The all-new Bugatti Chiron - A world first drive

The Bugatti Chiron was created with one objective. To be better than the Veyron it replaced. That car was a genuine hypercar, and officially the fastest car in the world. The Chiron has quite a task ahead of it. So how fortunate that, instead of a mere 1183bhp, it has 1487bhp at its disposal. That should help.

With 50% more power, you’d have to think it could easily be 10% faster. Conservative, no? Well, not at all. That equates to 295mph. The tyres would almost certainly explode. Even 275mph is going some. But that’s our guess and we’re sticking to it. In what ways, then, does it define this remarkable car?

It means it has an 8.0-litre 16-cylinder engine for starters, with four turbos, that produces 1180lb ft of torque between 2000-6000rpm. Remarkable. It’s sent to all four wheels via a dual clutch gearbox as easy to use as that in a Volkswagen Golf. You can use it in all the regions you can drive a Golf, too: that’s Volkswagen Group engineering standards for you, which is why the Chiron is 2083mm wide. There’s no other way to squeeze in the astonishing amount of cooling necessary.

It’s remarkably engineered, and Bentley reckons it’s a road car that would be as fast as a Le Mans 24 Hours racer. Needless to say, it thus costs £2,518,000. But you do have a car that can do 0-62mph in 2.5 seconds, and Volkswagen does admit even at this price, profit margins on the car will be slim. Seriously: it’s a £2.5 million car that’s too cheap.

It’s one that’s beautiful inside. You sense the focus on saving weight, and this firmness is in keeping the car’s attitude. It feels wide, and impeccably built, and elegantly simple. This helps the crafted details stand out: such as, a satin-polished metal centre console, and what’s apparently the world’s longest automotive light bar. Ergonomically, it’s as flawless as any other VW Group car.

Bugatti took us to a country with a 75mph speed limit to test this 275mph car, so we can’t give you an exhaustive review of its abilities. We can perhaps inevitably say it’s fast. Not in the most immediate way, but in a sort of increasingly urgent manner, rather like an express train. One that doesn’t stop. It’s still accelerating, Bugatti’s test driver told us, when it hits its 261mph limiter. Incredible.

It rides firmly, but never crashily, and handles reassuringly, although you’ll never get anywhere near its limits on the road. Steering is decent, with similar feel to, say, a Volkswagen Golf R, and it’s reassuring at the centre and only unnecessarily heavy in handling mode. Generally, all seems well, although we did only scratch the surface of this astounding machine.

But enough to know the Chiron is a remarkable car, because it makes the remarkable seem ordinary. Without a doubt, it’s the most incredible car on sale today. One of the most amazing cars ever built? Time will tell. We’re placing our bets.

​Price £2,518,000

Engine W16, 7993cc, quad turbo petrol

Power 1479bhp at 6700rpm

Torque 1180lb ft at 2000-6000rpm

Gearbox Seven-speed dual clutch auto

Kerb weight 1995kg

Top speed 261mph (236mph in handling mode)

0-62mph 2.5sec

Economy 12.5mpg

CO2/BIK tax band 516g/km/37%