Need sage advice from the Seven world

[Blokko]

Hi Rich - I live just down the road from you in Arlington, MA

 

I've owned 2 Caterhams in the UK and fully intended to get one here when I first moved over.

 

Echo the comments about trying out a 7 first. I've had an S3 and an SV and whilst I could get into an S3 it would be tight. The Westy is meant to be somewhere between an S3 and an SV in size, but I feel it is closer to the former than the latter. If you are less than 6' and built for speed rather than comfort the S3 or the Westy will be fine. If you are into SV territory then you will be looking at newer cars, which will mean laying out more cash and having potential issues around registration in MA.

 

Until recently there was an R300SV Caterham very close to you. The owner has moved out to Colorado but right now his car is still in MA with the mechanic who did a lot of work on it. Probably the same person that MPG is referring to. I'm sure that Baer can get you in an SV to try it for size. He often turns up for cars and coffee @ Larz Andersons. There are at least three other 7 owners who turn up to Larz shows occasionally - only one of whom I'm in contact with. The next cars and coffee is 27 Aug - if you are free we could arrange to meet there and I could see if any of the guys I know are going to be in attendance. http://larzanderson.org/events/lawn-events/cnc16/

 

All good points from the previous contributors. I'll chime in with some additional things to consider -

• There seems to be quite a gap between asking price and selling price. You need to do research to work out whether a price is realistic or optimistic
  
• There isn't a big market come time to sell. If you need to sell quickly you might have to drop the price considerably and this is where you would most likely see a depreciation hit
  
• If you buy in the winter and sell in the summer and pay a fair price in the first place, I'd expect depreciation to be negligible
  
• Think about how / when you would use the car given the poor roads in MA and the short driving season due to climate. Presume you have decent garage storage - chassis and ali skin will suffer if you are storing the car under a carport for example
  
• If you are 'price sensitive' (as I am ) then I suggest that you avoid the temptation to go for some fire-breathing, high power car. Lower power cars will be cheap to run in terms of consumables and repairs. Something Mazda or Ford based would be ideal. My cars ran 125bhp and 135bhp and that was plenty for me
  

[lmtdconv92]

Hi Rich,

 

I'm not to far away, I'm in Nashua. I have a newer stalker and my good friend has an older one. We can meet up one day and talk cars if you would like. Hit me up with a PM.

[Joe R]

Hey Rich, Joe here. Sent you a PM.