whats better than a small car w/ a 'busa motor

[RACER X]

1 w/ 2

Two hundred thousand bucks is a house in most places. Well, that's £120,000 to our British friends. Still, that's an awful lot of scratch. How much is it compared to other cars? If say you wanted a Porsche Cayman S -- a car many consider the finest sports car in the world -- the mini-Porker costs just £44,000. How about an Aston Martin V8 Vantage -- which many consider to be the best sounding sports car in the world? A mere £83,000, or £91,000 if you want the drop top so as to better hear the wikkid engine.

Okay, but what about a serious performer -- like a 550 hp Porsche Panamera Turbo? Just £95,000. Or a 525 hp Audi R8 V10? "Only" £100,000. Even a Porche Turbo Cabriolet is priced to sell at £110,000. No, if you want a vehicle that costs as much as the roofless, doorless, bodyless Ariel Atom V8 is going to cost in Great Britain you're going to probably be cross shopping it with... a Caterham Se7en RST-V8 Levante that also has a V8 but lacks doors and retails for about £120,000 pounds sterling. Ironic, no? Sure, there are always more expensive cars (hello Lambo, Ferrari) but at this lofty price point not too many.

Is it worth that much cash? Very hard to say, as the craziest ever Atom (which is saying something) is as track-only as it gets. For instance, even the manic Se7en RST-V8 Levante has something resembling a windshield. On the pro side, Ariel will only be shipping 25 cars to the UK (19 of which have already sold) and the V8 engine is actually two Hayabusa motors joined to a common crank. With that in mind, the Atom V8 can hit 60 mph in a Veyron like 2.5 seconds. So... yes, totally worth the money.


http://www.autoblog.com/gallery/ariel-atom/