Bugatti Veyron is the “Car of the Decade”

By Anthony Crawford | February 24th, 2010

When CarAdvice speed tested the legendary Bugatti Veyron in France back in 2008, at near enough to 300km/h, we had trouble in communicating just how extraordinary this car really was (it can out accelerate a 2010 F1 car from 0-100km/h), so we shot a 10 minute video on the Veyron to do just that.

It is so ridiculously fast, that the first time you flatten the throttle and attempt to hold it down (and you can’t), you will be very lucky if you retain what you have eaten for breakfast, such is the indescribable acceleration of the Veyron 16.4 and its effect on your gastro region.

The Holy Grail (the authentic stone cup used in the last supper) is said to reside in the Cathedral of Valencia, Spain.

For anyone privileged enough to have properly driven the Veyron on its home soil, the Holy Grail of all things automotive comes to mind. The Jesus car, if you will.

It’s a sentiment echoed by Clarkson and his band of merry men from the UK’s Top Gear series, who awarded the Veyron the title of “the Top Gear Car of the Decade”.

More recently, US luxury magazine the Robb Report showered similar praise on the open top version of the Veyron. the Grand Sport, when they named it their “Car of the Decade”.

For those readers not yet in the know when it comes to Bugatti, the Veyron has a top speed of 407km/h and can accelerate from 0-100km/h in just 2.5 seconds. The price is just over AUD$2 million.

The Grand Sport has the same top speed as its hard top sibling, but needs 2.7 seconds to travel from 0-100km/h and costs another AUD$350,000 before duties and taxes etc.

But you do get a lot for your money. That’s 16 cylinders, 4 turbochargers and 12 radiators, not to mention some of the world’s most sophisticated aerodynamic aids.

CarAdvice hopes to be able to bring you a video review of the Grand Sport later this year.

Technofreak

Yup…pretty simple choice really.
vid_ghost

it may be the last “fastest road” fossil fuel burning car in the history of man kind!

500kmph on the road is it people! the next time a roadcar beats this will be some new technology that isnt million year old trees or dinosaur sludge

Technofreak

Yeah true…but what a way to finish!!
dan

There are quicker road registered cars over the quarter mile and 0-100 out there….dont forget that!

Millatime

Please list them for us…
J

I think the key to this comment is ‘road registered’, not necessarily requiring it to be straight off the factory floor. Agree you can modify & certify cars to beat some of the Veyron’s figures, but the 400km/h+ top speed will be hard to beat in a road register’able’ car in a safe & reliable manner!

If I’m wrong, then like Millatime I want to see the list too

Captain Mainwaring

This car, although a technological marvel, is so far removed from what even super-rich people can afford or justify, let alone have the ability to drive anywhere near its potential, that it’s not really a starter for this award. It was Ferdinand Piech’s ego-trip – he showed what was possible given an unlimited budget but like the 1969 moon landing it doesn’t really advance the cause of the average motorist.
Cars need to be of practical value to the consumer, as well as being affordable to own and operate. To be an award-winner a car also needs to move the class standard in terms of driving enjoyment and attractive styling.
Car of the decade? Not sure, but it’s not the Veyron.
Shak

This may be the last hurrah for dead dino juice, so i ask all automotive enthusiasts around the world to bow down to the last King of all road cars. All Hail King Veyron
The Oracle’s Teacher

I doubt anything will beat it . I hope not. After 400kph it is kind of pointless. Awesome car but for others to chase it down is missing the point. This car didn’t just make an incremental record break. It smashed them all. It should be left there for historians to admire.
AAA

This is THE car for the smallboys and fanboys that think:

Max Power = WIN
Max Speed = WIN
Max Price = WIN

Martin

Totally agree with you on that. I’d rather a V8 Vantage over this in complete honesty.
J

Surely you have to see the engineering marvel of the vehicle – imagine the design required to get a lump of steel hurtling to 100km/h in 2.5 seconds, then being able to stay stable over land at 400km/h, all the while not exploding or tearing apart due to the phenomenal forces trying to stop you from doing so!

Sorry, but for me it wins due to the achieved design combining extreme design & control under extreme circumstances.

Shak

Did anyone else hear about the dealership in Texas that traded a Veyron, for a Corvette ZR1. Yes Corvette for a Veyron. It was a black on red variant, and had only done 24 000 miles.
Valet Dabess

if a car park was full and a veyron need a park i’d move my car just so it can take my spot

kimmik

I’d back out, nose the other two cars out of the way, to make girth for the veyron.

AB

Are you referring to Bugatti’s home soil as Spain?
Not sure if the French would like that.
john

There are cars with higher top speeds than the veyron out there (not many but they exist). There are better handling cars out there. There are faster cars 0 – 100 and over the 1/4 mile. However how many cars out there do everything the veyron does in one car? I say only one and that is the veyron itself. Every conceivable luxury is in a veyron. Can happily potter along on a long cruise or belt along at breakneck speed at the slightest feathering of the throttle. Look at the stats for this car as a whole. 7.40 or so around the ring taken on a public day with other cars on the ring and driven by it’s owner. Sure it is not the fastest Ring time ever posted, but posting this time while having to deal with other traffic and not on one of the “Special Closed Days” other makers do is very impressive IMO. 0 – 100 in mid 2′s, 0 – 200 in under 7, the 400m in under 10 and the most amazing stat of all IMO the 0 – 300 – 0 time of around 24 secs (an Enzo does 0 – 300 only in 27 secs let alone braking again) are very impressive stats for a car that can do the corolla thing of going to the shops for a carton of milk just as easily! Car of the decade. I would nominate the veyron for car of the century!
http://caradvice.com.au Anthony

Not sure where you got Spain from, but Bugatti’s HQ is in Molsheim, France.

AB

You mention it under the 3rd photo

Shak

He’s talking about the actual Holy grail, not the metaphorical Veyron Grail.

HyundaiSmoke

Sweet!!! This is one those cars where if you are doing 200 MPH/320 km/h on the interstate in the country and pass a cop, the cop wouldnt even bother. A Cop car VS this is like having an Accent Police car trying to stop a Mustang Cobra Jet. Not going to happen, and this is from someone who LOVES Accent.

Then again the cop cars here have cobra jets, or Vette engines.
kimmik

Anthony, you sure have a funny look in that last photo… and no, you weren’t looking at the girl!

Joe

Thats Karl, not Anthony.

UMWAHT

most overrated car of the decade, seriously sooo overrated

Joe

I’m sure you’ve driven plenty of Veyron’s to come up with that informed opinion..

xr2

Any car that has F1 stats and is road legal gets my vote plus it comes with a warrenty. I would love to see straight drag race between an F1 and the Veyron just for the fun of it and see the driver of the Veyron adjust his radio as he goes past the F1 car.
AAA

How about someone do a drag race between this 1001ps Veyron and a 1000ps Nissan Skyline?
xr2

you cannot buy a 1000hp Skyline from your nissan dealer
Calabria

Just goes to show you how far out of touch motoring-jurnos [oxymoron?] are with reality, how they hell can this be C.O.T.D.??

The only thing i like about the Bugatti is the fact that Italian’s did all the work to make it stay on the ground at hyper speeds, THEY deserve the glory, VW just picked up the tab…….So much for “GERMan Engineering”, yeah via Italia.

Yeap, Dallara deserve all the glory, done lots of secret work for most brands building hyper sportscar, visits its official website and it can all be confirmed.

Gut feeling, COTD should be the Prius, done a lot for our planet and the green theme