Why Driving This Bugatti Veyron Was Better Than We Could Have Imagined

Originally unveiled at the 1999 Tokyo Motor Show and put into production in 2005, the Bugatti Veyron was a moonshot project essentially willed into existence by Ferdinand Piëch. The grandson of Ferdinand Porsche, Piëch had climbed the ranks within various VW-owned automakers to become the C.E.O. of Volkswagen Group by the late 1990s. But he wasn’t simply an executive who knew how to navigate his way through a corporate behemoth—Piëch’s engineering resumé included the development of performance icons like the Porsche 911 and Porsche 917 race car, as well as the Audi Quattro road car and rally racer.

While riding a Shinkansen bullet train between Tokyo and Nagoya a few years prior to the Veyron’s debut, Piëch sketched out a revolutionary idea that would go on to become the centerpiece of the car: the W engine configuration. By staggering the cylinders, Piëch’s design allowed for a sixteen-cylinder power plant that was remarkably compact, which in turn enabled a relatively short wheelbase for a proposed high-performance road car. But he wasn’t interested in merely creating another halo model for a VW brand. Piëch envisioned a car with nearly 1,000 hp that would finally be the first road-going production vehicle to break the 400 kph (249 mph) barrier.

In an era when supercars were delivering roughly half that amount of grunt, Piëch’s performance goals seemed outlandish. And, perhaps more importantly, he also wanted this new ultra-high-performance machine to set new standards for quality, refinement, and luxury in the segment. The design brief was, in short, a seemingly impossible task.

Today, there are a number of different ways to put 1,000 hp in your garage, but back in 2005, the introduction of the Bugatti Veyron was a true watershed moment for automotive enthusiasts. Outfitted with a quad-turbocharged W16 engine that sent power to all four wheels through a Ricardo seven-speed dual-clutch transmission, the Veyron performed and sounded like no other car before it. And thanks to its leaned-back posture and soft curves—design characteristics which stood in opposition to the traditional wedge-shaped supercars of the day—the Veyron looked like no other car on the road as well. So you can imagine my reaction when Bugatti offered me a chance to take this Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse for a spin on a sunny afternoon in Newport Beach, Calif.

Serving as the final iteration of the Veyron, the Grand Sport Vitesse is the open-top counterpart to the Veyron 16.4 Super Sport coupe. Just 92 examples of these models were produced between 2012 and 2015, and a mere 18 of those were delivered to North America. With Veyron 16.4 Super Sport mechanicals underpinning this targa-topped hypercar, the Grand Sport Vitesse dishes out 1,200 hp and boasts a top speed of 254.4 mph, the latter of which made it the fastest open-top production car in history, that is until the Bugatti W16 Mistral took over the title in 2024. Outshining the original open-top Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport was certainly no small task, especially when you consider the fact that we named it the Car of the Decade back in 2010. Yet, obviously, the automaker wasn’t content to rest on its laurels, even during the Veyron’s heyday.

Although it still looks shockingly contemporary more than two decades on, there’s a charmingly old-school simplicity to the proceedings. There are no drive modes to choose from, no touchscreen to poke around on in order to get everything set up properly. And while an ignition button on the center console brings the W16 to life, you must first insert and turn a physical key into a tumbler to the right of the steering column. Rituals like this may seem inconsequential at a glance, but they really do add to the sense of occasion.

The W16 wakes with a distinctive baritone growl, yet it’s the sound of the various systems whirring and whooshing away that really grabbed my attention. It’s a more intimately mechanical affair than a modern hypercar, a machine in the literal sense of the word. It doesn’t make the mistake of isolating the driver from what’s going on around them in order to create the perception of civility, and as my chaperone reminded me before I set off, the Veyron expects its operator to have some semblance of mechanical sympathy as well. “There’s no nose lift, so you’re going to want to go over the drainage gutter in front of us at an angle.”

Parking lot hazards dispatched, we make our way out into midday traffic, where the Veyron continues to turn heads and inspire curious drivers to move in for a closer look, but a stab of the throttle puts just about everything around you in the rearview mirror. There may be a number of cars that boast factory-produced quadruple-digit horsepower today, but the Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse is still devastatingly quick by modern standards. The acceleration is simultaneously brutal and effortless, and a chorus of turbo noises accompanies the W16’s bark every time you get on or off the throttle. The throwback charm is further bolstered by genuinely communicative hydraulic steering, and since the Veyron was produced in an era before backup cameras were mandated, it has surprisingly good rear visibility for a mid-engine platform.

Considering the fact that this particular Veyron is a customer-owned car which was graciously loaned to Bugatti for the drive, we decided to be judicious with the shenanigans during our 30-mile trek, so testing the Grand Sport Vitesse’s claimed record-setting top speed will have to wait for another day. But even during this fleeting encounter, it was easy to understand why the Veyron’s legacy endures.

It remains the high-water mark for an entire automotive era, a moment in time when an engineer-turned-C.E.O. decided to put the whole industry on notice. Given that, it comes as little surprise that Bugatti recently decided to pay tribute to Piëch with the F.K.P. Hommage, a model which combines the 1,578 hp Chiron Super Sport’s mechanicals with styling that faithfully echoes the Veyron. The F.K.P. Hommage joins the Brouillard as the second creation of Programme Solitaire, Bugatti’s bespoke coachbuilding initiative. The program is currently limited to approximately two Chiron-based vehicles per year, and the projects can easily venture into eight-figure territory.

But that doesn’t mean Bugatti has any intention of letting the original Veyron models gather dust in the annals of history. In fact, the automaker’s Sur Mesure program enables owners to revamp or completely change the look and feel of their Veyron, an initiative that provides the same kind of factory-produced individualization that was available back when these cars were originally built. And thanks to the steady march of progress, owners can get a sense of what their latest idea will look like with real-time renders instead of spending hours comparing swatches and hoping for the best (as they would have back in 2005). While the Veyron represents a pivotal moment in automotive history, Bugatti clearly isn’t afraid to move forward.

Click here for more photos of this Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport Vitesse in Photos.