Noble 440M

[Pork Chop Willie]

So what do people think about the Noble 400M as a road car. It totally kicks butt performance-wise, but I am not crazy about how it looks.

[sydude]

It's a very purposeful looking car in my opinion, so I like it:



I think it also looks very similar to the Exige (Exige Review Here), which they will evidently be bringing to the US:



I think the Noble will price around $92k, and the Exige will probably be around $55k. Is the Noble close to double the car?

[birkmama]

The Lotus is just a toy - a fun one though, but still. And it is so pettite it does not really fit in real traffic.

I think the Noble is great - I sat in it (making engine sounds with my lips n stuff and imagining I was a real hotshoe) ) at the Chicago auto show.

The only letdown is the engine package, everything else is pure performance.

[sydude]

Road & Track did an article recently on the Noble. Here it is. Bill, time to get one?

[dalyduo]

You'd have a pretty neat race series with a fleet of these cars (ala Panoz) but I'm afraid most of us would have our licenses revoked in six months and make those folks producing hatchet pieces about Skip Barber training overly agressive drivers licking their chops if we drove them regularly on the street.

Having said that... I want one!

BTW. The February issue of Road & Track that you pulled this from Sy is one of the most content rich issues with interesting high performance and sports/track cars that I ever remember seeing. The new M5 & M6, Lotus Exige, Nissan Urge, Ariel Atom, Radical SR3, Owner's survey of the Mini Cooper and Cooper S. So many interesting cars for the enthusiast. Not much for the family man but hey... I'd be fine piloting a minivan if I had one of these athletic performers waiting for me in the garage. Great Stuff!

[sydude]

I had a hard time deciding on whether or not I should scan some of those articles in, especially the ones on the Radical and the Atom. Ultimately I decided not to do those, and only scan in the Noble, as it is the only practical street car of the bunch.

[Moxie]

The Noble M400 is an awesome automobile. But who among us is as committed to ultimate performance, on a day-to-day basis, as this car is? The best answer to that question the I've seen was written by Jeremy Clarkson in the October 2004 issue of BBC Top Gear, in a review of the Noble and a couple of other hand-built British sports cars from TVR and Marcos. It reads, in part, as follows:

"The brakes, the steering, the feel. Everything is utterly magical and not just on the track, either. ... It's also brilliant on the road, smooth, practical and, yes, you could even call it comfy. If you were used to going to work on, say, a pogo stick.

"My big problem, and not just with the Noble, but with all these enthusiast cars, is that I simply couldn't buy one. I mean, the M400 is 56,000 [pounds sterling] and for that -- Christ, you could have anything really. Certainly you could have something that wasn't made in a shed. ... because I'm weak and mean, I'd worry about safety and reliability and as a result, I wouldn't buy any of their products.

"I don't doubt for a moment that the Noble is a better driving experience than a 56,000 [pounds sterling] Porsche. But because I'm a pathetic little worm, I know, if push came to shove, which I'd buy."

Look around the parking lot at a Skippy race weekend and I think you'll agree that Mr. Clarkson speaks for many of us.

[MJAmok]

Originally Posted by Moxie

I think you'll agree that Mr. Clarkson speaks for many of us.

Yes... particularly the 'pathetic little worm' part!