Seriously tempted

[chrissy g]

Am starting to think about getting rid of my cerb probably next year sometime and am very tempted by atom 2. I just have a couple of questions

Servicing, i presume this is back at the factory?

Insurance, I am 26 4 yr NCB, live in the middle of nowhere, would obviously limit the mileage but would want to do a few track days any ideas of quotations?

Do most you guys where a helmet when driving on the roads, my main concern would be getting hit by objects thrown up by a car in front (are helmets legal in a car)

Depreciation - looking at ariels site this looks to be relatively good

many thanks

Chris

[Bruce Fielding]

chrissy g said:

Servicing, i presume this is back at the factory?

Well... there's not that much to service! I'm sure that you could just take it to your regular Honda dealership - at least you'd get VIP treatment and everyone would want to work on it! I just change the oil and er... that's about it... you can see if anything needs topping up or replacing from the driver's seat. The only things it really needs to go back to Somerset for are body parts or major work.

chrissy g said:

Insurance, I am 26 4 yr NCB, live in the middle of nowhere, would obviously limit the mileage but would want to do a few track days any ideas of quotations?

I go through Aon Classic who gave me the best deal - but then I'm an old fart... 49 with 6 years NCB - but live in Camden in Central London - about £600 plus £25 every time I do a trackday!

chrissy g said:

Do most you guys where a helmet when driving on the roads, my main concern would be getting hit by objects thrown up by a car in front (are helmets legal in a car)

On long trips I wear a lid which is absolutely legal, but for cruising around London, a pair of wraparound sunglasses is fine - or better a pair of goggles. Wouldn't advise much more speed without a lid - think of all the stonechips on your Cerbie!

chrissy g said:

Depreciation - looking at ariels site this looks to be relatively good

Not sure... Simon reckons it's a good market, but If you know cerbies you know how hard it can be to sell an unusual car! (I sold my Griff last summer on PH and cried and cried at the price differential!)

If you are looking for a trackday tool that you can (pretty much) drive to and from the track and not have to rely on a team of mechanics to see you through the day, plus something that is 100% guaranteed to turn heads no matter who they belong to, I can't recommend the Atom highly enough.

[chrissy g]

Thanks for all the info!! Much appreciated.

My main reasons for changing the cerb is although great fun to drive it has always felt very edgy round corners. I use to own a mk 1 elise and I miss the "chuckability" (is that a word). I may well take a bit of hit when it comes to resale, but ownership has been for the large part fairly painless :touches lots of wood: (bar the stonechips)

Can you explain to me the different between road and track day spec i gather there a 2k price difference between the two?

Regards

Chris

[Bruce Fielding]

I think it's just the stuff that makes the car road legal, like lights, mudguards, hazards etc. They're really an essential, but it helps keep the base price down if Simon doesn't include it!

You do realise of course that the Atom makes your Elise look positively practical! There's no real storage or decidated places for anything - if you think of going away, you can strap a case in the passenger footwell, but even a bag of shopping will go flying! There's a tiny cubbyhole under the 'bonnet' but that's usually cluttered with bits and bobs

[ross.mcw]

chrissy g said:

Servicing, i presume this is back at the factory?

Everything mechanical (suspension, steering etc) you can do yourself - I imagine the engine will need to be sorted at your local Honda dealer like Bruces says.

chrissy g said:

Insurance, I am 26 4 yr NCB, live in the middle of nowhere, would obviously limit the mileage but would want to do a few track days any ideas of quotations?

Give Footman James a go in Birmingham. Cost me about £250 fully comp with breakdown limited to 3000 miles. I'm 32 and live in Manchester. They treat it as a kit so NCB is irrelevant. I've found them to be very good service wise and highly recommend them.

chrissy g said:

Do most you guys where a helmet when driving on the roads, my main concern would be getting hit by objects thrown up by a car in front (are helmets legal in a car)

Yes helmet is very necessary - pref. with a tinted visor so you can hide yourself in traffic

chrissy g said:

Depreciation - looking at ariels site this looks to be relatively good

I hope it's not going to be too bad as I'd like to upgrade mine to a mark II soon!

Cheers, Ross.

[partyboy]

When you say you can do the basic servicing yourself. What type of knowledge do you need for this, could someone who has no experience in mechanics do it is what i'm trying to say?

[bruce fielding]

I know where the petrol goes, I know where the spark plugs are, and I can do an oil change and a bit of basic spannering... er... that's about it

And I can do a basic service on an Atom

You pick it up as you go along as well - by asking others how to do things. I know the theory of suspension setup - wouldn't do it myself but I can see what's happening on an Atom, which makes it much easier!

Some owners are VERY knowledgabl;e and you can always rely on someone to know the answer...

[ross.mcw]

partyboy said:

When you say you can do the basic servicing yourself. What type of knowledge do you need for this, could someone who has no experience in mechanics do it is what i'm trying to say?

I wouldn't do more than the basics with regard to the engine - although with the Honda engine, I'd be inclined to simply get it serviced at a Honda dealer. They're bullet proof and cheap to service requiring very little maintenance.

On the mechanical side of things - anyone with a decent set of tools and a bit of common sense should be fine - everything's easy to get to and it's fairly obvious what everything does so it shouldn't hold any mysteries.

The main thing is to give the car a once over each time you take it out - check for any leaks and that everything's bolted on and you should be fine.

Cheers, Ross.

[owi]

On the helmet side of things, we always recommend Wiley-X XL1 sunglasses (www.wileyx.com/xl1.php, I don't have shares in the company). These are impact resistant glasses that all but seal around your eyes. They seem to fit and look good on 95% of people too.

These are great for a lidless cruise around town or for wearing under your helmet visor as normal sunglasses. They saved me some grief at 100km/h in very heavy rain one night when my visor just wouldn't clear. I haven't tried the light adjusting version yet - I'm told they go completely clear for night use.

[bruce fielding]

Jut saw these in one of the Xmas gift ideas in the papers...

www.oakley.com/catalog/eyewear/thump/?cm_re=V46*FeaturedImage*ThumpKristiLeskinen

Hypercool and you get sounds without paraphernalia, too!

* 256 megabytes of solid-state NAND flash memory for storing up to 120 songs
* The best polarized lenses on the planet
* Absolute music freedom with no wires or cords to dangle or tangle
* Up to 6 hours of playback time
* 75MHz DSP with 18-bit Sigma Delta DAC for state-of-the-art audio fidelity
* Acoustic expansion speakers with forward/back booming and sideways pivoting
* Flip-up lenses with raked-back contours for maximum protection against sun, wind and side impact
* Patented XYZ Optics® for razor sharp clarity at all angles of vision, even at lens periphery
* Plutonite lens material blocks 100% of all UVA, UVB, UVC and harmful blue light
* Durable O Matter® frame with less than 1.8-ounce total weight for all-day comfort
* Supports storage of data files along with song files
* Includes high-speed USB cable for transferring song files from Mac or Windows PC

Mind you... the price is something else, too...

[coxm]

if you can keep a TVR on the road, the Atom will be a doddle. I am as mechanically inept as most, but can adjust the suspension, brake bias and so on with my mountain bike tools. As Ross says, look at it each time you go out, just to check for anything out of place (which is pretty obvious, since its all on show)

Everything else, I take back to the factory. Quality and attention to detail as per a pukka race shop, but its in Somerset (which is fine for me since I have a house there). For engine stuff, any Honda dealer will fall over themselves to do it: for the rest, any race shop can look after it fine: where do you live and we can suggest suitable ones.

MC