Peskett’s Ponderings: Veyron or Nano – which is better?
June 27, 2009 by Karl Peskett
Here’s a curly one for ya. We keep hearing about the Tata Nano being the car that’s going to revolutionise the automotive industry worldwide. The Model-T for our generation.
It’s the car that will mobilise the masses and get people who previously could not afford one into a car. At a price of around A$4000, it’s something of a four-wheeled bargain. Pretty significant, then, you could say. A genuine milestone.
The other side of this coin is the Bugatti Veyron. We’ve driven it, filmed it, photographed it and loved it. It’s an engineering masterpiece that set new records and broke barriers which people never thought possible. Also a significant car.
Which is the better car? Of course, it’s entirely subjective, because both will get you from A to B. It’s just that one will help you to arrive a whole lot sooner. So here’s the dilemma. At A$4000, the Nano represents outstanding value. At A$2.7 million, the Bugatti doesn’t seem quite so value-packed.
As motoring journalists, we have to take into account value for money when testing cars. It’s why Aussie publications always throw in an HSV or an FPV when testing the latest European product. The Tata Nano has got them all backed into a corner, though, with the dollar for movement equation.
The Bugatti has eight times as many cylinders. It has four more turbochargers. It’s top speed is four times the Nano’s. It has nearly 30 times more power. It has two less seats, and goes from 0-100km/h 12 times quicker. Yet, and here’s the kicker, it’s 675 times more expensive than the Tata Nano. Yes, 675 times.
So for all that money, is it 675 times more competent at its job as a car? Has it changed the automotive world 675 times more than the Nano? Is it 675 times better in any respect at all?
That would make the Tata a better car, then, wouldn’t it?
What I’m getting at, and it’s a long bow to draw, is does value-for-money outweigh every other deficiency, when a car is that much cheaper?
Print it: 
some people look for value for money whereas some don’t. thats why we have cars like the Camry in the mid size class and we have the Accord Euro and the Mazda6. Ones got value for money and the other is just for performance.
The Buggatti may cost 675 times more but its 1350 times more exciting, but I get what you mean Karl :-)
No
@Shak are you saying that the Honda Accord Euro and Mazda6 are performance cars? If that’s the case, I’m affraid they have failed.
675 times more expensive, half as many seats. So for the same investment you could transport 1350 people a given distance in 675 Nanos vs. two people in one Veyron.
Guess which one the Indians are going to buy?
you may as well ask how significant the VW Beetle or the Model T Ford or the original Toyota Corolla was compared to the Ferrari F40 or McLaren F1
The Model T and Beetle was as rudimentary as the Nano when compared to the supercars of the day but the impact of the average person (or Indian) will be what the Nano will be remember for, good or bad.
At AU$4,000 the Nano is cheaper than a motocycle (eg CBR125) or moped !
We can all afford to buy, insure, operate and park a Nano. They are designed tough and to be serviced or repaired by almost anybody, they are REAR wheel drive and more durable than an Aussie made car. Oil companies don’t get the opportunity to screw you so hard either.
Veyron, sell maybe 300? per year, nobody blogging here can afford one and are completely opposite to the above. One hell of an awesome car though.
More durable than an Aussie made car? Please give me another one.
You crash one of these ‘tough’ and ‘durable’ nanos in a wall and an Aussie made car into the same wall and you’ll see how ‘durable’ a nano is.
Yes we can all afford to drive a coffin and no it will not me be more durable than an Australian car. This car is an alternative to a moped not a proper family sized car that is 5m long 2m wide and will blow a nano off the freeway when overtaking the POS…
Honestly if you’ve only got $4000 to spend on a car why don’t you just buy a second hand one?
My old Falcon cost $3500 second hand. It’s bigger, more comfortable, and more reliable than the Nano.
Kovy Says: ” and more reliable than the Nano.”
How do you know that?
Well if you’re a practical buyer, you would definitely choose Nano. But if you have a large amount of cash and money is not a problem for you then Veyron’s for you.
Tomas79 says”
Kovy Says: ” and more reliable than the Nano.”
How do you know that?
How do YOU know it won’t be unreliable?
The nano is soo crap its slower than a moped and your better off walking. This would appeal to people who drive or are about to downgrade to a mobility scooter.
for $4000 i would buy the nano as a second car for the fun of it………..whether its reliable or not?? who cares its only $4000 i guess the parts will be cheap.
Its definitely faster than walking,running and safer than mopeds and scooters.The cost of maintaining it will be cheaper than a horse,bullock cart,$3500 falcons,commodores or any second hand car in that price range….if its really crap i will use it as a toycar on country roads and in farms.
cheers..
do you people have any mechanical knowledge?
I own a Falcon and I would bet everything I own a Nano would be 100 times more reliable than a BA Falcon let alone the AVERAGE Falcon.
This a Falcon… you know… made by Ford Australia. One of the new cars made in the last 5 years that rust… under warranty… on the dryest continent on the planet!
Compare to a Nano that has no power steering, no power brakes, no power anything, 4 spd. manual, drum brakes, the simplest 2 cyl. Bosch EFI motor on the planet… what is there to go wrong?
This sort of article is loaded like a Kevin Rudd Q&A. I wonder if these articles are written to drive traffic in a very superficial manner.
If I win the $90 mil. Lotto the Veyron is obviously ‘better’ in the same way it’s ‘better’ when I have a lobster dinner over the steak and veg I normally get.
It’s better like the $120 Highland Park scotch I drink over my usual $40 Glenlivet.
The Veyron is interesting as technical exercise… and a commerical lesson on how to sell a car that costs $5 million dollar to make for $850,000.
The Nano is a revolution. Not for us who debate whether selling a 4.0 litre car for a 2.0 litre car is worth the hassle but rather to the millions in India who can graduate from a scooter to a car.
I dunno about you but if I’m an aspiring middle class Indian who has the choice of carting around my 3 y.o. kid on a scooter on a Nano, I take Ratan Tata’s car.
I mean it’s all well and good to cart my kid around in a 5 star NCAP aussie car with 6 bloody airbags and DSC and ABS and TC and say how ‘unsafe’ and ‘rubbish’ the Nano is but it’s all a little hypocritical isn’t it?
I find Australians like Americans are so culturally immature and lack ‘cultural relativity’ it’s hard to discuss these sorts of things. Who cares if you wouldn’t drive one? No-one selling one to you.
Here’s a decent review by a proper magazine by journalist whose name is well known to most enthusiasts:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sZitve3SUw
This car will be a catalyst for a whole range of ultra light cars for the aspiring middle class in third world countries if it takes off, causing other manufacturers to flood the market with cheap affortable cars. Its quite scary that hundreds of millions of middle class people in India and China will suddenly gain access to a vehicle that is affordable and uses more fuel than a moped. They will start demanding even more fuel than they do now as personalised transport becomes the norm in those countries, driving the need for highways, and the urban sprawl as their economies converge to levels of output and incomes to our own. Its sounds hypocritical and greedy that an Aussie doesn’t want an indian to improve their living standards to a fraction of ours. But this car may be the start of the of increasing energy costs pushing transport costs through the roof for people in first world countries and the eventual decline of quality of life as energy costs skyrocket and the end of cheap transport as we know it. Or at least until alternative fuels independent of oil are found. This sounds incredibly dooms day but this little TATA has the potential to mobilise hundreds of millions of people and is the start of a rise in the middle class of third world countries and the stagnation of first world economies. All because of a little car? Sounds far fetched? Their economies are following the same growth paths as the current first world economies followed, albeit 100 years behind.
this is the same argument i see on many american sites
they don’t like to see the industrialisation and the motorisation of india and china because it has grave effects on the global economy, the environment and traffic congestion
when india and china’s middle class get up and increase their wants into needs like the west they will compete strongly for resources just like we do
however it’s a greedy selfish attitude to hope that the western middle class should have all the resources at the expense of everyone else
why shouldn’t china and india better themselves if they can? they aren’t asking western society for handout. They are competing toe to toe.
The environment is in the same basket as traffic congestion. This is their local issue and they have the responsibility to sort it out.
It is entirely inappropriate for western society comment about such things.
Let’s put it like this. China recently enacted a regulation where all vehicles in cities like Beijing, Shanghai etc. have to be Euro V. If you’re not Euro V you can’t enter. They saw an immediated improvement in air quality.
These measures are solely their decision and good or bad, they have to make it without western interference.
Would Australia bend to Chinese or Indian govt. criticism?
If India wants to make a single cylinder unicycle for their teeming masses that’s their decision.
In any case we would be getting the Indian made Hyundai i10 or the Suzuki Alto soon. We’ll see how good Indian manufacture truly is.
re the Nano
I personally can not wait. Yes it is cheap and the interior similarly made (come on what do you expect from Indian/chinese etc for $4000A$)- The proble: new car makers have priced their product out of the range of the average wage earner. Possibly aiming for the company car market perhaps. Classic case: people movers. What average family can afford a new people mover @ 40-50k? I am 40 my 1st vehicle was a Datsun 120Y – the cockroach. It rode like a stakeboard but the economy was first rate, it was FUN to drive on the metal road, and it was cheap…radio, heater, rear window demister awesome were the only options..Hopefully the nano can replicate some of that. Cheap and cheerful.
Bugati is rubbish.
Nano is great.
I have a reason behind saying this.
If there are as many Bugati as there are nano (nano like) cars in the road, we have a big problem. They will cause too many accidents. Bugati drivers are filthy rich, don’t care for others or other’s life. In their hands the car is a weapon. Where as, nano drivers are family and economy oriented, respect the pedestrians, and are just as normal as us.
Vote +++++++1 for Nano.
Anyone here claiming their Falcon or Crumbledoor is better than a Nano won’t be saying that in 5years time when our fuel will cost about $3 to $4 per litre. Fuel is expected to hit $2L in 18 months time.
Unlike Aussie made & US owned Ford and GM junk, The Nano is the result of a combination of some exceptional Indian and German research and engineering. It will be released as a 3cyl Turbo diesel, battery electric or Hybrid, there are some already on test using compressed air !
It was designed to be driven on rough rural roads in Monsoon weather. Many major parts supplied are German, the steel is Japanese or Korean, unlike the Falcon or crummydore. Nano has motronic efi, American crud has poverty efi.
Its quite amazing that in this age of ever increasing technology to move forward in sales you got to go backwards. This Nano car is as basic or backwards as a car these days can go. Drum brakes all round, no power steering, no A/C, no power brakes, ect… Sounds like an FJ Holden doesn’t it? This is the other end of the car scale even when comparing it to a standard Corolla or Hyundai.
I’m sure this thing will sell very well in some countries. Is it coming to Australia? I’m not sure. The only thing I do know is if it cuts out in front of my 4×4, sadly, there will be nothing left of it and its occupants.
From a humourous perspective, best reply yet was Itsnoteasybeinggreen’s “No.”
Haha that’s excellent, as is the topic. A very good point made however. Opposite ends of the spectrum but the same can be said for just about anything. The difference between your $50,000 super computer and your $1,000 machine you bought from the guy round the corner second hand is that, one will get the job done a whole lot quicker =)
the review on youtube was good. all i’ll say is in india they’ll fit more like 6 people into this thing…
only negative is the massive increase in emissions. goes hand in hand with a rise in standard of living i suppose, as we’ve seen in china.
One car represents the great excess of life and the other, the bare necessities of it. It’s sad but either way society will think you’re either a selfish wanker or a loser. Perhaps it’s not about the cars themselves but about how people look at other people and themselves.
Maybe it’s a reflection of a materialistic society.
Veron or Nano which is better???I don’t know but I would take the car that is in between these two,FalconXR6 Turbo,Lov aussie cars.
Nano $4,000 + options + dealer delivery = close to $10,000.
D i just meant that compared to that dishwasher on wheels the Euro and ^ are more inclined to performance.
srry ^=6
Kind of like going what is better, the Boeing 747 or the Concorde?
Both are technical marvels in their own regards, like the 747 providing the airplane industry that value-for-money factor and amazing accessibility to the general population, just like the Tata Nano.
Though on the other hand, the Concorde was just a brilliant exercise in engineering which when put into place made no economic sense at all, development costs were ridiculous, running costs were appaling, it was too costly to be accessed by the public, but it did Mach 2 which is what mattered, and all that remarkably sounds a lot like the Veyron.
Damn, i just want a Veyron now.
Quick,
IMO comparing the above vehicles is more like comparing the Lockeed SR-71 to a DH 82 Tiger Moth ;)
Both of these are useful vehicles, people in Aust bought the Daewoo Matiz so the Tata Nano would sell up a storm at a paltry $4,000. Scooter sales and small-medium motorcycles here would take a beating. The average new car depreciates about $4,000 from initial purchase, prior to driving out of the salesyard.
It really is horses for courses. The Tata Nano is the car for India and the Bugatti Veyron is the car for the ultra-rich of Europe. Both have a huge impact on society as a whole. However, the engineering and design and building process behind the Veyron will contribute to making the next Nano a better, more economical, safer, stronger car. New concepts and ideas always flow down – in vehicle terms think about ABS and how it started in top end Mercedes and is now almost mandatory on any new car you would consider – even at the cheap or workhorse end of the range.
What really gets up my nose are those incredibly hypocritical greenies who don’t want Indians or Chinese to have the same lifestyle that they have “because its bad for the world”. It isn’t being green, its just selfishness. If they really feel that way, they can set an example for the rest of us and live without cars, electricity, clean water, huge choices in the supermarkets or even a choice of which shopping centre to drive to today – all those great things we take for granted that cars and transport give us.
I think the only fair way to truly decide which car is greater (I think better is the wrong word) would be to run down a few Greenies in each car and then tally up the damage.
I guess it all depends on your definition of “better”. I think the more relevant question is, which is the more significant vehicle ? I mean ask any one with a pulse which they would prefer to have and it’s not even worth asking. But which car will people be talking about in ten years time with a smile on their face.
I mean look at the McLaren F1, anyone who knows anything about cars know the F1. But how many people know who makes the Corolla ? 99 out of 100 will tell you it’s a toyota.
But at the end of the day the Veyron will be remembered for it’s extravagance, it’s speed, everything it is. But the Nano ? Will it be remembered for bringing “relative” safety and reliablity to the masses ? Or Putting tens of millions of more cars onto our roads and the environmental reprocussions ? Time will tell.
Both are for different reasons, so as far as I am concerned, I will not be able to compare these cars among themselves.
THe NANO would be perfect for Australia, with the eastern seaboards NANNY attitude towards car drivers, I can’t help bu think how quaint “NANO FOR THE NAANY STATE”
Same price as a top end ride on lawnmower.Amazing.
Actually Realcars, the price of a top end ride-on is around $30,000.
I think our society is getting lazy and to materialistic where expensive (more tech) is best or the bigger the better.(I’m not saying I hate Lambo’s and Bugatti’s I’m a VWAG Group fanatic)
Soon cars will be to smart for us……..
IMO the Nano has really hit a deep spot in the Auto Industries psyche.
What is driving really about in essence ?
Thanks Karl for this topic.
World population = 6.67 billion. Indian population 1.17 billion (17.5%). Will that equate to 1.17 billion Nano’s? That makes 3.9 million times more Nano’s than the 300 Bugatti’s. And how ‘green’ is the NANO looking now? Then take into consideration the energy consumed (from the mine to the exit door of the showroom) to make the NANO. How many bike dealers will go broke in India? Where will they all park? The questions are numerous.
Another good talking point KP.