Anyone driven one of these?

I was looking at one a while back, and as the running costs of the scoob are once again getting the better of me, I thought I'd see what was going on with them. The price seems to be getting a tad expensive though

 

What a funny looking Metro....

 

Ah my favourite subject.

I've been to see GTM a couple of times now and have been driven (though not personally driven) in the demonstrator.

If things go well this year I should be ordering one around chrimbo so I have it built for next summer.

I've spoken to Richard Oakes and Paddy Finch (the guys who designed it) and personally I love it. The styling is great, the ride is good and the car grips brilliantly. The only two things that I'm not entirely happy about is the slightly offset steering wheel (I used to have a metro so I'm used to this) and the slightly sloppy gearstick. If and when I order one I'm going to talk to them about adapting an Elise or MGF shift to fit it.

Don't think about the V6 IMO. And if you do don't think about supercharging it! In Richard Oakes's own words it's hugely fast but just not as well balanced as the 4 cylinder models. Boot it mid-corner and it'll start to understeer slightly. The best one to build is the VVC. This'll give you around 200bhp/tonne without the weight penalty of the 2 extra cylinders. If you REALLY hunger more power after that then supercharge the VVC for 215 bhp and 300 bhp/tonne. Think 911 turbo to 60.

There's loads more I could write but some maybe irrelevant. If you want to know anymore feel free to e-mail me at simon_dean@hotmail.com and I'll be happy to answer any questions you have.

Cheers,

Simon.

 

Cheers SD, expect an e-mail tonight (assuming I remeber to type one )

The performance would have to be a fair bit better than the Scoobs before I could even consider it, hence the supercharging. Don't understand their no-test drive policy surely there should be no problem if you offer to use your own insurance? Depending on how things go I may ask about this, as there is no chance I'd buy one without driving it first.

But given the price of them I may be better off with a westie sort of thing, so many choices

Sal, a bl00dy expensive metro to boot

 

Ahhh,

I was gonna get one of these, (See my Dr evil thread)......

Go and get a test drive (paddy will drive it though (and Quick!!) ) may still get one just concerned about price, you can get a well sorted elise for the money! (same but a production car ie engine weight etc.....)

i am still undecided...i wanted it as a track day car and would want to try it on track before i spent 16K on it..........(the price after you put in decent seats, engine, trim, A/C?, wheels etc)

what about resale?

I am trying to convince paddy to take one on track to let me play, watch this space........


damn decisions decisions decisions been toying with the idea since may!!

 

I think it looks horrific, although I am sure it drives well!
IMHO !

 

Couple of points. Robertio, the bulkhead has been modified to accept the larger V6, so I don't think there is room to supercharge that! However, there is plenty of room to supercharge the VVC engine (I have a VVC coupe at the moment). That'll give you 215bhp in a car that weighs 720kg! Hmmm. That's @300bhp per tonne. Definitely faster than your scooby...

They will let you test drive it if it will make your mind up about ordering one or not. They just don't want people turning up ***** nilly and test driving all the time!

About the price - I'd build it myself and save a large chunk of cash in the process. I mean, building it is half the fun!!! (I've got bit of a history in unbuilding/building anyway!).

The beautiful thing about this car is you really can use it as your only car. It's practical enough. The boot isn't exactly enormous, but it'll certainly entertain enough luggage for a couple for a long weekend. It will be my only car. A westie is a strictly weekend only car IMO.

Try and find out when the next open day is. I went along to the last one and chatted to the owners etc. Also that's when they took me out for the drive.

Don't forget that with the price, £16k is for a new car, but that'll only get a second hand Elise. I expect to be spending about 12.5k on the build, and I'm going to spend my time on it.

Also I've got some more piccies of it from the open day and this year's stoneleigh. Let me know and I'll happily e-mail you a couple.

I don't work for GTM just incase you were wondering!

GTM are well known in the industry and the Libra is becoming the flagship model for the entire industry - appart from the obvious Caterham's, Westies and the like. It's just a very complete car with wonderful detailing. As such you won't have a problem with residuals etc. The only one I've seen for sale was a 1.6 for £12k (I think) so you won't go far wrong.

Cheers,

Simon.

 

Sorry - One more thing.

I've tried to get on with an Elise, but I'm just too tall to live with it comfortably. I'm 6'3" BTW, with 5' of that being my legs...

The GTM on the otherhand even fits my brother well and he's over 6'6". No way he even fitted in the 'lise!

 

SD,

like to know how you come up with a price of 12.5K Honestly

The price i came too was with me building it,

Mine would be.....

9.5K for BASIC kit

1.8k series with dave andrews head etc 180hp 1.5K to do with engine purchase

Donor Pack 1K less engine

seats at £600 each

wheels & tyres 17" with toyo's 1K

Alcantara interior £500

Momo steering wheel £150

Gear stick (momo) £70

Brakes £200

Dash kit £200

SVA £200

Tax £155


I make this 15.6K and soes not include bits and pices to actually build it which having spoken to various owners you need to spend to make them perfect......

Remember the donor pack only includes the 1.4 single point injection and standard metro brakes etc........

You also mention that you are getting a new car and the Elise is second hand., well for it to be registered as new you would need to have a new engine from rover OR buy all the other bits new (from the donor pack) to gain enough points to qualify for new car registration.........If all the Donor partss come from a single vehicle youn will get that rego as it will be classified as rebodied.........

If you have found a way of doing it for less then please let me know as i will order it next week........

Also pix on web site are shocking it looks far better in the flesh, i was trying to get em take to the track for some Josh type Pix and for me too get a feel for it on the limit................

I am not trying to knock what others are saying just putting across my opinion of a true cost (i have built 2 kit cars to date) which sometimes are overlooked....

 

SD, Never got round to putting an e-mail together, full of inertia

One thing I have not managed to find out from magazine articles is: is the gap behind the front seats big enough for a set or 2 of golf clubs? All they ever say is that there is a large gap (my that's useful )

Will have to have a look around the net see what can be done to the VVC, as tuning it seemed very expensive when I was looking about 18 months ago. I got the spec from GTM back then, but it is at my parents as that is where I was staying at the time, will have to get them to dig it out and send it down

I'm just under 6 foot, and slim, so cabin space is not really an issue, I'd actually quite like to drive a car where I couldn't wear a top hat and still have head room

Diggy, if you have any success give us a shout, I'd be interested

Mossman, no accounting for taste in all honesty that picture on their web site is possibly the worst photo I have seen of it Have a check in this months kit car magazine, it looks a lot less kit carish there Interior still doesn't look great though, but I'm sure I could do something about that

 

A fair and interesting point... I'll go check my sums!

I'm out for the evening shortly so probably won't report back till midnight -ish.

Simon.