Caterham Super 7

Basically a racing car for the road with a variety of powerplants, the Caterham Super 7 continues to define what ‘seat-of-the-pants’ really means. Mainly because said pants are three inches off the floor.

• Comfort

  Surprisingly good given the performance potential. But that's relative; fatties will struggle to get out once they're in, the ride is race car hard and you'll be deaf after ten minutes. The ‘SV' chassis is fractionally wider.

  

• Performance

  The ‘base' 85kW, 1.6-litre hits 100km/h in 6 seconds and fizzes to 180km/h. The 2.3-litre has a good power-to-weight ratio: it has 147kW, clips to 100km/h in 5 seconds and climbs to above 200km/h. Who knows what the next generation of Sevens will do - 100km/h in 2.88 seconds? We feel sick just thinking about it.

  

• Cool

  A bit ‘enthusiast' for many tastes. It's hard to be cool sitting in a rollerskate, no matter how quick it is.

  

• Quality

  Variable. Old-school toggle switches are OK when made by the factory, but you can still buy a Seven as a kit, so watch out for garage-made cost-cutting. Not much else in there to be honest...

  

• Handling

  If you want the pinnacle of road holding then you're best off choosing some sort of Seven variant. Low centre-of-gravity, incredible grip, rear-wheel drive tactility and no assistance with any of the controls means this is the best car in which to explore performance.

  

• Practicality

  You can sit in it, there's a demonically complicated pop-stud hood to keep the rain off and a tiny boot arrangement, but if you're buying this for practicality you need therapy.

  

• Running costs

  Can be amusingly cheap; lower-engined versions get high mpg and sell well on the secondhand market. Insurance is high on the more powerful cars.