GTP Cool Wall: 2005-2011 Bugatti Veyron EB 16.4

[TheCracker]

Anyway, I voted Sub Zero because this is essentially the Michael Bay movie of cars, you can hate on it all you want, but at the end of the day you have to appreciate it

Just like a Michael Bay movie, it's all bells and whistles but absolutely zero soul. Seriously Uncool.

 

[Heldenzeit]

They only come in lovely colors like this:

Or really awful colors like this:

Would I ever buy one? No. But I still think it's cool.

 

[homeforsummer]

Going off on a limb with this one: Cool.

It's the car that car guys love to hate. The "overrated" claims amuse me - it shows little more than how blasé people on the internet have become about cars regardless of whatever box of crap they drive - if they drive at all. A bit like those who also decry the Nissan GT-R in that respect, but while the GT-R is all manga-y and aggressive and has an interior like a posh Sentra, and is therefore uncool, the Veyron is a bona-fide bit of luxury kit so has that desirability factor, for those older than about 15 years old, that a GT-R doesn't.

Caveat to all of this: The owner must drive it regularly, like Rowan Atkinson does with his McLaren. VW spent vast amounts of money to make it a car you could use day-to-day despite it having a thousand horsepower. To not pile on the miles in one would be a damn shame. Daily-driving a thousand-horsepower car would be very cool indeed.

 

[Cano]

It seems I'm one of the few people who really likes how the Veyron looks. I love it in the classic black/Bugatti blue combo.

But yeah, all of the above. Plus the fact that I find it almost laughable that they only got 1k horses out of 16 cylinders and 4 turbos. Yes I know, stupid-driving owners, warranty issues. Still, lol.

 

[GTP_Ingram]

*Quite possibly the most overrated car anyone has developed.

I don't agree with that at all. The Veyron is a phenomenal technical achievement. Just because it is recognised as such even by non-car people does not make it overrated.

An overrated car would be one that people go out and buy in their thousands - or one that people aspire to buy if they had a couple of quid - despite the car itself not really being that exciting or special in any way. Strangely enough, there are several other VAG cars that spring to mind (Audi A3, Q3, Q5 etc.)

Personally, I'd love to own a Sang Bleu, I think it looks fantastic.

Anyhoo, I'm going with uncool.

 

[homeforsummer]

Plus the fact that I find it almost laughable that they only got 1k horses out of 16 cylinders and 4 turbos.

To be fair to Bugatti, I think that's more a packaging thing than an engineering thing. That they immediately gave it another 200 horses with the Grand Sport showed that there was more potential, but it's a big engine in a relatively small space and to really push the limits of that capacity probably would exacerbate the issues Bugatti discovered during development.

 

[CinnamonOD]

Looks cool, I like it, but the specs are ridiculous, as @Cano said above

It also is a very heavy paperweight, they will be stored at a garage, most of these cars will ever touch asphalt

I'm yet to see one, but I think the my reaction would be "-Cool..." just that...

Meh

 

[Cano]

To be fair to Bugatti, I think that's more a packaging thing than an engineering thing. That they immediately gave it another 200 horses with the Grand Sport showed that there was more potential, but it's a big engine in a relatively small space and to really push the limits of that capacity probably would exacerbate the issues Bugatti discovered during development.

It's all there already. I mean, W16, 4 turbos. and the engine clearly has anything it needs to whitstand boost. Still lol dude, sorry :/

 

[TheCracker]

Caveat to all of this: The owner must drive it regularly, like Rowan Atkinson does with his McLaren. VW spent vast amounts of money to make it a car you could use day-to-day despite it having a thousand horsepower. To not pile on the miles in one would be a damn shame. Daily-driving a thousand-horsepower car would be very cool indeed.

Except that doesn't appear to be the case. Plenty are advertised for sale, but even early build ones only have a few thousand miles on them, some of those will be getting on for 9 years old now. I'd imagine owners are put off using them because of the eye-watering service and maintenance costs. Add to that the fact that there are plenty available on the used market, and anyone with an eye on shifting the car on at some point in the future will want to keep mileages down.

 

[JMoney]

It's hideous. The front is okay, but look at the side view of this thing.

It currently holds the speed record only because of Guinness BS and Volkswagen has the best location for testing speeds that high. Hennessey, Koeniggsegg, and SSC don't have a good place to test their top speed... and the record really isn't even top speed, it's just the average speed at redline in top gear (the calculated number is based two tests averaged).

The McLaren F1 is better in every sense of the word, but nobody outside of the car community will know that because the Bugatti sits higher on the speed list.

It has a sixteen cylinder engine and four turbochargers to get 1000 horsepower. Ferrari only needs a KERS and a V8 to get 950.

I'll go as far to say that it is less cool than the Prius. At least the Prius appeals to some people...

SERIOUSLY UNCOOL!

 

[Exorcet]

How not to supercar, and a great example of superfluous, unfocused engineering, but I bet it's still hard to not enjoying sitting behind the wheel. I'd say it's meh.

Caveat to all of this: The owner must drive it regularly, like Rowan Atkinson does with his McLaren. VW spent vast amounts of money to make it a car you could use day-to-day despite it having a thousand horsepower. To not pile on the miles in one would be a damn shame. Daily-driving a thousand-horsepower car would be very cool indeed.

I don't really mind what someone drives day to day, but what's the point of a daily driver with 1000 HP? If I was just driving around I'd get the GT-R and have more or less the same thing unless I was on the Autobahn, where I guess this car might fit in.

 

[homeforsummer]

Except that doesn't appear to be the case. Plenty are advertised for sale, but even early build ones only have a few thousand miles on them, some of those will be getting on for 9 years old now. I'd imagine owners are put off using them because of the eye-watering service and maintenance costs. Add to that the fact that there are plenty available on the used market, and anyone with an eye on shifting the car on at some point in the future will want to keep mileages down.

They won't get much out of doing that - values are dropping like a stone. I doubt they'll ever be "cheap" in the traditional sense of the word, but I suspect at some point they'll be quite the bargain for their performance. Still a fortune to service, of course...

Incidentally, the picture posted above showing how "hideous" the car is is probably the view that appeals to me the most. Once again, for a car with 1k horsepower, it's remarkably understated.

The moaning about the top speed record amuses me. 'Cos we all know how cool it is to whine about not being the best at something...

 

[niky]

Anyway, I voted Sub Zero because this is essentially the Michael Bay movie of cars, you can hate on it all you want, but at the end of the day you have to appreciate it

I can admire the man's tenacity, and appreciate the amount of work that went into making "Age of Extinction" a whole lot less horrible than "Revenge of the Fallen" and "Dark of the Moon"

That doesn't mean I am ever, ever, ever going to watch it again.

Also:

one word:

Chintzy.

Which is the only reason needed to vote this overhyped, overbuilt, multi-billion dollar engineering and marketing vanity* project for Herr Piech seriously uncool.

This is less the McLaren F1 of our time than the Bugatti EB110 of our time. A car into which ridiculous amounts of money were poured, and built on a tenuous link to a heritage it didn't have. (honestly... what actual connection, besides the name, did either car have to the original brand?)

The only difference here is that this Bugatti didn't buy out Lotus and go tits up.

Then, again, you have to admire the guts of a man who says: "Build it, cost be damned, Mein Gott!" for such a pie-in-the-sky engineering project. And, by all accounts, it is an incredible machine to drive.

Too bad it's still seriously uncool, because:

Chintzy.

*The other term to describe it involves a love of self so intense, it's not AUP friendly...

 

[JMoney]

The moaning about the top speed record amuses me. 'Cos we all know how cool it is to whine about not being the best at something...

It's not the best, however... people believe it is just because Guinness says so.

 

[Wiegert]

I don't agree with that at all. The Veyron is a phenomenal technical achievement. Just because it is recognised as such even by non-car people does not make it overrated.

An overrated car would be one that people go out and buy in their thousands - or one that people aspire to buy if they had a couple of quid - despite the car itself not really being that exciting or special in any way. Strangely enough, there are several other VAG cars that spring to mind (Audi A3, Q3, Q5 etc.)

I'm not denying its exceptional engineering merits. But when you get people (usually younger individuals) saying that - what I consider to be an exceptionally vain mode of transport that doesn't have much in the way of soul or appeal apart from "It goes like absolute stink" - is the greatest or coolest thing ever on four wheels, I'm afraid it's hard for me not to think of it as being overrated.

 

[homeforsummer]

(honestly... what actual connection, besides the name, did either car have to the original brand?)

I believe it's still built on the same site, next to the same chateau that Ettore Bugatti set up shop on when he started the company. Tenuous, but a connection nevertheless.

It's not the best, however... people believe it is just because Guinness says so.

And Guinness's rules are very clear. If other automakers can beat it under the same strict conditions, the record will change. If Hennessey, or any of the others want to be recognised for that record, then they know what they must do to beat it.

The same applies whether you're doing a speed run in a supercar or seeing how many boiled eggs you can cram down your face in 60 seconds.

Regardless, my point still stands: It's cooler holding the record, not matter how arbitrary, than being the guy who says "well we could have beaten it, but..."

 

[Roflwaffle]

I believe it's still built on the same site, next to the same chateau that Ettore Bugatti set up shop on when he started the company. Tenuous, but a connection nevertheless.

Or in a German factory being built alongside VW Golf's. Either way, I still hate it.

 

[homeforsummer]

Or in a German factory being built alongside VW Golf's.

Err... no, it's built on the same site Ettore Bugatti originally set up, at Molsheim in France. You hating the car doesn't somehow make what I said untrue...

I'm not denying its exceptional engineering merits. But when you get people (usually younger individuals) saying that - what I consider to be an exceptionally vain mode of transport that doesn't have much in the way of soul appeal apart from "It goes like absolute stink" - is the greatest or coolest thing ever on four wheels, I'm afraid it's hard for me not to think of it as being overrated.

How many actually think that though? Plenty of those "younger individuals" are in this very thread saying how much they hate it. It's the poster child for supercar hate because it's the one that everyone assumes is overrated due to the bare figures.

 

[KinLM]

This may very well be the least cool vehicle ever made that can go over 200 mph.

I can't stress enough how much I agree with this. I'd like it 100 times if I could.

The Bugatti is an incredible feat of engineering. As a future engineer, I marvel at how it was made.

But this doesn't make it cool. It's a French car company that's not really french anymore. It has no connections really to what Bugatti used to be. Almost as if it's an insult to a legendary badge, like Lancia is today.

It's also very ugly. In the same way that a Peugeot 205 is ugly. It's pretty, but you have to give it time before you see it that way. And for me, that hasn't happened yet for the Bugatti. For the Peugeot, I went from thinking it was a box, to the most beautiful box in the whole world. The Bugatti still looks like a roach to me. And probably will for a while.

It's also so vulgar. True car people wouldn't buy one, they'd have something like a Koenigsegg or Huayra. The Bugatti is only bought by people who want the "fastest car in a straight line." In real life (as proven to a degree by top gear power board) the Bugatti would lose to many cars with far less power than it has.

This means that it's fanbase is made up of ignorant 5 year olds who want the "fastest" car in NFS, and rich people who took one look at a Guinness world record book and said "I'll take 3" while they sit in their ostentatious mansion that they bought with oil money.

And neither of these people are cool.

 

[Roflwaffle]

Err... no, it's built on the same site Ettore Bugatti originally set up, at Molsheim in France. You hating the car doesn't somehow make what I said untrue...

I know, that was the joke. No matter where its built, I still rate Seriously uncool.

 

[homeforsummer]

True car people wouldn't buy one, they'd have something like a Koenigsegg or Huayra.

I would. And I'd not have either of the others. The Huayra in particular I find hideous.

Actually, given vast wealth, I'd have none of them. But blanket statements like "true car people yadda yadda" are immediately rendered null and void, just as they are when other GTP members will say a "true car person" wouldn't own a hybrid, or a car with fewer than six cylinders.

I know, that was the joke. No matter where its built, I still rate Seriously uncool.

Ah, my apologies, I'd got so used to jokes being funny that I missed that one.

 

[TheCracker]

If the coolness of a car can be judged by those who own them, what does this list say about the Veyron:

Cristiano Ronaldo. Simon Cowell. Jay-Z. Tom Cruise. Ralph Lauren. Chris Brown. Lil' Wayne. Flo Rida. Etc etc.

 

[Exorcet]

I can't stress enough how much I agree with this. I'd like it 100 times if I could.

The Bugatti is an incredible feat of engineering. As a future engineer, I marvel at how it was made.

But this doesn't make it cool. It's a French car company that's not really french anymore. It has no connections really to what Bugatti used to be. Almost as if it's an insult to a legendary badge, like Lancia is today.

It's also very ugly. In the same way that a Peugeot 205 is ugly. It's pretty, but you have to give it time before you see it that way. And for me, that hasn't happened yet for the Bugatti. For the Peugeot, I went from thinking it was a box, to the most beautiful box in the whole world. The Bugatti still looks like a roach to me. And probably will for a while.

It's also so vulgar. True car people wouldn't buy one, they'd have something like a Koenigsegg or Huayra. The Bugatti is only bought by people who want the "fastest car in a straight line." In real life (as proven to a degree by top gear power board) the Bugatti would lose to many cars with far less power than it has.

This means that it's fanbase is made up of ignorant 5 year olds who want the "fastest" car in NFS, and rich people who took one look at a Guinness world record book and said "I'll take 3" while they sit in their ostentatious mansion that they bought with oil money.

And neither of these people are cool.

I'm not fond of the car, but 253 mph, if you can get there, sounds like it would quite nice. Liking the car for the 253 mph part makes sense to me. That sort of sets apart from something like a Challenger, which is big, ugly, and doesn't go 253 mph.

"Car guys" tend to say that going fast in a straight line is not as special as cornering fast. I'd rather corner fast, but straight line speed is still a thrill and achievement.

 

[KinLM]

I would. And I'd not have either of the others. The Huayra in particular I find hideous.

Actually, given vast wealth, I'd have none of them. But blanket statements like "true car people yadda yadda" are immediately rendered null and void, just as they are when other GTP members will say a "true car person" wouldn't own a hybrid, or a car with fewer than six cylinders.

Ah, my apologies, I'd got so used to jokes being funny that I missed that one.

If that's the case, then how come so few people have a Bugatti that aren't just rich from oil? Why does Jay Leno have cars such as the Huayra and McLaren F1?

I'd much rather have a McLaren F1 than a Veyron. It's interesting, because they were designed to both be faster than anything. But on one end, is a hardcore car that people who love cars would enjoy, and on the other end is a car made by Volkswagen which is bought by those who have too much money for their knowledge of cars.

I don't like sweeping statements. In fact I hate them. But it's much closer to reality with this car than most are. And you saying that a sweeping statement rules everything null and void makes you seem very ignorant, just saying.

 

[Stotty]

It's a Hypercar, and they are all seriously uncool, and it's not exactly pretty, and it's generally driven round City centres by the tasteless nouveau riche.

But, it's understated to look at (in a discrete colour), doesn't make a stupid shouty look at me noise, and it's an engineering masterpiece... a 1,000bhp, 250mph production car that won't break down every 5 mins.

When it first came out I hated it, but overtime, it's gained integrity in my mind.

Cool.

 

[homeforsummer]

If that's the case, then how come so few people have a Bugatti that aren't just rich from oil? Why does Jay Leno have cars such as the Huayra and McLaren F1?

The Cracker posted a list of people above who own them and aren't "rich from oil". In fact, how many people do you actually know who are "rich from oil" with Veyrons? Or is that another sweeping statement?

I'd much rather have a McLaren F1 than a Veyron.

As would I, though you didn't bring that car up originally so I didn't mention it...

But on one end, is a hardcore car that people who love cars would enjoy, and on the other end is a car made by Volkswagen which is bought by those who have too much money for their knowledge of cars.

Or, in this hypothetical scenario where a bunch of people are discussing it on a video game forum, me.

Mainly because I like how it looks, I like that Bugatti as a brand is still relatively exclusive (they don't, to my knowledge, sell teddy bears and child-size race suits like Ferrari does), and the engineering absolutely fascinates me. That, and it's a car that has over a thousand horsepower yet demands absolutely no compromises from the driver.

I don't like sweeping statements. In fact I hate them.

Would you say you hate all sweeping statements? (See what I did there? )

But it's much closer to reality with this car than most are. And you saying that a sweeping statement rules everything null and void makes you seem very ignorant, just saying.

You can "just say" whatever you like (I'd throw people who say "just saying" onto my list of things to mark as null and void too, for the record).

But people who start sentences with "True car people..." and then follow it with a personal preference are far more ignorant than those who decry it. Lest we forget, there are people on this forum who believe "true car people" shouldn't like cars that aren't "manly".

 

[KinLM]

The Cracker posted a list of people above who own them and aren't "rich from oil". In fact, how many people do you actually know who are "rich from oil" with Veyrons? Or is that another sweeping statement?

As would I, though you didn't bring that car up originally so I didn't mention it...

Or, in this hypothetical scenario where a bunch of people are discussing it on a video game forum, me.

Mainly because I like how it looks, I like that Bugatti as a brand is still relatively exclusive (they don't, to my knowledge, sell teddy bears and child-size race suits like Ferrari does), and the engineering absolutely fascinates me. That, and it's a car that has over a thousand horsepower yet demands absolutely no compromises from the driver.

Would you say you hate all sweeping statements? (See what I did there? )

You can "just say" whatever you like (I'd throw people who say "just saying" onto my list of things to mark as null and void too, for the record).

But people who start sentences with "True car people..." and then follow it with a personal preference are far more ignorant than those who decry it. Lest we forget, there are people on this forum who believe "true car people" shouldn't like cars that aren't "manly".

Fair enough. I'll admit when I'm wrong, instead of just continuing to dig deeper.

I'll possibly come back and edit this post to acknowledge your points individually, but I do see what you're saying.

Perhaps I should say, that the Bugatti is often thought by some to be driven by stereotypical oil people, even though Jensen Button and others own them.

I just think that it's a little far to ignore everything a person says when they make sweeping statements. Even ignorant people like me can still have good points at times.

 

[JAHHAJ]

Not the best looking car but, it probably makes a GT car. It has 1001hp is an engineering masterpiece and you hear this car all the time when top speed records and fast cars are talked about among non car people, seriously uncool.

 

[INEEDNAWZZZ]

Thousands of man-hours put into the development and testing of this thing, for it to become the ultimate road car. All that power, engineering brilliance and know-how now reside in the lock-ups of Chris Brown and Simon Cowell, used only as penis extenders. Not only that, its the complete antithesis of Bugatti's original ideas of both lightweight sports cars and luxury grand tourers (way too heavy and not particularly elegant in my opinion). Plus, excessive media coverage and verbal masturbation mean people quote specs of this thing like they know what they're talking about when they plainly don't.

/rant

Seriously Uncool.

 

[Dan]

Who else thinks the Truffade Adder from GTA V looks better than a real Veyron?