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.
The best thing we can say here is that the featherweight kerbweight allows the 7 to get away with fairly soft springs. The ride is surprisingly compliant and avoids unwanted crashiness.
But it's not even remotely comfortable. A short cruise along a motorway will leave you exhausted. Put the hood up on a summer's day and the heat sink from the engine and transmission will cook you alive. Then, if a storm breaks, drops of rain will work their way around the windscreen rail and plop into your lap.
The noise from the driver's side exhaust pipe will send you deaf, and getting in and out requires the limberness of an Olympic gymnast - and watch yourself on that silencer: it gets scalding hot.
As far as equipment goes, Caterham can almost match Mini's sophistication in offering essential 'options'. We recommend the £2,630 six speed manual and the £895 limited slip diff. The 15" wheels are worth it: they look great and come fitted with those glorious Avon CR500 tyres (careful in the wet), but that adds another £735.
A quick-release steering wheel helps you get in and out of the Caterham, but this adds £295 to an already spiralling pricetag and that's before you've spent £970 (non-metallic) or £1,310 (metallic) to have it properly painted. Once you've done that the odd stripe here and there is a necessity (£80-£185). Go completely crazy and you can add almost £10,000 in options. You have been warned.
