I have two friends who have or have had Caterhams. The first swapped his MW3 for one and ( with the insistence of SWMBO ) got rid pretty damn quick as he considered it verging on dangerous on todays roads.
The other chap has kept his for years as his dream car but his SWMBO really wants a Morgan. I have been out in the Caterham and, yes it is silly fast but you have no weather protection worth talking about ( and I have never used my side screens ) also, if you remove the door screens you have no mirrors so like others have said, the C7 is a "fine day lets go for a blast" sort of car whilst the Morgan is more of a gentlemans express with masses more comfort and, if I may, more desirability.
I'm not sure if it actually 'silly fast' Reg, more a matter of impression of speed, because one is sitting so low - 70mph feels like 100 etc. Of course they can be Supercar quick, depends on the state of tune and engine, but then the same caveat would apply as to any quick car.
The weather protection is actually pretty good, the sidescreens are essential for anything more than a pootle around the countryside, and the hood, whilst a separate entity, is remarkably good at keeping the rain out, about the same as a Morgan I would say. If one wants sidescreens off a lot btw, there are perfectly good mirror extensions which screw onto the screen stanchions and can be used with screens on too, but limit the opening a bit. Seats too are quite comfortable - I once drove from Somerset to Norfolk in one hit, in a CSR260 with fibreglass race seats, took around 5 hours, and got out fine, albeit a bit stiff.
The bottom line is that you make the car what you want, it's all there is you know what you are doing, most people who only keep the Seven for a short time, don't know.
With regard to roadholding, I would say that there
is a lot in it, when driven back to back, in fact there is no comparison. After an Elise, a properly set up Seven is probably one of the best cars you could get.
