You might find the Farbio GTS familiar. Yes, about 3 years ago it appeared as Farboud GTS. It was the brainchild of young British enterpriser Arash Farboud. Mid-engined, full carbon-fiber body, steel spaceframe chassis and powered by the old Audi 2.7 bi-turbo V6 engine tuned to 440 horsepower. It sounded promising, but later on Arash Farboud realized it will never be profitable, thus he sold the project to Chris Marsh. Marsh had plenty of experience in the sports car industry, as his father Jem Marsh was the co-founder of Marcos and himself worked at Marcos for 11 years. To cut the link with the ex-owner, he renamed the company to Farbio Sports Cars. The production Farbio GTS keeps the chassis unchanged but switches to a cheaper engine: Ford's Duratec 3.0 V6. This engine has been used in many vehicles ranging from Taurus, Mondeo, Jaguar X-Type to Noble M12 / M400. Farbio gave it bespoke intake and exhaust system to boost its output to 262 horsepower. From the power and torque curves shown in Farbio's brochure, we can see the output has 3 peaks, implying it incorporates a 3-stage variable geometry intake manifolds like the Jaguar V6. The transversely mounted engine is linked to a 6-speed manual gearbox. Rear-wheel drive, all double-wishbones suspensions, a classical sports car layout.
The exterior design is also a classical mid-engined sports car. It looks quite like a McLaren F1, thanks to the visual compactness, big windscreen and cab-forward design. Gordon Murray must have liked its simplicity. Everything exists because of functions yet the whole car looks beautiful, if not especially striking. Like the Farboud, the body shell is fully made of carbon-fiber and bonded to the tubular steel spaceframe chassis to increase strength. This is the highlight of the car. Think about it: for £60,000, or the same price as a Porsche 911 Carrera, you get a mid-engined sports car with full carbon-fiber body. Isn't it a bargain ? As the car weighs only 1048 kg dry, the modest Ford V6 is powerful enough to let Farbio claims 160 mph-plus top speed and 0-60 mph in 4.8 seconds, which is about 911 Carrera performance.
The Farbio is also as practical as an everyday car as 911. Its cockpit is easy to get in and out thanks to large doors and narrow sills. It accommodates people up to 6' 6". Its 72-liter tank offers good range. Its 220-liter boot swallows a set of golf clubs and a weekend's luggage. Its cabin has plenty of standard equipment, such as air con, power windows, power mirrors, power steering, remote central locking and heated rear screen. It even offers a touch-screen control with satellite navigation, radio and Bluetooth at no extra cost. All these features can't be said to other British sports cars like Lotus, TVR and Noble. Of course, build quality is no match with Porsche, but this is a common problem of low volume sports car makers.
On the road, the Farbio feels initiative. You sit low in the Sparco bucket seat and enjoy excellent view all-round. The clutch is light and smooth. The steering is direct and communicative. The gearchange is short and positive. All controls are well tuned. The engine sounds better than the usual Ford unit thanks to the new intake and exhaust, though not as musical as a Porsche or M3. It isn't massively powerful, but thanks to the lightweight the GTS feels brisk enough to believe its claimed performance.
Its suspension setting is a work of art. No matter low speed or high speed it rides very well. The combination of wide tracks and low center of gravity means it doesn't need German-stiff suspension to contain body roll. The chassis dynamics is near neutral. With just 39 percent weight over the front wheels, it turns into corner responsively yet without displaying a tendency to slide its tail. The latter is due to the grippy 285/35ZR19 rear tires. Admittedly, the Ford V6 does not have enough torque to upset the massive rear tires on dry surface.
Surprisingly, the GTS is a good companion for long-distance traveling. Its full-length flat undertray and venturi tunnel guarantee excellent stability on highway. Its oversized AP brakes with four-pot calipers, 350mm front and 328mm rear ventilated discs provide great stopping power. In addition to the supple ride and aforementioned practical features, no other British sports cars are so close to the territory of Porsche - with the exception of Aston Martin of course. In many ways the Farbio GTS feels like a slightly faster and sharper Porsche Cayman S. However, before you choose it over the Porsche you have to think again whether you can accept its unremarkable Ford engine, its lack of ESP or limited-slip differential (which could be a problem on wet) and its questionable build quality and reliability. If you can, you will get one of the 150 cars Farbio plans to produce this year. Next stage will be a 384-horsepower supercharged version, priced at £72,000 to rival 911 Carrera S. Following the demise of TVR and the prolonged delay of Noble M15, I sincerely hope Farbio will succeed. |
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| The above report was last updated on 24 Feb 2008. All Rights Reserved. |
