Here’s one that you almost certainly didn’t see coming: ultra-lightweight sportscar maker Ariel’s new off-road buggy.
And yes, the Ariel Nomad is a real thing, set to be launched at the Autosport Show in the UK later this week and going on sale immediately afterwards in the Europe. Nomad prices in the UK will start at £33,000 including sales taxes (about $50,000 at current exchange rates). Although Ariel’s U.S. partner, TMI Autotech, hasn’t confirmed it will be producing a version, we reckon that’s probably a safe bet.
Visually, it’s clearly related to the Atom, but the Nomad is also substantially different. It has a similar exoskeletal structure made up from welded tubing, but it incorporates substantial roll-over protection. A glass windshield will be optional, but Ariel boss Simon Saunders says he expects that anyone planning to use the Nomad off-road will select one for the extra protection.
The Nomad shares the Atom’s combination of a mid-mounted, transverse four-cylinder engine and rear-wheel drive, but will get the bigger ‘K24’ 2.4-liter Honda unit – European Atoms still use the 2.0-liter engine from the last Civic Type-R – and Ariel has retuned this to deliver more torque. The official figures are 235 hp and 221 lb-ft. Weighing just 1480 lbs its barely slower than an Atom, with a quoted 3.4 seconds from 0-60 mph and a top speed of 125 mph.
The biggest difference compared to the Atom is increased ground clearance and suspension travel, facilitated by a switch to outboard-mounted springs and dampers (the Atom uses pushrod-operated units). We’re told the approach angle is a healthy 71 degrees and the maximum departure angle a practically trail-rated 82 degrees. The only real surprise is that, despite those chunky 235/75 R15 off-road tires, it won’t have power steering.
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It’s like an Atom crossed with a ’70s beach buggy, isn’t it? Saunders pretty much agrees:
“I nearly swapped a motorbike for a purple beach buggy when I was a teenager,” he said, “they were an enormous craze and they fell completely out of fashion, but I’ve always thought there’s something in it that was waiting to be reborn.”
And Saunders also told us the company has been thinking about the Nomad for a very long time.
“Shortly after we launched the Atom we had a call from a guy in the ‘States saying ‘could you do one with really long suspension travel for off-road use?’ We were snowed under, but we thought it sounded like an interesting idea. And then years later one of our owners said that he’d always wanted to do the Dakar Rally and the idea bubbled up again… Sensible probably isn’t the right word, but when you think about it it’s an obvious thing for us to do. It’s like you’re driving down a road and there’s a junction, go right for the racetrack and left for the woods. Well now we can turn left too.”
from Car and Driver Blog http://ift.tt/1FgRoft
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