Atom 4 buyers spec discussion thread

[AlanP]

Simon

Absolutely agree about supporting the factory. Do McLaren or Ferrari owners talk about getting work done on the cheap? Not sure. I trust the Crewkerne Massive and nobody else is messing with my motor!! (I work hard enough at blowing it up myself)

Alan

[phil4]

Absolutely agree about supporting the factory. Do McLaren or Ferrari owners talk about getting work done on the cheap? Not sure. I trust the Crewkerne Massive and nobody else is messing with my motor!! (I work hard enough at blowing it up myself)

I think that's a very personal thing, depending on that persons view of the work, and the cost involved. No one wants to see Ariel go to the wall, but each of us will have a threshold as to what we feel is an acceptable price for a piece of work - and it'll be different for everyone.

[AMH 142]

I can actually get the front wheels off the ground if I give it full beans!!

Can you drive Atoms when playing Forza then?

Must have some super-sticky tyres, a pretty high CoG and a good hill too. Well worth a video post

[Peter255]

For me the 350 upgrade makes no sense.

I want to do track work, which is where the extra power is helpful. However you won't get on many trackdays with the sports exhaust. It will be too loud, just like the current sports silencer is too loud for most days.

So I am back to the 350 pack without the sports box. Now the sports box upgrade is £330 and Ariel have said they would sub the cost off the 350 pack for me if i don't want the silencer. The problem is that leaves a decat pipe with was previously circa £150 and a £2,500 remap. Thats a VERY expensive remap.

I am 100% sure you could take the car to a reputable Honda tuner and get a safe bespoke remap and decat for a grand fitted!

I don't want Ariel to go out of business. I just refuse to pay £2k mark up for some software. I would also say there are others out there with more experience tuning that Honda engine. Ariel make outstanding cars. I have 100% trust in their R&D etc. Some cars (mine included) have their issues but you can't fault them in general. But there are plenty out there that can tune that engine safely and effectively.

However each to their own. Some people will see £3k as peanuts. Some want to spend £20k on a gearbox, £10k on wheels, or £2500 on a remap. I can't justify it personally. My car will stay @ 320.

[Alistairbuchanan]

Ariel I’m sure do not develop in house engine maps. It will have been subcontracted out to a “specialised engine mapper” I agree that £2k for a map is excessive and wont be paying it. Better suspension and traction control are where my money will go


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[HenryJS]

Right.

I'm going to try and help where I can. Sory its taken a while - I've been away in various locations for some time.

The 'charity, best mate, religion' debate.
No we are not a charity. This company is our livelihoods - and not just me, or Tom or Simon, all 32 of us that work here.
We are very friendly - Tom and I have always said 'we are petrol heads, making cars for other petrol heads', and will always welcome everyone with open arms when you visit us. It is Tom and I that answer the phones and deal with everyone, go to Motorshows and take cars to events for Charity - you don't get that anywhere else (that i know of).
We don't drive around in Ferrari's, Lambos etc - far from it. So the money we make as a company, other than paying our staff, goes straight back into the company to develop things like the Atom 4. We feel as though we make the pricing as affordable as possible - believe me, if we made everything cheaper, you'd find there wouldn't be an Ariel to get parts from, let alone develop new cars.
And aside from my passion for Mountain Bikes (as some of you may know!!) Ariel is like a religion for me personally!

[mention]irg100[/mention]
Our Aero Screen costs what it does because we have spent a significant amount of time testing various shapes to find the perfect one, that not only produces the most down-force, but also channels the air into the intake - increasing the efficiency.
And - I'm not being funny / disrespectful here - Our's is integrated into the screen, not just stuck on afterwards... So some of the cost of the Aeroscreen goes towards the tooling cost we have had to pay in order to make the standard Screen Base. Yes, you don't have to have the Aeroscreen, but it makes a huge difference to the experience of the car - and provides down-force.

[mention]Peter255[/mention]
as soon as we have got photos of the options - we will post them! Please bear in mind we have ONE complete car at the moment.
The location thing - we aren't a multi-million pound company so cant afford dealers around the country, we'd love to be, but aren't!

General discussion:
Brakes:
The standard brakes are perfect for the road, at road legal speeds - even with the car having 320bhp. The standard brakes on the 4 are actually pretty decent, its just a case of pressing the pedal harder. If you want to start tearing around at Mach2 or for lap after lap on track, get upgraded ones!
To add to the brakes discussion - the standard brakes are off another production car that is capable of at least 130mph @1300kg. SO 130mph in somethings that 600kg, is going to stop quicker. Just not as quick as a car with AP brakes fitted....

The 3.5R Price Debate.
You CAN buy a 3.5R at 60K. This is the starting point for the 3.5R. Alot of the time magazines, TV, Youtube just use the starting point price.
Just like you CAN buy an Atom 4 for £40,000. Its very rare, but it happens.
How many people here have an Atom with NO options on?

[mention]simonrhart[/mention]
Adjustable camber wishbones:
The Atom has always had the ability to adjust the camber, it was just a bit of a faff...
The Adjustable wishbones are exactly as John Scherrer has pictured on the 3.5R. An 'adjuster' built into the end of the wishbone. There has always been the ability to have this and we have offered it to customers on a case by case basis, after speaking at length about the spec of the car and 'what its going to be used for'.
The adjustable wishbones make adjusting the camber a matter of an hour for the whole car, rather than it taking an hour or two a corner.

General Announcement:
We have a SEQ 'box here to test. Be patient. Its coming.

Power Upgrade:
This is clearly a sore point of discussion.
its not just 'bung a decat pipe on it and stuff a load more fuel into the combustion chambers'
It is much, much more complicated than that. tune, test, modify tune, test modify, tune, test modify, tune, test modify, etc. etc. etc.
Yes its expensive - sorry! but, its not cheap because its done PROPERLY, by the manufacturer, so many times I've been to a Dyno and there are people there with other marques, complaining that some other place had promised huge numbers and power gains - and it not being delivered 1. at all. 2. Safely.
Many aftermarket 'tuners' just do the bare minimum to get a figure, not really to improve the drive-ability of the car.

Any questions about specifics, please email me!

And a polite request - please keep the UK price-list off the interweb - it makes our Dealers live's (and ours) very awkward. If someone asks you for a price list, please forward their inquiry to me henry@arielmotor.co.uk

Thanks!
Happy debating!

[Alistairbuchanan]

....that was like a breath of fresh air


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[John Scherrer]

... Somerset air with just a tinge of Cider

Thanks Henry !

[Hedge]

Somewhere, in some thread, I posted my thoughts on the A4, having been one of the first customers to have ever been driven in one.

Maybe I didn't state it enough - or clearly enough - but all my eulogising about the car wasn't for one such car stacked with options. No seq box. No big brakes. No fancy suspension. If you can find it (I can't be ersed to look) you'll hopefully get a feel for just how monstrously quick it is - IN STANDARD FORM. As in, a car you can actually buy for 40k (& reg/ delivery costs).

I then recall recommending any potential buyer to sit in one before you start upgrading this that & the other. If you're mainly going to stick to road use, there's simply no point in upgrading the power, for instance. For those doing plenty of track work, different kettle of fish. Even then, though, you don't really need the power upgrade (though the bigger brakes etc, you would). I can't reiterate it enough, just how damn fast the thing is, as standard. And, outside of a V8, I've been in them all.

So for you guys & gals pondering/ querying the cost of upgrades, make sure you really need them first. And if you don't, but just want them anyway, then the collective misgivings about the costs of such upgrades are probably misplaced, no?

Just my 2c.

Cheers,
Hedge

[reg]

Somewhere, in some thread, I posted my thoughts on the A4, having been one of the first customers to have ever been driven in one.

Maybe I didn't state it enough - or clearly enough - but all my eulogising about the car wasn't for one such car stacked with options. No seq box. No big brakes. No fancy suspension. If you can find it (I can't be ersed to look) you'll hopefully get a feel for just how monstrously quick it is - IN STANDARD FORM. As in, a car you can actually buy for 40k (& reg/ delivery costs).

I then recall recommending any potential buyer to sit in one before you start upgrading this that & the other. If you're mainly going to stick to road use, there's simply no point in upgrading the power, for instance. For those doing plenty of track work, different kettle of fish. Even then, though, you don't really need the power upgrade (though the bigger brakes etc, you would). I can't reiterate it enough, just how damn fast the thing is, as standard. And, outside of a V8, I've been in them all.

So for you guys & gals pondering/ querying the cost of upgrades, make sure you really need them first. And if you don't, but just want them anyway, then the collective misgivings about the costs of such upgrades are probably misplaced, no?

Just my 2c.

Cheers,
Hedge

So the car you had a spin in didn't have AP's, sports exhaust, carbon wheels and adjustable Bilsteins, LSD, boost control and screen? That's the spec of 470M, the one I was out in? And yes, it was impressive.

[MingtheMerciless]

Henry,

Thanks for that, very interesting. I nearly posted the price list until I realised that wasn't regarded as a good idea. I am at the back end of a two year wait, and an Atom newbie, so all of the above thoughts are very interesting. I look forward to discussing specifics in due course with you but I'm looking for a mostly road but some track use spec (so has to pass noise regs) and trying to keep slippage beyond £10k of extras as small as possible. I'm attracted to the traction control and bigger brakes and more power options but also some comfort ones. Decisions decisions, well it is a pretty nice FWP I suppose. Any recommendations? Not urgent for me.

[Anon]

Maybe I didn't state it enough - or clearly enough - but all my eulogising about the car wasn't for one such car stacked with options. No seq box. No big brakes. No fancy suspension. If you can find it (I can't be ersed to look) you'll hopefully get a feel for just how monstrously quick it is - IN STANDARD FORM. As in, a car you can actually buy for 40k (& reg/ delivery costs).

So the car you had a spin in didn't have AP's, sports exhaust, carbon wheels and adjustable Bilsteins, LSD, boost control and screen? That's the spec of 470M, the one I was out in? And yes, it was impressive.

Hedge, I think you are missing the point and your experience in the car is heard, thanks for that I personally found it very, very helpful. I think people are saying you CANNOT buy the car for £39,995 on the road. It has to be taxed and IVA tested pushing it over 40k, only marginally mind, and I don't really care about this to be honest. The main point is, really you will be nowhere near the £40k if you want a car you can resell later or even be competitive on the track, if even this matters to you. The car you went out in I just did a quick calculation and it comes out at around ~£57k and this only includes the visual things. Again this is ok, once you have the price sheet you can price it up and see if it fits within budget. My car on the other hand is now around £60k and doesn't include a seq gearbox. I am betting this will add another £10k to the price and to me this is mandatory, I will sell a kidney if I have to! Then I am in the £70-75k territory far from £40k. I think this is the main point people are making.

Cheers
Simon

[Hedge]

So the car you had a spin in didn't have AP's, sports exhaust, carbon wheels and adjustable Bilsteins, LSD, boost control and screen? That's the spec of 470M, the one I was out in? And yes, it was impressive.

It had none of them - other than the aero screen & boost control (which wasn't moved from it's base position).

Cheers,
Hedge

[Hedge]

I think people are saying you CANNOT buy the car for £39,995 on the road. It has to be taxed and IVA tested pushing it over 40k, only marginally mind, and I don't really care about this to be honest. The main point is, really you will be nowhere near the £40k if you want a car you can resell later or even be competitive on the track, if even this matters to you. The car you went out in I just did a quick calculation and it comes out at around ~£57k and this only includes the visual things

Yes you can buy one for 40k. If you're quibbling about delivery costs & tax, well....

As for reselling it as a base car, who knows. The base car is so good, it may not follow that nobody shall want one, come moving it on.

Cheers,
Hedge

P.S. There is this confusion about the LSD being standard or not, I appreciate that.

[Peter255]

[mention]HenryJS[/mention]

A number of us have wondered which of the test cars have had the 350 upgrade fitted. Are you able to comment?

Also it would be good to have a stock suspension, stock brakes, normal exhaust, non remapped car (basically as few options as poss) available to road test so we can understand which options are really necessary. It looks like all the journalists cars were comprehensively upgraded.

Thx