Wednesday 13th September 2006

Caterham wins design poll

Legendary 'Prisoner' car hits top spot

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Caterham Seven

The Caterham Seven has been voted the Best British Automotive Design of all time, according to a new poll of over 30,000 drivers by visitors to AOL Motoring's Web site.

The car, which hit the public's attention from the 1960s cult television show, The Prisoner, received a massive 44 percent of the vote, beating off competition from icons such as the Routemaster bus and the Mini.

Since its debut in 1957, Colin Chapman’s two-seater Seven has gone on to become a benchmark for performance and handling, selling over 11,000 examples worldwide.

AOL Motoring senior editor Justin Evans said: “The demise of the British automotive industry has been overstated. We still produce an array of awesome and iconic machinery, including some of the most memorable car designs ever.”

Car	%
Caterham 7	44
Bentley Continental GT	16
Routemaster Bus	14
AC Cobra	10
BMW Mini	7
Noble M15	5
Morgan Aero 8	4
Total	100

The second most popular design, with more than a whiff of aspirational desirability about it, was the £112,750 Bentley Continental GT.

The 200mph luxury runner pipped an automotive icon of an altogether different kind, the classic red Routemaster bus, into third spot. The unmistakable feature of London life for over fifty years managed to pick up 14 percent of the vote.

The shortlisted leading British designs were the AC Cobra, Noble M15, MINI and Morgan Aero 8.

[WIll Ferrari]

Hey what about TVR Sagarius and the Aston Martin Vanquish (is that british?)

[Garf_sv]

Normally expect to see the letter "E" and the word "Type" in these sort of things.

[mafioso]

Tough!! What a great car to win a great poll! Haha

[mini_ralf]

Even though I own a Mini I would hardly say that it's an icon of British Design. Not since BMW anyway!

[Mark Bayliss]

Shouldn't the award go to Lotus?

[E4UAN]

That list doesn't make much sense to me, the fact the BMW mini is included rather than the origional just makes no sense.

[annodomini2]

What a pile of B******s!


No offence to Caterham fans, but that poll is rubbish, looks like its only cars still in production.

And given that Caterham didn't design the original 7, the award should really go to lotus.

The Bini is a bad clone of a much better car IMHO.

[annodomini2]

What a pile of B******s!


No offence to Caterham fans, but that poll is rubbish, looks like its only cars still in production.

And given that Caterham didn't design the original 7, the award should really go to lotus.

The Bini is a bad clone of a much better car IMHO.

[VladD]

Wasn't the new mini designed by Rover before BMW bought them?

[razzle99]

Can't believe the Noble M15 got in there, and the truly iconic TVR Griff didn't ! (Though I may be a bit biased...)

[tony*t3]

annodomini2 said:

The Bini is a bad clone of a much better car IMHO.

Yawn.... Bini... do grow up....

Whilst i'm very surprised to see such a car in such a list, there are so many people with proper qualifications in such areas that so disagree with you... the BMW Mini constantly gets 5 stars in all sorts of reviews....

[oppressed mass]

where is the Black Cab?

[Shred-head]

I'm a Caterham owner and it is quite flattering, but this only seems to be a bit of fun and doesn't really hold much weight.

After all, AOL are really famous for their contributions to the motor industry.

[pony]

it is crap

a continental gt second is just bullshit. it makes you wonder who they asked....

[busta]

Arent bentley part of VAG? The Conti Gt has always struck me as bening the least british Bentley. Was it even designed here or is it just a re-sketched Phaeton?

And wheres Landrover, Rolls Royce, TVR, etc.

The Noble M15 is a great car but I cant imagine many of the AOL lot know what it is.

Stupidest poll EVER.

[dern]

busta said:

Stupidest poll EVER.

Like all the polls ever done the only reason they do them is so they can do a press release and get publicity through it.

Having said that the lotus 7 is an iconic shape that great to look at and you get a great feeling of occasion being in one too.

Regards,

Mark

[andy_b]

bentley was designed in the UK, but as everyone knows, lots of engineering from the whole VW group. The BMW Mini was (I believe) partly designed in the UK but mostly Germnay. I love the Caterham 7, but come on, thats a pretty crap poll really

[Tripps]

I suspect it was a multiple choice poll knocked up to fill a page somewhere, with pictures next to each choice to help the reader out, that's the only way the M15 got up so high, as there are few (if any?) on the road as yet.

(It's a great car mind you, but hardly a design classic yet)

Mind you, the car magazines get away with declaring car of the year right at the beginning of the year, which has always seemed dodgy to me...

[mx-tro]

VladD said:

Wasn't the new mini designed by Rover before BMW bought them?

Yes but the mini as we know it today is quite different to the Rover design. I think that the Rover design had more character. The only thing that actually remained unscathed in the the BMW mini was the dashboard layout...

[alecbarclay]

Caterham 7 is a great design. The Colin Chapman original concept is still evident in the Caterham version being bought in enough quantities today to maintain a reasonably profitable company. If it was a bad design it wouldn't be voted for, it wouldn't be the legend it is and it wouldn't be around!! As for the comments on 'minis' - the only mini that deserves awards is the Issigonis original which was a revelation in its day changing the world of motoring in the late 50s in the same way the Model T did earlier in the 20th century. The Bee eM version with its Chrysler engine certainly brought it up to date, but it didn't revolutionise things in the same way as the original. Serious survey or not, it is good to see the Caterham getting recognition it deserves.

Edited by alecbarclay on Thursday 14th September 22:14