Hot new M5 to be hard sell for BMW

I CAN’T see cars like this being an easy sell over the coming months… perhaps even years.

It’s the new BMW M5 Competition, the latest version of the company’s 625bhp super-saloon. The numbers are mindboggling – a top speed of up to 189mph if you buy the optional M Driver’s Package, with 0-62mph in 3.3sec. Then there’s the price, a cool £98,095.

Rather than spend that vast sum on a new M5, I’d rather look at classic versions of the car from the late Nineties. They won’t lose money and have much more useable and realistic performance, yet they are still pretty quick.

They’re fun to drive, too.

IT would have been the ideal lockdown project.

Buy a Caterham Seven kit car, lock yourself in the garage with a kettle and a few beers for an end-ofday celebratory pint after finishing another bit, and off you go.

I’ve built two Caterhams – one in the Nineties and another about five years ago. Both were for magazine features and were a lot of fun in both the building and the driving.

Terrible instruction manual though. If you think Ikea can lead you astray then you should try Caterham’s instructions. Fortunately, the cars are simple so if you’ve some mechanical nous you’ll usually muddle through.

And you’ll find plenty of tips in the videos available on YouTube. But if I’ve put you off, you can always buy a Caterham that’s been built for you by the factory. As opposed to back in the Seventies and Eighties, most owners now buy their cars that way.

If I were to build another Caterham Seven it would be the one you’re looking at, or at least one very much like it – the Super Seven 1600.

Caterham makes a wide range of models that broadly speaking are named by their power-to-weight ratio. They weigh around 500kg, so if one has a 135bhp engine it has a power-toweight ratio of 270bhp per tonne and the company slaps a 270 badge on it. A

620R has a 310bhp engine, and so on. The one we’re testing is a special retro edition that is powered by the same engine that goes in the 270 but with key differences. The name harks back to original cars that were made by Lotus before Caterham Cars took over the manufacturing rights.

The engine is a 1.6-litre Ford Sigma which, as I’ve explained, produces

135bhp. On the normal 270 model it uses the standard Ford fuel injection system, but on this retro version there are a pair of sexy looking Weber twinchoke carburettors sticking out of the side of the bonnet.

At least that’s what they look like, they are actually fuel-injection units made by a company called Jenvey. They look cool and also make a very authentic sucking noise.

Most Caterhams today are fitted with cycle wings, but the Super Seven has the traditional flared versions. Performance and track-day nutters don’t like the flared wings because they generate drag and lift, but I reckon they look the business.

I had them on the first Caterham I built. They also look better from the driving seat. A bit like a Thirties MG.

In another nod to classic cars, the Super Seven has chrome-bezelled Smiths gauges, which are about as far as you can get from touchscreens and infotainment. You can keep all that for your weekday commuter car. That said, I used to commute every day in my first Caterham.

A roof is optional. And although it looks like part of a tent it is surprisingly effective – as I found out during our test drive when some rare lockdown rain arrived. You get the odd drop of water in but not much, thanks to more than 60 years of development.

I’ve mentioned the lack of infotainment, but it also has no power steering, no power brakes and no electronic aids. It’s a pure driving experience, but unlike most classic cars the Caterham handles brilliantly and is fast.

Even with only

135bhp this car will accelerate from

0-60mph in 5.0sec.

That might not sound impressive next to a supercar but it’s quick. A top speed of 122mph doesn’t sound impressive either, but you can have a huge amount of fun below the legal limit.

The cheapest car Caterham sells is the entry-level 270 at £27,490. This one, without any options is

£33,495 and that’s with you building it. Get the job done for you and you can add a further £2,395.

Sounds like shocking value for money when a Mazda MX-5 can be had for just a few quid over 20 grand – and you don’t need to put it together. But Caterham Sevens hold their value well – it’s almost impossible to find one for sale at under £10,000, and although the Super Seven is more expensive than the basic 270, it might keep its value longer, too.

Regardless of the price, this will be one of the most fun cars that we will test this year.