Cold Sunday morning drive in the Caterham

Road Test: 1995 Caterham 7 Supersport
The Lotus 7 was born in 1957; the car perfectly adheres to Colin Chapman's philosophy of "Adding power makes you faster on the straights, subtracting weight makes you faster everywhere."
When production ended in 1972, a Lotus dealership called 'Caterham Cars' bought the design rights. Caterham has produced the Caterham 7 since 1973 in both built and kit form.
This 1995 factory built Supersport is powered by a 1.8 k-series and equipped with a few extras, notably bigger AP brakes and a 6-speed box (£3k option!!). What's not featured is a heater, radio or power steering.
Looks:
Not much to note really other than it looks like most other Sevens - not necessarily a bad thing but it does take an enthusiast / anorak to tell the models apart.
In our opinion, yellow with black wheels is one of the nicest combos we've seen.
Driving:
As all of the 1,001 reviews out there will tell you, driving experiences don't come much purer.
Sitting above the rear axle, it really is a case of point and squirt with the trick diff helping push you round the bends. Of course, push too much and oversteer occurs but there's no drama as the Seven seems to respond instantly to your thoughts.
You soon forget about the lack of stereo once the k-series fires into life. Whilst stationary, the k-series seems to almost shake the car with its lumpy idle but as the revs rise, the roaring exhaust note becomes increasingly addictive.
The Caterham isn't the easiest of vehicles to drive - the lack of power steering means your forearms will get a good work out during slow maneuverers and the pedal box is so small, you'll need to wear shoes more applicable to a ballet dancer.
The driving experience is not all about speed, drive along the country roads its hard not to be mesmerized by watching the countryside reflect in the chrome headlamps or by the constant oscillation of the wheel arches as they follow the (many) contours of the British roads (Check out the video and you'll see what we're on about).
Stats:
Power: 145bhp
Weight: 570kg
0-60: 5 sec (est)
Top Speed: 120mph+
Mileage: 62,000
Cost:
This car is worth circa. £10,000
Caterham 7's are available from £9k and you can be sure that residuals are rock-solid.
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/ 12grandauto