Tested: Caterham 275R
The Seven is not the usual vehicle for driving you to the daily aperitif. Ok, the look is the right one: just drive through the city center and you will be surrounded by flashy smartphones or from curious people asking you what is it, how much does it cost and if it has a license plate. Well, for that they only have to look at it, front and back, of course it is street-legal! But that’s not the point, it would be useless for that. With a starting price of thirty thousand Euros you can bring home a very easy car to handle, one of the fastest and most instigating in history, no matter if it’s a motorcycle or a supercar, if you are on a mountain pass, they’re going to struggle just keeping your pace: my word . And this, thanks to the philosophy that I love to find in a car: “less is more”.
The Caterham Seven is still the same after such a long time, but can always improve itself without denaturalizing its basic concept. In fact, despite being a hell of a four-wheeler, is not necessarily the most effective of the range, for that you can turn on the mid-engined SP300R, leaving aside the Seven’s layout that makes the engine/gearbox front compartment and rear wheel drive, its recipe for fun. The weight distribution is immediately noticeable with a front-end that gives no sign of lightness and responds to your inputs strong and clean. While, thanks to the great work done on the kinematics of the rear axle and the fact that you are sitting right on the rear wheels, the latter will not give you any feeling of nervousness. All you’ll notice is a very high limit and the need to have full visibility, for being able to test its full talents. In addition to the model being tested here, you can choose for the 165 and the 485, respectively the slower or the faster and more extreme versions. Our 275 R is distinguished from the normal or from the S for a decidedly more racing and devoted to the curbs attitude. If you can, and you’re looking to an experience and the opportunity to make the most out of the excellent 2015 Seven chassis, I would certainly recommend this: it has a specific technical equipment consisting of a self-locking diff, adjustable Bilstein suspension, lightened flywheel, 6-speed close-ratio gearbox, carbon everywhere and other technical and aesthetic goodies that will make you even happier on the track and on any mountain pass. This very engine is a 1.6 liter Ford Sigma with an innovative system of valve timing. In this way the 135 horses are available to launch the only 540kg car in any gear and at every speed you find yourself. Using the gears lever and shifting with the LED, will let you reach 100 kilometers per hour in 5 seconds and get to 196 in sixth gear in no time at all. Owning and driving one of these English lightweight is an intimate and visceral feeling that it never turns into something intimidating. Try it and you’ll love it.
Gianmarco Floris
Photo credits: Davide Carletti
Caterham 275 R (2015-)
Layout – front-engined, rear wheel drive
Engine – 4 cylinder 1600cc – naturally aspirated
Transmission – 6-speed manual gearbox
Power – 136 hp @ 6800 rpm
Torque – 165 Nm @ 4100 rpm
Weight – 540 kg
Acceleration – 5,0 sec.
Top Speed – 196 kph
Price – from 29.995€