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Newbie questions - sorry


ybotcoombes

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Thanks everybody

 

taking your advice , think at 5k to 6k  it would have been worth a punt, but think by the time you have added £600 buyer fee on it would be closer to 7k when the auction end, so will leave.

 

Got my eyes on a few more so will come back for more advice :j

 

thanks everybody

 

cheers

toby

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Smaller, lower powered engines in Westfield's can be certainly bags of fun; a couple of points though, the lower the power, the more the overall weight of the car really comes into play. A small lightweight engine, like a bike engine, or on the car side, a Sigma 1.6, is a joy to drive, as the lightness really comes into it's own, especially on cross country b-roads. However, the character of the engine becomes critical in making  it a fun engine. If it's light and rev'y, smooth and balanced feeling, even with limited torque/bhp, they're a joy to stir along. However, it's heavy feeling, asthmatic etc it will crush you.

 

The other thing is that as brilliant as they are on the twisty stuff - and fast, as you can often carry so much speed thanks to light weight, that lack of power can start to hamper you when touring for example, if you need to make progress on faster a roads etc through traffic - ok if on your  own, and travelling at your own pace, but your much more restricted overtaking ability can be a pain when in a group.

 

As the others have said, build is absolutely everything, photos will give an idea, but can be deceiving. The only way to be sure is to get up close and examine the car.

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To add to my earlier post....

 

Having spent two and a half years owning my Westie and looking at the huge variety of other cars out there, I reckon I've worked out a tell-tale sign of a decent car.

 

I guess most of us whill have done Airfix kits when we were kids (other plastic self-assembly model kits are available...). Some people put the kit together, then painted it, but I have a sneaking suspicion that many of us will have carefully cut the part from the sprue, sanded off any moulding marks, then painted the part, before fitting it. Many of us will have carefully painted parts that would never be seen once the kit was assembled.

 

I reckon many Westie owners fall into the latter category - very slightly OCD, but a huge satisfaction of knowing that a job was done correctly, even if it isn't obvious.

 

When looking over a car, look out for things like home-made brackets, with carefully rounded corners and chamfered edges, matching bolt heads (stainless, preferably), nicely aligned and colour-coded coolant pipes and neatly-routed electrical wires, carefully-clipped cable ties (matching colours, naturally...). If an owner has bothered with the little things, there's a really good chance they have looked after the big stuff too.

 

This is why you should never buy a Westie solely from what you can see in a PC screen

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You know what's really surprised me since owning a Westfield, is its a kit.

So if you can build something from a plan, that's good enough doesn't matter

if you don't understand anything about what your building.

I thought owners would be car mad ,not kit mad.

So when the seller tells you "built by an engineer" he may have been a nuclear engineer on L plates.

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I disagree with @Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Secretary in part!

 

Any Westie set up well will be a joy and fun on the road, touring or otherwise. Road use limits the advantages of higher power to weight but power/weight does not necessarily relate to sprightly progress. e.g. EU tour my Westie was poorly, so had to take SWMBO lardy MK3 Auto MX5 - but at no point was I hindering progress of the group in much 'faster' Westies.

On track differences in power will be more noticeable, but it is far more enjoyable to be in a 'slower' car and be overtaking 'faster' cars than being in the suposedly fastest car on track.

 

What I'm saying is a well set up car driven well will be fast and enjoyable no matter what the power to weight ratio!

 

Don't get hung up over POWER! 

A WELL SPEC'ED & set up car is far more desirable imo.

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1 hour ago, Dave (OnliestSmeg) - Manchester AO said:

so had to take SWMBO lardy MK3 Auto MX5 - but at no point was I hindering progress of the group in much 'faster' Westies.

 

 

...............  apart from at this point 😂

 

IMG_0343.JPG1.jpg.c8eec1efbba82508177648990fbb4d67.jpg

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3 minutes ago, marcusb said:

 

...............  apart from at this point 😂

 

IMG_0343.JPG

Just posing for a pix! Was nowt but an erroneous warning light! 😁😇

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1 minute ago, Dave (OnliestSmeg) - Manchester AO said:

Just posing for a pix! Was nowt but an erroneous warning light! 😁😇

 

...........which was hindering our progress!  lol

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4 hours ago, ybotcoombes said:

Hello All 

 

could you tell me what you think of this 

 

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/133615640924


cheers

toby 

 

5000 miles on an 18 year old car?

really?

 

it's only showing an mot in 2020, well 2 as first test failed) so the mot records online aren't complete for some reason

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It would need some very careful close examination. Doesn’t particularly inspire confidence in the pictures, but that may just be poor photos.

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Hi Toby 

What's your budget,  you'd be   better buying a car of this forum, put a wanted add with what your looking for ,it's not the best time to be buying a westy ,another couple of months and there'll be more for sale, I know what it's like when there's not a lot about for sale and you just want one ,but if you just hang fire  something will turn up.

Tony 

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I agree, buy one from an enthusiast on here. Anyone serious about their car will be on here no doubt. If your buying off a young lad who bought it on a whim last summer and now selling as he’s board of it, I doubt he’s your ideal seller. Just my personal opinion. 
I viewed a few, got knowwhere. Joined this forum, almost bought one, which even then turned out to be cat D. It was then I bit the bullet and ordered Module 1 in kit form.. good luck 🤞🏼 

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4 hours ago, wizzer said:

Hi Toby 

What's your budget,  you'd be   better buying a car of this forum, put a wanted add with what your looking for ,it's not the best time to be buying a westy ,another couple of months and there'll be more for sale, I know what it's like when there's not a lot about for sale and you just want one ,but if you just hang fire  something will turn up.

Tony 


Ah that’s interesting , I thought now would be a good time. Was surprised by the lack of cars / relatively high prices. I will keep that in mind. Have been looking through the sales adds on here, but everything seems to have gone + a lot of the cars are well out of my price range.

 

Top end of budget would be 8k (for something that ticks all the boxes and is in good condition) rather spend less if I can, to leave  money to sort anything that needs doing.

 

style wise , nice paint job , black wheels , cycle wings (rather than the long wings), aero screen, nice interior 

 

power wise , 50% of me wants a mad powered car that does 0-6 in under 4 seconds , the other 50% would like to see this year out so is looking for something a little bit more sensible ( I have had quite a few little sports cars , Elise , booster ,2.8z4 s2000 etc , looking for something to match that kind of speed). I have a sensible car , so this is a toy (or mid life crisis)  for the weekends, although do like the idea of taking it on a track as well.

 

cheers

Toby

 

 

 

 

 

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