Sunday 6th March 2016

Bugatti Chiron - Geneva 2016

Bugatti is back with 1,500hp, 261mph Chiron [updated pics]

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Barely had our teaser story gone live than reports of the first showing of the all-new Bugatti Chiron were out. And as per the spec sheet shared by our colleagues at Autocar the car picks up where the Veyron left off. And then disappears into the distance, its full-width rear light glowing like the engines of a Star Wars spaceship. Probably does that streaky thing to the stars too when it's fully lit.

Where to start?!

To continue where it was left, we were discussing how Bugatti was supposed to improve upon the 1,000hp and 922lb ft of the standard Veyron's quad-turbo W16. And the stats it delivered, like the 2.5-second 0-62mph sprint or - even more impressive - the 16.7 seconds required to reach 186mph from standstill. With half as much horsepower again, two-stage turbocharging and 1,180lb ft of torque the new Chiron hits that same speed in just 13.6 seconds. Which is, of course, ludicrous. To put that into some sort of perspective, at 6.8 seconds a McLaren P1 loses just three tenths to the Chiron from 0-125mph. But over the next 61mph to 186mph the Bugatti pulls out a lead of nearly three seconds. And then onto a limited top speed of 261mph, 44mph quicker than the P1 at flat chat.

Daft spec sheet bragging rights. But, hey, didn't we all start out playing Top Trumps?

By the numbers the Chiron clearly achieves what was required - namely to improve quantifiably on every stat on the Veyron's sheet in order to generate the necessary excitement. And orders, many no doubt from existing Bugatti customers. It also maintains the necessary performance cushion over those hybrid hypercar whipper snappers, sealing its position as The Boss of the high performance world.

But can the Chiron really hope to achieve the same impact as the Veyron? After all, for all the promised technical progress it still uses the same basic mechanical layout. And the looks, if wilder and more sci-fi than the Veyron, still very much follow the same formula.

The full public unveiling takes place at the Geneva show shortly. More on this when we've had chance to kick tyres ourselves.

[Sources: Autocar]

[WCZ]

the biggest question is:
weight?

looking at the specs, it's taller, wider and longer than the Veyron

[galro]

Here it is:

[mat205125]

Looks better than the Veyron. It's lost it's dung beetle dumpy looks.

I still find the whole arms race a bit silly, and not conducive to creating more enjoyable and more engaging cars for normal mortal humans to enjoy on real world roads or accessible race tracks.

Chiron or Lotus 3-11? Which would you choose for a days road and track driving?

[Soov535]

galro said:

Here it is:

Mother of God.

Want one. All in silver with charcoal alcantara inside please.

[patmahe]

Looks like a Veyron that is consuming another car, I'm guessing it has to look that way to allow for what must be ridiculous cooling requirements. That said it looks quite nice in a lunatic Hypercar sort of way.

[S11Steve]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Ye cannae change the laws of physics.

Although, I cant help feeling that Bugatti are only doing this because they want to win at Top Trumps.

[loose cannon]

Just looks like a veyron with a condom over it

[A10]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Limited to 261mph.

[toohuge]

Wow. That looks very special.

Not too sure about the steering wheel - it looks suspiciously similar to the flat bottomed Audi wheel...

[Burwood]

S11Steve said:

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Ye cannae change the laws of physics.

Although, I cant help feeling that Bugatti are only doing this because they want to win at Top Trumps.

Ive read it can manage 290mph. The 261 is restricted. I assume special speed runs(records) undertaken by trained professionals get the unlock key

[deckster]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Not a chance. They'll limit the first run to make sure they have headroom for the GT SuperSpeed Sport Nutter Limited Editions.

[ChrisRS6]

Love it!!

A manufacturer who isn't afraid to buck the trend on battery powered stuff.

Long live the fossil fuel!!! (Well for a few years yet)


We will await the petrol heads forum slagging it off for being VAG and not as agile as a Lotus!!

[IknowJoseph]

Love the savannah interior.

[superskag]

1500 BHP for the base model?

That means the SuperSport and the next special edition will have to be at least 100BHP higher. It'll wheel spin at over 100MPH

[WCZ]

looks lovely but for some reason the thing the seatbelt goes into looks a bit of place

[shielsy]

deckster said:

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Not a chance. They'll limit the first run to make sure they have headroom for the GT SuperSpeed Sport Nutter Limited Editions.

Or for when Hennessey come along again in 5 years time

[SuperchargedVR6]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

The SuperSport did 267 with 'only' 1200hp. This will do more than that for sure.

[knebworth01]

Looks pretty good, and i'm sure it will be an engineering masterpiece. One thing is getting me though, I feel like the design of Supercar/Internal combustion car has reached a plateau and nothing really fresh or exciting is being released.
I read the headline figure of 1500bhp and just thought, ok. In a world of 1000hp tuned Supras and 600hp Audi estates nothing seems that shocking anymore.
Again, the car looks very nice but nothing looks groundbreaking or new?
The industry needs a new direction, a shake up, to start marching onto new things.
We need something like the 1950's jet age again where people believed anything was possible, turbine engines, wild futurist designs etc.
What the next exciting thing will be, i don't know. But it aint this...

[galro]

The likes of Mansory are starting to looks like true visionaries who were able to predict where car styling would go. All those air inlets, wings etc. makes it looks very messy.

[SuperchargedVR6]

WCZ said:

the biggest question is:
weight?

looking at the specs, it's taller, wider and longer than the Veyron

The people who can afford this car won't give 2 sts about it's weight.