Not intending to sound racist, but I ask you.. what would you, usually, expect from Mexico?! Tequila.. People being gunned down for a boul of beans or a piece of Jalapeño, maybe? Surely, no one would expect them to produce high performance motor vehicles, they’re still stuck at dirty donkeys, aren’t they?!
As it turns out, they’re not! We’ve learned the preliminary details of the first production car from Mexican startup Vuhl, the open-air 05, and offer you a view of the company’s product. And it’s vicious!
Vuhl designed the 05 as a lightweight supercar for road and track – you know, kinda like the BAC Mono, Ariel Atom, KTM X-Bow etc – built on a monocoque chassis with a three-section bonded tub, constructed from aluminum extrusions and aluminum honeycomb that enables it to tip the scales at just 78kg (172 pounds). The body is made from RTM reinforced plastic (carbon fiber panels are optional), so the “dry” weight of the entire car is somewhere around 700 kilos, 695 kg to be precise(1,532 lbs).
Vuhl had to choose its engine wisely, so they went down the Ford alley and borrowed the engine from the Focus ST – you know it, you love it, you’d drive it all day long – the brilliant 2.0-liter four-cylinder turbocharged EcoBoost engine, placed it in the middle of the car and tuned it up to 285hp (289PS) and 420Nm (310 lb-ft) of peak torque, resulting in a staggering power to weight ratio of 400bhp per tonne. Power is nothing without control – or responsibility, please don’t forget that – so, the six-speed manual gearbox drives the rear wheels of this unique project. You’re already having fun in your mind, driving this one through the corners, aren’t you?!
Let’s talk figures: 0-100km/h (62mph) sprint time of 3.7 seconds, a top speed of 245km/h (152mph), which should be more than enough to give you satisfaction.. or the Rolling Stones. Please note that the 05 doesn’t come with a full windshield, so no tricky hair dues allowed, alright girls?!
The people at Vuhl didn’t stop here.. Oh, no! They also fitted this road-rocket with a suspension with unequal length double wishbones front and rear, a four-pot caliper braking system with 310mm ventilated cross-drilled discs at the front and 280mm units at the rear, a high ratio rack and pinion steering system, and a set of 17-inch wheels in tires 205/45 up front, and 18-inch rims shod in 235/45 rubber at the back – which really add to the killer looks.
I’d sure a ride around Nürburgring in this one, but it comes at a cost. Although Vuhl stated that it is taking orders now and that first deliveries are scheduled for the spring of 2014, UK prices starting from £55,000 (plus tax and shipping) – about US$84,000 / €65,000 – which I definitely can’t afford. But for those of you who can, you should know that the car will initially be sold only in the UK and North America, but will be available in the other key European countries, China, Middle-East etc. Still, it looks like it would be worth the money.. and the daily hairdresser trips.
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