From the man who brought you the McLaren F1...Gordon Murray's new city car...

pburns

See:
http://www.carmagazine.co.uk/Secret-new-cars/Search-Results/Spyshots/Gordon-Murray-Design-T25-city-car-the-scoop2/

Anyone who laughs clearly doesn't know this guy's pedigree and past accomplishments. Most interesting of all perhaps is on the last page of this article:

...the McLaren F1 designer is also planning a lightweight supercar aimed at matching the F1’s driving pleasure but at a fraction of the price and with a significantly smaller engine. Word is this real-world supercar could cost as little as £60,000 and be powered by a humble 2.0-litre engine.

To me this makes more sense than any of the over-hyped super- and hyper- cars that currently get the TG fanboys all excited. Extend this thinking to other market sectors and you have a very promising philosophy for future car design...

niceirishfella

pburns wrote: »

See:
http://www.carmagazine.co.uk/Secret-new-cars/Search-Results/Spyshots/Gordon-Murray-Design-T25-city-car-the-scoop2/

Anyone who laughs clearly doesn't know this guy's pedigree and past accomplishments. Most interesting of all perhaps is on the last page of this article:

...the McLaren F1 designer is also planning a lightweight supercar aimed at matching the F1’s driving pleasure but at a fraction of the price and with a significantly smaller engine. Word is this real-world supercar could cost as little as £60,000 and be powered by a humble 2.0-litre engine.

To me this makes more sense than any of the over-hyped super- and hyper- cars that currently get the TG fanboys all excited. Extend this thinking to other market sectors and you have a very promising philosophy for future car design...

Well, I'am laughing a bit ........and scrathing my head.
ohhhhh, and i do know the calibre of this designer P!:)
Reason I wonder here is that its just another tiny city car. ECO concious,spacious,pratical yet compact. But aint the Smart car that?....ok, well it don't have 4 seats, but its got most of the above boxes ticked (kinda) and has been around for ages now.
Maybe I don't know something here tho' , so i stand to be corrected if need be.

Mailman

That four seater is smaller than a Smart and is projected to be considerably cheaper.
The FIAT Topolino that is arriving next year might be a better bet though as it will be usable on a motorway while still being dinky.

E92

This sort of thing worries me to be honest.

Cars are going backwards these days I'm afraid.

The Golden era of the 90s, when cars got bigger engines, more cylinders, more power, more safety, more of everything and it was cool to boast about speed and performance is now well and truly over it seems.

Now all that's important is CO2:(.

pburns

Mailman wrote: »

That four seater is smaller than a Smart and is projected to be considerably cheaper.
The FIAT Topolino that is arriving next year might be a better bet though as it will be usable on a motorway while still being dinky.

Yeah, I agree - that's the nub of the issue really. For all Murray's lateral thinking I'm not sure he has a handle on what the consumer actually wants. He's perhaps too much of a purist.

E92 wrote: »

This sort of thing worries me to be honest.

Cars are going backwards these days I'm afraid.

The Golden era of the 90s, when cars got bigger engines, more cylinders, more power, more safety, more of everything and it was cool to boast about speed and performance is now well and truly over it seems.

Now all that's important is CO2:(.

Not me, I'd be more likely to buy a sports or supercar that ascribes to the Lotus philosophy than that of Porsche. I think previous generations of the M3/M5 (with a bank less cylinders), if developed, have more relevance to the real world than V8/V10 penile substitutes.

And much as I love Top Gear for it's sheer irreverence and ability to poke fun at the PC-brigade , I think they're responsible for a lot of 'fair weather' car enthusiasts who gleen the sum-total of their car-knowledge from the show and fall for all the 'POOWWER!!!' claptrap propogated on the programme (much of it tongue in cheek).

I'm MUCH, MUCH more worried about speed limits. 180-200bhp would be plenty for me but if we have GATSOs on every other road we may as well all buy Toyota Aygos...

niceirishfella

pburns wrote: »

And much as I love Top Gear for it's sheer irreverence and ability to poke fun at the PC-brigade , I think they're responsible for a lot of 'fair weather' car enthusiasts who gleen the sum-total of their car-knowledge from the show and fall for all the 'POOWWER!!!' claptrap propogated on the programme (much of it tongue in cheek).

+1 on liking TG.............but at the end of the day, its just a TV show to entertain.
Its entertainment and showbiz.
It would'nt be entertaining for Clarkson to shout
"LOW Co2" or "more ECONOMY" whilst going sideways in one of these eco shoitboxes.:P