I’m one for any company that tries to jump outside of pre-defined boundaries of what sort of cars fit into which part of the market. Which is why when someone tells me “this is supercar performance for the price of a mid-range Chaucer”, I get interested.
Now, we’ve been here before, very recently in fact with a certain GBf car (that prompted an incredibly constructive response that I’ve never seen from any company ever) that tried to bring astounding performance for a low budget, and we now seem to have another in the form of the Scarab Ceres SR. A 220 mph, 0-60 in 3.8 seconds, £32k MR budget supercar. How does it stack up?
Well, it looks like it came straight out of 2002. It’s soft, slightly futuristic and rounded. It certainly shouts “performance!”, but it feels outdated. Only nostalgia saves this cars looks, and that’s far too subjective to be a genuine plus.
It has a very, very modest interior. This looks like the results of a rummage in the Scarab parts bin - the indicator stalks are definitely from the Flare, I’m sure of it - though it does the job. It’s just impressively unexciting for such a car as this. Oh no, I can already feel the “But, it’s £32k” thoughts coming back again…
Alright, get the engine going. That ought to liven things up. 4.8l Crossplane bi-turbo V8. Meaty yet raspy sound, with a near-8K red line, and 614 hp. It’s got the power then, that’s for sure, and thankfully it’s just about responsive enough to make up for the big spool up time.
On the road, and it feels decisively sharp. It’s not quite as fast from 0-60 than the GBf, but it does have the same skittishness about it. I really found myself having to work this car without the TC on, which I liked. You have to put the effort in to it, and learn how to tame it. Thankfully, it has driving aids a-plenty, meaning you can drive it around town without fear of becoming the world’s first accidental ram-raider.
It’s the handling that really sells it. At high speed, it feels looser, the aero isn’t doing enough frankly. But at the lower speeds? Oh yeah. It feels properly precise, and satisfying. The weight balance is great for an MR car too, and with a total mass of 1480kg, it really echoes top-end sports cars that cost as much as 3 or 4 times as much as this. In the corners, you’ll really ‘get’ this car.
And then, you get out of it, and sigh. If this car was as old as it looks, I could appreciate it so, so much more. But it isn’t. This is a 2017 car that looks like it ought to have Hybrid Theory blasting from its stereo. I maintain, it’s not a bad looking car in any way. It’s just incredibly un-modern.
But…£32k. And boy, is it satisfying for such a car. It doesn’t feel quite as limited as the GBf Bellua, though it’s hardly a car that’s given in to excess. But the result is more pleasing. Just. Even then, I found myself really looking for ways to be convinced by this car.
My uncle is a massive fan of The Smiths, and he was lucky enough to see them live back in 1986. He went to a concert by ‘The Smyths’, a tribute band, last year, and loved it. He maintained, it simply wasn’t the same, but close your eyes and you could quite easily pretend it was.
No prizes for guessing that it’s very much the same case for the Ceres.
- Gavin Anderson