Sensation-al...

CATERHAM 170S IS A FEEL-FAST, FUN CAR

Seven years ago, I spent a long weekend with a mate building a Caterham Seven from a kit. Great fun, lots of banter and a couple of grazed knuckles.

The car was what Caterham referred to as the 160, and was powered by a three-cylinder turbocharged Suzuki engine that displaced a bijou 660cc.

Caterham names its cars by power-to-weight ratio, and since the car weighed 500kg and the engine had 80bhp, you wound up with 160.

In Japan, there’s a type of car called a kei car. It has to be no longer than 3.4m and 1.48m wide with a maximum height of 2m; and it can’t have an engine bigger than 660cc. Japan is a huge market for Caterhams, so that’s why the 160 model was built.

Unfortunately, Caterham had to drop the 160 model from its catalogue a couple of years ago because the engine was between generations.

Now there’s a new version of the engine (with an extra 4bhp) so Caterham can once again produce this great little car. Because the power has gone up, it gets a new name, 170. Caterham makes an S version, which is more roadfocussed, and an R, which is more track-orientated. We’re driving the 170S because it’s a grand cheaper and

has a heater fitted. If you build a 170S yourself, which I would thoroughly recommend you do, it will cost £22,990. If you want Caterham to do the job for you, it’ll cost you an extra £2,395.

Getting into a Caterham is easy if the roof is off, but with it up, as a colleague commented, it’s like trying to get toothpaste back into its tube. It’s sunny and relatively warm, so it’s a roof-off day. Actually, Caterhams are quite cosy with the roof up and don’t leak much in rain.

The top speed of the 170S is a modest 105mph, which means, unlike in modern supercars like Mclarens and Ferraris, you don’t spend the whole time panicking that you’re doing twice the speed limit. Acceleration is quite brisk with 0-62mph taking just under 7.0sec. But more impressively the car does 58mpg.

It’s a squish in this Caterham (other models can be ordered with a wider ‘SV’ body) and you could have problems if you have big feet.

Wearing slim racing boots might be a necessity when driving this car.

There’s a five-speed gearbox that has a superbly accurate action, and the steering has no power assistance so is super-accurate.

The three-cylinder engine makes an interesting noise and a playful chirp when you lift off the throttle. It’s also quiet.

Best of all, it feels like you’re going very quickly in the 170S even when you’re not because this car is all about sensation. You’re so low to the ground for one thing.

If you’re the sort of person who would like to do track days in a car like this, or even the odd competitive hill climb, then I’d say you might want to trade up to a Caterham model that is a bit more powerful. The 270 model, for example.

But if you’re just after delightfully simple fun on country roads in the summer (or winter), then the Caterham 170S is hard to beat.