KB58 wrote:
Based upon exactly one ride in a Caterham Hayabusa-powered Seven,
yeah. a lot of the qualities you mention during your minimal driving experience in-type, were very likely characteristics of that particular car, as opposed to qualities than can be said to apply to all such configurations. If I may offer a alternate view...
In my own experience, based on 8500+ miles of street driving (80% of that commuting) in the B-3 (1980 Yamaha XS850 engine bored out to 896cc), I am of the opinion that yes, its an acquired taste, but in the right combination, not at all unrealistic or uncomfortable as a daily driver.
one main advantage I have, having made the choice I did was that I come from motorcycles, (40+ years of street riding again mostly commuting), and so knew rather what to expect.
1. The issue with a "hair trigger clutch" is simply a problem of pedal ratio. I re-purposed the XS850 hand lever (handlebar bracket, clutch cable and everything) to a firewall mounted foot lever, and the action is smooth and easy, plenty of travel with which to feel the engagement.
2. Motorcycles actually do have flywheel-type masses in there, but the usual motorcycle drivetrain also has drivetrain isolators (or cush drives, as its referred to in the MC world) to mitigate driveline lash/snatch (it can also help with surging at part throttle, but that's more an issue of jetting/carburetion). In my case, because the B-3 is a reverse trike, I used a motorcycle final drive that retained the cush drive internal to the rear wheel assembly. Some driveline snatch remains, due to the long-ish 2 piece driveshaft connecting the front engine to the final drive, but its not anything like truly annoying. I can notice it in the lower gears mostly. There is no part throttle surge, at all, because I've jetted it a bit fat thru the low-midrange - which also helps power off the line. On the next build, which will be another front-engine reverse trike - because of course I have to build another, with a bigger engine (which I already have) - I do plan to include a guibo in the driveshaft, to soften both the shifts, and that last bit of lash/snatch.
By the way, motorcycle drive trains have lash in them, not because of having straight-cut gears, but rather because they are constant-mesh dog-engagement style transmissions. The straight-cut gear pairs are always in mesh, and slide back and forth on the shafts, with large tabs (dogs) on the sides of the gears sliding into engagement with mating dogs on the adjacent gear pairs. There are large clearances between the dogs, and that is where the lash/snatch originates from.
3. 6000 rpm at 60 mph? that thing was geared way too short. (a trait that would also exacerbate part throttle surge and driveline snatch) the B-3 turns a motorcycle-like 4000 rpm at 70 mph about. unless all you've ridden are big V-twin bikes, if you come from motorcycles, you're used to seeing elevated revs on the highway.
4. no reverse. given enough street miles, one becomes adept at parking such that you don't need to push it very often, and even if you do, its a great conversation starter, part of the "thing", integral with the experience. commute buy motorcycle? you're pushing something, somewhere, every day. suck it up and quit crying
...and, another motivator to Keep it Light.
Quite a lot depends on the engine selection, obviously. I'd offer the advice to go for the largest displacement you can get (though I didn't do that for the B-3, I just used the bike I had laying around) but as long as you configure the drivetrain to include those motorcycle-y features which mitigate KB's complaints about that particular caterham, a serviceable and fun daily driver can be had.
my biggest complaint about the B-3 right now is that its open and its cold out. gearing up for that cold morning commute takes an extra 20 minutes I don't want to spend...and if I don't run it at least every other day, it can be a bit cold blooded and reluctant to start when the temps are below 45F.
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Torque is what makes driving fun to me. When I hit the gas, I want to go 
