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36Exposed, welded steel tubing doesn’t exactly match the
COOLEST CARS / ROLL-OUT
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design language of the prototypical dream ride. Poster cars
are sleek and angular, and look like they can teleport to the
distant future at any given moment. They are a marriage of
refinement and batshit-crazy engineering. And they have
doors, fenders, and body panels, too.
So you might be wondering how the Ariel Nomad,
looking all brash, dirty, and un-shiny, has found its way onto
these pages. The thing doesn’t even have a roof, for crying
out loud. But while some aesthetic staples are missing on it, it qualifies for
a spot in this rag because it’s possibly the craziest buggy out there today.
The 235 horses driving its rear wheels give it a 3.4sec 0-100kph launch
rate. Now that’s just nuts.
The latest from the stable that created the widely popular Atom, the
Nomad quells any need for its driver to hit the great outdoors. We see
sports cars on the street, hear their engines rumble as they pass by, and
admire them as they glisten under city lights. But take them anywhere
other than on a long stretch of tabletop tarmac and they won’t be as fun to
drive. Not by a long shot.
The Nomad completely does away with that constraint; it goes
wherever it damn well pleases to. You can be sure that due to all the
slipping and sliding over loose mud, taking into account this car’s absence
of a standard windshield, you’ll literally get a lot of mud on your face. You
can also be sure that behind the wheel of a Nomad, you’ll be grinning.