randychase

There is no connection. The guys that started Zenos did not develop from the E10 from earlier cars, they developed the car based on their experience developing the Lotus Elise, and Caterhams. For those that might not know... Ansar was CEO of Caterham and Mark Edwards was an executive there also. Prior to Caterham, Ansar and Mark were executives at Lotus Cars. So this puts them in a little different place than most cottage based English kit car companies. Not to put those companies down... not at all. But there are many people and companies with ideas that never really amount to much or even see the light of day. In defense of the one you mentioned, at least there is a physical car. One key thing for me, was when meeting with Ansar... that he has a sensible plan, sensible pricing (he does not intend on makings thousands of cars and competing with Porsche), sensible schedule, and is 100% funded. That last item is crucial. I think one funny point (seeing as I am in Tennessee) that my own southern redneck does not understand your point, as it is really just a matter of degree right? I mean... I guess someone that only wants to use bailing wire and duct tape might think this car is too high falutin...but when compared to rest of the car market, I feel a part of the appeal of the Zenos is that I can modify it and use parts from NAPA. It is after all a Ford drivetrain and very simple. I mean this is still on the same (redneck) side of the ledger compared to buying a Porsche 911 or Evora or most any other car. We have one person interested in building a small V6 version of the car. Another wants to make an electric version. All good....

Modular-

toedrag, the pricing is all available on the USA site. Launch Editions are almost sold out, so one will be able to buy a non-Launch Edition for just under $40K. There are no costs to make the car street legal, it will be as legal as any other specialty component car. Again, not suggesting it will be cheap. Cheap is the not the goal here. Affordability is certainly subjective, but the goal is attainable and low cost of ownership. http://www.zenoscarsusa.com/e10-prices-options/ There is no doubt that at early stages in development, one can and should have concerns and questions. I think for me, the difference in how I see it was that I went to UK and saw the car and the design and talked to Mark and Ansar. I feel confident that they know what they are doing and are going down the right path. Keep in mind their background at Lotus and Caterham. This is not their first rodeo. The car has been on track doing testing. They did wind tunnel testing last month. This is not just a cobbled together from some CAD drawings effort. I feel it is a proper niche car development. Reworking a tub. Not sure why that should ever come into play. The beauty of a CF tub is the strength. If the tub is ever compromised, my guess is that car repair is not your major concern. The rest of the chassis is indeed designed for modularity and low cost of repair. The stated goal as I was told... we are designing the car to make an off on the track, a low cost fix. One reason I did not like tracking my Elise was the potential for major damage at low speed even (if you tweak the suspension pick up points, the car could be a write off...and replacing a clam is not cheap). Anyway... let me remind everyone I am biased. But I am also patient and I think it will be seen what we really have in the car and how things like the usability of the displays really work out, once we are farther into development, and once we have cars here in the USA.

What is the price of a new Esprit in the USA? A new Exige? Really, I agree that these can be compared and cross shopped, but a new car vs a used much older car is never a straight across comparison. Love the Evora, but totally different car (3000 pounds), totally different market. I think the real straight across comparisons to the Zenos E10 are: Lotus Elise/Exige (used) Ariel Atom KTM X-Bow BAC Mono The BAC, Atom and X-Bow are far more expensive. Most people will not cross shop the Mono as it is a single seater. For me that is a reason I would not own the BAC. One can compare the E10 to a Caterham, but the new Caterham is still more expensive and though I love the Seven styling, it really will not appeal to the broader market, it is far more retro. Neither a good or bad judgement... but having sold the cars and owned them.. it is either what you want or not. If I only had $25-35K to spend... I would buy a Lotus Elise or Exige. I did in fact. Then sold it. If my budget was low to mid 40s... then the Zenos comes to play...and there is not enough money for the Ariel Atom or X-Bow. Now you may ask but why would anyone pay more for a Zenos than a used Lotus? The answers are: 1. It is a new car. Not everyone values that the same. But many people like having a brand new thing. 2. Better (IMO) drivetrain. I am not a fan of the 2ZZ engine in the Lotus. I think there is more potential with a new Ford Ecoboost. 3. Improved design for costs. The car was designed to be easily repairable and modular. I have a LOT of experience removing my clams on my Elise and Exige and doing repairs. It was not easy or cheap. The Zenos has separate corner panels which I think is cool. The front suspension is moved inboard for protection. 4. Fun being part of a new thing. A different thing. 5. Carbon Fiber crash tub. Like driving part of the McLaren P1 except at far less cost. 6. Simplicity. One reason I sold my first Elise was all the complicated parts I was not interested in. I wanted something more like my shifter kart. No electric windows, door locks, AC, etc. In fairness... there are many reasons one would select the Lotus over the Zenos: 1. Dealer support. You may have a dealer near you and with more infrastructure than Zenos, you should be able to get parts and service easier. 2. You want doors, windows. Air conditioning. Radio. Alarm. 3. Federal car. No specialty car registration stuff. May be easier to insure. 4. Larger community. So in the end... it is a value judgement of what matters to you. Which is awesome, if anyone should understand driving a different car and taking a different path.. you guys should! There are over 5000 Lotus Elise and Exige cars in the USA and that makes sense. IT IS AN AWESOME CAR! I know... I owned two of them. So Zenos is not trying to take over that market. We really are only planning on selling a small number of cars. Myself... I am back to being excited about a new car. Can't wait to take it to Tail of the Dragon.

But apples and oranges. The Zenos is made with a carbon fiber tub and an extruded aluminum spine and more... this is stuff normally found on more expensive cars. Not suggesting the car would not be more awesome if it was cheaper nor that the car will fit everyone's budget. But I think it is a little build and a different market. Note, I am the importer... so I am totally biased. p.s. It is a lot lighter than an Elise and you can't buy a new Elise in the USA in any case.

And yes, the use of the term "kit" is unfortunate. As a previous Noble and Rossion owner, they have also struggled with that. Nobles were sold as "kits" and build qualities were very dependent on the builder. Rossion decided that they were not going to go that route for that reason. Kit covers a wide range and to many implies using a donor vehicle, or something rebodied... or something built in a shed by a guy with a Harbor Freight welder. I prefer component car, though I know it is just semantics.

The kit option is indeed like it used to be. So you save $3995 and put it together yourself. Originally Superformance was less interested in offering this as an option, as they felt (perhaps rightfully) that they could control quality better by selling the roller already assembled. Of course to meet the rules, the engine and gearbox are not installed. In fact Superformance wanted the dealers to stock rollers already built, the problem with that is how much customization the typical Seven buyer wants. It makes it difficult to floorplan rollers already sorted out with body size, paint, etc. I think some of us convinced Superformance that a good percentage of the buyers enjoy and want the build experience. I know for me it was around 50% of my customers wanted to build the car. Some saw it as a father-son project. Some perhaps as a budget saving move. Some will do more customization beyond the factory build. So if you order a new Caterham from Superformance, then you will receive a car already assembled and then arrange to have the engine/gearbox installed. Unless you order the kit option. I believe all of the existing dealers were offered the opportunity to stay on as a dealer with Superformance. Some have declined. I myself have gone in a different direction. I believe Jon has declined but he does still have a large inventory of spare parts. My guess is he will figure out what he is going to do with that, but I do know he is very busy right now and overseas. The larger question here...will increased marketing effort and exposure increase sales of a niche vehicle (and make up for increased pricing)? I don't know.

Way too accurate. One big reason I went on my own way many decades ago.

Hi Dave, been away from the forum. Feel free to call me directly at 619 916-8969 if there is interest. The car right now is in my garage in Chattanooga Tennessee.

It is not. The prices have been revised. The 160S should be under $30K as a roller. A few less as a kit. About $5K more with engine and gearbox and fully assembled (keeping in mind the rules for registration may require you to have a separate source for those things).

Getting close to a transport deal for $1000. So if it can sell in the next week before I finish the transport deal, I will discount the car $1000. Otherwise, it will be in Tennessee by December.

Yes. In 23 days. Actually the very southeast corner of Tennessee. Next to North Carolina and Georgia and 43 miles to Telico Plains and Cherohala Skyway to Tail of the Dragon. Pretty major life change. A bit scary. But looking forward to it.

I am moving in one month (or less!) to Tennessee. So I will have the car transported there and will use the car to drive Tail of the Dragon and Cherohola. Unless someone buys it before I move.

Sorry, I changed computers, lost my pw. Could not figure out how to reset it. But back now... The car was repaired at a very high end shop that normally works on very expensive historics and vintage race cars. The entire rear end behind the seats was replaced. We also had the following done: 1. Replaced driveshaft with a custom balanced one. The shop guy was not happy with the one from Cateram. 2. Replaced gas tank, sender, fuel intake hose, aero cap. 3. Replaced both rear wings. New Carbon Fiber shields. 4. Replaced rear lights. 5. Replaced rear license plate bracket and light. 6. Redid rear brake calipers... not damaged but the shop wanted to improve them. 7. Created new differential alignment points to provide adjustment. 8. Replaced suspension bits A frame in the rear. 9. Added rear tail light to roll bar. 10. Entire car gone over. Damage looked bad but was not really that involved. Chassis was put on a flat alignment table and fully plumbed and noted it was not tweaked at all. Car now actually runs better and smoother than when first built. There was a new clip installed from Caterham and then expertly repainted by a local paint guy. This is the metal behind the rollbar to the rear. There was no damage in front of the firewall behind the seats (other than a minor thing on the driver's leather seat).

It is in process of being registered in Florida. SHould be complete in a week or so. I am leaning to keeping the car now.

It was custom made to fit a Seven. SOLD

Yep. I know it needs better pics. But that takes time and means I need to unload the MR2 from it. Which I am going to do. There may be a pending sale.

This trailer is very cool. It was designed for a Caterham Seven. Though it could maybe fit some other smaller cars like a Formula Ford. It has built in folding wheel chocks. Proper tie down loops. And here is where it is really cool. The entire bed of the trailer tilts so you can drive right onto it with your Seven. Without it being hooked to your tow vehicle. So this means, you can leave the trailer in the garage and then drive the Seven up and on to it, and drive it off and still have a trailer ready should you need it. Tows easily. Has 7 and 4 pin flat adapters. Winch to raise and lower the bed is 12V operated but can easily be done by hand also. Local pick up in San Diego/Escondido. Probably expensive to ship any distance. $1800 or best offer I will take some pics... right now I have my racing MR2 (and its parts) living on top of it as I juggle space in the driveway

Here is the damage. The front nose has two small sections where the fiberglass is cracked a little. The rear has the wing pushed in a little and some sheetmetal damage to the corner. I lowered my asking price about $3K because of this, which should be way more than enough to have it fixed to new.

I am also selling a custom Caterham tilt down trailer that can haul the car. The trailer is $1800. I will get some pics and video (it uses a 12V winch to raise and lower the bed).

Bureau of Automotive Repair. The rule is that a car dealer, can't build the car and sell it complete. The BAR was told I built the car and they have told me they will not register the car to anyone else I sell it to, in the state of California. I will try to get some pics.

According to Jon at Caterham USA, he optioned the car to make it both. But frankly I do not know?

In this pic you can see the custom union jack license plate frame. I did not want to mount a cheap plate bracket to the body

Some pics. I have many and video also. The plastic wind deflectors in the first pic are no longer with the car.

Hi all, This car has had a short interesting history, but the important point is that this VIN will not be sold in the state of California for registration. The state's BAR has it flagged as a car I built as a dealer... which is of course not per the rules. But I can sell it out of state. The build of the car is documented here- http://www.britishspeed.com/gallery3/index.php/Caterham-Build-SV-S3-170 The car was transferred to the new owners, but they ran into the registration issue, so we have replaced this car with a different one. Now this one can be sold out of state. There was a small mishap with this car where it was run into while stopped and the rear end of the car was rebuilt. While we had it in the race shop, everything was gone over and in fact, many things were improved from the factory build. The driveshaft was trued and balanced. They added new adjustments to the rear differential for better alignment. Brakes were gone over and improved. The car drives very well. Original cost to me to build this car was north if $55,000. It has a little over 1500 miles on it and the engine is VERY strong. There is some minor body damage on the very rear and very front from my being really stupid with a trailer. Otherwise it is perfect. Full weather gear. Leather seats. No heater (but one could be added). 5 speed gearbox. Added rear brake light to rollbar. Custom brackets for rear lights and custom license plate bracket. Factory options- SV size LSD differential Leather Seats 4 point harnesses Black package Black Aero gas filler Upgraded track rollbar Starter button Carbon Fiber Dash Extra options (I added) Wide view mirror Tunnel storage bag Toneau cover Custom rear light brackets Custom rear license plate frame with Carbon Fiber frame Added 3rd brake light to roll bar. Professionally done! Powder coated aluminum intake manifold 3m Film on nose CF rock guards on rear wings (you need these!) CF door sill covers We recently took it to a local SCCA autocross for two runs and it set fast time of day and easily beat a CSR. And we were on the street tires.