NeilMH

Good find.. thanks.

More cautious in certain conditions certainly. Two or three years ago I was driving an S1 Elise in very cold conditions along a straight road with trees on either side. Fortunately I was taking it very easy, on a light throttle and it was early morning (not much traffic). Without any warning at all the back end of the car went on black ice. Any opposite lock or anything I tried to do had no impact whatsoever. We were just passengers and spun round across the other carriageway (nothing was coming the other way) then back to the nearside down a 30 degree bank towards the trees. The driver in the car behind us said he'd not seen anything quite like it (the chances are when I backed off fairly enthusiastically, from fear of death, I unwittingly contributed towards the Elise's natural lift off oversteer characteristics). Fortunately the Elise is so light that the thick grass on the bank couple with a lot of light brush on the edge of the trees brought it to a halt with a lost number plate, a lot of mud a very scraped diffuser as the only damage (much to my surprise). When we went back and looked at the bit of road it was virtually impossible to stand up on it. I now drive like a 97 year old nun in icy conditions.

Good luck - big change from the Punto. Yes.. you'll need a steady right foot in the conditions

Sounds like you have had an interesting time. You are in the right place at Abbey.

Glad you like it.

to the forum. Good luck with your search.

Having spent around 4 years with elderly village residents occasionally shaking their fists at me and waving at me to slow down even when I was crawling along (plus arriving at destinations with my head throbbing), I've done the full sound experience and now wish to move in a more tasteful direction Its now only a question of how long my welded together standard system will last.

Thanks Will - I'm spoilt for choice now!

Thanks very much DannyBoy, Coldel and glrnet, including the kind offers Also it's interesting to hear that the popping reduced or disappeared after settling in. It doesn't sound like it's an issue. It's just that in previous lives I've had 2 cars with Crossflows, 2 twin choke Webers, competition exhausts and all that. When you back of of one of those combos it's like the 1812 Overture with the accompanying fireworks. So in a way I've been there and done that - I'm obviously getting older! So I guess I'm after a compromise that suits the 350z - a bit more noise - but a sophisticated one! Everything I have read so far suggests that this may well be the combo for me. I think the answer is definitely to hear one in the flesh. Unfortunately, due to a recent family bereavement and me being an executor I have my hands a bit tied at present but hope to be able to take up one of your offers in the not too distant future.

and good luck with sorting out the problem.

Thank you ChrisS and Jez . Depending on what answers I get here I will follow that up.

I have listened to what videos I can find and read the postings and I like this combo. I am aware of the rasp at around 4,000 rpm when using fairly full throttle and I have no issue with that. There seems also to be some popping on the overrun - is that a normal feature? I do realise that the best bet would be to get to a meet and hear it for real but for various reasons I am struggling with that at present.

to the forum

Interesting. Having read most of the postings about the Milltek/Berks combo I would certainly consider this. It depends how long my standard exhaust lasts for...the rear two bits are already welded together! If I'm lucky I'll get another 2 years. This year's budget is earmarked for Disks/Pads/SS braided lines. I would keep the JWT Pop Charger - I'm not worried about heat soak - I wouldn't be fighting for modest bits of BHP at the expense of the overall sound experience! Is the popping on the overrun also a normal feature?

to the forum

and good luck

You can hire a Caterham from Caterham cars. This gives you more chance than a test drive to see what you think about it in day-to-day use.

I have had 1 Westfield and 2 Caterhams all of which were built from kits but not by me. I was member of both forums and followed many build diaries just out of interest. I am not sure that my knowledge is completely up to date but it used to be the case that the standard Caterham (CKD) kit used to be quite a bit easier to put together than the Westfield with components like brake pipes already in place. The estimates used to be about 70 hours for a Caterham and 150 hours for a Westfield but there can be huge margin for differences/error depending on what options people go for and in what state they buy the kit - I believe you can still buy kits in the form where you source some components yourself and re-condition them, in which case the timescales would be more. There were few build diaries I studied where there weren't some components missing. In most cases that seemed to be resolved quickly but in the odd case it causes a longer term problem. I have sat and watched a substantial part of a Caterham being built and it looked largely straightforward but it was being done by experienced people. It didn't put me off and I'd like to do it one day. To own, the Caterham feels and looks quite a bit less kit-car like than the Westfield but prices reflect that so it depends on what budget you have. I also think the Caterham looks prettier. My budget didn't run to one initially and I never regretted owning the Westie for a second plus I found the club and company to be very friendly and helpful.

It is 5 degrees re the roof.

The answer is Azure