Issue 153

The Aquada adventure

26th February 2007

Here at Motorfront we have been blessed with a look at something wonderful, a preproduction, not-forsale- yet vehicle to test to our hearts content, and believe me, we did...

Welcome to the biggest leap in transport technology since the Wright brothers first missed the ground. It isn't a car, or a boat, it's an amphibian. That's right: an amphibian, like a frog or a surfer. It is equally at home on either land or water. Weird and wonderful though this may seem, does it have any real usefulness?

Well, yes: when you consider that the majority of the world's cities are built along or on rivers and many people live on the coast. In fact the Aquada is currently the only way to beat the London congestion charge and London congestion. New York is no different - queues for the bridges and tunnels could be a thing of the past. It's the same story in Cairo, San Francisco, New Orleans: even Venice could be a laugh! The possibilities are endless. Rescue services could use it, militaries could love it and no respectable smuggler will be seen without one.

All the hype and wondrous transport revolutions aside, what is it like? On the road it handles like a comparable sports car, boasting around 160lbs/ins2 bake and its suspected price range (from £75,000). Its width means it feels comfortable cornering at speed, and the central driving position makes you feel like a God of the road. With identical controls to any road vehicle it is suprisingly easy to drive, the only difference being adjusting to the central driving position and width.

On water it is a jet boat, meaning that it handles like one. Namely it is sluggish and clumsy at slow speeds but quick and decisive at higher speeds. This is, however, expected for any boat, especially jet boats. It can achieve the plane quickly (the plane being when the boat goes so fast it skips across the top of the water rather than ploughs through it). In this, it is a first for any amphibian, many previously never reaching in excess of 5mph on water before.

The Aquada however can pull a water-skier and exceed over 30 mph on water, which is a bit more than its rival recreational jet boats.

The Aquada obviously does well on land and water, but if you thought there would be some lengthy change over, where you got out and changed bits round you'd be badly mistaken.

Simply drive into the water, ignoring shouts that you're crazy and children crying about the car being in the water, and at the press of a button the Aquada checks it is floating, retracts the wheels into the hull and disengages the wheels from the engine, all in less than 30 seconds. Which is about the time it takes to.

Aquada Stats

Land speed: 100mph +
Water speed: 30mph+
Changeover time: 30 secs. approx.

Graham Jenkins