So, is the 310 really the best car Caterham has produced? We’ve just spent a few days with one, and it might just be so.
I raced in the Caterham Academy a few years ago, and had my own Roadsport 125. Since then, I’ve hankered after another one, but one with a few more horses, as my boyfriend is not, er, light, and rather affects the power-to-weight ratio. But the 620S and R versions are just too bonkers for pottering round the countryside, especially in the wet, which leaves the 420 on a wider SV chassis (tempting, for the 6ft 1in boyfriend, although I feel it loses its looks a bit) or the 360, but that’s still got the 2.0-litre engine in it, which doesn’t feel right for the lightweight nature of a Caterham.
So the 310 it is, then. It helped that our test car had a great bright red livery with white decals. Everyone loves you in a Caterham; nothing but smiles from fellow drivers and gasps from small boys.
The 310 uses Ford’s 1.6-litre Sigma engine, but has an extra 20bhp, taking power to 152bhp, and giving a 0-60mph time of 4.9 seconds. The model came about as an aftermarket option on the 270 but Caterham soon realised they had an outright winner on their hands.
Our test car was the 310R; the R pack, for £3,990 over the £24,995 factory-built price, gives you a limited-slip diff, lightweight flywheel, sport suspension, rear anti-roll bar, uprated brakes, carbon-fibre dashboard, composite race seats, Momo steering wheel, four-point race harness and various other bits and pieces. It looks and feels like the business.
Every time I climb into the driver’s seat in a Caterham, it brings a smile to my face. You forget how low you sit, how far you can stretch out your legs to the pedals, how good the ergonomics are, with the stubby little gear lever just where your hand falls from the tiny steering wheel.
On the move, the front wheels jiggle up and down while the rear axle sits just below you. The entire car lies in front of you, for a potent point-and-squirt sensation, with those great headlights puncturing the horizon – the 310 has, for the first time in Caterham’s history, LED lights which add a neat point of differentiation.
Our car had the optional six-speed gearbox for another £2,500 which we’d highly recommend – once you get the revs above 4,000rpm, which suits this engine, the short shifts get quicker and the car positively sings. We threw it up Box Hill and round the more rural parts of Surrey, if that’s not an oxymoron, and the 152bhp was pretty much ideal for a bit of fun.
The wheels on the R are 13in Apollo black alloys with Avon tyres; the rear isn’t quite as easy to throw out of shape as I recall, which seems a bit of a shame for more enthusiastic drivers, but most weekend owners of Caterhams will be perfectly happy with the more non-threatening attitude of this model. In truth, you still get more than enough thrills from driving a Seven of any description.
The suspension on the 310 really stands out: there are Bilstein dampers front and rear and it’s a near-perfect blend of sporty resistance but comfort you wouldn’t think possible for something so low to the ground. We threw the car over broken surfaces, small speed humps, and round undulating lanes and it never once jarred our muscles or aggravated our backs.
Everyone should own a Caterham once during their lives, that’s a fact, and for most, I’d heartily recommend the 310.
Price as tested: £35,695 (from £24,995 factory built)
Caterham
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