Using a Stratos as an everyday car?

[Dave Watling]

I see that quite a few of you are using your cars primarily for rallying, which is after all what the Stratos was built for.

My question is if it is viable to use a Stratos as an everyday road car?

Or are there any problems with this that I haven't thought of, like insurance, wear and tear, fuel costs (V6).

[rutthenut]

I think that a fair number of replica owners do use their cars on a regular basis, although maybe not every day.

Insurance can be surprisingly cheap, but that's often with a limited mileage (3000, 5000, 7000 a year) and may have a restriction on driving to work or 'commuting' in it.

Wear and tear shouldn't be any real issue.

Visibility to the rear three-quarters is somewhat restricted, but that is not exclusive to this particular car.

What I find most amazing - still - is the reaction from others on the road. It's still a great feeling to drive the car and realise how many other people like the look of it, have memories of the originals, want to take pictures of it, all sorts.

You do sometimes worry that you might cause an accident though, as drivers may stare at your car and not at the road ahead!

There does seem to be a competition-oriented bias to the discussions in this newsgroup, but the majority of the owners do not compete with their cars at all. Don't let that put you off...

[Stratos]

Mine gets used on the road - in between repairs!!!!

In fact, it was driven through Central London last week, including a two and half hour return journey through the rush hour traffic. If I lived outside of London, I would use it even more.

Panos lives in Camden and uses his as his everyday car - and that is Central, Central London.

John's right about the reaward vison, and leftward vison when turning right out of T junctions.

Another point - I hadn't really thought about it you raised it. This forum does seem very competition orientated - a lot of the people who have started posting here are that way inclined, and most of the Stratos owners who don't compete seem to have stayed away.

If we took a poll of all the UK Stratos Replica owners, you would find that only a VERY small percentage actively compete with their cars. Most seem content just to enjoy driving them, and taking them to shows.

[mogul_x]

Dave,

Even though my car is still many months (okay, years) from being on the road, it had always been my intention to use it primarily as a road car.

I may use it for some light competition stuff, but it will probably wind up being used more often as a weekend runabout. I'll probably outfit it with racing seats and 4 point belts, but this is more to do with personal preference than with competition needs.

Despite the racing pedigree, they seem to be well suited to daily use. I've only been driven in a handful of Stratos replicas, but they've all been surprisingly comfortable, roomier than I expected, and have enough trunk (sorry, boot) space to almost be practical. Much more than my '85 Toyota MR2, and at least on par with my '97 Chevy Camaro.

I wouldn't imagine that maintenance costs for a road car would be any worse than those of the engine donor. Insurance doesn't look bad, but as David said, there may be restrictions on mileage and use, depending on your policy. That's an issue I've only just begin to explore, and might be the only thing preventing daily use.

Well, maybe that and the lack of air conditioning. But that's more of a problem here in the 'States, where the summers are bit warmer....

[David May]

To me, the daily useability was the whole point of building a replica (as opposed to restoring a real Stratos). Sure, the rear and side visibility is dismal, and it gets a bit hot inside, but what other supercar fits my little garage, gets me all around Europe and wins pots at the weekend.
With a suitably long final drive, even a 24V V6 can be economical (I average 27mpg including race weekends) and have already covered 40,000kms from Norway to Italy with lots of smiles.

Dave M

[Dave Watling]

Thanks for all your comments, makes me much happier to look at using one everyday.

Which will mean I will have to go for the Stradale body since I hate to think how many sets of rear tyres I'll go through if I stay at my current 20k a year, none of which is business miles. One of the problems of living next to the lake district. It does seem such a shame not to use ALL the cool roads with high walls to bounce engine sounds off :D

[Stratos]

Originally posted by Dave Watling
One of the problems of living next to the lake district. It does seem such a shame not to use ALL the cool roads with high walls to bounce engine sounds off :D

Now, would I swap London traffic jams for that?

No, it sounds too much fun!!!