I still want a Westfield

[bobsy]

I've been looking on here, Ebay and Pistonheads for a tidy, late Westfield for a little while now. I've found a couple that I've phoned, but rightly or wrongly I've been put off by the number of previous owners they've had. I guess the car should taken on it's own merits, but for something to have had half a dozen owners in as many years, personally makes me uncomfortable.

  I figured I should go straight to Westfield and buy a new one, this is a more expensive option than I would have liked, but managed to justify the cost in my mind and vistited there yesterday. I'm over 200 miles from there, but I managed to fit it along side a trip to the NEC, so it worked out quite well.

  I wanted a 2ltr Duratec, with the later back, but the older style V8 bonnet. This merged into a Sport turbo with a Vauxhall turbo engine in it, as I was told I'm too tall for the other models, this then went straight to spec for order and delivery time before we'd got past the fact I don't like Vauxhalls and having only briefly sat in the car, I don't know how easily I could drive it due to my height, I'm 6'4" but I'm still only 14.5stone , and no real idea what it drove like as I'd not even got a run round the block. I find it difficult to make a £27,000 decision based on the information I've now got.

  I've driven a 87 narrow body, my brother-in-law had one as a part-ex years ago, it was tight, but I could drive it fairly easily, and quessed an SEIW would be that little bit easier. So why can't I drive a new Duratec?

  I think my way forward now, is just go to Stoneleigh, and see what used cars are for sale with a chance of at least sitting in them or them taking me out in it before I buy. Who else on the forum is pretty tall, and how have they got on with these issues.

  It's a shame, I went yesterday to buy something I've wanted for a quite a few years now, and it didn't seem to be possible. Can I have some help before I give up on the idea completely please???

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

Plenty of tall people driving Westfield's of all descriptions on here.

There are plenty of options to help too; you can have lowered floor pans, fit thinner "shell" type seats, smaller steering wheels, or simply raise the heigh it comes through the dash at a little.

While I wouldn't let the engine manufacturer put you off - it's just a collection of parts by the time it goes in a Westfield, it's either a good engine, or a poor one! I certainly wouldn't be railroaded into the current VX Turbo spec if a Duratec's what you fancy.

Visit Stoneleigh, it'll more than make up for your poor factory experiance  

[peterg]

Plenty of owners on here of your height and above - not me before anyone points out I'm a short    

Going to Stoneleigh is a great idea as there will be dozens of different cars there and most owners will be happy to let you try them for size, just remember to ask before jumping in    

[Rory's Dad]

Two things about Stoneleigh - you will decide what Westy will suit you best and you will find out what a great club this is.

Rory's Dad

[rob iles]

Dont give up Bobsy

Im 6"2 and have plenty of room,in fact with the JK seats fitted i could go back another inch or two

Neil Willis is of the same stature as yerself and had no problems at all  

If you have excessively large feet i mean size 13 or larger you would have to consider losing the toes    

Wait until Stoneleigh as you say, you can then get a better response and your welcome to try mine out  

But its not for sale

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

Your profile says Essex, that puts you right in the middle of some very active, well attended local area meets. Should be plenty of cars to have a look at/sit in now that the winter hibernation is over. I'm sure you should be able to blag a ride or two as well.    

I wouldn't get put off by the higher number of owners some cars have had either; while mechanically, they're just a car like any other when you're checking one over. In other respects, they're a completely different kettle of fish.

There are loads of reasons people don't keep a car long, from simply having got it out of their system/finding out it's not for them, to the much more common upgraditis - it's often cheaper to swap one car for one that has all the bits you want already on it. Don't forget these cars are effectively "toys" too, so over the last few years there will be a few that have been sold on as people shed some of their luxuries.

[JeffC]

calling our lofty leader to the thread        

[Blatman]

I wanted a 2ltr Duratec, with the later back, but the older style V8 bonnet. This merged into a Sport turbo with a Vauxhall turbo engine in it, as I was told I'm too tall for the other models, this then went straight to spec for order

I don't think the chassis has been altered in length for nearly 2 decades when the wide body version came out. I'll stand to be corrected here but I suspect the "Duratec chassis" is exactly the same leg room size as the "Turbo chassis". You were railroaded 'cos Westfield seemingly only want to sell one model as a factory build these days, otherwise they'd have simply said "Yes sir, what colour would you like?" What happened to giving the customer what he wants?

As the others have said, get to the Essex meet or even better, get to Stoneleigh. You'll be able to sit in plenty of wide cars with all sorts of seat and pedal options to see what suits you best.

Number of owners? Who cares. Buy the car on *its* merits, not the attention span of the owner.

[Andy Banks]

Just repeating what everyone else has said really... Get yourself to Stoneleigh and some of the many meets not too far away from you.

[bobsy]

This is encouraging, and I shall be at Stoneleigh without fail. I know there's a few meets on occasion quite near to me, but I have to admitt outside of work I'm pretty lazy at making the effort to get things to happen. This is partly why the Westfield visit was disappointing, I thought I'd actually be able to make something happen for definate as oppose to shelving the idea until work quietened down or I gained some more motivation.

  I do understand the fact of not keeping things long, or doing very little mileage, I'm guilty of this myself with both cars and bikes. Westfield however is one thing I've wanted for years, but never actually owned and was planning on keeping it regardless of how much I used it.

  Gadgeman, the mention of Civics, I love Hondas, and the Mrs has a Stream with the 2ltr V-tec in it. As much as I was thinking Duratec, are the any Westfields with the Honda engine??

[peterg]

QUOTE

are the any Westfields with the Honda engine??

Just one or two, they're mostly mad nutter sprint cars some with superchargers and 350+bhp        

[Dibby]

Back on the height thing, my brother is 6'4" and getting on for 20 stone, he fits in the Westie ... only just mind, but he gets in.

I'm 6'0 and there's loads of room for me, plus lots of space to push the pedals back and shorten the steering column is we needed any more space

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

There's definitely a few with the S2000 engine now, not so sure about the Type R engine though; I know of at least one member on here with plenty of experience of them, though I don't think SteveD's used one in a Westfield yet.  

[stantman]

I am 6'5" weight 16 stone + and love my westy SEIW.

It has the slightly narrower type 9 central tunnel (I may be wrong on this but it seems slightly wider inside than my mate).

I have just fitted JK Composite seats to lower me in the car and removed windscreen as eye line hits top of screen surround. I have been sharing it with a friend for 3 years with standard westfield seats and windshield fitted but now its mine I have started to adjust teh set up to my likes.

My mate who is 6'3" has a duratec with aero shield and westfield sports seats, dropped floor and he finds it has plenty of room. He has fitted a removable wheel boss which takes the steering wheel away from the dash slightly and gives extra knee room. (I may do this next year when finance allows).

Basicly you should fit fine but try a few options, especially a non standard car with some extras by previous owner eg. race type seats, aero shield and dropped floor.

Alot more power/engine options and cars available for your money.

If its just the seats that need changing to drop your height the JK Composite ones are £215 deliverd in basic format so no budget breaker.

[GreigM]

I wouldn't let number of owners put you off, in fact with a Westfield the current condition of the car is the only thing which matters - age, mileage and number of owners are almost entirely irrelevant.  

A lot depends on the current owner, how much they've invested, how knowledgeable they are.  If the basics of the car are ok you'll find its easy and cheap to fix/replace anything which isn't quite up to spec, and often you will buy a 2nd hand car which is properly sorted compared to one out the factory which maybe has a long way and a lot of money to go before its "right".

As for the number of owners - a lot of these cars are bought before the owner really knows what they are getting into, and then they find them a bit "compromised" for what they want, so are sold very quickly until they land in the hands of one of the few who really know what they are buying.