2015 Caterham Seven 270R review

At face value it ought to be the same as the 270S. But, that car's wider body, bigger wheels and no limited slip differential meant the gap between how they drove was vast. And given the option, it is the narrow-bodied R that remains the one to go for. By a mile.

In the form as tested, it’s as close as the Seven remains to the old Supersport, which we’ve long thought is as peachy a Seven as they come. 

The engine is a 1.6-litre Ford Sigma unit making 135bhp. The R pack adds a wider front track, sports suspension, an adjustable rear anti-roll bar, bigger brake master cylinder, a lightened flywheel and a limited-slip differential, plus some other options – seats, harnesses, and so on – that don’t affect the mechanical spec.

It adds £3995 to the £19,995 base price. Factor in another £3000 for Caterham to build it for you and an £800 ‘on the road package’ and here you have a £27,790 car, before other options. I’ll come to those later. 

On top of all that, alloys of 13in diameter rather than 15in are an option, but at least at no cost, and you should also tick that box: they wear 175/55 Avon CR500 tyres both front and rear, and Caterhams have always handled most sweetly on small wheels.

Certainly, this one does. Our drive was confined to Millbrook Proving Ground’s Hill Route, but given that was designed with one thing in mind – to give a car’s chassis a tremendous workout – that’s no bad thing. 

This Seven might have a new name, but the intrinsic character of the old Supersport is still well and truly intact. The driving position is like slinking into a tight bathtub – and sometimes just as wet, from experience – and the footwell snug.

But as driving environments go, it’s as good as they come. The Seven seats you not far forward of the deDion rear axle, and presents the wheel to your chest. If you stretched out a pair of braces, Bobby Ball style, the apogee of your stretch is where the wheel would be (Autocar: always on the pace of contemporary cultural references). The position is even better in this Seven because of the optional lower floor (£395).

The engine fires with a pleasing brap, and throttle response is deliciously crisp. Try as you might with a turbo, there’s no substitute for a small-capacity naturally aspirated engine with a lightened flywheel. Our test car had the optional six-speed gearbox (£1495) fitted, but the standard five-speeder is easily as lovely. 

Once you’re rolling, the responses are every bit as engaging, precise and instant as you dared hoped, dream or remember they would be. The ride (race dampers, er, £1525) is hard, but body control exquisite. Turn in is sharp, and the unassisted, 1.9-turns steering weighty through the tiny (and £150) Momo wheel.

Feedback is superb, too, and probably telling you that there’s the merest hint of understeer, which can be quelled easily by braking or applying power. You’ll need serious revs going to unstick the rear but on these tyres it’s possible, even in the dry. 

Absolutely. At all times this Seven is so delicate, so accurate and so pure that very little else is so compelling, at any price. Just remember that, and Caterham's legendarily strong residual values, when you’ve finished totting up the options prices.