Does Less BHP Mean Less Fun? - Caterham 170R Review | Donuts, Sunny Drives & All You Need To Know
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 ต.ค. 2024
- With only 84bhp, this 170R Caterham does NOT disappoint! Being Caterham's lightest EVER car...this is a pocket rocket!!!
A big thank you to Caterham Gatwick for lending me the car! Make sure you check them guys out!
@HWMCaterham
@DRIVING_BEX
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Great car, great idea!
3 cylinder with turbo. Why not!
This is thinking outside of the box.
Colin Chapman would be impressed, light weight with useable power.
Nice review Rebecca.
100% couldn't agree more
Sounds like a baby Porsche as well, awesome!
The power to weight is adequate. My only concern with these cars is the price. I bought a Lotus Europa in 1973 ( which I still own) and they were affordable cars.
The Caterham is a very simple car without many refinements and I dont really see how they justify the price of the models.
It's an interesting point but this is a low-volume hand made car. If you do the exercise of pricing up a full set of new mechanicals (not referbishd) the bill stacked up quite quickly. Yes, you can buy a Duratec for 3 grand but that is sans all ancillaries and they will run you another 3 grand. And then you need the gearbox and drivetrain, hubs, brakes etc.
The other thing to look at is a Fireblade at 24 grand, Morgan 3 wheeler at 42 grand or. Plus 4 for 70 grand.
Most would prefer the old skool Na engine and I agree with that.
But I totally understand the mad theory behind a lightweight engine. I would love to the see corner weight figure's. I would imagine it would have less push and understeer. You can get up to and over 300hp out of them. A standard RO6A engine weighs around 66kg with 64hp. If you do a power to weight ratio of just the engine magically powering itself through the air, it produces 969.7hp per ton and a 140hp version will produce 2121.21hp per ton.
If you compare that to a sr20de engine 216.5kg and 159hp is 734.41hp per ton and a 200hp version is 923.79hp per ton. So clearly there is a massive advantage in theory. Also be easier to pull the engine out 😂
Answer: less bhp doesn’t necessarily mean less fun or less performance. It needs to be as light as possible.
Re: heaters
There is a couple of directional vents under the dash
Love the little turbo sound and great review 😊
thank you!!
You've gained a new subscriber thanks to your entertaining and informative reviews. 😊
Welcome aboard!
Considering what you can get from MK for the same money it just isn't worth it
Kool, how about a 1100gsxr engine in Her, the car that is, with a turbo on manual wastegate, intercooler and big bore exhaust tuned length?
Just for fun 🔥
that would be fun
@@DrivingBex the power:weight would be out the window and make for extremely quick gear changes.
The fun though would broaden that smile like a Cheshire Cat 😁
Love the turbo noises and would be a lot of fun on a country road
awesome sounding thing! so unique
Personally I believe that in the 21st C no Caterham should leave the factory with less than 150bhp, for it to be considered a sporting vehicle. For example my middleweight naked motorcycle has 107bhp and is about 1/3 the weight of the Caterham.
If you think this car is about straightline performance this car is not for you
Caterham's are all about how they drive and not all about the power
@@DrivingBex I'll bow to your superior leg length...
I have had three over 30 years and you would regret buying an 80 bhp Caterham sooner or later. I now have a classic 1700 Crossflow Super Sprint with 135bhp, probably 20ish bhp to little but great for the money. I have owned this for over 15 years and could get what I paid for it tomorrow.
It won't corner like one though hey.
Bex, don't forget to mention the standard Caterham 170 can be had for a measly £22K.
perfect entry level
Ever since I was a passenger in a Caterham circa 2000 I loved them. The one I had a chance to drive was a 1.8 K series normally aspirated ant it blew me away. I would love one of these cars. Given todays traffic this is a car you can actually use and have fun with on the road or track. I wish I had somewhere to store one. As a former biker many year ago I can deal with travelling light.
they are fantastic machines!
A funny and interesting video. Really looking forward to the comparison with the Elise.
You and me both!
I love this car and have always wanted a Caterham. I subscribe to the light weight/modest power idea, but with only 84 BHP, that may be fine for such a light car with a very light driver, but how would the weight of an average male (say another 40-50 kilos) effect performance, then add a passenger?
with a passenger you could notice the difference on the limit, but day to day, it was still a lot of fun
Wonder why Caterham / Westfield never went to Ford for their 3cyl turbo Ecoboost? There are various power outputs up to 125bhp available off the shelf. Ok it needs a different sump and the usual mods to make it an inline, instead of cross mounted. But not that hard to do.
What a fun car. Love it 😍
Thank you 🤗
Not going to lie £30k for a quirky car sounds like a bit of me. Nice review Bex
My thoughts exactly
Buy an older one with 140 bhp for half the price. It makes sence!
Liked and sub. Good luck with the channel.
thank you!!
💖✌
Is this car a Lotus super seven?
this is a Caterham which is based off of the Lotus 7 chassis and design
Please invest in a shotgun mic for that intro.
The intro is my mistake, the mic fell off in the lotus and didn’t connect! I didn’t realise until I got home annoyingly!
Strange, I could never see the point in having a tiny car like that on British roads, you just cant use them as they are supposed to be used because of the speed limits and the cameras everywhere and I see less point in spinning the car round like that unless you want to keep buying new tyres. I have had a few fast cars years ago when there were no camera`s to get you prosecuted but then I got into motorbikes and if you are talking about thrills, no car will give that more than a fast motorbike.
personally i prefer 4 wheels
@@DrivingBex well yes I can understand that but I was talking about how much the thrill of a fast bike was compared to a fast car, each to his/her own I suppose.
@@honestchris7472
@Honest Chris
In a straight line but not around bends.
And are fast bikes exempt from speed limits and cameras? Nope.
You don't have to drive like a lunatic in a capable car, you just enjoy driving it quickly and within the limits of your surroundings and skill levels.
Another thing, why wouldn't you want a small capable car for country roads and flowing B roads?
Finally cars like this come into their own on track days. Bikes are a lot of fun on a track day but a fast bike can't hang with a fast car. Just look at the Nordschleife.
@@skylined5534 Oh come on, there is much more of a thrill riding a fast bike anywhere than driving a fast car anywhere. I never said that fast bikes were exempt from cameras, what I said was when I had bikes years ago there were no cameras and so I could go fast and not be caught by them.
You can only enjoy this type of car by going fast, otherwise there is no point in having them. Of course you can drive them within speed limits but a comfortable saloon would be a better experience.
If you are talking about track days, try it on a fast bike to see what a thrill really is, and a fast bike would probably beat a fast car anyway.
needs a turbo busa motor..no matter how light 84 bhp is way too little.
That's total rubbish. It puts its 84 horses to great and effective use.
A turbo Hybusa engine is total overkill given how light this car is and how skinny the tyres are on this particular model.
@@skylined5534 underpowered pos. have u ever ridden a superbike?
I feel that you definitely need a garage, a garage with strong security.
As the car comes with basically zero security.
I really like the car.
Liked and sub. Good luck with the channel.
Excellent video, the first that I watched.
I like a raw drivers car but this is a little too raw 😆
a lot of fun! but not as raw as an atom for example
I would be worried about reliability of such a small turbo engine taking all that abuse
It's Japanese, it'll go forever with good quality fluids and regular services.