We Drive the Bugatti Chiron Sport and Chiron Pur Sport

MotorTrend

MT Editor Jonny Lieberman jumps behind the wheel of not 1 but 2 Bugatti Chirons

Transcript

00:00 (upbeat music)

00:02 Hi there, and welcome to embarrassment of riches day

00:13 here at Motor Trend.

00:14 I'm not kidding.

00:15 Surrounding me is $8 million worth of French hypercars.

00:20 (upbeat music)

00:22 Wow, it's so fast.

00:25 (upbeat music)

00:28 (upbeat music)

00:30 The blue one over my shoulder there starts at $3.4 million.

00:35 With that fancy carbon fiber bodywork,

00:37 you're talking at least 3.7 million.

00:39 The Chiron Pure Sport here is $200,000 more to start,

00:43 but as it sits, this car is 3.9 million bucks.

00:47 What are they?

00:48 Well, both cars are powered by a 16 cylinder

00:51 quad turbocharged eight liter W configuration engine

00:55 that makes 1500 horsepower,

00:58 but more importantly, 1180 pound feet of torque.

01:02 And all that torque is available basically everywhere.

01:05 What's the difference between them?

01:07 Well, Bugatti customers said,

01:08 "You know, we like our Chirons,

01:09 but we don't really need to go 300 miles an hour.

01:12 Could you build us one that handles better?"

01:13 And Bugatti said, "Yeah, sure."

01:15 Hence the Pure Sport.

01:17 This car is about 110 pounds lighter than the Sport,

01:20 and they got there mostly by removing

01:22 the hydraulically actuated rear wing.

01:24 Also, it's got less unsprung weight

01:26 that made the wheels lighter.

01:27 They added some fender vents,

01:28 which removes high pressure air from the front.

01:30 But to me, the two biggest changes are

01:32 they added 2.5 degrees of negative camber to the wheels,

01:36 and the gearbox, which is 80% new, has 15% shorter ratios.

01:41 That used to be the quickest accelerating car in the world.

01:45 This one's quicker.

01:46 So what do they like to drive?

01:47 I can't wait to find out.

01:51 Okay, I'm inside of the Bugatti Chiron Sport,

01:55 and you might be wondering, "Why did he put his mask on?"

01:58 This guy, and that's the rub.

01:59 When you're driving a Bugatti,

02:02 they put a minder in the car

02:04 to make sure that you don't go off the cliff.

02:07 But I've talked to him, and he's not gonna say anything.

02:09 So don't worry, don't worry.

02:10 Nice guy, nice guy.

02:11 So this is the Chiron Sport,

02:13 and it's hard to describe cars like this.

02:17 I was saying that Bugatti customers want in,

02:19 and Bugatti thought they could sell a better handling

02:23 version of the Chiron,

02:25 and this is the first few moments I'm driving it,

02:28 but this thing does handle well.

02:31 You can tell it's a large car,

02:33 and you can tell it's on hydraulic suspension.

02:36 And again, if you said to me,

02:38 "Hey, how would you make this car handle sharper?"

02:40 I would say, "Negative camber."

02:42 That would be an easy one,

02:45 'cause the front is just not as crisp as say,

02:49 like, I don't know, like a McLaren 765

02:52 or something like that.

02:53 But the power this thing makes,

02:56 it's a (laughs)

02:59 it's just, it's ludicrous.

03:00 And again, I said that almost 1,200 pound feet of torque.

03:05 It's available almost instantly.

03:07 It shows up at 2,000 RPM,

03:09 and then the fat torque curve stays flat

03:12 all the way to the red line.

03:14 Now, this car does have a slightly lower red line

03:17 than the Pure Sport.

03:18 This one is like 6,700 versus 6,900,

03:21 but again, it's a quad-turbo car.

03:23 We're not thinking in terms of red line, right?

03:25 This isn't a Porsche GT3

03:27 where that 9,000 RPM is magical.

03:30 In the Chiron, 2,000 RPM is magical

03:34 because you've got all the torque there is.

03:37 It's nuts.

03:37 And then there's the sound.

03:38 The sound they make is crazy.

03:40 I've always likened it to like a steam factory,

03:42 but something is always popping, whirling.

03:45 There's a blow-off valve.

03:47 It's, it's, there's just nothing like it.

03:49 I'll shut up for just a second

03:51 and let you just kinda hear what eight liters

03:55 and 16 cylinders and four turbochargers

03:58 and all the plumbing sounds like.

04:00 It's absolutely unique in the car world.

04:05 So cool.

04:05 And again, though, back to the handling.

04:08 It's hard to say you really need a better handling version.

04:11 I'm gonna be really, I don't know.

04:14 I don't know what to expect with the Pure Sport.

04:17 You know, quicker gears, I guess.

04:19 You know, if you're not measuring acceleration,

04:23 I don't know if you're gonna be able to tell the difference,

04:25 but maybe I will.

04:28 Who knows?

04:29 That was the Chiron Sport.

04:31 We're gonna climb out of this thing

04:32 and get into the Pure Sport.

04:40 All right, it's a little louder in this one.

04:43 This is the Pure Sport.

04:45 And yeah.

04:47 This is definitely the one you would wanna buy

04:52 if you like canyon roads.

04:54 And I hate saying that

04:55 because that's what the Bugatti press release said,

04:57 but they're not making it up.

04:59 This just, again, they're saying it's 110 pounds lighter

05:04 or something like that.

05:05 And it feels, I don't know, 500, 1,000.

05:08 Pick a big number, lighter.

05:09 The turn in is so much crisper.

05:11 It feels much less fluid

05:13 than the regular Chiron or the Sport.

05:15 It's a little harder core.

05:18 It's more up on its knuckles.

05:20 It's more athletic feeling.

05:21 And again, it just slices through the gears.

05:25 It's so quick.

05:27 And that's really what I've learned

05:30 in my one day with two Bugattis

05:33 is that you're just always going much quicker

05:37 than you assume you'd be going.

05:39 They just, the power is so real, so ferocious.

05:44 There's so much of it.

05:46 You're riding this just, I don't know,

05:49 insurmountable wave of torque that never quits.

05:52 And then this one, I mean,

05:53 the other one, the brakes are really good.

05:55 This one, they feel even better.

05:56 And again, I mean, it's gotta be the camber

05:59 on the front wheels, but.

06:01 Wow.

06:05 (laughing)

06:06 It's just, I'm giggling because it's just nuts.

06:09 It's just, it's just another level.

06:12 I don't know, I mean, four million bucks.

06:14 Sure, you should buy two.

06:15 It's great.

06:16 It's hard to be critical and logical.

06:20 I mean, I got my buddy from Bugatti here.

06:21 I don't wanna say too many nice things,

06:23 but just a unique experience.

06:25 It's this combination of,

06:26 I am driving somebody else's $4 million car,

06:30 and I wanna live.

06:31 I wanna kiss my son tonight when I get home.

06:34 But at the same time, just, wow.

06:39 So yes, yes, they've done it.

06:43 Bugatti has taken the Chiron.

06:46 They've made a driver's car with the Pure Sport.

06:49 And just, I don't know how they did it.

06:53 They did it.

06:55 Should you have the means, this is the car you should buy.

06:58 I'll leave it at that.

06:59 I'm gonna shut up and enjoy myself.

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