The Caterham Super Caterham Seven 1600 will make a feature appearance in the next mag. No spoilers, save to say it’s coming at you from Scotland.
That’s not far from the north of England, but is quite a long way from Crawley, near Gatwick, from where a staffer had to collect the Seven before delivering it north of Perth.
Reader, I was that staffer, because it was me who suggested we take the Seven. “I’m driving it to Scotland,” I told people, happily. You would think I had told them I was going to swim the Channel in my dressing gown.
Small, noisy, too cold, too hot, too wet: that’s what people think of a Seven. But I’m going to make a case here that a Caterham is actually a good car for long journeys.
The feet-up driving position isn’t widely adjustable, but I find it comfortable. There’s not much wind buffeting with the hood down; with it up, there’s adequate head room, a heated screen and a heater. These days the hood doesn’t leak. I sucker a phone to the screen for navigation and wear earphones.
The biggest problem is the hood mechanism itself and its array of poppers: it takes minutes to erect, while skinning your knuckles and stubbing your fingers.
A few years ago, in desperation at being unable to stretch the hood fabric far enough to reach a popper in the cold and rain, I phoned Caterham. “It’s easiest when it’s at its most pliable. When it’s warm and dry,” I was told, helpfully.
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Elsewhere, news reaches me from the road test desk – which remains farther away than it used to be, because it’s still spread across three colleagues’ homes – that the trusty road test laptop is to be retired. This Dell D630, a model discontinued in 2007, has been with us as long as any of us can remember.
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All really depends on what you consider interesting, I wouldn't pick a Caterham for the obvious, but you might like it, maybe we're all going soft?, wanting cosy, comfy but also want great handling when we feel like going faster, cars only go as fast as you press on the accelerator, obviously I know, but performance is getting cheaper new or old, but, if you don't mind inclement weather, wearing an extra layer or two, then do the minimalist open top sports car.