Its a mid engine design, 2 seater.

CD/AM/FM Sound System
Sparco Seats w/room behind seating for luggage
Leather/Alcantra Interior
Auto-Meter designed gauges, toggle switches for other functions (like a race car interior)

Specifications
Wheelbase: 90"
Overall Length: 152"
Height: 42"
Width: 72"
Weight: 1430lbs wet
Engine: GM EcoTec 2200cc Supercharged (220hp, 200lb ft.)
Transmission: Getrag MG3 5 Speed
Wheels: 17x11 F/R
Suspension: SLA pushrod w/coil overs
Brakes: Corvette Twin Caliper front x 13", Single Rear x 12"
Tires: Front 285/40ZR17 - Rear 315/30ZR17

Performance
0-60: 3.7-4.0second
Quarter Mile: low 12 seconds
Top Speed: 157mph
Cornering on skidpad: 1.1g's

All fully loaded for $33,000. The car has a large presence, but is very lightweight with an integrated roll cage.

Here's just an idea of what it will look like.

http://www.siknor.com/Concept01.jpg

Designed as more of a road racer vehicle, but great fuel economy... possibly a turbo model later with sequential gearbox, but about $20,000 more.

Power (HP) to weigth (lbs)
2003 Z06: 7.77
2003 Viper: 6.73
2005 GT: 6.5

 

a 4 banger with 17x11 wheels all around and weighing in at like 1500lbs?
how would you get any traction in the rain? (11 in already is bad for traction because you have to get more water out from under the tire and the overall weight is dispersed over a larger area making it harder to increase friction between the tire and street surface)
but overall, not a bad car design and sounds like it'd be interesting

 

Racelogic takes care of all the traction problems.

55% of the weight is on the rear wheels of the car, plenty of force to keep it down.

295's could fit in the rear as well. Nothing is set in stone.

 

Im not at all enthusiastic to pay 33 large for a car that light & that small carrying just a 4 banger and most likely going to have to be extremely spartan. It will have to be to weigh just 1400 pounds.

A Mini Cooper weighs over 2500 pounds, and even the Lotus Elise, a very puny car by US standards (it's 3" shorter & 5" skinner than the car you propose) is 2000.....dry!
http://www.caranddriver.com/article....rticle_id=7371

I think we need one of our resident engineers to chime in on this, but I'm not quite convinced on the weight & components vs size here.

Using the Lotus Elise as a point of reference (it seems that will be the car you are competing against), I'd pay about $22-25 grand for it, and that's for an established brand. A car like that is more of a toy I'd use occasionally, NOT a daily driver.

The Smart Roadster is even more tiny than your proposed car (134" long & 63" wide) and it weighs over1800 pounds. However, it sells for a base price of $20,000. I can see buying this because it's price is more in line with what I'd use the car for, even though it doesn't do 3.7 second 0-60 runs.
http://www.caranddriver.com/article....rticle_id=7375


I'm guessing a few collectors or people who have extra cash laying around who want something different to fill in the spare space the 3 car garage will go for the car you propose. But If I were to pay $33,000 for a car, it's going to be useful, comfortable, & survivable as well as quick.

Not slamming your idea, just giving you an honest opinion, that's all.

 

295 tires on a Miata? I think 245 is the widest tire suited to this car, not just visually. You're talking Z06 tires, and from behind this tiny car would look like a dragster on slicks.

As well, 1500 lbs is unfeasible, IMO. Lotus Elise is around 1950, and that is one lightweight car, minus roll cage.

 

Depends on who this thing is marketed to. Warranty? Who you gonna call to get service parts other than engine stuff?

You're going to be looking at an extremely small market, niche buyers and eccentrics, the occassional club racer. You might sell a dozen of them a year if you can keep the costs down.

But to ask here is the wrong audience...the typical person in this forum isn't going to buy it unless it is V8 powered and comes with a full warranty and lots of creature comforts. I know I personally would not be interested in such a car, it would be wildly impractical.

 

Would something that light be able to pass federal crash tests? I would hate to be hit by anything in something that small.

 

You guys are missing the point, the engineering is there, the technology is available. All you guys saying this is a small car. Good God, its as wide as a 4th gen, lower than a Vette, longer than a Corvette, how is that small?

Aluminum frames can be built that weigh around 200lbs, the body is hung on that, with a body weighing only 150lbs, add your drivetrain, about 400lbs and you begin to see how you can make a very lightweight car.

Hell, FFR Cobras are a full maze of steel tubes, a big 460 Ford big block, yet it weighs 2100lbs with a 300lb body... hmm.

Assuming it passes all safety standards with high marks, etc. etc.

Put all the engineering aside that you "think" restricts something like this being built...

Would you buy it?

There will be a dealer network and overnight delivery of specialty parts, 2 year warranty is the base, GM will take care of the drivetrain warranty.

Niche buyers is the market it is aimed at.

Yes it comes with A/C, Defrost, Heat, CD Player w/sound system, leather seating, leather/alcantara trimmed interior, leg room, seats a 6' 6" 250lb guy with ease.

How is it impractical, tell me, how is it?

 

But that is "assuming" quite a lot, isn't it?

Ok I'll play along. I personally would not buy it because I actually prefer a little lead in my sled...it's too expensive as a toy car that I could only drive on perfect days (I wouldn't even feel comfortable driving a 1500 pound car in a driving rainstorm.)

A/C adds a lot of weight to a car. A nice sound system can start to pack on pounds quickly. Again I'm no engineer but I can't see a car with all of these creature comforts being so light...AND sold at such a "low" price considering this magical frame and body and features.

 

Corvette is around 179 inches long-the 152 inch length mentioned above would put it in miata/solstice territory. Also the 1950lb Elise utilizes an alum chassis. I think it would be tough to meet the proposed weight.

 

Are we talking purely a fantasy car, no substance to it?

Are are you talking about a drawing board concept that may see production?

If it's the latter, seeing how we cannot possibly fatom all this car for 1500 lbs (not even 1700), and if you're saying that engineering exists - do what most other do. They make a prototype first, measure its weight, and then publish it.

And if it's just a fantasy car, why are you so hung up on it being 1500 lbs?

BTW, with 220 HP this car would not see just 12's, it would be in the 11's.

 

YOU ARE ALL CRAZY!!!! dude if they had that car and i had 33k laying around and i didnt know what to spend it on i would SOOOOOO buy it!!! THAT WOULD BE LIKE THE LIGHTEST CAR EVER BUILT!!! fast, sporty, luxurious, and pretty powerfull. it totaly remeinds me of a lotus else or vaoxhal or something.
so yea if i was rich and **** i would buy it. but given the choice between that and a v8 (mustang, vette, fbody) i would choose the v8

 

Your saying you would buy it and everyone is crazy for wanting to keep their V8, yet you would rather choose a V8 over it????

 

i like kittens

 

OK, since you asked, I'll bite.

1. "All you guys saying this is a small car. Good God, its as wide as a 4th gen, lower than a Vette, longer than a Corvette, how is that small?"

Corvette is 179.7" long, 73.6" wide, with a 104.5" wheelbase. Your cars dimentions are 152", 72", 90" respectively. Your car is 14 inches shorter than a Chevy Aveo, which I think everyone would agree is a small car. Your car is 42" tall. That's roughly the lower quarter of the grille of a Chevy Avalanche. Your car is small.

2. "Aluminum frames can be built that weigh around 200lbs, the body is hung on that, with a body weighing only 150lbs, add your drivetrain, about 400lbs and you begin to see how you can make a very lightweight car."

I remember we went through all this this past summer. Pretty much every engineer on this site explained to you how this was improbable if not impossible. There was a lengthy running debate between you and PacerX and others who do engineering every day for a living about the weight of this car. You can build alumunum frames that weigh 200#, but do they withstand federal crash tests? What about energy adsorbing bumpers and the reinforcements needed for that?

An Elise which is about the size of car you are proposing is hardly an example of creature comforts. A Smart Roadster which is not only much smaller than even your car, but is basically a 4 wheeled motorcycle. Yet both are heavier than your car using components that you propose using. They also weigh this much without meeting all our federally mandated safety requirements.

3. "Put all the engineering aside that you "think" restricts something like this being built..."

You mean ignore those that actually do this every day for a living??

4. "There will be a dealer network and overnight delivery of specialty parts, 2 year warranty is the base, GM will take care of the drivetrain warranty."

You can't snap your fingers and a dealer network suddenly appear.You have to get established dealers (you simply won't line up your own) to put up money to stock your parts, train their service department, buy your franchise, and sell your car. Dealers are nortorious for not buying into sure things that will make them alot of money. What you are proposing is going to be extremely limited in sales potential. You are selling a undertested (most manufacturers test their cars for well over 100,000 miles to ensure quality), dimunitive 2 passenger vehicle (slightly taller than a yardstick and barely longer than a Mini Cooper) for $33,000.

You are also going to have to work out the powertrain issue with GM. If you are using GM's powertrain in a way it wasn't designed for (mid-engined, different computer programing, cooling specs, packaging specs, etc...) I don't think they will be willing to extend the same type of warranty they have on the same powertrain on their own vehicles.

5. "Yes it comes with A/C, Defrost, Heat, CD Player w/sound system, leather seating, leather/alcantara trimmed interior, leg room, seats a 6' 6" 250lb guy with ease."

If I'm not mistaken, the A/C system alone will add at least 100 pounds, in addition to everything else.

Now, I would really loooove to see a 6'6" 250 pound guy manuver to get into a car 42" tall. I would also like to see how he could fit into this car. Again, the Elise & Smart are good comparisons, and I don't see this happening. Just the same, I'd like to here how many of these 6'6" 250 pound guys would feel safe in something that [u]they weigh 1/6 of the vehicle's weight[/i].

My advice? Touch base with some of the guys here that do this for a living. You have engineers, sales people, people that work in marketing & product that post here on this site.

If you are serious about creating your dream car, I think you'd be much better served by getting the realities and hurdles you'd have to jump in order to bring something like this to life. If it was easy, someone would have done it already.

It's nice to have ideas & dream. But to bring it to life, you're going to need experts.

Again, not a slam, just bringing up problems I see with this.