You will find your Elise 1.8 very much like the 150 as far as performance but the Elise is no where near the same driving experience, I went to Lotus Bell & Colvill the other week to drive the new Elise 250 and the Exige 380 V6 the 250 was boring compared to a 150 Caterham but the 380 I would say is a different thing but still not the same as a caterham for diect contact with the road but the 380 is very fast that I did like and sounds amazing but you would be without a license very quickly, if they didn't see you coming that would definitely hear you. I just parted with my 150 and I must say the TB`s are wonderful it is one of the best engine set ups I have driven on a Caterham . ChrisC above is the expert on setting up the engine, he kindly spent one afternoon tuning my car to perfection he really knows this engine inside out so I would suggest talking with him if you buy a 150. I Like Chris am missing the 150 I think it is the best in this class and I am led to believe Caterham only changed to the 140 because the TB`s on the 150 worked out to be to costly to produce which I can imagine. You wont regret buying one and over a 125 there is no comparison the Sigma engine is very robust revving to 7,200 RPM and really fun to drive. The main consideration is what gearbox and Differential, the five speed box is good with the standard 3.92 ratio diff but with a six speed box and the same 3.92 diff you will find it a bit revvy on the motorway but for country lanes its fine and the six speed box is more fun if you want to stay busy, a 3.6 ratio makes 7% difference and a 3.1 diff would make 14% difference the 3.6 is normally fitted when the six speed box is installed.The sixth gear on the six speed box is the same as fourth gear on the five speed box. So really depends on what type of driving you are going to be doing, no one with a Caterham likes motorways they are avoided at all cost. The Premier Power upgrades to 175 & 200 bhp are said to be very good and the engine is lighter than the Duratec which is always going to be better to drive on a Caterham the lighter the better. The only negative of the upgrade is the 175 bhp is £7500 and the 200 bhp £10,500 and that`s probably plus VAT you will have to check on the VAT part cant quite remember if that price was without or inclusive, I know the prices are correct as I spoke with them last week very helpful I must say and there demo car is available to try, it does sound very good and a lot of people have said so. Let me know if you need anymore help with the 150 you are looking at, i was in the same position as you before buying but its only once you have driven a Caterham for a while will you know what you really like and that is different for everybody there is not one car that suites all. So suck it and see
