Considering an Atom

[apsdsmracer]

Hello all,

first off, I did glance over the forums before I posted.  I'm sure these questions have been asked before but I didn't find specific answers.

I like the concept of an open wheel lightweight track car that I can drive on the street.  I'm in the process of building a trackday S2000 but it's been slow going and at the end of the day it's still a heavy road car.

My questions are simple. 

1. What can I expect to pay for a properly maintained Atom in the US?  I know that there are different versions available.  I'm not too choosy but prefer Honda over Ecotec if possible.

2.  Am I going to have difficulty getting an Atom registered for street use in Colorado?  I read that one member was successful in Colorado but that doesn't mean that I would be.  I've never seen one on the road in CO.

Thanks in advance,

Dave

[Anx]

First off, welcome to the forum!    I just purchased my K24 Atom a few months ago, so I was pretty actively tracking the market... As far as used Atom prices go, there really isn't a hard and fast rule, since every Atom is really a unique beast.  You can check out the for sale section on here, which is a good resource - most of the time it looks like the Ecotec's go for high 30's for pretty basic config and go up from there.  As far as the Honda's go, I really never found that many used ones to get a good bearing on price.  If you're serious about it, it's probably also a good idea to ping the dealers - they sometimes come across cars that aren't widely known first since they know a fair number of owners.  Franz Forman from FM Sportscars here in Phoenix is who I purchased mine from, and he's great.  One of the other owners here got his from Eddie Hill down in Texas and said he was great to work with as well.

As far as registering in CO, I think each state has it's own unique challenges - I know Franz spent a bunch of time here in AZ to get the process pretty streamlined, but I also know some states are much harder than others.  I will say that if one person has done it there, then it certainly bodes well - if you can contact them, they would be the best source.

I will say I can wholeheartedly recommend the Atom, it's awesome!  My daily driver is a Lotus Elise, and each time I drive it now after I've been driving my Atom a bit, I can't believe how sluggish and unresponsive it is...

[swaltner]

Regarding tagging an Atom in Colorado, I know it is possible, but I'm not familiar with any intricacies of the process since I'm located in Kansas.  Two years ago, I bought my Atom 2 (Ecotec engine) from an exotic car rental company in Denver. Unfortunately, it looks like that shop is closed, so I can't get you in touch with them for exact details of what was involved in Colorado. I can tell you that it is titled as a kit car (title has a Colorado Assigned Number on it instead of the Brammo pseudo-VIN) and it was tagged for street use in Colorado.