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Written by:
Autocar staff
http://www.autocar.co.uk
06/10/2007 - 07:00 PM
Alsace, France
Even in this company, the Veyron clearly stands out. » More Photos
When we arrive at the parking lot deep in the middle of nowhere in the hills above Alsace, we see the group of cars we're here to drive. And we look at them, then we look at each other, and then we laugh. We've driven here through heavy rain and even heavier traffic for the last four hours, but the moment we see The Group, everything changes.
To the right of the Veyron is a bright orange 911 GT3 RS and to the left of that is a Gallardo Superleggera, an Aston DB9 Sport and an Audi R8. It's the most astonishing collection of shapes and sizes either of us has ever seen in one place, assembled in theory for just one story. And, of course, the numbers game in this instance is a highly amusing one to play in itself. In the blue and black corner sits the $1m, 987hp Bugatti Veyron. Add the combined power and prices of the other four and you get just about half the price of the Veyron, and very nearly two times as much power.
But this is not a group test in any traditional sense of the term. To compare any of these cars directly with the Veyron would be an entirely pointless exercise. Think of it instead as a celebration of all things wonderful when it comes to fast cars. And perhaps we'll see just how fast the Bugatti is a little later by driving it back to back with some of the others.
It's only a car…
We don't have long with the Veyron – just 24 hours – so I can't resist climbing aboard. There's a slight sense of anti-climax when you get into the Bugatti because, at the end of the day, it's still only a car.
Initially you climb inside, run your fingers over the turned aluminum that swathes the center console, feel the comfort and support
Even in this company, the Veyron clearly stands out. » More Photos
So you turn the key and then press the button, and the 8.0-liter W16 quad-turbo engine bursts luxuriously into life. Wap-wap on the throttle and the crank instantly responds, not quite with the same fury as a competition car's but very crisply for a big-capacity turbo. And even then you start to wonder. Perhaps it is worth all that money.
Certainly beside even the Gallardo – arguably the next most exotic machine here – the Veyron feels different, more expensive, more complex. Even the way its steering responds so smoothly as I edge out of the parking lot separates it from the other cars here. There's a polish, a depth of mechanical sophistication that simply isn't present in any of the other cars, not even in the Aston Martin (especially not in the Aston Martin, if we're being brutally honest).
A quarter of a mile up the road and the Veyron is already doing things that the other cars absolutely do not do. When I drove this car on its launch in Sicily in 2005 I was stunned by its performance and by its refinement, true, but I wasn't blown away by it overall. To be honest, I thought it was slightly devoid of personality.
But on these roads, which are tighter and twistier and way more entertaining than any of the roads I drove on in Sicily, the Veyron is bursting with energy/character/personality, call it what you will. Even after five minutes it feels so much more convincing as The Ultimate Creation.
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