Caterham Releases its Most Perfectly Balanced Car Yet

2017 Caterham Seven 310 (Credit: © Caterham)

Caterham doesn’t build a ton of new cars every year, so when it says that it has found its “sweet spot” with a new rig, we tend to take notice. This is exactly what the automaker had to say about its new Seven 310.

The Caterham Seven 310 was actually an accidental discovery, according to the British automaker. The company says that it discovered the untapped potential of the Seven 270 by upgrading it to compete in Supersport events.

In the upgrading process, Caterham had to swap out the cams in the 270’s existing 1.6-liter Ford engine and remap the computer. The results were so impressive that Caterham chose to make this newly modified 270 a model of its own.

The 310—as this new model is called—produces a respectable 152 horsepower from its 1.6-liter engine, which is a 17-horsepower increase over the 270. This results in a 4.9-second 0-to-60 time and a top speed of 127 mph—these are improvements of 0.1 seconds and 5 mph over the 270.

In addition to being a perfect performer, the 310 becomes the first Caterham vehicle that offers optional LED headlights. Eventually, this option will spread across the automaker’s lineup, but this is the starting point.

In the U.K., the 2017 Caterham Seven 310 will run £24,995 ($32,435) as a fully built rig. Owners of the Seven 270 can also upgrade their models to this specification for just £1,495 ($1,940).

The Caterham Seven 310 will be available in the U.K. starting in early 2017. There is no mention of U.S. availability. Stay tuned for updates.