Ariel Atom 4

Impressive driver’s car turns the wick up to 11.

- Matt Prior

SAYING A NEW CAR IS BETTER than its predecessor is about as lazy as you can get because, if it weren’t, its maker would have had to have done something very wrong indeed. The Ariel Atom 4 is noteworthy because it’s so much better than the outgoing Atom 3.5. It’s a seismic shift and it feels as rapid as a Ferrari 488 GTB, too.

Perhaps this shouldn’t be surprising given that the Atom 4 represents the biggest change to the Atom since the car was first launched in 2000.

Ariel’s designers and engineers decided that bigger chassis tubes were the way to go, not just from a strength perspective, but also a visual one. Changes extend to the wheel diameters being an inch bigger front and rear, new geometry and updated bodywork.

It’s a bit longer than before, although still only 3520mm, but no wider, fortunately, because at 1880mm, it’s quite wide for a lightweight car. The wheelbase is up slightly, to 2390mm, with 1600mm and 1615mm tracks front and rear. And the increased size means it’s a bit less lightweight than an Atom 3.5. At 595kg, it’s around 20kg heavier than the old car, which seems a bit of a shame, but still some way from heavy.