De Tomaso Mangusta

This rather strange design is the latest offering from Italian car manufacturer De Tomaso as a joint venture with the Qvale family. The Mangusta (do not confuse with late 60's Mangusta) has supposedly been around for 2 years or so but i have never seen one. It is intended as a competitor to the 911, 3200GT and XKR. The powerplant is a 4.5l Ford V8 that develops 320bhp@6000RPM and 314lbft@4800RPM which pushes the car onto 160mph via 60mph in 5 seconds flat. Transmission is 5 speed manual, and a 5 gear Selespeed option is also available. Annual production was intended to be 500-ish though i dont know what actually came about of this car. It certainly looks strange, the alloys are way too small IMHO. One very interesting feature of the car is the folding roof system, which is nothing new i hear you say, but it allows you to choose between coupé, targa, or full convertible, which is pretty neat. Overall, despite the odd looks I'm quite intrigued by the car and quite like it, i'm always welcoming to a new addition to the sports car/supercar market.
I cant seem to post any pics so here are a few links

http://www.caranddriver.com/xp/Caranddriver/previews/2000/May/200005_preview_detomaso_mangusta.xml

http://www.auto.com/2000laautoshow/slideshow/detomaso_mangusta/

cheers,
jay

The Mangusta (marketed in most areas as the Qvale Mangusta after a falling out between the Qvale family and deTomaso) is, in my opinion, not as good a car as the $80k competition. I've seen one Mangusta in person and wasn't wildly impressed with it. The Panoz, powered by the same 4.6L Ford DOHC V8 engine, is a better car all-around. And the Mangusta has a long way to go to keep up with the Jaguars and Mercedes-Benz competition.

The Rototop roof is interesting, but not enough to sell me on the car.

Well, i guess the car is supposed to be of different character than the Panoz, but I see what you're getting at... Where did you see it, i.e what country 'cos ive never seen one.

cheers,
jay

United States...New York.

I'm surprised Hudson didn't point this out, but the Mangusta has been bought by MG Rover. So it will now be called the X80, and will be restyled. The engine was a 4.6L V8, from the SVT Mustang. It is a 4-valve DOHC engine. It was either Qvale (Kah-Va-Lee) or Panoz (which uses the same engine in the Esperante) who offered it with a Supercharger, giving it over 400hp.

here is a pic of the X80 (from Supercars.net)

http://www.supercars.net/Pic?s=1&i=1312&p=2001_mg_x80-2.jpg&y=2001&m=MG&o=X80%20Concept
http://209.132.49.149/images-large/2001_mg_x80-2.jpg

A car that started its life as a De Tomaso has become an MG.... That's sad