Car Reviews > Caterham > 7 > Caterham 7 Roadsport 125bhp Car Review
Affordable Purity
When thinking about a Caterham 7 or as some prefer to call it the Caterham Seven the first thing that comes to the mind is the word ?purity?. Purity is a simple word for a simply pure driving machine. You don't get a lot of bells and whistles when you buy a car like the Caterham 7, but you certainly get a car that knows how to handle the road.
The Caterham cars have never been known for their pure speed. They became famous for the ability to out maneuver any car in the world. Slipping into the car for the first time you are greeted with simple, yet elegant seats that wrap around you. As you buckle your belts and wrap your hands around the small steering wheel you feel like you have been transported in back to a time where the only thing that mattered in a sports car is how it drove.
You will continue your trip through time when sparking the engine for the first time and are greeted by a thunderous burst of noise one would not expect from a 125bhp engine. But again this car is not about anything other than being a car that performs.
As you recover from the shock of such a powerful sounding engine you may be wonder to yourself, ?Am I tough enough to drive this car?? The answer to that question can only be answered if you put the car and gear and hit the gas.
If you decide that you are tough enough to drive the car then you will find that this car is simply a pure sports car. You will accelerate from 0-60 in under six seconds, which may not be the quickest shot out the gate, however the Caterham 7 is not about speed it is about overall performance. You will understand this when you take your first turn and the car stays gripped to the ground as if a hand from above was holding the car down. If you were racing, pretty much any car on the road, this would be the point where you completely understand what this car is all about. Most other cars that attempted to carry that much speed through the turn would find themselves in the gravel trap.
It may seem that this car is all about cornering and racing purity, but when you compare it to some of its contemporaries you will find that it has a better bhp ratio than a Porsche Boxter and a Subaru Impreza WRX. The Caterham 7 comes with a 1.6 liter Sigma power plant that was developed to take the joy of driving this car to even higher levels. And if you are looking for speed this car will take you to upwards of 105 miles per hour. The simple engine and light chassis will get you 36.5 miles per gallon.
A driver looking for an entry level sports car should start and stop their search with the Caterham 7. For the price of about $25,000 this car is a complete steal. Sure you don't get gull wing doors, navigation systems or power windows, however you get what every real driver wants?pure performance.
by Autoweb
