Friday 17th February 2006

Brits take Veyron to heart

Infamous Bugatti wins online poll

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Bugatti Veyron: top car

What does it all mean? Popular online portal MSN recently held a poll to ask Brits for their favourite cars -- and the Bugatti Veyron won, with the Aston Martin V8 Vantage a distant second.

Nearly half (47 per cent) voted the Bugatti Veyron MSN UK’s 2006 Car of the Year, placing it firmly in the driving seat as Britain’s most craved car.

The Veyron drove into pole position with 19,513 votes, 16,000 votes ahead of the V8 Vantage. Third place was taken by the Audi RS4 with 1,916 votes.

Along with the Aston Martin V8, British cars -- or rather, cars perceived to be British -- also make a strong appearance as the Range Rover Sport, Ford Focus and the Bentley Continental Flying Spur came in sixth, ninth and tenth place respectively.

The Bugatti Veyron, which has been described by Clarkson as "utterly, stunningly, jaw droppingly brilliant" is best known for its top speed of 253mph -- and the huge amount of engineering effort that went into cooling its 1,000bhp, 64-valve quad-turbo W12 8-litre powerplant. At £840,000, it's a snip....

Winners

Position	Car	Votes
1	Bugatti Veyron	19, 513
2	Aston Martin V8 Vantage	3,265
3	Audi RS4	1,916
4	Ferrari F430 Spider	1,511
5	BMW M5	1,128
6	Range Rover Sport	988
7	BMW M6	884
8	VW Golf GTI & RS2	812
9	Ford Focus ST	799
10	Bentley Continental Flying Spur	798

• MSN cars

[xjsjohn]

Ford Focus??? VW Golf??? Range Rover Footballers Wife??? These were some peoples ideas for a top choice car ??? of any car on the planet?? sheesh



ok so the Veyron is rather awesome

[corradoboy1983]

Sorry, but how is a Ford Focus considered even remotely British?

[flemke]

The "popular online portal MSN" is about as useful in the world of motoring as is a turd in a punchbowl.

[IS200RJR]

To get a real feel for the best car they needed to hold the pole on a car related forum like PH all you have there is silly girls and boys voting for the car with the most publicity ?

[RobM77]

Ladies and gentleman: proof that Top Gear is feeding the public's perception of what a good or bad car is.

[GTRene]

Ofcorse, people are what they know...and a lot attention can make up most of people's minds...thats when YOU ARE WHAT YOU KNOW this means there are a lot of things you don't know so the outcome could be quit different if you know more about other cars and or more about how a sportscar should realy be...but most people only see HP and looks, but looks can be decieving? just like people do.
Anyway, I saw the Top Gear to and must say I was impressed too by the sound and grunt... but not impressed by its heavy weight! that way its a BIG 4 by 4 with a BIG engine wearing a sportssuit still like a drive though
GTRene

[RobM77]

GTRene said:

Ofcorse, people are what they know...and a lot attention can make up most of people's minds...thats when YOU ARE WHAT YOU KNOW this means there are a lot of things you don't know so the outcome could be quit different if you know more about other cars and or more about how a sportscar should realy be...but most people only see HP and looks, but looks can be decieving? just like people do. Anyway, I saw the Top Gear to and must say I was impressed too by the sound and grunt... but not impressed by its heavy weight! that way its a BIG 4 by 4 with a BIG engine wearing a sportssuit still like a drive though GTRene

Very true. Most people will go by looks and hype with a car. It's the classic "what car will I buy?" Jo Public argument. Jo Public wants a car that looks good and that his friends think is good. The fact that it's got rubbery steering, naff throttle response and weighs two tonnes is of no interest to most people.

[Wigeon Incognito]

RobM77 said:

Ladies and gentleman: proof that Top Gear is feeding the public's perception of what a good or bad car is.

Exactly, there is no way the RS4, however good a car it is, would have reached number 3 without its very positive coverage on Top Gear.

I bet half of those that have voted for it still can't distinguish one from a normal A4/S4 on the streets.

[UKBob]

flemke said:

The "popular online portal MSN" is about as useful in the world of motoring as is a turd in a punchbowl.

Thats all there is too it

[focusonme]

Anyone else wondering what a Golf RS2 is?

M'thinks someone's proving they know feck all about cars.

[RobM77]

Jo Public said:

Audi RS4? 414bhp? I'll vote for that then cause I once drove my ageing father's 1.8 litre A4 and that really shifted.

That post was inspired by my colleague, who just turned up in the office waxing lyrical about how fast his Renault Megane hire car was.

[r988]

flemke said:

The "popular online portal MSN" is about as useful in the world of motoring as is a turd in a punchbowl.

I agree, The Sun is a popular newspaper but that doesn't mean it's any good.

[Matthew C]

I would prbably have voted for the Veyron (if I bothered to take any notice of MSN) simply for the engineering that went into it, even if I don't like the end product.

[xm5er]

flemke said:

The "popular online portal MSN" is about as useful in the world of motoring as is a turd in a punchbowl.

Nice image.

[sadako]

The only reason MSN is considered a popular portal is that is where IE takes you in its default config and half of joe public cannot be bothered to change it.

[flemke]

xm5er said:

Nice image.

The two are of equal value to the human race.

[whatever]

sadako said:

The only reason MSN is considered a popular portal is that is where IE takes you in its default config and half of joe public cannot be bothered to change it.

Do people really use these portals?* I never have; they only seem to offer a half-baked re-hash of what proper sites hold.

(Although if the Firefox Google homepage counts as a "portal" then I use that all the time )

*Well obvisouly they do use them, or else this survey wouldn't have happened. I can just never imagine why.

[steve2005]

from story said:

its 1,000bhp, 64-valve quad-turbo W12 8-litre powerplant.

Isn't it a W16?

>> Edited by steve2005 on Friday 17th February 16:28

[RobM77]

Am I the only one here who isn't that excited by the Veyron? To me it is just an overpowered gargantuan four wheel drive..'thing'. Don't get me wrong - it's a supercar and I'd cross the street to look at it, and jump at the chance to drive it; but if I had to make a list of road cars I'd like to own, or road cars I'd like to drive, then the Veyron would be way down on the list. The Veyron would be behind cars like the Mclaren F1, Ferrari F40, Diablo, Ferrari 430 and the XJ220 (yes, really!).

[red_rover]

Granted. The Bugghati Veryon is, an over the top peice of engineering. Now, I'm not putting it down. But, people love it because it signifies the things they can't have. Vast quantities of money, houses all over the world and so on and so fourth. Its ostentatious.

Certainly not a car that I would take to heart.