RE: Caterham Seven Sprint announced

[HustleRussell]

Glad to see Caterham cashing in on the 60s retro craze- They'd have been foolish not to.

[Oddball RS]

I think they have seen how much 'classic' 60's 911's sell for and thought we will make some more classic 60's 'Caterhams' I hope you spot the irony in there.

[HustleRussell]

As an aside, I think Caterhams have looked wrong since they went to 5.5" headlights and the new lower headlight mounts- Putting 7" headlights on this retro model would've been a nice differentiating touch.

[giveitfish]

Just need a Prisoner special edition of this for the series 50th next year

[Davey S2]

I think this will appeal to an older buyer who on reflection will consider a Morgan to be easier to get in and out of and have a bit more luggage space.

[trickywoo]

£28k

[Macboy]

That ticks a huge amount of boxes for me for spec. and aesthetics. Sadly i'm now 5/4th sized myself for its diminutive dimensions.

[Gixer_fan]

Ironically the price is similar to that of an actual 60s Seven. (although I appreciate some might prefer a newer, more 'modern' version)

[anonymous-user]

As much as I love Caterham the endless re-hashing of the same formula, whilst obviously making them money, is slightly disappointing.

[HustleRussell]

ash73 said:

What's this about gear ratios on the 160? Are they a bit long?

Gear ratios on all basic Caterhams since ever have been sub-optimal as the gearbox is carried over from the Ford Sierra or Mazda MX-5 or in the case of the 160 the Suzuki Jimny - cars which weigh three times as much as a Caterham. The Sierra and the Jimny are normal practical cars which are more likely to tow a caravan up a one in ten gradient than be driven in a sporting fashion and their overdrive 5th gears are supposed to bring revs and fuel consumption right down at a cruise... as a result the five ratios are just too wide spread for the little seven- 1st is over before it's started and 5th is really pretty long.

On the ubiquitous Sierra gearbox, a longer 1st is a popular modification.

[Whitean3]

Absolutely love it. And I can't usually say that about Caterhams from the looks department (that said, GF Williams' Mexico blue one looks pretty good!)

I'd probably an extra cylinder and some more power though.

I think this is the answer to the Morgan 3 wheeler, but is more practical (who ever said that about a 7?) and sensible

[Mammasaid]

IN51GHT said:

Now that is super nice. I'll take one and park it in the garage next to my http://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/morgan/44-1600...

I don't have a Morgan either....yet

Better next to this methinks.

[MrAverage]

I love caterhams and this one is stunning in my eyes but i struggle to get past the price of them.

[Johnny5hoods]

Nice car; not sure about that engine. 140 hp n/a 1800 would be about right

[clarki]

MrAverage said:

I love caterhams and this one is stunning in my eyes but i struggle to get past the price of them.

^^^^this.

Just why are they so expensive?

[Ozzie Osmond]

yonex said:

As much as I love Caterham the endless re-hashing of the same formula, whilst obviously making them money, is slightly disappointing.

Yes, the Tony Fernandes "new product" initiatives seem to have evaporated in a way only Dany Bahar could equal. The poor old Caterham 21 never got anywhere either.

[hufggfg]

clarki said:

MrAverage said:

I love caterhams and this one is stunning in my eyes but i struggle to get past the price of them.

^^^^this.

Just why are they so expensive?

My Caterham is one of the cheapest cars I've ever owned. I don't (and you shouldn't) really care too much about the nominal price, but the depreciation, which is incredibly low.

Even if you do want to discuss the nominal new prices, when you start to put them in the context of a company that sells 500 cars a year, the costs etc, then they really aren't particularly expensive. It's a totally pointless exercise to compare it with (for example) a Golf, where VW produce nearly 1 million cars a year, and that's before you're considering that many of the parts in a Golf are shared with a huge number of other cars in the VW group.

[HustleRussell]

ash73 said:

HustleRussell said:

On the ubiquitous Sierra gearbox, a longer 1st is a popular modification.

Yes, surprised they don't swap the cogs in the Jimny box, or modify the diff. That's the kind of engineering I'd expect for £25K+ rather than bolting it in as-is.

The diff ratio is probably alright, you 'simply' need closer ratios in the gearbox... But the cost difference between getting a boggo gearbox in a crate and using it as is, and getting a boggo gearbox in a crate, commissioning the development and production of a small run of close ratio gearsets, employing a gearbox man to strip the gearbox, substitute the replacement gears and re-assemble with new gaskets, seals and lubricants, must be massive.

The Sierra T9 has been used so widely for so long now that you can get alternative gearsets- I don't know if these exist yet for the Mazda or Suzuki 'box.

Without knowing for sure, I'm willing to blame the NEDC fuel consumption test and others used worldwide as gear ratios are optimised for these very prescriptive tests and this results in horrible gear selections.

[CABC]

As someone who has borrowed an Audi TT for the weekend, I think this car represents reasonable value for driving pleasure. Ie I'd have one of these and a shed over the prestigious TT....

[Toaster]

giveitfish said:

Just need a Prisoner special edition of this for the series 50th next year

Its 60 years of the seven http://www.eventgoat.co.uk/derby/60-years-of-the-s...

http://www.roadandtrack.com/new-cars/news/a30744/c...

Even Caterham celebrated 50 years of the seven back in 2007,

http://www.autoblog.com/2007/02/28/caterham-celebr...