RE: Ariel Atom 3.5: now more evil
Thursday 11th October 2012
Excited about the iPhone 5? Forget it, there's a more PH-worthy update to a favourite product in the form of the lightly revised Ariel Atom, officially referred to as the Atom 3.5.
Spot the difference time!So what's new? Well, like the rest of the automotive universe even Ariel can't escape the pressure to adopt a bit of LED spangle and the new Atom gets some new front and rear lights that clean up the looks somewhat, along with a new 'bonnet', if you could call it that. Overall the look is a bit cleaner, a little bit more sinister but still unmistakably Atom. Timely too, if Ford's threats to build a road going version of its Ecoboost Formula Ford really do bear fruit.
Data logging and G-force via new LCD displayThe 245hp 2.0-litre VTEC Honda motor is as before in the standard version, the supercharged one getting a little bump up to 310hp with revisions to mapping and fuelling to give it a bit more mid-range grunt.
Ariel Atom 3.5: now more evil
Darth Vader's rollerskate gets new lights and a hint more of the dark side about it
Spot the difference time!
So much for the looks, what about the engineering? Lessons learned from the wonderful but strictly limited Mugen edition and bonkers V8 have resulted in a little bit of extra chassis reinforcement and stiffness while engine mounts and dampers have been revised too. The intention seems to be to make the Atom - relatively - more usable on the road without diluting the focus if you want to hang it out on the track too.
Data logging and G-force via new LCD display
To help you make sense of it all a very racy LCD dash complete with all sorts of gadgetry like programmable gear shift lights, downloadable telemetry and G-force readouts has also been added.
Detail tweaks and improvements perhaps. But arguably more exciting than that new iPhone.
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Discussion
Should have called it the 3s and made it slimmer with a better resolution.
Then Atom could pay a few people to queue up outside their dealerships overnight pretending to be worryingly desperate to get their hands on one.
By the time the Atom 4 comes along thats even slimmer and has even better resolution the fanboi's will be there in their hundreds 2 days before release.
Then Atom could pay a few people to queue up outside their dealerships overnight pretending to be worryingly desperate to get their hands on one.
By the time the Atom 4 comes along thats even slimmer and has even better resolution the fanboi's will be there in their hundreds 2 days before release.
Far, far preferred the looks of the older lights, with the main headlamp unit cheekily popping out behind. For a single integrated unit, the new ones look far from sinister, the modulated style looks actually quite cheap to me. The blade of the Ford EcoBoost is much more like it. Although if theyre more effective to the task, job jobbed.
And saying all that, Id still lick a hobo's scrotum just to take any Atom for a lap. Eyeball goringly desirable.
And saying all that, Id still lick a hobo's scrotum just to take any Atom for a lap. Eyeball goringly desirable.
Repent said:
Far far preferred the looks of the older lights, with the main headlamp unit cheekily popping out behind. For a single integrated unit, the new ones look far from sinister, the modulated style looks actually quite cheap to me. The blade of the Ford EcoBoost is much more like it.
Saying all that, Id still lick a hobo's scrotum just to take any Atom for a lap. Eyeball goringly desirable.
Well you can do the half-day at Palmersport for £400...so essentially you're saying you'd lick a hobo's ballsack for £400 (and I'm sure you can drive an Atom for around £100 at some driving days).Saying all that, Id still lick a hobo's scrotum just to take any Atom for a lap. Eyeball goringly desirable.
That's a decent deal for the hobo - they'd have enough heroin to last a little while!
GroundEffect said:
Well you can do the half-day at Palmersport for £400...so essentially you're saying you'd lick a hobo's ballsack for £400 (and I'm sure you can drive an Atom for around £100 at some driving days).
That's a decent deal for the hobo - they'd have enough heroin to last a little while!
That's a decent deal for the hobo - they'd have enough heroin to last a little while!
Thats not a bad price atall, good to know even if it has drawn some serious concern for my sense of self worth!I wonder if theres any in the park having a lie in...
GroundEffect said:
George H said:
GroundEffect said:
I'd LOVE an Atom...but the residuals are ridiculous.
Surely that's a good reason to buy one then? To won't lose much in depreciation. I think an Atom 2 160 looks great value at just under £20k
Having driven the 300 and a paddleshift-converted 245, both on tracks, I can tell you, yes, they are absolutely as insane as you would hope. Incredibly slideable too, which is perhaps surprising. Instinctive to drive. The 245 gets the power/grip balance right on for driving the absolute wheels off it, you can really take liberties with that car and it's so direct and nimble that everything just works. The 300 is.. f
king fast 
you can feel a massive difference between the two, more than the figures would suggest.The main thing that stands out, and is again very surprising, is that the car is five times more ergonomically designed and user-friendly than a Caterham. Having done them back-to-back, the Caterham is an obviously fantastic car, but you feel short of elbow and pedal box room and it can be distracting until you're used to it. The Atom is jump in and go perfect and takes almost no acclimatisation.
Edited by McSam on Thursday 11th October 11:21
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