HOW DO YOU COMPARE THE GREATEST supercars in the world? You do it properly, that's how. You take them to the best driving road you can think of, you give them the time and the space to run at speed, you get the road closed by the cops to eliminate risk to the public, and then you hope The Stig turns up.
He did, of course, seemingly unaffected by the 45 degree heat, striding across the desert from the direction of Ayn al-Faydah toward the base of the Jebel Hafeet mountain. This 4,068ft high limestone alp is one of the most spectacular places in the Arabian Gulf, rising straight up from the plains above the city of Al Ain, two hours cast of Abu Dhabi, capital of the United Arab Emirates. The views oil the way up are incredible, and it's an amazing looking geological wonder, but forget all that the multilane road cutting its way up to the summit is new and beautifully surfaced, the corners majestic and challenging and varying in radius and severity. If there is a road more suited toThe Stig, I can't think of it.
Bugatti Veyron Cockpit
Koenigsegg CCX CockpitIf we take the American Shelby SSC Ultimate Aero out of the picture production of that car isn't underway yet the Veyron and CCX are the fastest cars in the world. Koenigsegg claims to have run a CCX-R at 260mph in private testing, while the 683,000 euro Veyron's official maximum is 253mph. The Koenigsegg has 'only' 806bhp compared to the Veyron's 987bhp, but it's worth noting that the Swedish car is considerably lighter, 1,473kg plays 1,888kg, and slipperier too. The Koenigsegg holds no fear of its German rival.
The Veyron, the only all-white example in the world, was provided by a private owner, because Bugatti will not sanction or support any comparison involving one of its cars. The sheer walls of Jebel Hafeet echoed to the sounds of a twin-supercharged V8 and a quad-turbo W16, accompanied by the occasional whoosh and chirrup of tyres. Never a screeching howl, nothing lurid. Just hard, precise, fast piloting. The Stig avoided any incidents with the Koenigsegg he has a history with this car, as we know.. try YouTubing it but still quite dearly took it right to the very limit. He was on it. After a full 40 minutes, Stigster seemed satisfied. He walked off in the direction of Al Maqam.
First, the Veyron. You may have read about it before, you may have seen it on the telly racing across Europe and taking on Eurofighters. But none of that can really prepare you for the shock of the acceleration when you open the throttle and unleash nearly 1,000bhp and 923lb ft of' torque. It will get to I 00 mph in 5.5 seconds and 0- 1 50mph in 9.8 seconds. That's about the same time it takes a Lexus IS-F to get to 100. Lunacy. The Bugatti is immensely fast, with its fury delivered in a huge surge of turbo boost. This 8.0-litre W16 engine would deliver amazing performance without the four turbochargers. But they're there. Cool.Koenigsegg CCX Door Panel
Slicing up the Jebel Hafeet road, snicking through the supremely fast and effective paddleshift sequential gearbox, it was immediately obvious that there's a lot more to this car than straight-line grunt. Its four wheel drive chassis gives it massive traction our of corners, though the traction control light blinks in an instant if you're leadfooted. More impressive is the way it change % direction you get quite a lot of feel for what the tyres are doing, and the overwhelming sensation is one of 'plantedness', a solidity drawn from many thousands of hours of testing and money no object engineering by masters. The steering's a bit dead in a Mercedes kind of way, but the weighting is fine. It's wonderfully quiet and refined too, the Veyron. There's a big sense of engine from behind your head, but it's never overly loud or intrusive. You could travel many hundreds of miles in this thing and remain comfortable.
Bugatti Veyron RearThe Koenigsegg is a different type of animal altogether, and in a few seconds I understood why so many Koenigsegg owners also have it Veyron. It's the perfect combination an all rounder in the Veyron, a racer in the Koenigsegg.
It's raw, this Swedish thing aggressive, loud to the point of ear damage when it revs, and very much a track car in its unforgiving, direct nature and it is, very loud. But why shouldn't it be? This is a supercar, riot a shopping trolley, and it's not as if that 4.7 litre twin supercharged V8 sounds nasty. It sounds wonderful, without the wearing supercharger whine you usually get from such engines. It's a simple V8 yell.
Put your foot on the throttle violently, and the whole car snaps forward in an instant, bang. Do the same in the Veyron, and the computer will have a very quick think about it, the turbos will come on boost and you'll then be accelerated into the next dimension. That whole process takes no time at all, but you notice it, and the throttle pedal is very slightly fuzzy.. The Koenigsegg's throttle pedal, by, contrast, is like a delicate, sharp, snapping switch, one that you can adjust to very, small degress if you need to. This is a pure driver's car.Even more impressive is the way the car rides. It's magic I found some hacked-up sections at the bottom of he mountain and the Swede really glided over them. It is far from uncomfortable it is a beautifully engineered machine, and its subtlety genuinely surprised. Most of all though, it's immensely fast.The engine noise is ridiculous... and the speed, well. A recent 0-300km/h-0 test carried out by a German magazine clocked this CCX at 29.2secs. No Veyron was present Bugatti doesn't help with such things, remember so the next fastest car was the McLaren SLR 722. It was line-ball between it and the Koenigsegg from 0 to 200km/h (120mph), but then the Swedish beast was 6.5 seconds faster from 200 to 300km/h (186mph). That's a lot, and it says everything about the car's immense performance.
Koenigsegg CCX Engine CompartmentSo which car wins this face-off to end all face-offs? Ultimately, it's the Veyron, because it is probably the greatest engineering fear in automotive history. It's inefficient. yes, and it's far from green, but, by God, it's fast and it combines that monumental speed with real luxury inside, and a quiet, relaxed cockpit ambience when you're not in a hurry. If you happen to see a Koenigsegg drive by when you're in your Bugatti, you'll know that its driver is having more fun a more exciting experience, but you simply won't care. Because if You wanted to, you could have him. Because the Veyron rules. And probably always will.
