The Caterham Seven has been around for 50 years, and there’s been no shortage of engine options, trim levels and power outputs in that time. We think that this, the 360S, might just be one of the sweetest of them all.
Things the magazines do tell you about driving a Caterham: nothing this side of a superbike provides you with such a hardwired connection to what the machine’s doing. The directness of the steering, the throttle response, the positivity of the brakes, the tight little short-throw gearbox, the feline balance of the chassis – the entire car is a tactile delight, buzzing with energy and fizzing with joy. On a clear, dry day, with the roof off and the engine rasping away, it’s like being put on a drip feed of serotonin, the biggest, dopiest grin etched impermeably on your face.
Things the magazines don’t tell you about driving a Caterham: the first time you try to set off, you’ll stall. Probably several times. If you drive with the roof off and no eye protection, even with the doors attached and windscreen in place, insects and bits of grit will still find their way into your eyes. When you go to open the door – say, to pop your ticket in the machine on the way out of a car park – you’ll often find that it’s come off in your hand (luckily, it’s incredibly simple to reattach). Drive it somewhere glitzy and built up, for instance into the heart of Chelsea, as we did, passers-by will forget about the swathes of Ferraris and Lamborghinis around you and be transfixed by this funny little bug-eyed time traveller from the 1950s. Despite all these things, or perhaps because of them, it is wonderful.
2023 marks 50 years of the Caterham Seven, although the concept is much older. In 1973, Caterham bought the rights to the design of the Lotus Seven, a car conceived by the immensely clever Colin Chapman and introduced in 1957. There’s been various different takes on the formula since then, but this, the 360S, is arguably one of the very best.
You see, Caterham’s current model range centres around four basic mechanical packages – 170, 360, 420, and 620 (you can also order the 170 or 360 in retro-tastic Super Seven forms – the name and looks are throwbacks but the bones are the same). At the heart of the 170 is a 660cc turbocharged three-cylinder, last seen on UK shores in the Suzuki Cappuccino. With 84bhp, it makes about the same power as a machine you’d use to make an actual cappuccino. It’s highly usable power, but even in something as lithe as a Caterham, a little extra wouldn’t go amiss. At the other end of the scale, in the 620, is a supercharged 2.0-litre Ford Duratec motor, producing 310bhp. In a car with no driver aids that weighs in at barely over half a tonne. This is the kind of car for people who like to unwind at the weekend with a nice relaxing BASE jump.
Sitting between them is a naturally-aspirated version of that Ford four-pot, available in two power outputs – this 360S’s 180bhp, and 210bhp in the 420. Yes, it’s the engine from an old Ford Focus, and that 180bhp sounds meagre by modern standards, but don’t forget this is a Caterham: its 560kg kerb weight means a power-to-weight ratio of 321bhp/tonne – comfortably more than a Porsche 911 Carrera S.
This places the 360S in an absolute sweet spot for road driving. It’s invigorating to have a throaty, rev-happy naturally-aspirated engine singing away ahead of you, the induction rasp belying its humble origins as you work your way up through the snickety five-speed gearbox. Sat practically atop the rear axle, and staring down the long, louvred bonnet at the open front wheels and insectoid headlights, you might start thinking you’re piloting some racing machine from years gone by. This is only amplified if you choose to leave the doors at home and stuff the canvas roof into the compact storage area behind the cockpit.
And yet, despite the looks, this isn’t some barely road legal, thinly disguised racer. Mercifully for those of us that aren’t Yuki Tsunoda, most Caterhams come with a wide chassis option, which this test car has. It doesn’t have the unforgiving bucket seats of Caterham’s harder-edged models; rather you find yourself settling into a pillowy sports seat, on this car trimmed in a delightfully buttery leather that pairs perfectly with the Aston Martin Apple Tree Green paint. It’s a relief, too, to pull on a normal seatbelt and not a harness that constricts one’s unmentionables.
Don’t mistake these comforts for the Seven gone soft. It’s still a deeply physical experience. The all-mechanical clutch requires utmost precision, potholes will send a jolt through the entire car, especially with the optional sport suspension fitted here, and even in this widebody car, the pedal box isn’t particularly accommodating to the larger-footed driver. The optional track-biased tyres, too, are not your friends if it’s cold or wet outside, as it often is in the British springtime.
No, what these little nods to usability do is create a take on the Seven formula that’s more amenable to actually being used regularly without diluting the car’s purpose. If you tolerated the noise, lack of space and recalcitrant manoeuvrability at low speeds, then long distances wouldn’t be a chore. Our time with it started with a run around a rainy M25, fighting through the spray thrown up by lumbering lorries, where the Seven quite happily sat at 70, despite its apparent vulnerability.
After was the run into the more diamond-encrusted parts of London, via a traffic-choked North Circular, where the only real sour point was, yes, that clutch. The following day’s drive was what this car’s really about, though. Driving up from west London to C&M’s Warwickshire home, the obvious, quickest route takes you up the M40 pretty much all the way. Surprisingly adept as it is though, no Seven is really built for motorway cruising.
Instead, we headed through the Chiltern Hills and across Buckinghamshire before skimming the northern Cotswolds, taking flowing A-roads and winding B-roads all the way. With a crisp, frost-layered morning gradually turning into a clear, mild day as we passed through pretty villages and fields starting to show the first signs of spring, very few cars would have felt more inherently right for the journey.
Even within the Caterham range, it felt ideal. As fun as it sounds to thrash the little kei car derived engine in the 170, you can’t help but feel that there’d be times the sheer lack of grunt would become frustrating. On the other hand, the bonkers supercharged 620 model sounds just plain frightening anywhere besides a dry, wide open racetrack.
The 360 starts at £37,490. Another £3,500 will buy you the extra 30bhp of the 420 model, but it’s worth experiencing the responsiveness and sense of speed and engagement offered by the less powerful car before deciding whether that outlay’s worth it.
You can also, if you wish, order a 360R instead, which adds in a limited-slip differential, lightweight flywheel and lots of interior carbon fibre. If you’re a track-day regular, do it. If you just want something that’s going to be engaging as possible on the road, and will reconnect you with the raw, elemental aspects of driving, don’t. Get a 360S. It fits the bill like few other things.
If you’re a member of 313, our non-exclusive exclusive member’s club, then you’ll have the opportunity to head down to Caterham’s production facility, flagship showroom and mini-museum in Gatwick on Friday 9 June 2023, and get the chance to get behind the wheel of a Seven and find out what it’s all about. Caterham are also supporting C&M’s Best of British long weekend on 6-8 May, along with some other awesome brands – tickets available now.
