meet at Grove Lock ? If so, then only half hourish from me.....

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

As above, try and see and sit in as many as you can; meets are fantastic for this, though you’ll soon, in the next month or two, find that cars start getting tucked away for winter, which will make it a little trickier.

The wide body Westfield sits partway between a Caterham S3 and an SV; it’s not as cavernous feeling as an SV can feel, but it is a good improvement over an S3 or a Westfield narrow for room. (The cockpit is both wider and longer than a narrow)

Without wanting to confuse you too much, bear in mind certain Westfields, despite being wide bodied, will have a slightly narrower drivers compartment. These are the higher power models, designed to accommodate big, tough gearboxes from the high power donors.

So a Sport 250, (the Ecoboost car), a Mega S2000, (the Honda engined car) and the SEiGHT’s, (V8 engined cars, mainly Rover), will all have narrower drivers sides than normal, and slightly tighter footwells.

One of the reasons for test fitting yourself in as many cars as possible, is that it’s so easy to customize them for different size and shape drivers. We all carry our height and weight differently. So even with virtually all standard Westfield components, you can raise the steering wheel slightly, and in particular, space it out, closer too you. This makes quite a difference to knee room, which in turn helps with leg room. Simple things like leaving off the outer, interior cockpit trim panels, makes a surprising difference to cockpit room if you carry your weight low, for example.

Then as Steve said, change away from standard seats to the shell type seats, and suddenly, you can find even more room! They’re very clever how the JK Composites/Tillet style work. Essentially you sit in almost a sort of relaxed fetal position, which is remarkably natural and comfy feeling. At the same time, they sort of hold your body slightly rotated round from a conventional seat, so your knees are slightly forward and higher, and your bottom is further forward, at the same time though, your head and shoulders are further npback and much lower. So taller drivers, even (shorter) tall ones (like me at only 6’1”) suddenly feel like they’re in a much longer cockpit.

At the same time, because they hug you over a much bigger area, they are incredibly comfy for very long distances.

Then, steering wheel size can make quite a difference to leg room, though I’d caution going too small on a road car. Plus you have the flat bottomed wheel option, for more leg clearance.

There are very few people I’ve seen over the years, who have been totally unable to make a Westfield “work” for them.

[Andy Banks]

2 hours ago, Mark_Herts said:

Hi Andy - is that the group that meet at Grove Lock ? If so, then only half hourish from me.....

Yep.

[Mark_Herts]

2 hours ago, Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Secretary said:

As above, try and see and sit in as many as you can; meets are fantastic for this, though you’ll soon, in the next month or two, find that cars start getting tucked away for winter, which will make it a little trickier.

The wide body Westfield sits partway between a Caterham S3 and an SV; it’s not as cavernous feeling as an SV can feel, but it is a good improvement over an S3 or a Westfield narrow for room. (The cockpit is both wider and longer than a narrow)

Without wanting to confuse you too much, bear in mind certain Westfields, despite being wide bodied, will have a slightly narrower drivers compartment. These are the higher power models, designed to accommodate big, tough gearboxes from the high power donors.

So a Sport 250, (the Ecoboost car), a Mega S2000, (the Honda engined car) and the SEiGHT’s, (V8 engined cars, mainly Rover), will all have narrower drivers sides than normal, and slightly tighter footwells.

One of the reasons for test fitting yourself in as many cars as possible, is that it’s so easy to customize them for different size and shape drivers. We all carry our height and weight differently. So even with virtually all standard Westfield components, you can raise the steering wheel slightly, and in particular, space it out, closer too you. This makes quite a difference to knee room, which in turn helps with leg room. Simple things like leaving off the outer, interior cockpit trim panels, makes a surprising difference to cockpit room if you carry your weight low, for example.

Then as Steve said, change away from standard seats to the shell type seats, and suddenly, you can find even more room! They’re very clever how the JK Composites/Tillet style work. Essentially you sit in almost a sort of relaxed fetal position, which is remarkably natural and comfy feeling. At the same time, they sort of hold your body slightly rotated round from a conventional seat, so your knees are slightly forward and higher, and your bottom is further forward, at the same time though, your head and shoulders are further npback and much lower. So taller drivers, even (shorter) tall ones (like me at only 6’1”) suddenly feel like they’re in a much longer cockpit.

At the same time, because they hug you over a much bigger area, they are incredibly comfy for very long distances.

Then, steering wheel size can make quite a difference to leg room, though I’d caution going too small on a road car. Plus you have the flat bottomed wheel option, for more leg clearance.

There are very few people I’ve seen over the years, who have been totally unable to make a Westfield “work” for them.

Thanks, lots of info there...

Im not quite ready to buy right now, but I am thinking that maybe a winter bargain may fill my garage.....

I am torn though, bcause I do like the look of the Caterham, but I know I can get a much higher spec Westy for less money.

How are they for holding value ? I know Cats are almost impossible to lose money on.

 

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

Interesting question.

With Caterhams, if you can afford a seat at the table, then you’ll get a very good return when you come to sell, however it’s only when you do sell that you really benefit, financially, from the Caterham residuals. While you own it, it’ll be a case of fantastic car, but more is available, for the money from other brands, that don’t have quite such strong residuals.

Westfields, for the last year, year and a half, seem to have been getting stronger, s/h price wise. Great for existing owners, but what was SEIW with Zetec and even throttle bodies money two years ago, is starting to become more like the occasional well used Zetec on original Ford injection, and more like higher tuned Pinto engined cars.

There will always be exceptions of course, and you certainly can’t say the average for every model is one to two thousand over what it was. But if the trend holds, let alone gets stronger, then buying sooner rather than later would be wise.

 

[Kingster]

I agree with @Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Secretary regarding the increase in values over the last few years. Certainly prices seem to be on the up and not quite as many bargains around as there seemed to be when I first got interested. 

Great news for existing owners of course - and I do recall a local lad buying a Zetec engined car maybe two years ago and then a change of plans meant selling it on a year later and he didn’t lose a penny (even got back the extra money that he put into it too)

[Mark_Herts]

Thanks guys, this all very usefull.

Intersting that prices are friming up, as I was close to getting into a Cat a few years back, and that same spec Cat is now 2-3k MORE than it was then. Im guessing on the Cat front its probably just down to rising new prices holding up used.

What are Westfield like to deal with these days ?

I know at one point they bought out GTM I think it was ? And then left that to die IIRC ?

 

[Mark_Herts]

Another couple of generic questions.....

What are people paying for Insurance?

Im 52 with full NCB and clean licence and would hope to have a car with around 175ish   HP if that makes any difference..

And tax as well ?

Cheers and sorry to be asking the same  old noob stuff....

 

[Kingster]

Insurance is relatively cheap. 

Most seem to pay between £100-200 p.a. fully comp on a 2-5k mike policy. 

Tax for mine is £20-odd a month. (Can’t remember exactly - it’s my hobby and I don’t really care!)

[Skypeller]

I’m 32, 4Kmiles a year and agreed valuation, fully comp £142 per year.

tax £22 per month so a bit cheaper yearly. But it gives me the chance to cancel over Xmas (nov dec jan) when weather probably won’t be very 7 friendly 

[Mark_Herts]

Cheers, never thought of paying  the tax monthly - clever!