- Bugatti has revealed its new V16 Tourbillon hypercar and a selection of performance figures.
- Data shows the new car beats out every Chiron for acceleration.
- Top speed is limited to 236 mph, but inserting a ‘speed key’ lifts the limiter to 277 mph.
Bugatti revealed its new Tourbillon hypercar today, and our natural first reaction was to find out how it stacks up against the various incarnations of its Chiron predecessor, as well as the car that makes all of them look like they’ve left the parking brake engaged, the Rimac Nevera EV.
You can read our full story on the Tourbillon and its 1,775 hp (1,800 PS) naturally-aspirated V16 hybrid powertrain by clicking the link below this paragraph, but in this post we want to try to answer that ‘how fast?’ with the help of the handful of performance figures Bugatti released today.
Related: 1,775 HP Bugatti Tourbillon Hybrid Gives Us V16 Reasons To Hate On Electric Hypercars
The table below shows data for the original 1,480 hp (1,500 PS) Chiron, the Chiron Pur Sport (same engine, shorter axle ratio) and 1,578 hp (1,600 PS) Chiron Super Sport and Super Sport 300+. We’ve also included the numbers set by the 1,888 hp (1,914 PS) quad-motor Rimac Nevera EV during its marathon record-breaking frenzy last year.
Specs
The Tourbillon is clearly massively faster in terms of acceleration than every one of the Chirons, but until Bugatti drops the ‘less than’ prefix on some of those numbers, we won’t know how closely it matches (or possibly beats) the Nevera, whose creator, Rimac, now owns Bugatti.
We don’t yet know if the rate of acceleration shown in the CGI video is true, or if it’s been sped up for effect, but if it is accurate the 0-249 mph time would be more like 16 seconds than ‘less than’ 25 seconds, and that really would be a shocker.
Top speed? Bugatti quotes 236 mph (380 km/h) unless the ‘speed key’ is inserted, which lifts the vmax to 277 mph (445 km/h), making it faster than the every Chiron bar the Super Sport 300+. But bear in mind that the 277 mph top end is still electronically limited.
Interestingly the Chiron reached its VMAX in top gear (seventh), but the Tourbillon registers 277 mph just before the rev limiter kick in at the top of sixth in the video, with two gears still available. We’re not suggesting that it could redline in eighth, but it seems like the Tourbillon has plenty left in the tank.
Two more things we noticed are how the smaller needle on the right hand gauge shows the electric power coming in and out until gone 162 mph (260 kmh) when it stays engaged for good, and that while you can see both the battery- and fuel levels drop (two of the three dials on the left), neither is drained as badly as you’d expect given the laws of physics the powertrain has been asked to bend.
