Caterham Seven Roadsport 150 car review

You don’t need hundreds of horsepower to have fun on the road. For many drivers seeking an octane thrill it’s all about a little power and even less weight.

The Caterham Seven Roadsport gives 270bhp-per-tonne – the same as an Audi R8, but for less than £20,000. Adrian Hearn got behind the wheel of one to see what the fuss was about.

On the face of it, it’s hard to understand the reason behind buying a Caterham Seven sports car. There’s only a small engine and lots of noise while you’re open to Britain’s winter elements.

Then you sit in one, floor it and you’re converted. The 1.6-litre Ford-derived engine may only produce 150bhp, but in a car weighing just 550kg this means 270bhp-per-tonne. And that’s the same as the Audi R8 supercar.

The result is 0-60mph in less than five seconds and vicious pulling power from low revs. In fifth gear at 30mph the engine pulled impressively thanks to its light shell. Due to aerodynamic resistance, the 1.6-litre Caterham Seven will top out just past the 120mph mark.

Sublime handling

With acceleration figures like this, the Caterham sounds fast. But when you’re behind the wheel or a passenger it feels even faster as you’re open to elements and so low to the ground. You get an engaging drive with sublime handling, if a little tail-happy in the wet. But keeping your foot on the revs through corners helps keep the Seven’s rear glued to the asphalt.

The ride is firm and bodyroll practically non-existent thanks to the cars low centre of gravity. The cornering prowess will help it keep up with sports cars costing three times as much, which is one of the reasons the Seven is big among track-day goers looking for something fun and cheap.

However, you should be warned before you buy a Caterham that while it’s cheap and only has a 1.6-litre engine it’s not a car for an inexperienced motorist. There is no traction control, power steering or airbags and if you make a mistake in the wet you’ll need your own skill to correct it.