CATERHAM SEVEN 170R

TESTED 26.8.21, SUSSEX ON SALE NOW PRICE £23,990 | Small-capacity three-cylinder Suzuki power returns to Caterham’s line-up to create the lightest Seven yet conceived

- MATT PRIOR

It’s hard to choose a Caterham, although browsing the firm’s configurator is one of life’s simple pleasures. Once, they’d post you a price list, you ticked some boxes and then sent it back with a cheque. These days the hours lost to it are the same but more interactive.

The choice has just become more complicated. Caterhams mostly look the same, but there are always a bunch of different models in the range, and they change them often to keep interest up. Sevens are a bit like classic Land Rovers: you could have more than one even though ultimately they all do the same thing. Eventually you’ll get drawn to your ideal version. Most of us have got one. I used to own mine.

This time is noteworthy because Caterham thinks the new 170R is the lightest production car on sale, at 440kg. It’s definitely the lightest production Caterham yet.

It marks the return of a 660cc three-cylinder turbocharged Suzuki lump to Caterham’s range, which disappeared from sale for a couple of years while the engine was between generations (from K6A to R06A, it says here).

The new engine is used in kei car-sized vans in Japan (see p21). Conveniently, the whole set-up, including live rear axle, fits nicely in a Caterham chassis, and it happens to make this Seven also fit Japan’s kei car criteria. Caterham’s old Japanese importers, VT Holdings, requested the 160. Now, as Caterham’s new owners, they’ve got this 170.