Top Gear - Bugatti Veyron...

Couple of Passat engines? They didn't do a V8 Passat, did they?

Or was it a "zig-zag 16" in the Veyron, in which case I apologise :-)

He said it at MPH05.

Well the old supercars they had on last week were slower than an Astra maybe in

The Bugatti has a W16 engine which is 2 x Passat 4.2 litre w8 engines bolted together :)

Oh puhleeeze. Have you ever looked at an Italian supercar? Raid the Fiat parts bin and slap the bits around. Were those really Fiat 131 Mirafiori indicator stalks and switchgear on the Maserati BiTurbo? I think they were. Was 90% of the interior of the every Ferrari up to umm last week really taken from a Fiat Brava? Looks like it.

I think the Krauts have understood "supercars" down to the last ashtray.

Yes they did they just sold it as an Audi.

Sorry, I thought we were talking supercars, not Italian 5-series.

It's all pointlessly over-engineered when you look at what Murray did back in the early 90s with the F1.

Hopefully they're saving the Veyron's lap for later in the series. Then again, maybe VAG wouldn't let them do it - can't think why they wouldn't though.

I.

did they? looked like VW to me.

Maybe so, but as an engineer I'd be astonished if Murray didn't admire the thing immensly. Building cars that go that fast with that much power is clearly much more than twice as difficult as building say a BMW M5 which has half the power & 80% of the spee capability (give or take).

I.

You have to wonder what the Veyron could do if the 252mph limiter was removed, which is there because of the tyres IIRC.

Exactly how little engineering could they have got away with to build something with the limiter set at 253mph?

Would love to see the local Esso bloke's face when the pump shows £200 :)

Probably because they're afraid it'll be beaten by something costing less money.

Stig two wheeling it around the test track would be good. Give it to Jimmy Carr...

AstraVanMan wrote: ]

They did a W8, which I reckon existed solely as a test bed for big engine under small bonnet stuff for the bugatti...

I reckon it's not that quick on a tight track. Heavy car, lots of power.

Crash when the tyres explode?

from a 100l tank? Has petrol gone up that much today?

I think they see more than that daily from the truckers anyhow.

Euh no. VW tried to sell the Passat W8 but their was no one -even in Germany- who had any interest in it.

The Passat W8 was an even bigger flop than the Phaeton. No one dares even to whisper the losses that are made on that car because they sold only a handfull of them (and about 1000 were made).

Big VW's are doing spectacular in the sales. I have just bought an extra company car in Germany (went to collect it today) and got a 30% reduction on the catalogue price for an Opel Astra.

The parking lot, full with brand new cars (