2017 KTM X-Bow new car review

A car named crossbow is certainly not going to be a four-wheeled wallflower.

In fact, it sounds down right lethal and conjures thoughts of medieval marksmen firing armour piercing bolts at marauders from high-up on fortified walls.

The KTM X-Bow (pronounced cross bow) isn't quite as fatalistic as its name suggests, and nor does it resemble anything from the middle ages.

Consider it as essentially a two-seater race car for the road, with just enough of the necessities to make it legal. Or, more appropriately considering KTM is better known as an Austrian motorcycle brand, it is the closest thing you can get to a four-wheeled superbike.

After many failed attempts, it is finally available for sale in Australia through Simply Sports Cars, the Sydney-based specialists for lightweight speed machines that recently took over as the official distributor for Lotus cars.

Due to local homologation regulations under the low-volume import scheme, only 25 can be sold each year. With an eye-watering $169,990 (plus on-roads) sticker price, the X-Bow would be a pretty rare sight even without any restrictions.

Yep, you read that right... for near on the same price as a Nissan GT-R you can have a car that doesn't have a radio, or air conditioning, or a cupholder. Heck, it doesn't even have a spot for a mobile phone. And there's no boot either.

What about a roof? Forget it. And windscreens are for whimps... obviously.

Instead, the X-Bow is designed for pure, unfiltered driving thrills.

Under its exoskeleton looking body panels is a carbon fibre tub built by Italian race car specialists, Dallara - the same company that builds Indycar racers, helped design the car for Haas F1 during its maiden grand prix season last year and has assisted with the development of road-going supercars for brands such as Ferrari, Maserati, Alfa Romeo and Bugatti.

And bolted onto the back of it is an Audi-sourced 2.0-litre turbo charged four cylinder engine that delivers 220kW and 420Nm to the rear wheels through a limited slip differential and via a six-speed manual transmission.

Photo: Lucas Kennedy

Considering the X-Bow tips the scales at just under 800kg, it can accelerate from 0-100km/h in 3.9 seconds and maxxes out at a claimed 230km/h.

They are some pretty impressive numbers, and close enough to genuine supercar territory that it can claw back some credibility to justify its price tag.

But then you clamber into its cockpit and it quickly dawns just how one dimensional the X-Bow really is. First of all, it is not an easy or an elegant process to climb behind the wheel; You have to step over the side of the tub and stand on the seat before lowering your legs under the steering wheel and dropping your bum into the small padded cushion KTM calls a seat. The tiny steering wheel can be removed from the column to make it easier too, but it's also a handy deterrent to thieves if you take it with you when parked for a lunch stop.

There is no adjustment to the seating position per se as it is a fixed part of the chassis. Instead you can move the floor-hinged pedal box fore and aft within the footwell.

Then, there is a matter of strapping into the four-point racing harness before you're ready to go.

The next step - getting it fired into life - isn't a simple task either. With the proximity key (which looks exactly like a VW or Audi key of its era) placed in its special spot in the middle of the centre console, you first have to press the start button to awaken the ignition and light-up the screen perched at the top of the dash. The computer then performs a system check before it asks the rhetorical question 'Ready to Race?', at which point you push the Mode button on the steering wheel once to acknowledge your answer and then the starter button once more to crank over the engine.

It's a bit of a process, and you have to do it all over again if you stall at the lights too.

Photo: Lucas Kennedy

But then it all comes alive, and it is surprisingly easy to get going and doddle around in as the clutch is reasonably light, the gearbox has a nice slick action to it and the engine has plenty of low-rev urgency about it that you can cruise quite effortlessly.

However, the steering has no power assistance and less than 1.5 turns lock-to-lock, which means tight turns at low speeds require a bit of muscle and forward planning to get around. Likewise, the brakes are purely mechanical and don't have an anti-skid function, which means they have fantastic feel through the pedal but need to be caressed during the final phase of a stop.

Every element about the X-Bow lends itself into creating a totally visceral experience, even around town. The fact that you are totally exposed to the environment only amplifies the sensory overload, from the rush of the wind on your face to the smell of the brakes and the glorious mechanical sounds emanating from behind you, such as the snickety-snack of the gearshift swapping cogs or the turbo sneezing when it blows off excess boost.

Oh, and then there's the taste of a tarmac cocktail made from bugs, exhaust fumes and grit. And, let me tell you, even the lightest rain shower at 80km/h is like getting pelted with liquid bullets.

There are plenty of things wrong about the X-Bow that severely limits its appeal to nothing more than a fairweather playtoy, but for those moments - driving it on a twisty section of road or a billiard-smooth racetrack on a warm and sunny day - there are very machines that come close to delivering the kind of unfiltered thrills and telepathic engagement between man and machine that the KTM does.

The steering, for starters, transforms from being heavy and cumbersome to sharp and responsive and it only requires fingertip movements to tip into the corners. The brakes, too, become immensely powerful with excellent modulation through the pedal. And, as speeds rise, the car becomes more fluid, the fully adjustable suspension riding the bumps rather than jarring them back through the rigid chassis.

It's also very fast. Stomp on the accelerator in the lower gears and the engine ferociously builds turbo boost and spins-up quickly, lighting up the back tyres as the limited slip diff scrambles to harness the sudden input of power.

In isolation, each mechanical element requires plenty of finesse to work properly. But, in the right environment, they all harmonise to make the X-Bow a thrilling, challenging and rewarding piece of machinery to drive.

Ultimately though it is an extremely expensive weekend toy that is as reverent as it is irrelevant.

KTM X-BOW

On-sale: Now

Price: $169,990 (plus on-road costs)

Engine: 2.0-litre four cylinder turbo petrol

Power: 220kW at 6400rpm

Torque: 420Nm at 3200rpm

Transmission: 6-spd manual, RWD

Fuel use: 8.9L/100km