First drive: Caterham 620S

What’s that?

You’re looking at the slightly less hardcore version of Caterham’s most hardcore car: the 620R. For most of us though, that’s still pretty hardcore.

How hardcore?

Well, the highest rung on Caterham’s ladder of lunacy is the 620R. But with pretty-much slick tyres, a frenzied sequential ’box, Veyron-rivalling acceleration (0–60mph in 2.8secs) and a frenetic attitude, that particular Seven deserves to be parked in a straitjacket rather than a garage.

Here is what happens when you soften off the edges. The ‘S’ delineates the new ‘S Pack’, that brings the new 620 in line with Caterham's new nomenclature where each model can either be spec’d as an ‘R’ (racy, more track orientated) or ‘S’ (slightly softer, more road-worthy).

How’s it more road-worthy then?

Because it has luxuries. Well, when we say ‘luxuries’, we mean creature comforts that you’re used to in normal, grown-up cars. Things like a windscreen to keep the flies out of your teeth. A tent-like roof, flimsy doors, traditional H-pattern gearbox and tyres with some sort of tread pattern. Basically, the S adds a hint of usability to a silly-quick Seven. You can even have seat heaters.

Seat heaters?! In a Caterham? 

Yes! Pioneering technology from a car that looks exactly the same as when it came out… well, we don’t know when because it predates everyone in the office. But a long, long time ago. 

Costing £1000, Caterham’s new heated carbon fibre buckets may be expensive but they’re bloody good. So good in fact that Caterham now holds TG’s record for Hottest Seat Heaters in the World. 

But considering the only way to properly drive a Seven is roof down come rain or shine, hell or highwater, a toasty behind is incredibly welcome on wintery blats around country lanes.

Enough with the niceties, how does it drive?

Amazingly. Even though those creature comforts add sacrilegious weight – 60kg in total –the 620S tips the scales at only 610kg. Power still comes from a screaming 310bhp, 2.0-litre supercharged engine, so to save you using your fingers as an abacus, that equates to a rather potent power-to-weight ratio of 508bhp per tonne. About the same as… yep, you guessed it, a Bugatti Veyron.

Sounds like a handful.

It can be. On a damp road that amount of power on Avon ZSS tyres is, er, exciting. Only because the Seven is so small and has such an incredibly manageable and precise rear axle, are the significant wheelspin events in all the lower gears exciting rather than terrifying. Small difference, I grant you, but an important one.

Once you’ve slithered into the cockpit (which, for £2,500 can now be specced as a wide-body for people Caterham calls, ahem, “generously proportioned”), you feel physically connected to the car. The organic feedback is so crisp and clear it’s like you’ve docked your coccyx to the chassis. So anytime it does step out of line, it’s incredibly natural to get it back again. Also terrific fun.

Is it too much for the road?

Possibly for some, but all that oomph makes for a truly exhilarating, yet wonderfully usable lightweight for the road. Where the 620R’s sequential ’box is difficult to juggle and jerky around town, the taller-geared five-speed manual (from a Mazda MX-5), in combination with a decent slug of torque, makes pottering and cruising easy here. Softer suspension and 15-inch wheels also make the S way more compliant and composed on Britain’s broken roads. It could be a bit dartier with the narrow body and 13-inch wheels, but we’ll have to wait and see to give you a definitive verdict. 

How quick is it?

Fired-out-of-a-trebuchet quick. Standstill to 60mph is seen off in 3.4 seconds (0.6 secs slower than the R because you don’t have the benefit of thwacking cogs into place sequentially) which is plenty quick enough. 

Bury the throttle, and once the engine climbs past 5,000rpm, there’s no getting away from the unrelenting, eye-widening pace.

How much is it?

Priced at £44,995 fully built (you can’t spanner this one yourself), it’s pricey but still £5k cheaper than the R and so much more useable. Even so, with four-point harnesses and grumpy tendencies towards waking up on cold mornings, it’s not for everyday. But that wouldn’t stop us trying because the way it makes us feel driving it is second to none. It’s one of the purest driving experiences on the planet, end of.