Minneapolis Street Sightings: Ariel Atom

Whoa. Y'know, this is likely my favorite sighting to date! An Ariel Atom. This is crazy! Only a handful of these little British hybrid beasts are in the US, and to see one here? Almost unreal. (These are called hybrids, not because of the fuel-sippingness, but because of the engine: you supply your own.) As you can see, the vehicle is essentially what it looks like: a stripped down, all go, no show, balls-to-the-wall performance rocket. And rocket it is. With the car's light curb weight, these guys can be tossed around very well. On the UK motoring show, Top Gear, these cars are stars. Jeremy Clarkson, Stig, Richard Hammond, and even Captain Slow aka James have all driven a Honda K20A powered example, and they testified that it was, indeed, very, very fast. But, being extremely fast, and extremely light does not come cheap. If you were to get one in the US, expect to pay $35k for a low option GM Ecotec 2.4L 145 HP version. If you want the true Clarkson experience, be prepared to give Ariel $44,000 of your hard earned money to get the K20A powered version with upwards of 300 HP, possibly more with the supercharged K20AZ3 engine. In a car that weighs 1400 lbs unloaded. Yowza!