The new Caterham Seven CSR Twenty is an £80k road-ready Seven
Caterham’s ‘most premium Seven ever built’ costs Lotus Emira money, and celebrates 20 years of the CSR chassis
Caterham is marching towards a new era of electric sports cars with its Project V, but that doesn’t mean the trusty Seven has been sidelined. On the contrary, Caterham has built what is promised to be ‘the most premium’ Seven yet to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the wider-bodied CSR version.
Called the CSR Twenty, the new model will be limited to just 20 units, coming with a 2-litre Ford Duratec engine and Caterham’s most compliant chassis setup. The price? £79,995, which isn’t far south of a Lotus Emira…
That’s a huge amount for a Seven, but the Twenty does feature choice options and bespoke touches, as well as higher finishing standards than any previous Seven. At its heart is a 210bhp four-cylinder that revs up to 7600rpm, borrowed from the 420. Driving through a five-speed manual gearbox, it launches the 620kg CSR to 62mph in 3.9sec and onto 136mph flat out, with ventilated front brake discs and quad-piston calipers to shed that speed.
The CSR’s inboard front and fully independent rear suspension uses the most compliant setup Caterham offers, supporting its credentials as a road car. Caterham CEO Bob Laishley says it's built for ‘longer distance road trips’, which certainly can’t be said for all Sevens.
The cabin has been made more habitable, too, thanks to leather and Alcantara upholstery, thicker carpeting and a leather central tunnel. The dash is finished in satin carbonfibre and there are ‘Twenty Edition’ branded dials behind the leather Momo wheel (suede is an option). Each CSR Twenty also gets a plaque between the seats to denote its build number.
Visually, the special edition gets a 620-style nose and front wings with LED lighting, red brake calipers and a two-tone Union Flag grille. The 15-inch Vulcan wheels are exclusive to the CSR, and come wrapped in Toyo Proxes R888R rubber.
Customers can choose between Kinetic Grey and Dynamic Silver paint finishes, with bespoke colours, accents and carbon trim available as options. 20 examples will be built at Caterham’s new Dartford factory for the UK market, with a further 20 left hand drive cars destined for the US.
