This car can go from 0 to 62mph in 2.5 seconds. So if you fas in it I wonder what kind of mileage you can get. Imagine going to 55 and FASing down to 45 and then you would probably only have to breath on the gas peddle to get back to 55. I'd love to take this out on an mpg test http://www.automotoportal.com/article/London_rules_with_worlds_fastest_car
Well, it's EPA rated at 8 city, 15 highway. While it's true that it's retardedly heavy (over 4000 pounds for that tiny 2-seater) and has a cartoonishly huge engine (over 8 liters of displacement, 16 cylinders, 4 turbos) it does have a 7-speed transmission with a tall 7th gear. Unfortunately, FAS would be a little tough with a DSG transmission since they're neither a manual nor automatic thanks to the pair of clutches and desire to have one or the other engaged all the time. But anyway.... I still think it's fascinating from an engineering perspective.
I sweat to god I will kiss the first person that pulls a Volkswagen V6 TDI engine/DSG transmission from a wreck, tweaks it, drops it in the back of an Ariel Atom chassis, and adds an intelligently designed, modular fairing. This should only weigh in at 1,300lbs, have ~300-350hp and 450-525ft/lbs, run biofuel, and get almost 80mpg at highway speeds. Plus, it'd probably be one of the fastest car in the world, silly fast. Kinda like that diesel electric K1-Attack from that philly high school, except it'll have half the Cx and will shift instantaeously...
Considering the Veyron 16.4 is a $1.5 million car, I wouldn't doubt that the owner of an oil refinery is the target demographic for that car. We're talking extremely, extremely high net worth individuals, like those with $50-100 million or more, such as to be able to drop $1.5 mil on a 4-wheel plaything. As for the Atom, you're forgetting how heavy iron block diesel engines are, the turbos and associated plumbing, as well as how incredibly large and heavy DSG transmissions are. Adjust your weight estimate to 1800 or so and then you're probably in the ball park.
Well, I can't find very much definitive information, but I don't think a tdi/dsg is that much heavier than the supercharged k20/6speed. Even with dual ICs/turbos and an iron block the v6 tdi is still only ~480lbs, compared to ~275lbs for a k20 without SC/IC/plumbing, which implies that the SC'd k20 is someplace north of 300lbs, so a maximum of ~180lb difference, maybe less. Now, from what I've gathered the DSG is only ~50lbs heavier than a standard six speed manual transmission, so unless honda six speed transmissions weigh a lot less than vw six speeds, there's no huge difference there. So we're at ~230lbs maximum... Of course the fairing will weigh something, maybe ~100lbs since we're just putting on a thin body for aerodynamics, no sound damping material, etc... So we're at ~300-350 lbs more than the base ariel atom, ~1300lbs. Sources- tdi k20 DSG/6speed weights
Huh, I thought the Atom was 1300 with the Honda powerplant, thus an implication of weight parity, but I guess I was mistaken! Either way, I prefer cars with protection from the elements, as well as air conditioning. A Lotus Elise with Honda's 2.2 CTDi perhaps? Same power at the original Elise, but way more torque and potential for Honda's A/C system and a total weight around 2000 pounds. That would be totally acceptable to me!
Is Honda's diesel aluminum or iron? Adding A/C and the 2.2 CTDi should only bring weight up to ~2200-2300lbs, but... Why not do the same thing to the Atom? I think an Atom with a insulated cockpit, AC, and stereo should come in at ~1500-1600lbs? I think the ~500lb disprity in the Elise and Atom come from the body design, iirc by using the frame as the body (exoskeleton kinda deal) a great deal of weight savings was realized in the Atom, while improving safety and performance. Aside from that, components are the same iirc... Well, if I ever get the money (~$20-30k) in a few years I may start working on something like this. But, housing comes first!
Honda's is all aluminum head and block. It's supposed to be about the lightest diesel powertrain out there. Sure, it's less power than the 6-cylinder diesels, but still. Anyway, the earlier European Elises were in the 1600 pound range. I'm not sure why the US spec one came in at 1900.
