Opinions wanted from car enthusiasts...

Will Robinson · Post by **Will Robinson** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 7:01 am

I think I finally found a car that could replace my motorcycle in many ways.
I wonder what you guys who love cars, especially Barry, Cuda(can't remember which Cuda) and Mobius just to name a few think of this one.
Remember it's not supposed to be an everyday car, more like a recreation/sport kind of ride. At least with this I could bring my daughters and wife along (one at a time) and not be so afraid of what might happen to them.

Here's a Top Gear episode that explains it; youtube video

and here's the home page of the U.S. company that is going to build it: click here

http://home.sc.rr.com/willrobinson/arie ... %20web.jpg

roid · Post by **roid** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 7:08 am

So you can't get it shipped over from the original British manufacturers... NOW? i mean, why wait for it to be built in USA?

Will Robinson · Post by **Will Robinson** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 7:15 am

The U.S. builder is making them with the left side driver controls, not sure of other reasons or even if that is a good one.
also I was hoping to get some opinions on the engine choice, the GM Ecotec 2.0 Liter 300hp 250 ft/lbs Supercharged versus the Honda VTEC 2.0 Liter 300hp 163ft/lbs Supercharged although it looks like the one Honda engine might be unavailable to us Yanks...
Oh, it is already being built here but they build them to order so you do have to wait. Ultimately for financial reasons I'd rather buy a used one but that would probably come from overseas which might cost too much to import thus defeating the savings of buying used. The problem is getting a version that is street legal and insurable....

Testiculese · Post by **Testiculese** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 7:17 am

Looks cool, but it looks like a go-cart with real wheels, too.

It certainly isn't speedbump friendly, and in no way could ever replace my HD Sportster!

Will Robinson · Post by **Will Robinson** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 7:18 am

Testiculese wrote:Looks cool, but it looks like a go-cart with real wheels, too.

Exactly! That's why I want it, a go cart that pulls near 2 G's in the turns and goes 0 to 60 in less than three seconds!!!;)

woodchip · Post by **woodchip** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 7:50 am

So that thing is street legal? How much and where can I get one?

Dedman · Post by **Dedman** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 11:07 am

Looks like fun. I want one.

TIGERassault · Post by **TIGERassault** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 11:27 am

GET ME THAT NOW!!!

And 20k is really good value for something like that. I wonder how fuel efficient it is?

Mobius · Post by **Mobius** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 2:54 pm

I drove this car about 2 months ago at a track day for the Porsche Club of NZ. One of the members had used his Cayenne Turbo S to tow the trailer carrying his Atom!

BTW: The Cayenne Turbo S is an absolute monster! It's so amazingly fast on the track - it's really scary. The only downsides are the fact it drinks petrol and it doesn't sound any good: at track speeds it sounds like a turbine and not a lusty V8, which of course it is - albeit with two turbochargers bolted on to it!

The members voted my '82 928S with aftermarket X-pipes and expansion chamber as being the best sounding car on the day!

I have to tell you that the Atom can tear your face off! I wore my half-face helmet when I drove it, with the visor pulled down, but even so, the car tried to remove the bottom half of my face!

Sadly, the thing had a misfire above 5000 rpm, so you couldn't really get an idea of what the thing was like close to the red line (by all accounts it gains about 20% more power (YIKES!) and a shizload of torque in that last couple of thousand revs.

It quite literally is a motorbike on wheels - but the thing that strikes you most (particularly if you have ridden bikes) is that the Atom FEELS much, much, much faster (Well, that's because it is! No bike could take it around a track - the cornering speeds are beyond anything a bike can produce) because you are much lower to the road. The really exciting thing is that you are looking at the road, not just ahead of you, but next to you on both sides - and you can reach out and stub a cigarette out on the ground without any problems. So - it feels devastatingly quick, just because the road is rushing by like fury.

There are several other things about the car: it feels like it wants to lift the rear wheels right off the ground under braking, just like a bike, and when you chuck it into a corner, you simply can not believe it does it!

The instructor told me to stop braking so much - and it is very very scary to turn into a corner when you are 100% convinced the thing is just going to roll over, or understeer massively. The limits of the thing are simply incomprehensible - at no time did I even get close to the limits of adhesion, and I was basically pooing my pants every timne he told me to floor the thing, and to stop braking and turn in.

The G-Forces when cornering are simply breath taking - literally! You really do NEED the full-harness - and that's the only car I've ever been in where you actually WANT to do the thing up tighter and tighter. Mostly this is because of THE FEAR. The thing is frightening - not because it's unpredictable, or dangerous, just because you have never ever thought that ANY car can do what this one does.

Out of 20 or so guys who drove the thing during the day, about 5 of them were going to go and order one immediately!

For me though, I love the effortless grunt, and pampered luxury of the old 928S: it makes 330 BHP or thereabouts, and there's no drama about it: it runs smooth as silk on the road, roars like a dragon on the track, and is as easy to drive at 1 mph as it is at 131 mph. The visibility is fantastic, and it's all done in leather-lined air-conditioned luxury. I've now spent over $8000 doing the 928 up, and if it weren't for the worn key and locks (being replaced in 2 weeks) and the leather pulling away from the dash air vents, it'd be like a new car.

Certainly, the Atom is a no-compromise car. It's only got one mission, and that's to throw tarmac backwards while it hurls you forwards at about 8 Bijillion miles an hour. I doubt whether I could live with the thing on a daily basis though - you'd have to wear a full face helmet to prevent turning your teeth into a bug strainer. You see, you'll still be smiling from ear to ear even as bugs jam themsolves between your teeth. Also, it is a pretty bone-shaking ride: OK on the track (well, perfect on the track actually) but not so great for pot-holey downtown driving.

You're so low that you won't be able to see over anything at all, and I suspect that in the rain, the front tyres will probably put 20% of their output directly in your lap. It's not encouraging when the foot well has drain holes!

Testiculese · Post by **Testiculese** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 4:03 pm

Great description! I'd love to play with it for a day, and not have to own it

Will Robinson · Post by **Will Robinson** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 6:54 pm

Wow? Thanks Mobius!
More than I could have hoped for!
It does sound a bit impractical but oh so tempting. I'm hearing it's difficult to insure and license though and between that and the cost I guess my search must continue for the perfect sports car...

Grendel · Post by **Grendel** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 7:02 pm

Will Robinson wrote:The U.S. builder is making them with the left side driver controls, not sure of other reasons or even if that is a good one.

Regulations. Importing a car is a massive paper war that makes it almost impossible. Import the parts, assemble it in the US -- no problem at all..

Will Robinson · Post by **Will Robinson** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 7:12 pm

Here's another one I was considering.
http://www.go-t-rex.com/trex.asp?nav=en-us
The cool thing is its made from my motorcycle, the Kawasaki ZZR1200.
It's just way overpriced though.

Vindicator · Post by **Vindicator** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 7:40 pm

As Grendel hinted at, all you have to do to make a street legal Atom is buy it in kit-car form.

HowStuffWorks wrote:To be street-legal, an Atom must be built as a kit car. That means everything, including the engine, is shipped to the owner in pieces. An optional road pack, which includes turn signals, a horn, rear tail lights and headlamps, is also available. The owner assembles the car in his own garage, being sure to follow all appropriate, state-mandated vehicle safety guidelines. Otherwise, the Atom is sold as an off-the-road-only vehicle -- not legal on the highway, but perfectly comfortable at the local track.

I saw that Top Gear video a few months ago, and frankly I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since then

If you havent already Will, sign up for the Configurator at arielatom.com. It'll give you a list of all the available options so you can spec one to your heart's (and wallet's) desire. Note that the top of the line GM engine, with identical HP and almost 100 more ft-lbs of torque, is $5000 less than the Honda engine.

Mobius · Post by **Mobius** » Tue Sep 12, 2006 9:11 pm

Will, I'll let you in on a well kept secret: The Porsche Boxster is an abssolute MONSTER of a car. Not the old 2.5 or the 2.7 litre ones - the S model with the 3.2 on board. That is one hell of a car. I had always poo-pooed the boxster as being some gay little girly car with an ugly a55 and a wannabe 911 nose.

However!

Having driven with several models of boxster at two track days, I can tell you that the boxster is VERY rapid, particularly in the S bends, chicanes and slalom course. (Nothing beat the boxsters through the slalom course we had set up. Not even the very fastest of the 911s - and that incldues 3 x GT3s and a GT3 RS!)

The mid-engined boxster is simply stunning to drive, and while I didn't get to thrash a 3.2 litre one, I did get a drive in a 2002 2.7 litre model. That was a LOT of fun, almost as fast as my 928 on the straight, but much more fun in the corners: hair pins simply get eaten up by a boxster. The turn-in on the thing was mind boggling - you just find it hard to actually take your foot off the brake, and trust the instructor when he says \"TURN IN.\"

Having driven a few 911s, and even a couple of recent 997s, I can tell you that the Boxster is a mile away from the old tail-happy 911 - it is almost utterly neutral, and telegraphs what it is going to do. You get oodles of warning that the back is going to go, and if you manage to get the front going a bit wide, just burying your foot provokes some satisfying oversteer, and a corresponding tightening of the radius.

I'm currently trying to persuade Emma to get with the program, and get a Boxster - but she has her heart set on an SLK 320. Dammit!

As of right now though, I think the Cayman is preferable over the boxster: much quieter, and with TWO trunks! A huge thing behind and over the motor, and another in the front. I'm sure you could fit 2 pairs of skiis inside the Cayman. I think that by the time gas reaches $4 a litre, and I have to sell the 928, I'll probably be replacing it with a Cayman.

roid · Post by **roid** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 12:00 am

wow you're pretty handy to have around Mobi. The awesomeification you have performed on this thread is worthy of a medalion.

Dedman · Post by **Dedman** » Wed Sep 13, 2006 9:44 pm

I talked with a friend of mine who knows a guy (that sounds suspect now that I read it) who is getting an Atom. He speced with an 8cyl engine. 400 hp is a staggering amount of power for a 1500 pound car.

Grendel · Post by **Grendel** » Thu Sep 14, 2006 1:22 am

Well, there's always this..

Will Robinson · Post by **Will Robinson** » Thu Sep 14, 2006 7:04 am

Dedman wrote:I talked with a friend of mine who knows a guy (that sounds suspect now that I read it) who is getting an Atom. He speced with an 8cyl engine. 400 hp is a staggering amount of power for a 1500 pound car.

If you get a chance ask him if he's worked out the insurance and licensing and what state is it going to be registered in. It seems some people are finding out their state isn't going to let them drive it on the street or that the insurance is too hard/expensive to get.

Dedman · Post by **Dedman** » Thu Sep 14, 2006 8:22 am

Well, he lives in Oregon. That much I know for sure. I will see if I can find out the rest. I'll also see if I can find out any of the technical specs related to his option choices.

Will Robinson · Post by **Will Robinson** » Thu Sep 14, 2006 9:18 am

Dedman wrote:Well, he lives in Oregon. That much I know for sure. I will see if I can find out the rest. I'll also see if I can find out any of the technical specs related to his option choices.

thanks! although the Atom is probably too expensive for me to buy as a toy unless I found a used one on the cheap. A used Porche Boxter S that mobius pointed toward sounds like a much better investment, around $22,000 to $26,000 and much more practical since I live in a very rain prone area. Granted it's like half as fast but overall I'd probably drive it 3 times as much.

Duper · Post by **Duper** » Thu Sep 14, 2006 10:31 am

roid wrote:wow you're pretty handy to have around Mobi.

...I'd just like to make note this WAS ACTUALLY said here on the DBB.

Nice writeup Mobi.

Dedman · Post by **Dedman** » Thu Sep 14, 2006 12:16 pm

Will, here's the link to the guys site.

http://dpcars.net/

ccb056 · Post by **ccb056** » Fri Sep 15, 2006 8:56 am

see Lotus 350r.

This design isn't anything innovative.

Dedman · Post by **Dedman** » Fri Sep 15, 2006 9:08 am

ccb056 wrote:This design isn't anything innovative.

One doesn't have to be innovative to be cool.

Dedman · Post by **Dedman** » Fri Sep 15, 2006 10:48 am

Will,

He is going to register it with “SP” plates in Oregon. SP plates allow almost anything to get a license plate. My friend has seen full on open wheel race cars with SP plates here.

Officially they are for Special Purpose vehicles and are meant for show cars and limited use cars.