Category: Affordable Sports 
Price Range: £15,995 to £42,595
Heroic performance, steering feel, balanced handling.
Expensive, poor weatherproofing, hot and noisy on long drives, no ABS.
Stripped-back sportscar offers supercar thrills for a fraction of the price.
Few cars can match the Caterham's intoxicating drive. Few cars can even keep up.
But first you have to adjust to the legs-straight-out driving position and get over your claustrophobia in the cramped cabin. At least the gorgeous leather-wrapped Mota Lite (optional) steering wheel is just where you want it.
Stab the red starter button and the 175bhp 2.0-litre engine barks into life. The sharp, heavy clutch and awkward five-speed manual shift suggest the steering is going to be imprecise, but nothing could be further than the truth: it feels alive, bombarding your fingertips with information on the local conditions.
With confidence growing, full throttle in second gear is another rude awakening. In the dry the 7 will light up its sticky 15" Avon CR500 tyres and the subsequent acceleration feels enough to match a 911. It's no surprise Caterham claims the 175 sprints to 62mph in a blistering 4.8 seconds. The slow gear change makes this difficult to achieve in the real world, so you're best opting for the firm's excellent and far snappier six-speed 'box. Be warned, though: it's an eye-watering £2,630 option.
Most of our drive took place in treacherous wet conditions, and our car's tyres provided plenty of heart-in-mouth moments when driving into standing water. Caterham suggest less track-focused tyres for the wet, but away from the puddles the 7 demonstrated fine balance and traction, even without the optional limited slip differential.
The 2.0-litre is an impressive unit. Even though its 139lb-ft of torque is delivered at a peaky 6,000rpm, the 7 has phenomenal go in all but top gear.
The brakes resisted locking up well, despite lacking ABS.
