Cat S 3.5 on YouTube

[IanG]

The latest installment was a bit of a worry but its interesting to watch in a morbid curiosity kinda way (at least for me).. I wonder if the factory are keeping an eye on the progress?

Yep Spoke to Steve yesterday they are watching

[hamtt]

I think everyone needs to lighten up and give the guys a break and see it for what it is – YouTube content for entertainment.

They’re not trying to have one over anyone or pretend it’s going to be perfect, they’re seeing what they can do and its their car so they can do whatever they feel like to it. When it comes to selling, if they sell, at least there will be a hundred percent transparency and the prospective buyer will be able to see what they’re buying – which is more than what I can say for a lot of Atoms out there. Over the past 10 years I’ve seen some proper dogs on the market that have been butchered and repaired substandard and most people are none the wiser because the damage/repairs haven’t been made public and most buyers don’t know what to look out for or send it to the factory for a once over.

If anything stuff like this should be applauded. They’re stripping the car down and putting aside the elephant in the room of the chassis repair, there’s a lot of valuable content for reference in there. There's views and angles of components and parts installed that you won’t find anywhere else and guaranteed if someone wanted to work on their car to replace or retrofit parts, the same people who are being snooty about this will probably be using the videos for reference to see how things are routed or fitted.

IMO their videos should be placed in club content as valuable reference material, and if all fails, a lesson in how not to repair an Atom. And guess what, it’s all at THEIR cost. Anyone can be a keyboard warrior but how many of you would put your money where your mouth is and stick 20k+ in to a car knowing everyone was going to see the state of it and criticise you and still go ahead keep doing it for the sake of building up your business or hobby? Because that’s what they’re doing, building up their YouTube content. You need to see the bigger picture; the Atom is just the current car they’re working on.

And if it’s not your cup of tea, smile and move on. Why waste your energy in such negativity.

[Atlarge]

-sponsored by Skunkwurx?

[hamtt]

-sponsored by Skunkwurx?

Not at all. But I've seen this same pattern here when the americans used to try to voice opinions, when a company tried to bring out a set of wheels for the atom, and when numerous other people tried to do certain other things. Kinda gets tiring being in the company of "Grumpy Old Men".

Do the stats. If Ariel make a hundred cars a year, over the last 10 years alone that's a thousand cars. Out of that thousand do you think only the handful of the cars we know about got seriously damaged? Especially considering how tricky the car can be for new drivers?

I know for a FACT there are members on the facebook group that own cars that have had serious incidents before, and probably unaware of it or are aware of it and still talking trash.

What people say in public and what they say in private can be two completely different things.

There's a reason this forums now dead. A big part of that is anyone that said anything different got lambasted by the "holier than though" crew and people just can't be arsed arguing and go away.

[Atlarge]

I was only messing but I get what you're saying, I bought mine from Ariel and paid the premium for it because I wanted confidence in the car and its history etc, as I live outside of the UK.

I'm sure there are many dogs around (my 1st experience in an atom was in a pretty battered but great fun A3.5 on a drive experience day) and inevitably people probably write a few off that get questionably repaired etc.

I personally don't have an issue with 3rd party parts or repair, I think it's just those guys exploits that scare me but it is, as you say, only entertainment (hopefully).

Ps. Hope the forum isn't dead, not everyone has FB.

[mapes]

Having watched that last Youtube video, it seems the guys are missing the point when they reprofiled part of the squashed frame, at the rear. OK, they pulled out the squashed bits, so the frame section was circular again, but they don't seem to realise that the frame at the rear of the Atom is horizontal, the rearmost 150mm does not curve upwards at the end, as theirs does on the video, (at least, mine certainly doesn't ...) Unless I'm missing something, then no realignment is gonna work on that basis. Best of luck with that one chaps..

[Fastlane]

I think everyone needs to lighten up and give the guys a break and see it for what it is – YouTube content for entertainment.

They’re not trying to have one over anyone or pretend it’s going to be perfect, they’re seeing what they can do and its their car so they can do whatever they feel like to it. When it comes to selling, if they sell, at least there will be a hundred percent transparency and the prospective buyer will be able to see what they’re buying – which is more than what I can say for a lot of Atoms out there. Over the past 10 years I’ve seen some proper dogs on the market that have been butchered and repaired substandard and most people are none the wiser because the damage/repairs haven’t been made public and most buyers don’t know what to look out for or send it to the factory for a once over.

If anything stuff like this should be applauded. They’re stripping the car down and putting aside the elephant in the room of the chassis repair, there’s a lot of valuable content for reference in there. There's views and angles of components and parts installed that you won’t find anywhere else and guaranteed if someone wanted to work on their car to replace or retrofit parts, the same people who are being snooty about this will probably be using the videos for reference to see how things are routed or fitted.

IMO their videos should be placed in club content as valuable reference material, and if all fails, a lesson in how not to repair an Atom. And guess what, it’s all at THEIR cost. Anyone can be a keyboard warrior but how many of you would put your money where your mouth is and stick 20k+ in to a car knowing everyone was going to see the state of it and criticise you and still go ahead keep doing it for the sake of building up your business or hobby? Because that’s what they’re doing, building up their YouTube content. You need to see the bigger picture; the Atom is just the current car they’re working on.

And if it’s not your cup of tea, smile and move on. Why waste your energy in such negativity.

CarCartel post videos on YouTube for views and comments (it's how YouTube works) which is what we are doing on here and ultimately YouTube's comments are reliant on all of us "keyboard warriors". This thread links to all three of their videos on YouTube and so anyone who watches it on here will contribute to their YouTube views - which is only positive for them.

CarCartel have already posted their first video on the Club's FB page for comment and have taken advice, as well as positive and negative comments from the owners on there - they refer to us (jokingly) as "rich c***ts in the 3rd video. Not everyone has FB, so I put it on here, again for comment and if they do a bad job, then this thread will hopefully help someone steer clear of this car. The elephant in the room IS the chassis damage, so of course we are all commenting on this.

We have all "put our money where our mouth is" and bought an Ariel product and in many cases spend a great deal of time and money maintaining and upgrading them.

I don't think anybody on here is losing sleep over this car - except maybe the guys at CarCartel!

[hamtt]

I struggle to find anything positive that's been said to them publicly on this forum. There's plenty of owners that had extensive knowledge of the car that could give them sound advice but I cant see any, which goes back to my old adage that I said years ago that the perception to outsiders is that this place is like an old gentleman's club.

And buying a car for your own personal use and enjoyment isn't putting your money where your mouth is as you've got nothing to lose and you're doing it for your own enjoyment. If that was the case then every purchase you did would be putting your money where your mouth is.

[Thewelder]

Having watched that last Youtube video, it seems the guys are missing the point when they reprofiled part of the squashed frame, at the rear. OK, they pulled out the squashed bits, so the frame section was circular again, but they don't seem to realise that the frame at the rear of the Atom is horizontal, the rearmost 150mm does not curve upwards at the end, as theirs does on the video, (at least, mine certainly doesn't ...) Unless I'm missing something, then no realignment is gonna work on that basis. Best of luck with that one chaps..

You must have an atom 2 Mapes, this is a 3.5

[IanG]

I struggle to find anything positive that's been said to them publicly on this forum. There's plenty of owners that had extensive knowledge of the car that could give them sound advice but I cant see any, which goes back to my old adage that I said years ago that the perception to outsiders is that this place is like an old gentleman's club.

And buying a car for your own personal use and enjoyment isn't putting your money where your mouth is as you've got nothing to lose and you're doing it for your own enjoyment. If that was the case then every purchase you did would be putting your money where your mouth is.

The club has reached out I sent a message on Facebook
As of yet no response ( No surprise)
As you say having considerable knowledge of the 3.5 I thought it might be helpful to them
Even in jest to be referred to as Rich C T’s is taking piss just because you don’t like the negative views you receive on Facebook
IanG

[John Scherrer]

As Thewelder said :-

Atom 3 and Mugen Chassis showing the 'upcurve' ..

[mapes]

Having watched that last Youtube video, it seems the guys are missing the point when they reprofiled part of the squashed frame, at the rear. OK, they pulled out the squashed bits, so the frame section was circular again, but they don't seem to realise that the frame at the rear of the Atom is horizontal, the rearmost 150mm does not curve upwards at the end, as theirs does on the video, (at least, mine certainly doesn't ...) Unless I'm missing something, then no realignment is gonna work on that basis. Best of luck with that one chaps..

You must have an atom 2 Mapes, this is a 3.5

Indeed I do,I stand corrected on the upcurving chassis

[hamtt]

The club has reached out I sent a message on Facebook
As of yet no response ( No surprise)
As you say having considerable knowledge of the 3.5 I thought it might be helpful to them
Even in jest to be referred to as Rich C T’s is taking piss just because you don’t like the negative views you receive on Facebook
IanG

I know what you mean about the Rich C comment, it kinda took me back too especially knowing that there havee been many people that saved long and hard to get an Atom or got a basic one and upgraded it bit by bit as they could afford it or came across used parts. People forget the car used to be £20kish, my first Atom 2 was £21k and the same car now sells for close to £30. Still a lot of money but a lot more affordable than the £55/£60k entry level 4's now. I can only assume it was a knee-jerk reaction to the response they had had from the facebook/forum comments.

The fact of the matter is there seems to be a huuuuge disparity of what the general population think and what "select" vocal Atom owners think which makes all Atom owners look bunch of pompous twits. All you have to do is look at the comments on their Youtube Video, which all seem pretty positive. And then look at the comments on here and the facebook group and it's the complete opposite. If that doesn't tell you something then you're living with your head in the clouds.

Do an acid test, go on to a MX5 owners club and put up that you that you've just bought a written-off MX5 that you want to fix and get back on the track and need help and advice, and watch the response. People will be actively wanting to participate and contribute. That's what makes a community welcoming, not the closed rank dismissiveness that comes out from this "community".

[JDixn]

Hi everyone, it was inevitable that our eyes were going to come across this thread, I did actually try to sign up weeks ago but my initial registration wasn't verified for some reason.

On to the important bits. First and foremost, I want to apologise about the "Rich c***s" comment, sometimes our mouths move fasters than our brains, but it was meant completely in jest, we come from a very working class background as many of you may do and we have a crude sense of humour.

On to the chassis, we are fully aware of the potential damage, stresses and anything else that could be wrong with it. That is why we have spoken to a few people with experience as well as the company that manufactures the chassis for Ariel for advice, who have both given us different avenues in terms of repairs or replacement.
As far as we are concerned, you wouldn't replace a kitchen because you have a leak in the pipes, you attempt to fix the leak first and if the damage is worse than you thought, you may have to replace the whole thing. Whether or not we attempt to repair it or not doesn't matter, we are being open and transparent about the process.
The unfortunate thing is that asking for advice seems to be met with a lot of people claiming the only way to repair this car is to return it to Ariel, replace the chassis and let them fix it all, missing the entire point of this project. Im not saying WE can do all the chassis repairs either, but even if we do end up buying a new one, we would be the ones to strip and rebuild the car, that's what this is all about.

The last couple of things I want to mention.
Firstly, IanG I replied to you the very same morning I received your message, it was about 5 paragraphs essentially explaining the same thing as above, I was very appreciative of you reaching out and my reply was just as courteous back to you. Im not sure why you haven't received it, perhaps its in your message requests as that's where your message ended up for me. So I think your comment is bang out of order, your attributing our behaviour on something that is likely just a daft technical issue and making your mind up about us from there.
Secondly, I also find it interesting that people are leaving comments giving their opinion, when clearly they're not qualified to have that opinion (the curvature at the rear of newer chassis') and then claiming its a "complete write off to my UNTRAINED eye", followed by someone chomping at the bit for us to dismantle the car and sell the parts to them - this isn't a dig at them, it just seems redundant.
Finally, I do want to mention that privately we have actually had a lot of messages of support, offering parts, contacts and constructive advice, which we do appreciate (and have responded to everyone!)

I understand this is the internet, everyone has an opinion good and bad. Maybe it's the way we come across and maybe we're not your cup of tea. But, we are three enthusiastic lads with an interest in cars, putting out free content week after week trying in one way or another to entertain. Given how difficult some basic information is to come across online on these cars, we were hoping to inform just a little bit too. Maybe we will show some people the troubles we come across and they can avoid them, or even show them there are alternatives to sending it back to Ariel.
At the end of the day, we would most likely never have owned an Atom any other way. We wanted to see what it was all about, so we couldn't turn the opportunity down.
Remember, all of this is at our expense and time, and we have to deal with the consequences, good or bad.
If there is anyone from Ariel reading this, you can always get in touch. We're not hiding what we're doing and we are always looking to learn more.

I apologise for the wall of text, I just wanted to clear the air, explain the situation and move on. We will be continuing with this project either way, so if you're only watching out of morbid curiosity please carry on.

Jack.

[Jerry]

Jack, as you say it's the INTERNET and everyone has an opinion until you talk to them face to face.

Good luck with the project and yes we can all learn from your rebuild. Furthermore, it won't be a cheap experience either.

Keep the vids rolling.