The Trident Iceni – A 70MPG Supercar

This is the new Trident Iceni.  The makers (British by the way) claim that this thing will go beyond 200mph, but even better it will get to an amazing 70 miles per gallon.  Do you believe it?  No, I’m not so sure that I do either actually.

Unlike almost every other supercar built, this one is running on diesel.  Whilst many will draw comparisons to the Audi R8 diesel (unsurprisingly), the Iceni uses a 6.6 litre V8 turbodiesel engine that produces 550bhp and an insane amount of torque – 950lbs per foot.  This should be enough to snap your neck, uproot trees or pull ocean liners to shore – whatever your weekend preference is.

Perhaps putting the figures in another way is more meaningful.  All that power allows the car to zoom to 60 in just 3.7 seconds, which is as quick as a Ferrari F40.  Even better, take it on a long, straight road and you can push it to the 200+ mile per hour top speed.  Cor blimey!

What though explains the huge mpg figure that I set out in the title?  I’m not too sure.  Apparently though, it’s down to something called “torque multiplication”.  Nope, I’ve never heard of it either.  Nonetheless, Trident claims that “[it’s] available now, requires no further research and development and can make an immediate difference to the amount of emissions diesel vehicles produce”.

I’ve no idea if this is true as you’d think that they would then sell it to every diesel manufacturer in the world, but there we are.  Amazingly though, it looks as though the claim is true.  A recent test at the Millbrook proving ground showed the car returning 69mpg.  Even better than this, at town speeds there’s talk of having a range of 2,000 miles on a single tank of diesel.

The body is also pretty impressive (aside from it looking pretty cool).  It is made from stainless steel and is guaranteed against corrosion for 100 years.  So, what’s not to like?  I’ve no idea really.  Apparently, the icing on the cake is the price.  It weighs in at a not wallet unfriendly (erm, if you hugely rich still) £75,000.  Well, it’s a good alternative to an Aston Martin right?