If I had £2,000 and needed a new car...

I wonder what could I get from here.

JAGUAR XJ XJ SPORT 3.2 4DR AUTO (1997/R)

80,000 miles

£2,000

   

  RT 3.2 4DR AUTO (1997/R)

Rare Sunflower yellow ph1 Clio 172 (2001)

88,000 miles

£2,000

   
   

1990 TVR S3c (1990)

£2,000

 

SAAB 900S CONVERTIBLE 46000 MILES ONLY (1997/05)

46,000 miles

£2,000

   
   

Subaru Impreza WRX (1995)

80,000 miles

£2,000

   

MK1 GOLF GTI CONVERTIBLE (1986)

159,000 miles

£2,000

   
   

MG Midget 1969 (1969)

12,800 miles

£2,000

   
  

SIERRA XR4X4 66000 MILES FROM NEW (1989)

66,000 miles

£2,000

   
   

2001 Y REG MERCEDES CLK 320 COUPE BLUE FULL LEATHER AUTOMATIC FULL MOT (2001)

114,000 miles

£1,995

   

Renault Traffic Camper Van B-REG 1.7 5-Speed (1984)

48,000 miles

£1,995

   
   

It seems there's rather a selection.

Time for a bit of a confession...

As I've written before, I always wanted a Caterham. Well, not always. At some point(s) in my life I was utterly satisfied with a bow and arrow made from a stick and some string. Ever since I understood what a Caterham was though, I've wanted one. What then could be better than owning one and driving it every day?

As it turns out, owning one and not driving it every day. I'll give you a moment to collectively roll eyes, tut, mutter "I told you so's" and so on.

Before I go on, I should point out that the reasons for not driving it every day are fairly simple. They are not:

Because it's a hassle

Because it's impractical

Because it's uncomfortable

Because it's dangerous (it is - people really, really don't use their eyes early in the mornings)

Because it's noisy

Because it's too slow

Because it's too fast

Because it's too expensive

Because I like to listen to the radio

Because of the British weather

Because my wife doesn't like it

Because I'm too tubby to fit in it any more

Because I can't visit Ikea, etc.

Man with a beard

It's because I'm now acutely aware that in reality, driving it every day will wreck what is a beautiful car. The issue is that no matter what you do, it you drive normal miles in it, the chassis, which is steel, will, without doubt, begin to rust. Mine has had a waxoyl treatment which helps, but it'll still rust, just the same as any other car. The paint will tarnish, no matter how much love you give it short of washing it every day. And then, because it’s not a normal car, you don't sell it for a knock down price to a first-time driver who wants any old runaround.

Garage widow

What you do is strip it back, send the chassis off for a refurb, try and avoid upgrade fever while it's in bits and then pay a man with a beard a stupendous sum of money to rebuild it, or take all the skin off your knuckles and make your wife what is affectionately termed a "garage widow". I do not want to do this.

So, the net result of all of this is, because I have fallen a little bit in love with the car, and thus require a cheap and cheerful runaround myself, there’s a new game in town. It’s the “What sort of car can I get for £xxx?” game. Brilliant.

Driving and dining in Derbyshire

It would be easy to spend the entirety of this post abusing Derbyshire speed enforcement measures, but I'll suffice to say I'm not sure a blanket speed limit across roads, covering the countryside with big yellow plastic signs and worse, gantry mounted average speed cameras on beautiful moorland are the answer. Still.

Why would somewhere that looks like this....(flickr link to source)

I wrote about some of my favourite roads last week and in particular the joy of a memorable drive. Now, I would argue that the fact I'd forgotten about a last minute jaunt from a job on the Wirral to a job the next day in Bakewell in 2002 is forgiveable, but the fact that I had the luck to cross the Cat and Fiddle and carry on down the A6 to Bakewell whilst only encountering one car and no police is nothing short of a miracle. It was made better by my being in the company car (think free tyres and brake pads...). It was made better still that the one car I encountered overtook me shortly before Buxton, knew the road and meant I was able to copy lines and braking and get to my pint in Bakewell even more quickly.

...be made to look like this?

So, it's no small surprise then, that I was looking forward to the jaunt north. Indeed, it was excellent. The Cat and Fiddle is well worth a drive in each direction - just be careful of those ugly little gantry mounted monsters. A circular route that continues up the B4570 and then southeast on the A5004 is good fun and the longcut back to the Cat and Fiddle via Errwood Reservoir, while not quite a road for pushing on, is extremely pretty.


All such things require moments of rest and refuelling. Our grand plan for the weekend was some walking, some driving, some eating and some drinking. As such, I feel duty bound to mention the following:

The Old Sun Inn - where the beer was tasty, the atmosphere was friendly and the staff were excellent.

The Devonshire Arms - really nice place to rest out feet when the rain came down and outstandingly, were showing the Monaco GP when we went in. Shame I was recording it and spent and entire pint trying to block out the commentary. My long suffering wife may never forgive me as the food looked excellent, but I really needed to get out of there!

Simply Thai - at the lower end of Buxton. We had to seat at past nine it was so popular and it's easily the best and most authentic Thai food I've eaten outside of Thailand.

The Lowther Guest House - we spent two night here and were very well looked after. A very warm welcome, off road parking for the car, comfortable and spacious rooms and a more than ample breakfast.

Flickr link to source photo 

Manchester Evening News - Cat and Fiddle Speed Cameras Article

What does the future hold for Caterham?

I read with interest a forum post on PistonHeads where the original poster had received his factory built car (which is a cost-option, as opposed to a self-build) but was unhappy that it had "scratches, nicks and chips everywhere indicative of a sloppy assembly and careless use of tools". There was an interesting response to this across the forum, with some believing it to be unacceptable and a few suggesting it was characterful/typical of a handbuilt car.

I'm a process driven sort of chap...

To paraphrase my response, I believe that any purchaser spending serious cash on something, be it a car, suit, shoes, holiday, has the right to expect a top quality product. Caterham seems to me to be a very human company. By that, I mean that they are small and bespoke enough that the input of everyone who works there has a real affect of the product and service they provide, in both positive and negative ways. Pleasingly, and as I'd expected of Caterham, they have agreed to address the issues at the first service, but it is interesting to consider how this sort of situation comes about. I also believe, being the geeky process driven sort of chap I am, that you could address some of the more common issues I've come across relatively easily. I say relatively, as the solution may be obvious, but complicated, time consuming or expensive to implement without impacting current quality levels. 


I thought the this article gave an interesting insight into how Caterham runs now and, to an extent, how it may run in the future. Having already written about how I drive an F1 car this is another piece in the puzzle of how the additional investment in Caterham can affect it's future in a positive way.