Have you ever seen a toddler attempt their own child seat belts? That's how I looked trying to drive home after the Handling Day with the Caterham. I couldn't wait for the first road drive but I also couldn't secure myself. Or fit the steering wheel. Or find the keys. It was somewhat of a palaver.
Garlick regrets wanting to go for a drive
Since then I've done more than 2,000 miles in the Caterham, adopted it as my almost daily drive and become completely besotted by it. I can even do the belts up now. It's gone home to Ipswich, been used for airport runs and visited friends as well. Chasing Garlick and his TVR to Goodwood for Members' Meeting was a particular highlight. Driving back from Aintree to Twickenham on a Saturday night wasn't quite so entertaining.
It's not been perfect but living with a Caterham has been tremendous fun. The key is compromise. Approach it like a normal car and it will be hugely frustrating; accept that it will take a minute or two for the harnesses, that you must take a cut-off switch and all occupants bring their own ICE then you're fine. Mostly.
But it's actually been far more usable than I ever expected. Of course the visibility is great, especially with the roof off, and having such immediate response from all the controls is really reassuring on the road. There's nothing to alter your inputs or dilute the feedback. Which is especially useful out in the rain for the first time! The first (and so far only) time the fuel consumption was measured the Seven returned, appropriately enough, 37mpg. I'll keep an eye on that now; someone's got to offset Dan's profligate AMG use after all.
Just in case it wasn't visible enough!
There are day to day frustrations. If the road is wet, water will spray up under the doors and inside; stuffing a t-shirt there works. Stretching it on the driver's side will block the breeze as well as it can get quite draughty.
Being brutally honest, the noise reaches intolerable levels at time. Around town it's great as the exhaust gurgles along next to you and having it parp along a B-road thrash is predictably amusing. But I'd underestimated how loud it is at a constant rpm; motorway cruising is particularly torturous, slightly ameliorated by some decent over ear headphones. Audiobooks are out of the question though, I've tried and they don't go loud enough. Singing at the top of your voice to maintain sanity on the M40 does work though. Apologies if that sounds hopelessly naive but using the Caterham really is an entirely new driving experience.
Hood on too much right now; bring on summer!
On the flipside, it's far more comfortable than I would have thought. The 'bag seat' of builders foam has reclined the driving position a tad too much but it's snug and, once up to temperature, there's some lovely warmth from the transmission tunnel. It makes top down drives back from the office a pleasure; that I live just a few miles away is irrelevant as it's an excuse to take a particularly circuitous route!
Moreover, any complaints have been totally offset by the great positives of using a Caterham regularly. The waves from pedestrians, putting a huge smile on the face of my 79 year-old Grandad, throttle matching every gear change; it's all just wonderful.
What next? Well with the summer hopefully on the way, the Caterham should see even more use. I want to do some track days to prevent too much embarrassment in the Academy, Dan wants a go as well, Wales would probably be quite cool and I need to attempt a drive-thru. Can't wait!
FACT SHEET
Car: 2014 Caterham Academy Seven
Run by: Matt
On fleet since: March 2014
Mileage: 2,345
List price new: Academy package from £21,495, our car £26,335 as tested including £3,000 for factory build, £330 for 'Side Screens only', £300 for Momo quick release wheel and column, £60 for push button start and £1,150 for paint (!).
Last month at a glance: A Caterham really can make viable everyday transport. Sort of.