When the Bugatti Veyron 16.4 burst onto the scene in 2005, the car cemented it’s place in history as a technological masterpiece capable of things that even ten years prior were deemed unachievable. The car is faster than light airplanes, for what it’s worth. TopGear referred to the car as a “Concorde moment” when the Veyron was awarded the “Car of the Decade” award in 2010. Even today, unless you’re a firm believer that the Hennessey Venom or the SSC UltimateAero got cheated out of a world record, the Veyron is still without peer.That’s fine and all, but there are issues that must be taken into context. First is the quip, “there’s no place to use that power and speed”. And that’s correct…the Autobahn has traffic, there’s distance limits for places like Bonneville and El Mirage, and even if you were to have a very lucky day on an Interstate in Montana, you would never know what happened if an animal crossed your path or there was something on the roadway. 250+mph is not an area to trifle with lightly in a car. Second, upkeep on the Bugatti is expensive, redefined: the Michelin tires cost north of $30 grand and Bugatti recommends replacing them every 2,500 miles, and estimates of annual services hit $300,000 per year. I’m pretty sure my wallet just screamed.
Yet, the automotive rumor mill has started turning lately over a new Bugatti, which may be going under the model name Chiron, packing 1,500hp out of a quad-turbo W-16 that will be electronically turbocharged, with speed targets getting damned close to 300mph. And this is where the question is asked: It’s one thing to make a one-off car capable of performing this way, but do you honestly care if another ballistic-by-expensive hypercar comes out, even if it’s a technological leap forwards? The Veyron is essentially a status symbol and nothing more, and it’s not the only one: the one-off Batmobile-looking Lambos, the Ferrari FXXK, some of the really one-off stuff from other parts of Europe…they are not like the Ferrari F40, which could and did perform at races, events and could still be driven longer than a month before needing the entire value of a nice house in servicing. Lamborghinis haven’t lost their power and anger, but an Aventador makes do with 721 horsepower and looks just as striking at a quarter of the price. Even Dodge can play the numbers game with the Hellcat series for pennies on the dollar compared, and as an added bonus you could actually drive the damn thing every day. What say you, readers? Speed and performance advancements at any and all cost, or is this an exercise in futility?
In all honesty, not in the slightest.
Hypercars often feature amazing tech and cool stats, but I find fun homebrew cars made in somebody’s garage more compelling.
I’m with you on this one mooseface, give me a American muscle car or a home built hot rod any day.
I doesn’t necessarily have to be a hot rod or a muscle car, or even American for that matter. As long as it was built by real people in their garage or driveway or friend’s shed for that matter, and the build was driven by sincere passion for the hobby and the machine itself, I’ll find a reason to admire it.
What – only 1500hp?
For less than a tenth of the price of this monstrosity it is possible to build a car that can be street driven, develop nearly 2000hp , pull near 5 second quarters and be worked on with a set of spanners!
Honestly I’d rather cut off minute strips of my flesh and feed them to spiders than think about flashy overpriced crap like this whose main market is genitally challenged rich halfwits!
yeh… not at all interested …I mean yes, wow, fast etc but , if I had the money would I want one? nope. And its not an ooo I’m jealous thing at all. Not only are they near unusable (unlike the way that a Hellcat or anything else a bit more normal IS usable) , the thing that leaves me cold is that you end up with an uber high tech thing that you cant really do anything at all to yourself. Hell even new Skylines have ridiculous maintenance costs. Ferrari’s aren’t built to last any length of time , they say around 50,000 even well maintained miles will see the thing needing a rebuild, despite what certain rabid fanboys who may or may not have owned one at some point in their past might say..Me, I’d rather start with something a little more normal that I can work on and improve – I imagine lots of bangshifters would agree. Yes, you could eventually get to Veyron like power levels if you really wanted to (think NRE engines for example) – but you’d most likely stop short – why? because as this article points out, such levels are too much for most people’s every day experience and needs. Finally, and this’ll get some flaming comments from the Colorado region, I really dislike the sound from lots of the super/hypercars – Ferrari’s, Lambo’s, etc generally have this high strung castrato sound that sounds like a mix of F1 and VTEC Honda – yes, some might actually like that compared to a nice V8 – but then some people like Fart n Furious movies too. No accounting for taste, I suppose.
No interest, for the most part. When the McLaren P1 came out, I was pretty amazed by the tech and performance and the styling. Most definitely the styling. It’s just that I can’t afford hypercars, and even if I could, I could better spend the money elsewhere.
Very little. I watch a funny Top Gear episode about it, I marvel a bit at whatever interesting engineering it has, and then I don’t think about it again. Completely inaccessible to most of the population, ludicrously priced, and worse, often not seen in motorsport, which means you never actually get a good idea of its performance pedigree. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to afford a new Corvette, but at least it’s within the realm of possibility, and the LSx technology it uses trickles down to the hot rod community. The same is true of the Z28s, Hellcats, GT500s and Vipers of the world. All useful and interesting, relevant information. Hypercars exist in a (admittedly technically brilliant) vacuum.
And yeah, the whole “if I had the money would I want one” is the age-old question. A new Corvette? Sure, maybe. Anything beyond that seems a complete waste of money. For, say $200k to spend just on cars, I could easily buy a badass daily driver like a brand new Camaro or SS or something, and spend the rest on another six or seven project cars and a racecar, and still have tons of money left over to build the things.
$200k ? You’re joking . Right ?
Fact is $200k will barely even get you into the Supercar category these days
Hypercars costing well in excess of $500k with most exceeding a Million dollars or more
Honestly ? Unless its something from Pagani [ the only genuine innovator who’s designs and patents will filter down to production cars once the engineers in the big companies pull their xenophobic and insular heads outta their @$&es ] …
.. the answer is s definite … NO!
What good is all that power when there’s nowhere on the planet [ even tracks ] to put it to the test ?
Supercars were already becoming out of touch with reality . Hypercars have reached the point of abject irrelevancy e.g. Automotive Jewelry and bragging rights for the More Money than Brains crowd and the odd celebrity intent on self destruction
Give me a genuine ‘ Sports Car ‘ for under $100k any day . Even better … genuine sports cars for under $50k
A what? hmm….nope…
When a new hypercar comes out I’ll spend a few minutes watching videos of it from the usual suspects, perhaps read an article or two, and move on. If no new hypercars came out I wouldn’t notice. As for owning one, there’s barely anywhere to drive a well sorted normal car anywhere near it’s limits. In a world where a modern mini-van can beat cars of the muscle era, what’s the point.
The only thing that these cars are good for is having Morgan Fairchild lay spread-eagle over the hood with those eyes staring at me in my bedroom behind the door as to conceal the poster from my mother and father. Ahhhhhh, to he 13 again.
It’s just another car marketed to the ultra rich. To me, they are about as interesting as a super model. Nice to look at, but so far out of reach I don’t even dream of getting in one. Just like super models, the only ones that will land one of these car are billionaire’s twice divorced, over paid athletes, and idiot rock stars. They are used for the same reasons. Bragging rights and getting in the VVIP section at the over priced trendy night clubs.
My peak interest in a hypercar is reading about the technology involved. Koeniggsegg (spelling?) and their suspension and ohmygod the solenoid-actuated engines are a good example.
Ferrari, Lambo, Pagani, etc… I could give a F&*$.
I’m not a “new car” guy. If I had a seven figure checking account I might spring for a Viper or Vette or, more likely, an SRT Charger.
I’m much more interested in the things I might pull off in my garage.
High dollar stuff, even high dollar oldies, don’t interest me.
Hell, I’m not even real interested in what a $2,000 set of heads & a $500 camshaft w/ a $1,000 intake manifold will do for my LS swap.
If you are going to continue to push the boundaries of what is possible, you need bleeding edge products to do so. The fact is we are now so advanced that we CAN create cars like these, where the performance capabilities are beyond the confines of almost anywhere on the planet.
Think about that, and then think about 25-30 years ago when 200hp was something noteworthy.
Do I care if another hypercar is unveiled? Not really. I sure as hell will study the engineering of it given the chance though.
Would I drive one? Hell yes I would!!!
If I were insanely rich enough to afford one and the maintenance costs without flinching, would I have one? Yes.
Is there any possibility of that happening? Not really.
Not interested!