Rediscovering The Original Formula Of Maximum-Grin Minimalism (Part 1)

With a tiny engine, the new Suzuki-powered Caterham points backward to the Seven’s earliest ancestor, the humbly powered Lotus Seven Series 1, which was built between 1957 and 1960 and had an 1172-cc Ford side-valve four-cylinder.

Caterham Seven 160

The sun withdrew and the skies opened up. Bitterly cold, driving rain was followed by large and extremely painful hailstones. We pressed on for an exfoliating hour.

Caterham has built some pretty fast cars since 1973, when Colin Chapman sold it the rights to the seminal Lotus Seven design. The wildest of these must be Caterham’s latest, the 620R. With a 2.0-liter supercharged Ford Duratec four-cylinder huffing up  310 hp, this atomic roller skate reaches  60 mph in 2.8 seconds, Caterham says, and will likely spend much of its time deeply sideways. But we’re not here today to talk about the 620R.

It is important to remember that when the Caterham Seven’s revered ancestor launched fifty-seven years ago, it was a lightweight machine with an awesome chassis and deeply dull power from Lilliputian English Fords, just enough to entertain, but no more. Which is exactly why the new 160—one of the least powerful Caterhams ever and the cheapest in years—makes such a fascinating piece. Like its more powerful brethren, it is a time machine, but it alone harks back to the time when sufficient power and a rigid, really fun tubular space frame chassis was what you got for your money. The 160 is also the lightest Caterham, and it sounds almost affordable at $28,900 for a basic kit (sans engine and transmission), which is available to order in the United States. (The 620R is, too, but will cost closer to $75,000.)

Steel wheels with 155/65R-14 Avon tires, a live axle in place of the de Dion setup found in loftier Caterhams, and a curb weight of less than 1100 pounds give the 160’s microscopic power plant—a 660-cc three-cylinder refugee from a Japanese mini city Kei car—a fighting chance. It sounds comically modest, but all turbo-d up it delivers 80 peaky ponies and a 7700-rpm fuel cutoff to the traveling party. The engine comes courtesy of Suzuki, which also makes the short-throw five-speed manual transmission. Too slow it usually isn’t, although gear selection, resolutely pleasant and positive, is more frequent and important than usual.

New Caterham Seven 160 with Suzuki 0.66L Turbo 3-Cylinder Does 0-60 MPH in 6.5 sec

I find it hard to say mean things about the 160, which is without doubt a lot less car than you, whoever you are, will be used to. You could call it de-contented, but I won’t hear you, because anything on skinny-mini tires that weighs next to nothing already has me weeping loudly with tears of joy. Whether it takes 6.5 seconds to reach 60 mph, as Caterham claims, or 8.4 ticks, as Autocar found, in admittedly horrendous weather, is of little matter. 

                   Steel wheels suit the entry-level Caterham. Side curtains (left) prove robust in a freak hailstorm that frosts Kitman’s chaps, literally.