Which car has the best performance-to-cost ratio?

[dj6ross]

if you want budget then neon srt4 is pretty decent for the price

:yes: 0-60 in 5.3seconds. Says it does a quarter in 13.9s

Starting price $22000

[Pilsbury]

Very few of you seem to be reading the actual topic.

For Price / Performance, you'll be looking at the Ariel Atoms, Caterhams and Westfields, all of which have models that can hit 60mph in well under 4 seconds, have power/weight ratios in excess of 500bhp/ton and cost under ?30000 (about $50000 in real terms, but, if they were to be sold in the US they probably would be about $30000).

The only time that a standard Corvette / Mustang / Neon / whatever would see what way any of them went would be a top speed run in a straight line.

The Mustang only has 180bhp / ton (and a live rear axle)

The Corvette has 350bhp / ton

[Kerm]

Ariel Atom

We have ourselves a winnner.

[Chicane-UK Veteran]

But Ferrari trumps almost all in terms of consistant quality damn good looking design.

See the F430 and tell me im wrong.

I prefer Porsche myself ;)

Butttt... my wonderful girlfriend bought me a 'Ferrari Driving Experience' for my birthday and i'm going to do it on 9th of March - driving either a 355 or a 550 Maranello! I can't wait for it.. its going to be amazing.

I'll post up a new thread on here with some pics hopefully when I go do it :D

And yeah.. the Ariel Atom just dominates all. As Clarkson said when reviewing it, you just had to forget about EVERYTHING you've ever driven when you drive the Atom as its just an entirely new experience.

[bdsams Veteran]

just two throw my .02 into the bank roll here

not so much on topic: One thing you have to remeber with these 4 bangers is that they are all turbo'd or supercharged which compared to displacement is a cheap and very easy power add on...remeber you get a 300hp with a turbo off a 4 banger, it will be harder to get it to 500hp as compared to a naturally aspirated v8 300hp where you can just slap on a turbo and get that extra horse at little cost

[lawtai]

Acura TSX. Entry level luxury for under 30k, although the performance might be considered so so.

[bayrider]

The only time that a standard Corvette ... would see what way any of them went would be a top speed run in a straight line.

False. I'm not much for american cars except for a couple of asthetically pleasing ones... but the Corvette has excellent handling, especially the race tuned Z06 version which is still fairly cheap. Also note a motortrend test in which the 2005 Viper SRT-10 out performed Ferrari's, Lamborghinis and a 911 in a figure 8 track.

Also, not many of us are familiar with the Ariel Atom or other cars. Are they British? What are the specs?

[Symbiotic Hat]

Ariel Atom

Yup ....

[Compuspital]

IMHO the 1996/7 Ford Thunderbird 4.6L V8 it gets good gas milege for a V8 and sure power and can be upgraded if necessary to a 5.4 Triton. and you can get a T-bird like that for at least $2,000.00 it has about 235 or more hp, (depends on how you mod your engine) :rofl: :cool: :D

[Pilsbury]

False. I'm not much for american cars except for a couple of asthetically pleasing ones... but the Corvette has excellent handling, especially the race tuned Z06 version which is still fairly cheap. Also note a motortrend test in which the 2005 Viper SRT-10 out performed Ferrari's, Lamborghinis and a 911 in a figure 8 track.

Also, not many of us are familiar with the Ariel Atom or other cars. Are they British? What are the specs?

A figure of eight track is hardly real road or track conditions.

Take a look at http://www.bbc.co.uk/topgear/powerlaps/ which tests the cars on the same track, which is a more real life performance test.

Ariel Atom - 1.19.5

Chevrolet Corvette - 1.26.8

Dodge Viper SRT-10 - 1.28.5

Porsche 911 Carrera S - 1.28.9 (very wet)

7 seconds is a huge difference for the Atom, and they reckon that a wet track is about 4 seconds, so, the 911 is a couple of seconds ahead of the Corvette.

The only cars tested that have lapped faster than the Atom are:

Pagani Zonda F - 1.18.4

Maserati MC12 - 1.18.9

Ferrari F60 Enzo - 1.19.0

All of which cost at least over 14 times as much.

Edit:

For those of you who don't know the Atom - http://www.arielmotor.co.uk/04/frames.htm

"Take a look at the photo and guess which car will not only accelerate to 100mph the fastest but then stop again to zero the quickest. Two Aston Martins, a Porsche, 2 TVR's a Ford GT with 550bhp, a Dodge SRT-10 with 500bhp, a full race Caterham CSR... traction controls, anti lock brakes... Yes it's official the 2005 quickest car 0 -100 - 0mph is the Ariel Atom in 10.88 seconds.

Using a standard fully road legal Atom 2 300 supercharged Ariel have won this year's Autocar 0-100-0 challenge. With datalogged times done in two directions by the same Autocar test drivers the Atom scorched to 100mph in 6.86 seconds and then stopped from 100mph in 3.8 seconds.

In a seperate test to win the Sunday Times fastest car to 60mph the Atom spanked the opposition with a blistering 2.91 second average making it the world's fastest accelerating production car available today."

Edited February 9, 2006 by Pilsbury

[BGM]

I would think a focus hatchback :-|

hells yeah!

thats just cos i have one though :p

Seriously, Atom wins it!

[Chadwick]

how can you outright have this debate, you need to define classes, if your talking high end cars the z06 absolutely destroys its competition of lambo's ferrari's etc. in performance to cost, but if you buy an srt-4 for 22k and put another 20k into it you can rape that same z06 and still have paid less.

you have to define a class, btw im a muslce car guy and i'd have to disagree with that mustang comment earlier, the aftermarket for the 4.6 is limited to superchargers and turbos, it has a fraction of hte aftermarket the ls1 has, ill take a 4th gen camaro over a new mustang anyday and for about 3 grand into the motor you would leave a mustang with the same amount of money into it in the dust, while remaining naturally aspirated.

[Pilsbury]

how can you outright have this debate, you need to define classes, if your talking high end cars the z06 absolutely destroys its competition of lambo's ferrari's etc. in performance to cost, but if you buy an srt-4 for 22k and put another 20k into it you can rape that same z06 and still have paid less.

And we've established that the Ariel Atom destroys the Z06. :sleep:

[berz]

I was out with my girlfriend getting dinner one night (mmm...roast chicken), when I was approached by a gentleman who owned a new Corvette (still had the temp plate). Or, rather, I was checking out his car, and he took note. I've never been a huge fan of Corvette styling from the 80's onward, but the new ones are incredibly sharp, in my opinion. He was surprisingly forthright and candid: "You can laugh, but I know I can hold my own." Undoubtedly refering to my overpriced "Italian Audi", as I've taken to calling her in the past year. I actually told him "No, sir, I wasn't laughing at your beautiful, beautiful new car. I was grinning because I hadn't seen one up close before, and my girlfriend really likes it as well. I'll be the only exotic owner to ever admit it: your car is a great value, and can most likely hold its own quite well to the Lambo." We actually ended up talking about the comparative merits of both cars for a good 15-20 minutes, as we walked inside (at the prodding of my hungry girlfriend), ordered food, and waited to receive said food. The end result is that I'm paying well over $2,000/month (on a lease - not to mention insurance) to stand out. But to stand out to only a select group of people. Mr. Corvette pays a fraction of that and garners universal respect. People young and old congratulate him and ask to sit in it. As for me, most people tend to be intimidated or just treat me like crap - save for the odd ricer who will never pass up the opportunity to race..err..well, try to race me. The car, like many traditional exotics, transcends its own performance. It's meant to be flashy and showy, all performance figures aside. I'm paying for the gimmick. The truth is, I rarely if ever push my car - or any of my past cars - to what they can truly do. They're conversation pieces. As my one client/acquaintance who owns a Ferrari F50 (among a few nice cars - pictures available upon request) as an original owner so aptly put it: "I drive the F50 when I want to strike up a conversation/I drive the Viper (GTS-R) when I want to play."

For people who say "My Evo can match/beat your exotic that cost $xxxxxxx", it's quite irrelevant to most exotic car owners. We know. We're aware. But most of us don't care about that - they were never meant to be "good deals". At the end of the day, we don't want to bask in the hp per dollar figure of our cars, we want to caress and love them.....err...in a non sexual way, of course. Incidentally, my next car will be another Porsche. Not truly exotic, but damn do I love how they drive. I'd love to go for a z06, but as I originally hail from Europe, I've always been partial to their designs.

As always, just my rambling 2 cents...

[bayrider]

Ariel Atom - 1.19.5

Chevrolet Corvette - 1.26.8

Dodge Viper SRT-10 - 1.28.5

Porsche 911 Carrera S - 1.28.9 (very wet)

Well you just proved my point. I wasnt arguing that the Viper or Vette can outperform a lot of exotics on a real race track. I was mearly arguing that your statement that american cars like the Vette are only good for driving in straight lines when the truth is the Corvette, and the Corvette Z06 (especially the latest 2005/06 generation) have excellent handling. Now if you want to compare it to a 25,000$ Rustang that I wouldnt even want to make a left turn in, is a completely different subject. I'm sure none of the cars mentioned are as cheap as a Ford Mustang (in price and parts lol) nor are they comparable. Some american cars get a bad rap because the cheaper affordable sport cars out there.

I just checked out the Ariel site... that car isnt even street legal. Its an open wheeled car!! I was expecting something along the lines of a TVR but this is a little monster strictly for the circuit.

For people who say "My Evo can match/beat your exotic that cost $xxxxxxx", it's quite irrelevant to most exotic car owners. We know. We're aware. But most of us don't care about that - they were never meant to be "good deals". At the end of the day, we don't want to bask in the hp per dollar figure of our cars, we want to caress and love them.....err...in a non sexual way, of course. Incidentally, my next car will be another Porsche. Not truly exotic, but damn do I love how they drive. I'd love to go for a z06, but as I originally hail from Europe, I've always been partial to their designs.

As always, just my rambling 2 cents...

well said. I'm sick of people saying "well my 1992 Civic CRX can go faster than a Ferrari Enzo if i put a $10,000 turbo and engine upgrade." Truth is, none of us give a crap about a stupid Civic when you're driving it next to a Lambo or Ferrari. No one will even give the Civic a 2nd look. And if I can afford a $100,000 I can easily afford to drop $10,000 into that and make it twice as fast as a front wheel drove Honda and as well have the prestige that comes with driving a supercar that gets its technology from Formula 1 racing cars

Edited February 11, 2006 by bayrider

[Pilsbury]

I just checked out the Ariel site... that car isnt even street legal. Its an open wheeled car!! I was expecting something along the lines of a TVR but this is a little monster strictly for the circuit.

You mustn't have looked too hard - the Atom IS road legal. Hence why The Times called it "the fastest road car in the world"

[bayrider]

I checked, and apparently the car is street legal in the UK. But not in Canada and the USA. For one thing, a car needs to have a bumper, even the Plymouth Prowler (an opened wheel car) had bumpers. And the exposed frame, with no body and windshield are other non-street legal aspects of the Ariel... at least in this part of the world.

[giga Veteran]

Acura TL gets my choice.