Thread: Bugatti Veyron: The Greatest Car of All Time

There are many supercars out there such as the Ferrari Enzo, the McLaren, the SLR, the Porsche Carrera GT etc. the list is endless. But i think if you haven't already heard about the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 then my friend you have some catching up to do. It is the most powerful, most expensive, and fastest street-legal production car in the world today. Reaching a proven 407 km/h, and equipped with a W16 engine that brings 1001 horsepower into action, the bugatti in fact costs a total of 5 million english pounds to producte. Each car that is. Strangely enough, it is only sold for 850,000 the argument being that it is only an experiment in groundbreaking technology. Putting all this in summary i think we could say that someone needs to get me one of these for my birthday. I thank you in advance for your donations :P :P

If that wasn't enough to impress you im sure this will:

Forbes Fact
Among the many options a Veyron buyer can order, are two one-carat diamonds, cut with 16 sunray facets (16 being the number of cylinders the engine features). The two diamonds reside, respectively, on the speedometer needle, and at the center of something Bugatti calls the "powermeter." The latter shows how much of the motor's available mustard is being put to the pavement. We happen to think this gauge will only be a source of frustration for any Veyron owner (even if he gets the diamonds), since using all 986 horses even once will prove a challenge unless you also happen to own a private racetrack.

http://www.forbes.com/2003/09/02/cx_mf_0902vow.html

This car is just amazing. As Krazy K said it costs 5milion to produce but its sold for less than one fifth of the production cost. The reason is because it was produced to show that its possible. Its just like the concord was for aviation. Running costs were so high yet it was in operation for a few years to show that it was possible. However when it became too expensive to maintain the whole project was stopped. I don't think that we will see a car faster or better than this one in our lifetime.
Just an interesting fact.. If you put it side to side with a McLaren F1 and the McLaren accelerates from 1 to 100 before the Bugatti starts to accelerate, the bugatti will reach 200 before the McLaren does.. Thats how powerful this car is..
Hope to get to see it and if i am lucky enough drive it once in my life.. but for now that is just a dream!

It's a Volkswagen, too

Well, if you want to be technically correct, it was indeed Volkswagens design. Hartmut Warkuss, apparently a designer at Volkswagen reaplced Giorgetto Giugiaro who had worked on the earlier Bugatti designs. Thus, and you can see it in the curves of the Veyron, it does have some Volkswagen influence but still has the same presence of a Bugatti. 8)

The question is though, is it really the greatest car of ALL time? You know, I'd agree with you that it's the best car of its time, and in purely technical terms, the most powerful of all time.

I mean the history of automobiles is extensive, and there are some quite amazing cars that surpassed all expectations of that time.

Take for instance the Mercedes coupe with doors that open like a gull's wing. That car is still incredibly fast, and has a really sexy design. And that's already 40 years ago. :!:

Overall, I think that the Bugatti is a great car, and surely belongs into the hall of fame. But I highly doubt it's the best of all time.

You make a very good point. The 1955 300SL Mercedes could be seen as one of the Bugattis rivals in the race to get the award for th greatest car of all time. And i'll go along with you on some of the points:

First and foremost lets look at the technicalities. The Bugatti has a 1001hp W16 engine. In contrast the 300SL had a 240hp 4 cylinder engine. The Mercedes could go up to 260 km/h whereas the Bugatti almost doubles that with a 407km/h. (Note that the speed is electronically limited so the car remains stable). The Mercedes featured the First Fuel Injection engine in any gasoline-powered car in the world. In comparison the W16 alloy engine developed by Bugatti for the Veyron 16.4 will also have a special and absolutely unique place in the history of sports car construction. Its design employs the space-saving VR principle with two particularly slender eight-cylinder blocks arranged at a 90? angle to each other. Now of course due to technological advancement the gap is understandable so from my standpoint i can't argue that car is more powerful or faster because that would be utter nonsense. And even if would try to argue that the Bugatti is the most advanced street-legal car today, the Mercedes was back then in the same exact position. Although it must be noted that it wouldn't remain that way for a long time. Whereas with the Bugatti it doesn't seem as though anybody is going to come close for a while. Even the McLaren F1 is easily outdone by the Bugatti. "In a speed race, the McLaren F1 could be allowed to reach 120 mph before the Bugatti started, with the Bugatti still being first to reach 200 mph, according to the host of Top Gear, Jeremy Clarkson". But then again only time will tell if somone can outdo the Bugatti anytime soon. To go even a step furthr no one thought that this particular model of the Bugatti could be possible even the engineers of Volkswagen were not sure if the project was going to work out. Now the 1955 Mercedes 300SL is not a lot different. When it was made the engineers were in for one hell of a ride until they got it done. So from this point of view its all a matter of other personal taste factors, which is design. In these aspects they seem quite similar.

Both cars have a very unique design. The Mercedes could even be given a little advantage on this one due to the innovative gullwings. The Bugatti isn't a loser in this at all though, as the chassis has been especially designed to accomadate the W16 engine, as well as support the speeds the engine can produce aerodynamically, and lastly to create enough downforce in order for these speeds to be maintained. Although it can still be argued that the extrior of the Bugatti is not innovative the interior does outdo the Mercedes in both comfortablity and luxury design, from the gearstick to the speedometer optionally decorated with diamonds, superb leather, also two-tone if desired, quality metallic trim and beautifully designed and ergonomically laid-out controls. The Bugatti Veyron 16.4 instruments, with a large central rev counter surrounded by four smaller additional instruments also conjures up memories of its legendary motor sport past. The deliberate avoidance of superfluous instruments and modern extras are an unmistakable statement of the car?s uncompromising sportiness. Ultimately though, the Design as such of course is all about personal taste. So there's no judging which one should take the prize home. And while speaking about prizes and prices one should consider the prices of these cars.

Pricewise its not a lot different either, when taken into their time of reference. The Mercedes was entirely made out of Steel as far as i can remember, except for the bonnet and the trunk, thus making it very pricy when it came out. The Bugatti as mentioned in prior posts is wildly expensive and similar to the Mercedes in its time, the most expensive street-legal car around today

But its the next point where the Mercedes is beaten by the Bugatti by miles, and what makes this car the ultimate winner over the Mercedes 300SL. It is the impact the Bugatti has had on the car manufacturing world. The impact the Mercedes 300SL on the car manufacturing world, in legal street car as well as racing engingeering cannot be compared to that of the Bugatti. Although the Mercedes featured its first fuel injection engine its handling at high speeds was awful as the rear swing axle was jointed only at the differential, not at the wheels themselves, thus becoming treacherous at high speeds or on imperfect roads because of extreme changes in camber. Safety has been thought out thoroughly in the Veyron. The single-piece carbon fibre monocoque alone scores maximum points in crash tests, while airbags give the driver and passenger additional protection. The high-speed tires designed specially for the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 (for vmax. > 350 km/h), sizes 265-68 R 500 A (front) and 365-71 R 540 A (rear), incorporate a further innovative safety feature in the form of the PAX System fitted to the wheels and tires, ensuring safe handling even after sudden pressure loss.
Furthermore the Bugatti Veyron also incorporates an innovative directshift gearbox. Without any interruption in the power flow, the sequential seven-speed gearbox transmits the engine?s power to the wheels via permanent four-wheel drive. Put simply, this means uninterrupted acceleration from a standing start to maximum speed: a feeling previously known only to jet pilots. This makes the Bugatti Veyron the complete package of power, beauty, reliability, ingenuity, and at the same time safety.

In summary i'd say that the futuristic designs of the 1990's have finally come alive with the Bugatti Veyron. Although the Mercedes 300SL seems like a good contendor at first the Bugatti incorporates the optimum in all aspects and at the same time is ground breaking in all of them. From design, to performance, it is packed with creative engineering, and in fact covers the mistakes the creators of the 300SL made in safety, breaking systems. Of course if one were to add the unique technologies mentioned above that were involved in producing this masterpiece the 300SL would come in as a solid second place.

I agree.