Feisty Caterham Powered by Suzuki 3-cylinder Turbo

Caterham, the most traditional of English “kit car” companies, has just released its new entry level 160 model and it’s powered by a 660 cc 3-cylinder Turbocharged Suzuki engine.

The company is more renowned for high-powered, fire-breathing Lotus 7-type replicas and more recently its own Formula 1 car and Team, but the new 160 is motoring at its most basic fun level. In fact you can build it from boxes of bits and an instruction manual in your garage, then tear around with a wide grin on your face, not going particularly fast, but having a huge amount of (mostly) legal entertainment for not a lot of money.

We say ‘good on you Caterham’ for recognizing one of Suzuki’s iconic engines that has powered everything from Altos to WagonRs and is still the predominant powerplant in most of the domestic “Kei car” range in Japan.

For some further enlightenment, watch the “Battle of the Titans” where the Caterham 160 goes head to head with a 3-wheeler Morgan.

Then watch Top Gear build one in their office(!) and give it to Caterham F1 driver Kamui Kobayashi for its first ‘spin’ around Silverstone race circuit.