Caterham makes some noises about the plushness of the CSR Twenty’s interior – it has some new materials, more artfully applied, but like the aerodynamics these things are relative. This is still a Seven interior, which means it’s relatively snug and basic.
The seats are pleasingly softly finished, there are carpets and the centre console has a cushiony soft leather finish, with Alcantara highlights around and a numbered plaque. There’s a satin carbon dashboard, too.
I find it easy to get comfortable in any Seven but this big-bodied version exists to accommodate the larger driver. If you’re tall or wide, it’s the variant for you. In fact, there’s so much room in the pedal box that with my size eight feet and small trainers the pedals were too far apart for easy heel and toeing.
It’s a functional interior, with a small non-adjustable steering leather Momo steering wheel, perhaps the shortest gearshift throw in production and simple dials and toggle switches. There’s a heater and a 12V socket, and despite the suspension design there’s still a boot, mohair lined.
I don’t think anybody will think that the hood itself is plush. Magazines were complaining about the popper fastenings when I was a kid and the Seven still uses them now.
Today a Seven’s hood pulls tighter than ones of old and stays mercifully dry too, but it’s a bind to put up and down. Lotus showed how to do a hood with the Elise. Still, there’s a heated windscreen to keep misting at bay, you can reach all of the other windows with a cloth to demist those, too, so it’s not unpleasant to drive even on a rainy winter’s evening.
Note that the mirrors are attached to the doors and you can’t adjust them when you’re inside the car, though. Four-point harnesses are standard, with all the security but phaffing they entail too.
And because you sit so low, you’ll swear that anything taller than a Nissan Qashqai has its main beams up given how dazzling headlights are in the mirrors. Maybe you’d fit tinted film over them.