2008 Caterham 7 Superlight R400 - Car and Driver

[stuntinlikemydada]

i cant belive the lotus 7 is really that fast omg!!!!

[Janusha]

Americans and their skidpads. As if they tell you ANYTHING of the cars actual handling.

[Luwinkle]

@scotlandloose And they use Honda engines.

[fabioandres7223]

@Luwinkle , this car uses a ford duratec engine

[Luwinkle]

@fabioandres7223 I know..I was referring to Atoms.

[danthemanpatrick]

one of the top 10 best cars ever conceived

[gibbonsand]

While an associate of mine has built one of these with a Mitsubishi Evo 2 4G63BT engine tuned for a staggering 500 hp  and achieves 0 - 60 mph times in under 2 seconds with slicks and a rugged driveline, I thought I'd try something else.

A 115 hp lean burn Toyota FA-7E 1800cc engine in a 7.

I get 0 - 60 mph in 6.5 seconds, but at 60 mph constant speed with a high ratio diff where the engine spins at just 1,950 rpm, I get an amazing 79 miles per imperial gallon.

Quick but seriously economical.

[jennyrules11]

wow my 3 legged cat can drive better than you..

[pablocruzdiez]

I do not understan why they have such a steep price tag. Here in Mexico, the base model is over $50k USD.... for a bare pice of metal...

You can build your own for les than 15k... easily.... I love em... they are just way to expensive.

[paullubliner]

@Homoautokus: Ask Patrick McGoohan, he chose it over the series 2 Lotus Elan for aesthetic reasons. See "The Prisoner" opening.

[jrodthegreat1]

they should make it carbon fiber

[SagaraSouske]

wow this thing is like riding a 4 wheel motorcycle that can actually handle.

[bluerallyes2]

Soft headed yank yearning for padding and a heater?!

[mikeb1444]

I wanna stick a Hartley V8 in one of those.

[RawStylus909]

The Caterham Levante would DESTROY the Ariel Atom. Not that I wouldn't give a kidney or anything for the Ariel Atom.

[sniffensnog]

i'd rather have a KTM X-Bow or an Ariel Atom.

[Mazda6B6]

The Donkervoort D8 is like a "high-end' version of this car. However, Donkervoorts are made by a different manufacturer.

[Towelman20]

The caterham 7 is all about pure driveing exitement.

[hadabenz]

We gotta have a twisty no-speed-limit backroads here in order to drive this thing to its fullest handling potential......

[iceefreet]

i would defenetly choose this car over almost any other car in fact the only cars i would like more than this ones are the Aero 8, Donkervoort-D8GT, or the Wiesmann-GT.

[Towelman20]

77k for a nissan gt-r totally ugly and boreing.

57k for a caterham 7 totally amazing and one of the most thrilling cars to drive.

[Klodust]

but id take the ariel atom over both of those

[RON2920]

@Klodust

[RON2920]

@Klodust =====CHECK OUT BRUNTON STALKER V6 3.8 LITER SUPERCHARGED

1460 LBS. 0 TO 60 3.2 SEC. 1/2 THE PRICE OF CATERHAM AND WESTFIELD

SAME PERFORMANCE.AND MUCH MORE RUGGED.I HAD A WESTFIELD COULDN"T FIT IN IT . I HAVE PICTURES WILL SEND.

[DrBoyton]

I'd take both, thanks!

[yachtymadness]

They are very wrong when they say that this car doesn't punish you if you over press. If you are a good driver maybe. However a majority of public road users are not (even though most think they are) this car will KILL you if the average Jo overpresses it.

[gromit37]

Really? Well, I'm no driving god, but my Caterham hasn't killed me yet. And I do 'press on' a lot. It's relatively easy to catch oversteer and understeer in these cars, they are so communicative and responsive. Maybe it's just your driving skills that are lacking? In fact, I haven't heard about anybody being killed in one of these, although I'm sure they have. If they are as bad as you seem to think, I'm sure there would be plenty of reports.

[yachtymadness]

The simple fact remains that the car has huge power to weight and many people are not usd to it. Couple that with the false sense of security that the message in this vid instills, and I think that people could go and get themselves into trouble.

[Ballers1234567891234]

this looks cool but it is way too small you would probly get ran over my a bigger car.

[gromit37]

Ballers: Rubbish. If anything, people notice them far more because they are so different to the norm.

[Towelman20]

Your bigger car could never run over a caterham 7.All the caterham 7 driver would have to do if you came up behind him and try to run over him is just put his foot down on the throttle a tad bit more and he would pull away from you like a rocket so fast that it would take you less than 2 second's to lose visibillity of him.

The one thing that you people in their big car's hogging up all the road with all the power need to know that light wieght track cars are almost unbeatble.

[turbo311]

My kinda car!

[hathunt]

with you on that one

[Lagdoo]

atom looks much nicer and almost same. How many times are you gonna need full power in streets? so

I would go for atom definetly.

[hathunt]

I'm building a seven for a fraction of the price of an Atom so I think it depends on your wallot

[gromit37]

Caterhams are fantastic cars. Unlike almost anything else you can drive. I wonder how many of the people making comments about the 7 and the Atom have actually driven either? I've driven an R400, and I've got a Caterham of my own so I know what they're like. I've also been a passenger in an Atom, and unless it's completely dry, you'll be dirty and wet in moments, as they have no weather protection at all. According to most tests, the R500 and SC Atom are fairly evenly matched on track.

[cti69]

ma queste non sono macchine..This is not a car

[Kcdiddy]

Too Expensive The Atom is better

[EuroSport2006]

Caterham R500 does 0-62 in 2.9's and has the same power to wieght ratio as a veyron

[scm11904]

im not sure but i think the atom had the same power to weight ratio to a veyron. I think this is a much nicer car than the atom.

[hathunt]

I think the caterham may be cheaper too, not sure about this though

[turbo311]

In the US, any Caterham is cheaper than an Atom, especially if you build it. A very similar kit car that I'm interested in is the Westfield from Flyin' Miata. One of those with a turbo Miata drivetrain would be a hoot!

[iceefreet]

how about instead of a turbo miata engine you do a ap1 s2k engine instead. you keep light weight have higher revs and on boost is crazy.

[turbo311]

If you do a Miata drivetrain in a Westfield you get support from Flyin' Miata, and they have all the needed parts. An F20C, especially boosted, would just be more money and more headache.

[iceefreet]

it might be a little bit more work but in the end it is worth it. the hardest part would be the rewirering. my friend owns a shop so i guess it you didnt have that it then it would be a headache.

[roxas765x]

They tested this car on Top Gear and it had a faster lap time than the Bugatti Veyron.

[chriskronicc]

lol

[ventureandcivic]

yea, very cool car, but what happens if you crash in this car????

[LilJohn148]

I would assume that you'd die...very painfully. Lol

[ventureandcivic]

yea, imagine to crash with the titan

[quwers]

Simple answer, don't crash.

[ltlocus]

yeah if you crash this, it's simply a really expensive coffin.

[quwers]

I'd call it a good value coffin.

[BigErnie00]

Yeah, then don't crash. Simple really, but if you drive like a tit, then pay back is a bitch!

[legotoon17]

Atom Supercar Is Still Better!!!

Test An Atom Next.

[HannibalBarca247]

Would still rather have an Atom

[pdavbnhs]

wow, i didnt think it wuld be so small

[DamnStraightM35A2]

they should have tested the R500 0-60 in 2.88 sec

[UberWagen]

That car pwns in Sega GT drag racing lol

[Jeromeo9]

a 7 with a 2jzgte would be awesome

[hathunt]

Heavy engine tho

[Jeromeo9]

yea thats tru:(. a turbo 4G63 would be my next choice

[mynameistanner69]

its kinda weird how when you go less cost more!

[devildriver024]

nice power to weight ratio!

[tarsman013]

Atom > R400 and R500

[GTRnev8820]

cool :0

[smootgt]

Ialways love this car! its so nice and fast!

[loneshark2000]

what a awesome car. Im looking foward to the Ariel Atom review.

[privatepadilla]

Nice car, but how does it stack up against the Ariel Atom?

Just curious, cause the Atom costs so much less.

Good review though...

[CARandDRIVER]

We'll be reviewing the Ariel Atom 3 in May.

[geeoffchin]

look up at R500, its supercharged im pretty sure, i love the Atom, but the R500 flies.

[quwers]

The R500 is naturally aspirated.

[123ihk123]

the atom costs 65,000

[privatepadilla]

Really? I thought was only like $30K.

I looked it up, they start at $35K(probably N/A) and go up to $75K.

Which means whatever Atom is most like this, probably costs about as much...

Still, a review of the Atom( whichever one is most comparable) , and a comparison between it and this would be nice to see. Ill be looking out for it, I watch these car shows daily...

[123ihk123]

i googled it and it said ariel atom 3 starting at 65000. On top gear i think they said it starts at 35000 pounds

[Pogost1ck]

If im correct there has already been a test between an atom and an r500....

look for it on youtube.

Thought the ariel was slightly quicker. (the supercharged one)

[JuggleAddict]

@privatepadilla

this car has such a classic feel, I love it for what it is. Couldn't compare it to anything else : )

[bradley081]

@privatepadilla

The Ariel Atom (300bhp version) does not cost 'so much less'.

[privatepadilla]

@bradley081 I didn't say it did. As for the entry version I was referring to, the atom = ~$2k more. However, the Caterham USA site says their cars come w/o the bare engine and transmission. So tack on their costs, plus shipping and installing them and you have the difference in cost I was talking about. Which is about ~$4k-$10K more depending. And w/ an original cost of $47K = $51-$57k or ~$2-8k more. Maybe its different elsewhere, but in the states that seems to be the deal...

[bradley081]

@privatepadilla

That sounds right for the States. In Europe 2nd hand Caterhams can be found for quite a deal. The r400 is a tad overpriced and guys install bike engines which make Caterhams go like rockets. 2nd hand Atoms still sell for a hefty price here.

[paullubliner]

@privatepadilla: It's a lot dryer.

[SpeedFreakNO]

@privatepadilla Doesn't matter, too ugly and no where near as cool as the Caterham :)

[yangbwoi]

I'd love to have one of these just for the lulz... I'd buy some funky ass goggles to go with it and just zip everywhere. It'd be a bitch if you ever encounter a speed bump though...

[masterdude787]

beautiful car