My Future Car
I was watching that British car show Top Gear. It's on after Myth Busters. It's a testosterone driven show about super cars (ferrari/ lamborghini/ maserati/ ...) , top of the line daily drivers (mercedes/ BMW/ ...) and sports cars we can afford but are still worth driving. Plus anything else that's interesting (smart).
So anyway they did this one car. It's open cockpit, open frame, open wheels. If this car don't need, it they didn't put it on. It's got a 2L Civic VTech engine. You can get it turbo charged. Because they saved so much weight, this car is as fast as a Ferrari F60 Enzo. It beat a 600cc honda motorcycle on the track.
I give you the Ariel Atom. They don't have prices on the web site but I gather it comes in under 50k. Will the bank finance it? What will my insurance company do to me? Maybe I shouldn't have gotten life and car insurance from the same company
On nice days I could drive it to work
So anyway they did this one car. It's open cockpit, open frame, open wheels. If this car don't need, it they didn't put it on. It's got a 2L Civic VTech engine. You can get it turbo charged. Because they saved so much weight, this car is as fast as a Ferrari F60 Enzo. It beat a 600cc honda motorcycle on the track.
I give you the Ariel Atom. They don't have prices on the web site but I gather it comes in under 50k. Will the bank finance it? What will my insurance company do to me? Maybe I shouldn't have gotten life and car insurance from the same company
On nice days I could drive it to work
Comments
I saw this a while back. I don't think you'll have much luck getting it DOT approved, but with this particular car, there's really no reason to drive it on roads. It took the "least practical car in the world" crown from the Lotus 340R, a fellow British death-sled.
On Ariel's web site, (find it yourself) they have posted the video clip from Top Gear. I think it's even quicktime.
Someone should take it on the Gumball 3000.
Originally posted by Jwink3101
Is it Manual or Auto. I drive an Auto and i hate it. When my dad lets me borrow his Jeep (His car for snow in the winter) i have so much more fun driving becuase it is manual.
It seems to me like everyone 'prefers' manual. however, my typical american driving habits (eating on the drive to school, fumbling with the iPod, etc.) make me long for an automatic. i guess manuals make you actually pay attention to the road though.
Take one Smart and plunk a superbike class engine in it. Do a web search, there's one out there with a slightly breathed upon GSXR1000 engine (about 180HP) It shouldn't work so well, but it does, apparently, giving a stock Evo more of a scare than it has any business doing.
It's too bad the smart roadster looks like it does. Same conversion, but with that lower/sportier chassis...
Just wait untill someone puts an open class 1200cc + engine in there. Anything from Japan inc in the 1200-1400cc category... hehehhe
Originally posted by progmac
It seems to me like everyone 'prefers' manual. however, my typical american driving habits (eating on the drive to school, fumbling with the iPod, etc.) make me long for an automatic. i guess manuals make you actually pay attention to the road though.
I too do the exact same thing. If i had a manual car, i would use the ipod at lights or when i don;t need to shift and i would eat at school
Originally posted by progmac
It seems to me like everyone 'prefers' manual. however, my typical american driving habits (eating on the drive to school, fumbling with the iPod, etc.) make me long for an automatic. i guess manuals make you actually pay attention to the road though.
Having only driven manual while learning to drive for the first time, I can't really say I have experience with them, but I like the feeling in Automatics of getting on the highway, and just putting my foot down and getting up to about 75-80...can't do that in a manual (at least not without changing gears)...
But I want an automatic again, because when I have a manual I turn into a big asshole on the road - the manual makes driving a lot more fun and engaging, and engagement really triggers agression (most noticibly when listening to techno music).
I need a slow luxury car with an automatic, so that I can drift along like a lazy barge on the mississippi. I am thinking of a Volvo XC90 V8.
My current car, 300hp AWD, manual transmission monster car:
Originally posted by e1618978
I have a manual right now - very seldom do I have a problem (receive a cell phone call, have to put down the phone to shift gears, etc).
But I want an automatic again, because when I have a manual I turn into a big asshole on the road - the manual makes driving a lot more fun and engaging, and engagement really triggers agression (most noticibly when listening to techno music).
I need a slow luxury car with an automatic, so that I can drift along like a lazy barge on the mississippi. I am thinking of a Volvo XC90 V8.
My current car, 300hp AWD, manual transmission monster car:
Take anger management and keep enjoying your drive :-)
and to the guy above you. Once you get it in third, usually, you can keep it there till 60 then shift up and bring it to eighty. This is only if you are doing a fast acceleration. If you are doing a normal one, then you do need to shift but it takes like .5 seconds.
The only thing i don;t like about manual is when on the highway, the engine braking gets annoying but i like that in suburb driving.
I guess its to eash his own way
Originally posted by fng
I give you the Ariel Atom. They don't have prices on the web site but I gather it comes in under 50k. Will the bank finance it? What will my insurance company do to me? Maybe I shouldn't have gotten life and car insurance from the same company
That thing is really sexy.
Originally posted by Placebo
That thing is really sexy.
It really is. Of course, i being on the larger side, wouldn;t fit in it
Originally posted by fng
I'd have to cut my ball off to drive that Volvo. Volvo/Vulva Who can tell the difference?
Well, two things.
1) OY
2) ........................[Note the silence of number two=utter speechlessness towards the volvo/vulva remark]
Originally posted by Jwink3101
It really is. Of course, i being on the larger side, wouldn;t fit in it
The host of the show is a tall, stocky guy and he fit just fine.
Originally posted by fng
You can buy the optional "street package" which I assume makes it street legal. . . .
Street legal in the UK is not street legal in the USA. You'd have to pass it through DOT.
To respond to someone who said something along the lines of, "Automatics mate better with American driving habits," all I have to say to that is this car [the Ariel Atom] is not an everyday car. It's the most impractical car, ever. It really should have an F1-style clutch-less transmission for total affect.
As for the smart car with the Liter-bike engine, I got a kick ot of that. There's a guy who has a modified Suzuki Hayabusa who handed it to a 860hp supercharged Dodge Viper in a 1-mile run in Mexico. There's a video of it somewhere online. The guy tries to sell DVDs of this shit. Anyway, if you put the modified busa engine in the smart car, it would be a good laugh to say the least.
Originally posted by fng
I'd have to cut my ball off to drive that Volvo. Volvo/Vulva Who can tell the difference?
Then you should drive a Dodge, and maybe chew tobacco. Anything less would make you feel feminine, and reveal your inner gay guy.
But wait a minute - what are you doing using a Mac? Surely it is as big a threat to your sexuality as the Volvo is? You should be using a PDP-11 or a BOXX system.
Originally posted by Splinemodel
Street legal in the UK is not street legal in the USA. You'd have to pass it through DOT.
...
Bah. There's tons of street legal modified hot rods out there. This thing is no different. It's got a modern Honda engine in so emission is no trouble either. Plus one of the stated goals is that car remain street legal. So if they are going to sell in the US market they will make a "road" package for the US.
They updated the press site since I started the thread.
http://www.arielatom.com/04/press.htm
If I had the money mine would be on a boat already.
Originally posted by Splinemodel
As for the smart car with the Liter-bike engine, I got a kick ot of that. There's a guy who has a modified Suzuki Hayabusa who handed it to a 860hp supercharged Dodge Viper in a 1-mile run in Mexico. There's a video of it somewhere online. The guy tries to sell DVDs of this shit. Anyway, if you put the modified busa engine in the smart car, it would be a good laugh to say the least.
It's all about power to weight. BTW, it seems that Kawasaki is no longer content to abide by Japan Inc's voluntary 300km/h (186mph) limit. Enter the ZX-14. Rumor has it 180-200hp are on tap... should have over 100lbs/ft as well. At least when hauling a bike around these open class motors (hayabusa, blackbird, zx-12) seem to live forever, so now me starts to think: "project car!"
Shit, you can buy the whole bike for less than some motors, and you just know that the used market will offer up a donor for less than that...
Imagine a car that wheelies
I can just about make the sensible case for the smart car given my live/work scenario. hmmm... drive it for a few years, then unleash the demon... hehehehehee