Anyone had experience of owning a kit car?

[u33db]

As above, thinking of buying one (secondhand and built obviously!) but am interested to hear of anyones experiences with them.

This would be my only car so how practical are they?

Performance wise they're light so should be pretty swift...how would a 1.6/1.8/2.0/2.1 compare with say a 16v/172...much faster?

Opinions....

:)

[fasterthanjesus]

http://www.bisch-web.de/Erfolg/Pics/kitt.jpg

http://www.bisch-web.de/Erfolg/Pics/micha05.jpg

[u33db]

LOL!

Nah, KITT would be cool but its more of the Tiger/Robin Hood/Lotus 7 style cars i'm looking at.

[Lunner]

Surley the fun of aving a kit car is building it yourself?

[stew]

Agreed!

:wink: 8)

[Jason]

Starting with my fav...
www.donkervoort.nl
but most expensive [-X
These you'll find interesting, in case you haven't seen already
http://www.westfield-sportscars.co.uk/index.asp
http://www.tigerracing.com/
http://www.robinhoodsportscars.com/index.php
http://www.rawengineering.co.uk/About_us.html
http://www.dareuk.com/
http://www.rst-v8.co.uk/

[BenR]

i had a caterham and used it on a daily basis, sun or rain.

And tbh, it was one of the more reliable cars i had, the only thing which went was the wireing for the headlights but that was a 20 min job.

[Gav]

insurance is super cheap, my dad used to build them before setting up his company

he's never owned one but does want to have a lambo diablo kit eventually but good fun building them!

[u33db]

Yeah it would be good to build one but TBH the attraction is that they're fast, cheap (seen quite a few good ones for sub 3k!) and quite individual. The other thing is reliablity though...i've had 6 renaults in a row now and have had enough - most kit cars are stoneage (pinto etc) ford based so am i right in thinking they're pretty much bombproof?

Whats the score with tax and insurance...are these as cheap?

[Gav]

not to sure the ins and outs of it mate but i do know that insurance in the kit car catagory is real cheap - i will ask my old man tonight for u if u like? he knows all about it and some places where to buy mint ones ready built 8)

and yer most kits r built with a ford sierra donar car, thats what my old man is going to be using for his lambo

[minus engine of course :D]

[Dancliovalver]

i havnt but there are a few westfield looking kit cars round here, one with an R1 bike engine and the other with a hiyabusa engine, stupidly fast!!!

[u33db]

not to sure the ins and outs of it mate but i do know that insurance in the kit car catagory is real cheap - i will ask my old man tonight for u if u like?

That would be much appreciated! :)

[clowo16v]

I wouldn't get a bike engined one they're fun for trackdays but in traffic etc they're shit to drive.

The first kit car I helped build was a Westfield that had a 1740cc Ford x/flow in with a stg 3 cam and twin 40s and that would pan the arse of Cossies. This cost about £7k 7 or 8 years ago.

The 2nd was a Robin Hood that me and my mate built from scratch that ran a stg 3 Pinto on twin 48s and homemade independent front and rear suspension. That would pan the arse of every production car on the road. It's still running round with a stg 4 Pinto and up to 120mph is faster than a Bentley Continental GT. This cost about £2500

The 3rd one I built was more or less the same but with a 2 litre Zetec on throttle bodies. It wasn't quite as quick as the Pinto powered one but still enough to waste 98% of stuff on the road. This cost about £3500

The one I'm helping build at the minute is similar spec again but the chassis is in round tube instead of square, and we've modified certain bits for strength and to fit the engine, which is a Cossie YB turbo which should make 450-500bhp when its done. It's also running the 4x4 system off the Cossie. That will pan the arse of everything on the road including a Bugatti Veryon and Enzo. A friend of mine has one on the road in a similar spec and the 0-60 is about 2.7 seconds and 0-100 in just over 6 seconds. This will cost about £12k all done but he the tyres last about 500 miles lol.

See ya

Matt

[dan-hipgrave]

my dad used to have a Cobra kitcar, was awesomely fast for the engine size (2.8 V6) but as an everyday car I imagine it would suck - we drove it just once in the wet coming home from a show and it leaked from everywhere..

[BenR]

dont get a pinto/sierra based one please!!!!!

[clowo16v]

Why not they're cheaper, easier to find and loads more reliable than a bike engined one. It's also a lot easier to find bits for them, and they're more practical. They're nicer to drive aswell.

See ya

Matt

[Gav]

sorry dude my old man is away tonight, will phone him tomorrow morn and post at work

[stan]

My old man makes caterham replica chassis if your intrested in building one from scratch