From the moment I watched the first Ariel, the Atom track monster, warp Jeremy Clarkson’s face like Silly Putty placed on a mask in front of a wind tunnel’s fan, I wanted one. When I got absolutely destroyed with extreme prejudice by an Atom while enjoying the wide-open lanes of Interstate 17 in Arizona, leaving me to wonder about the true potency of my S197 Mustang, that desire increased ten-fold. Then I see this…this is the Ariel Nomad. It’s the off-roading version of the basic concept that the Atom started: just enough items to be a car, packing about 300 horsepower (in this case, from a supercharged Honda K20 four-banger) through the rear wheels, and prepared to be driven just about anywhere. It’s a go-kart for grown-ups that can be titled and plated. Is there really a downside to this machine? Far as I can find out, only one: these things are nearly $100,000 purchased new.

Maybe I’ll just strip all the body panels off of a Mustang and put it on all-terrains instead. But this is still a pretty badass little machine.