December 22, 2005
I Might Need a Car
A young man fell asleep at the wheel last week and hit both an RTD bus and my 1999 Subaru. The Subaru is probably reparable, but close enough to totaled that the estimator hinted we could get there if I wanted.
I thought I'd fix the Outback (although a conservative friend asks why I drive "such an Earth-Muffin car"). But that was before I saw this piece in TCS on the Bugatti-Veyron:
The Bugatti-Veyron, which will be formally debuted at the Los Angeles Auto Show, in January, certainly appears to have the steak to match its sizzle. Its wondrously compact V-16 engine displaces 488 cubic inches but, thanks partly to four (yes, folks, four) superchargers, it develops 1001 horsepower. That’s no typo -- one thousand and one horsepower -- enough to slam your head back into the leather headrest when the two-seat coupe accelerates from a standing stop to 62 miles an hour in 2.5 seconds. In normal use, it will burn 1.3 gallons of high test per minute.
A thousand and one ponies...
Photo credit: RSportsCars.com
UPDATE: Jeremy Clarkson has a review of this car in the Times of London. He has said some hateful things about America, but it is still worth a nine hour flight to Britain just to watch his TV show "TopGear."
From behind the wheel of a Veyron, France is the size of a small coconut. I cannot tell you how fast I crossed it the other day. Because you simply wouldn’t believe me. I also cannot tell you how good this car is. I just don’t have the vocabulary. I just end up stammering and dribbling and talking wide-eyed nonsense. And everyone thinks I’m on drugs.On the web Posted by jk at December 22, 2005 3:40 PMThis car cannot be judged in the same way that we judge other cars. It meets drive-by noise and emission regulations and it can be driven by someone whose only qualification is an ability to reverse round corners and do an emergency stop. So technically it is a car. And yet it just isn’t.
Other cars are small guesthouses on the front at Brighton and the Bugatti is the Burj Al Arab. It makes even the Enzo and the Porsche Carrera GT feel slow and pointless. It is a triumph for lunacy over common sense, a triumph for man over nature and a triumph for Volkswagen over absolutely every other car maker in the world.
Holy crap.
Posted by: AlexC at December 22, 2005 4:23 PMForget 1.3 gallons per minute, I am betting the sticker price is above $1000/hp - equivalent to your Subaru going for about 160 grand.
Posted by: Silence Dogood at December 22, 2005 5:52 PMI think I'll wait for the Hybrid. For $3000 more, it only uses 1.0 gallons per minute...
Posted by: jk at December 22, 2005 6:52 PMNice car JK. I say, dump the granola moblile.
In "normal use" it will burn 1.3 gallons of high test per minute. What is "normal use" for a 1000 hp car? Certainly not highway cruising at the double nickel. At that speed I'd guess its consumption is not altogether different than your average SUV.
But here's what caught my eye: "Bugatti enthusiasts (the originals remain perhaps the most sought after of all vintage collector cars) reportedly have mixed emotions about the revival of the name, some feeling that this new machine is too in-your-face, too ridiculously expensive, too flamboyant." Ah yes, the inescapable "tall poppy" syndrome. Too expensive? Too flamboyant? That's like, "too fast, too pretty, too fun, or too much money." Ain't no such things as those!
Hat tip: Darryl Singletary - http://www.cowboylyrics.com/tabs/singletary-daryle/too-much-fun-2060.html
Posted by: johngalt at December 24, 2005 3:22 PMI think Misters Clarkson and Singletary are on the same page: "a triumph for lunacy over common sense, a triumph for man over nature and a triumph for Volkswagen..."
Sadly, the gronola-crunchin', earth-muffin car is perfect for me. Goes in the snow, carries the band's PA, my dog has the second seat to herself -- I didn't know what else I would buy. On a serious note, I think that CAFE standards have kept the other car companies from offering something in this marketspace; it would be counted as a car and the other guys have to make SUVs instead.
On the lighter side, I did keep my W2004 sticker on it way too long, so the Boulder types would know I had not been assimilated. Every other dark blue Outback has a Dean or Kucinich sticker.
Posted by: jk at December 24, 2005 5:01 PM | What do you think? [5]