VX220 wins. Obviously I found slight faults with both :) but while the ones on the VX220 seem to be mostly cosmetic (it's a high mileage car) the ones on the S2 felt like they were a little more expensive. *Especially* as I wasn't convinced that the clutch judder I noticed on the S2 when changing down was somehow the fault of the TPS...
Let's see how the negotiations on the VX220 pan out and/or if the insewerants have funny ideas about me garaging it.
I prefer the looks of the VX220 to the Elise, it's more "seat of the pants" driving than the Porsche but "good, cheap, Porsche" is one of those things where you have have any two from three.
I'd prefer the VX220 to have an "Opel Speedster" badge and be the turbo version. Other than that sound choice IMO.
I dunno, I like the looks of the Elise S1, but (a) they're more expensive and (b) they've got K-series engines instead of something out of a disastra.
It is. More feedback and we're talking the same language. Which is good.
You can find a good, decently priced 944. This one was a little overdescribed in a sense but if I hadn't noticed the clutch judder (or better, if it hadn't had that) it would have been a decent buy. But as it stands the VX220 is likely to be a better buy provided the HPI doesn't come back with any nasties.
Trust me, with my limited on-track ability the NA is plenty fast enough.
Just bought an Elise myself :-) Admiral look like the best insurance quote I've had and for some reason the quote is cheaper if it's parked on the drive rather than in the garage.
My mate had a turbo with 240 brake and sticky track days tyres. It was warp-speed fast out of the blocks even two up and I'm not exactly light.
That's rather odd. My current insurance - which has quite a while to run still and would be pretty expensive, plus it has other benefits[1]
- is balking at the thought of insuring either a VX220 or Elise. Not in the loadsa money sense but in the "we don't do those" sense.
OTOH, they'll happily insure me on a Caterfield according to my agent. Go figure.
[1] Like their ability to "mirror" the effect of your main NCB across multiple policies.
For a *third* of what they'd want for a VX220, that is. Similar mileage, parked in the same place etc blah blah.
I think I'm about to bury the VX220/Elise idea and start looking at Westfields instead.
For a *third* of what they'd want for a VX220, that is. Similar mileage, parked in the same place etc blah blah. I think I'm about to bury the VX220/Elise idea and start looking at Westfields instead.
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I had a Westfield a couple of years ago, 2.0L 16V C20XE with SBD throttle bodies, about 210bhp I think. It only cost £220 to insure, the Elise is going to be about £400. Westfields are a lot of fun when it's dry, not much fun when it's raining. By the time I had it three years it always seemed to be raining when I wanted to use it, ended up doing only 300 miles in one year so I sold it.
Could this be one reason they're cheaper to insure - they're sufficiently impractical that they're simply not used as much? The Elise is a bit more friendly (daily-driver worthy?). There's also the bit that the Westfield will feel a lot more exposed (I'm guessing here - tell me if I'm wrong :-) ) and hence may be driven with a little more caution by some.
The discrepancy for me is even more crass - Westfield up to 2l is 140 quid, VX220 is 450...
That's kind of the bit I'm a little worried about. Nothing like driving a Se7en to the track in the pissing rain and then getting thoroughly wet during the actual trackday. Given that I want to go to Spa in October maybe I should reconsider.
TBH it seems to be 50/50 whether it'll be raining at any one time in the UK, and has done for the last 3 years. Horrible.
OTOH since you seem to get through cars faster than CarlR, just get one. Have a couple of months fun, get bored, move on :-)
The last Elise I drop leaked like a sieve with the roof up and it made getting in and out of it any easy task only for russian gymnasts. And 14 year old girl ones at that. The thought of having it as a daily driver in the UK is terrifying.
Fraser
Undoubtedly says more about the people that own and drive the cars than anything else. With a loading like that, it says that VX220 are prone to being stuffed and expensively stuffed.
Well so far this year seems to have been very good. I've changed office and either have to walk from normal car park or drive 1 mile further, negotiate a roundabout and traffic light controlled junction, then make a right turn into the other car park. Which will be full meaning I would spend more time than it takes to walk looking for a space. So I've been walking. In last 3 months it's not rained very often (haven't been at work for last 3 weeks), maybe got wet 4 times.
As are Elises - the problem with them meeting an immovable object is both the cost of the front and rear clams (both are of the "heck, I can buy several decent cars for that sort of money) and the bonded aluminium chassis. If the chassis gets damaged you can pretty much drop it off at the local recyclers as it's non-repairable.
Well, walking to work is not really an option as it'll take me about 3 days each way but that's what I have a bike for so whatever I get does't really have to do daily driver duties.
The Westfield can be used as a daily driver if you're mad enough, knew someone who built and ran one for about 5 years as his only car, 30 mile commute every day in all weathers. The Elise is a lot more user friendly as a daily driver. I never felt exposed in mine, I did always use the sidescreens which probably helped a bit. With soft tyres it just sticks to the road and changes direction in an instant, along with acceleration and braking far superior to nearly anything else you'll meet on the road you end up feeling more invulnerable when driving it.
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At least you'll only get wet once and a Westfield is far easier and cheaper to repair if you have a little off than a VX220 or Elise will be. On the other hand if you're driving long distances on main roads the VX220 will be a lot nicer drive. Westfields get very tedious to drive on long straight roads, there more a twisty country road car.
Can I add 'smooth' to the above ?
They really suit smooth roads best.
On a rough or badly maintained surface - like there are loads of around these parts, a Westfield or similar type of car is not the thing.
I used to get bad headaches all the time when I first had my first 'seven' type car. I eventually realised that it was because I was gritting my teethy so hard to concentrate on not chucking it off the road. Although I eventually learned to relax, it was something of a lesson I think.
As I noticed earlier today.
Good man... YKIMS (1)
(1) All the time you have the Golf for mundane duties such as being left at the station all day it does, anyway.
-- JackH
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