If you had $1.6 million would you buy a Bugatti Veyron?

I did:
Veyron Dinner

:icon_thumleft: I stayed at the Inn of the Spanish Bay at Pebble Beach/Monterey, a very fancy/expensive oceanside resort. So many exotics valet in one place! (See pics below). Just seeing two Veyrons parked side to side was insane, one which participated in the One Lap of America, already with some damage to the front bumper.
:icon_thumleft: I may be 'rich', but I felt out of place here, like there was a lot of old money in this place, with multi-millionaires and perhaps billionares as regulars.
:crazy: I wish I had brought my professional camera with me, because all these are shot with my cheap cell phone camera. I had to kick myself for not thinking ahead on this one.


:icon_thumleft: The dinner itself was held at the Chateau Julien Winery with 3 Veryrons placed strategically at the entrance (see pics below). Good wine, and a pleasant ambiance to the place. I was probably the most under-dressed person there, with dressy jeans and a dress shirt. Everyone was sporting $5000 jackets & suits. Then again I was probably the only one who came down with US airways and not a private jet. Trying to mingle was somewhat difficult, but I met some very interesting people.

:icon_thumleft: There are no celebrities, or sports stars who own or 'will own' a Veyron, which is interesting. All were CEO's 100-millionaires or billionaires. So I felt like a peasant haha. I'm not allowed to mention who these veyron owners were, but many were owners/former owners or founders of familiar companies we see/hear about all the time. I don't think there was a single person there worth less than 50mil, and no owner younger than 45.

:icon_thumleft: Great dinner of course... I felt like I was at a very fancy private wedding. Here was the dinner menu.

:icon_thumleft: I sat next to the official test driver of the Veyron (Pierre), the chief technician for the Veyron in US, a very famous retired race car driver who is waiting to get his in december, a lady who just put a depoit on one, and a dealership owner who owns three Veyrons already. There were very few women there, about 4-1 guy/girl ratio. The few women there were 'older' wives of Veyron owners etc... There was only one older gazillionaire who came in with two young hotties in each arm.

:icon_thumleft: Many of the owners present there were also attending other special events (eg. unveiling of a Ferrari 612 special edition earlier that day).

:icon_thumleft: On the street there was a kid (from car-parazzi.com) taking pictures of the cars driving into the Winery, thanks to my 'revealing' the address of this event to Hunters, one of the Car-parazzi kids here in Scottsdale haha. He should have been able to get some good photos of the 3 Veyrons that were there.

:icon_thumleft: Some more interesting tidbits or rumor killers:
-NO, there is not going to be any 1200 horsepower version
-NO, there is not going to be any roadster (convertible)
-NO, the launch mode can be used any time, unlimited times, without destroying the clutch (wet clutch)
-YES, there will be 300 made only, no more.
-The car is actually capable of faster than 253mph speeds, but the tires are not rated for beyond that speed. Test drives actually took it faster than those speeds in initial runs
-Plans for new owners of the car to be able to do instructional driving in France, along with the possiblity of taking the car 250mph on the special VW track (starting in january)
-That 0-200mph comparo with the Hennessey TT Viper was flawed in that the driver of the Veyron had never driven the car until an hour before the test -- even contacted Bugatti with instructions on how to drive the car. Supposedly the 0-200 can be done better with a professional driver & would most likely have beat the TT. The Veyron had beat the viper thru the test until approaching the 200mph mark.
-Driving the Veyron at 200mph is stable and controlled enough that you can have both hands off the steering wheel.
-The Veyron has been driven in the rain with strong winds at 250mph
-The price of the Veyron will increase from 1.1 mil euros to 1.2 mil euros in September
-Though the cars are 1.5 million dollars if you order one, you can buy one without the 1 year wait for a premium of about $300,000. So you can essentially be guaranteed that your car will not depreciate like a Ferrari, Mercedes or Lambo etc...
-A damaged body panel can be fixed/replaced within a few weeks
-Their GPS tracking system can tell them where your car is at any time, how fast you are going, and if there are any problems with your car (even down to low windshield washer fluid)
-The President of Bugatti is also the President of Bentley (which are both owned by VW)
-It costs approx. $5 million to build each Veyron (so getting if for 1.5 mil seems like a good deal), so yes, they are losing money on the project, but its to bring out & solidify the Bugatti name brand once again.
-The contract is rather unique, in that its about 8 pages long, and the president of bugatti has to sign it along with 2 other high-rankers.
-The body design of the Veyron was conceptualized 6 years before the Veyron was built, and the engineers were 'forced' to engineer around the design you see today, hence why it does not look very aerodynamic vs. other modern supercars. In fact it isn't very aerodynamic, relatively speaking.
-Currently there are no Veryons in the State of Arizona.
-The Veyron's headlights and tail-lights look kickass at night (you can tell its a Veyron)
-One Veyron was almost lost today (when it nearly crashed head-first into a deer crossing the street).

:icon_thumleft: In the end, when I was getting a ride back with one of the owners of a Veyron dealership, he said that I was probably the only guy who isn't in that 'financial category' who is getting one of these. For some, they already have 50 cars in their collection (one guy even has 3 SLRs in his garage for example). In fact, supposedly you need to own at least two supercars before they 'let' you buy a Veryron. Well then its a good thing I have an SLR and an LP640. I asked if the company is going to be 'ok' with the fact that I'll be doing 'street videos' of the Veyron when I get it, and they seemed cool with it, even though I will probably be the only one doing it. For most of these cars, they will end up spending most of their time in the garage. For now it seems that the record is 5500 miles for a Veyron.

:D I will get my Veyron sometime in August of 2008.

did you just compared z06 to veron ?

first they have to wash the car then i will think about it..

No, I couldn't see myself owning one of these. Ever. Even if I had money dripping out of my eyeballs.

And here's why.... An exotic car is an exotic car, end of story. Some cost more than others, and some might impress more than others. But to the average person.... they don't know the difference - Any exotic is out of their price range.

As for the speed, it's impressive - but you'll only get to do that on a track. I got my car up to 140mph yesterday (right outside the ICS office in fact....), but that's very rare. Once you get up to such speeds.... welll it's all the same. (Although granted I've never been in a car that does 250mph!)

I could get just as much enjoyment out of a Ferrari for $200k.

True, but no matter how you spin it, the top-of-the-line items in any niche are there to give their owners a sense of ultra-exclusivity. In the case of cars, no Ferrari, Lambo or Porsche can do the Veyron justice when it comes to glitz and glamor.

nobody sees the big picture here... it will be a piece of history, and an engineering marvel. So competing company has or will be able to produce a car of the same caliber.

About maintenance and breakdown issues, the car has been proven to be extremely reliable, far more than say a lambo or ferrari. Again, because of its engineering. Lastly, my partner Lagwagon has a Corvette and a Ford GT; let him tell you the f-ing problems he has with those cars every day ie. breaking down, parts etc...

You'll become a spokesperson of this car when you actually see it in person and drive it

ps. this reminds me of those 'would you hit it' threads where the guys posting replies like 'not with a 2 foot pole' are the same guys who would hit it in a second in real life.

Now that's a fucking car! Here is the washed version.

nobody sees the big picture here... it will be a piece of history, and an engineering marvel. So competing company has or will be able to produce a car of the same caliber.

About maintenance and breakdown issues, the car has been proven to be extremely reliable, far more than say a lambo or ferrari. Again, because of its engineering. Lastly, my partner Lagwagon has a Corvette and a Ford GT; let him tell you the f-ing problems he has with those cars every day ie. breaking down, parts etc...

You'll become a spokesperson of this car when you actually see it in person and drive it

ps. this reminds me of those 'would you hit it' threads where the guys posting replies like 'not with a 2 foot pole' are the same guys who would hit it in a second in real life.

i wouldnt buy it even if i had the money to throw away

True, but no matter how you spin it, the top-of-the-line items in any niche are there to give their owners a sense of ultra-exclusivity. In the case of cars, no Ferrari, Lambo or Porsche can do the Veyron justice when it comes to glitz and glamor.

nobody sees the big picture here... it will be a piece of history, and an engineering marvel. So competing company has or will be able to produce a car of the same caliber.

About maintenance and breakdown issues, the car has been proven to be extremely reliable, far more than say a lambo or ferrari. Again, because of its engineering. Lastly, my partner Lagwagon has a Corvette and a Ford GT; let him tell you the f-ing problems he has with those cars every day ie. breaking down, parts etc...

You'll become a spokesperson of this car when you actually see it in person and drive it

ps. this reminds me of those 'would you hit it' threads where the guys posting replies like 'not with a 2 foot pole' are the same guys who would hit it in a second in real life.

I would steal a little shit box made out of full metal and i would crash into one if i saw one......just cause i would like to see the stupid face of the guy who actually bought it....

If i saw an Enzo i would stay as far away as possible cause i dont want to be in a situation where i make a wrong move and scratch it....too much resppect for ferrari and especially the Enzo....way to much respect there...

You'd have to have something wrong with your head to buy a Veyron, unless you are a multi billionaire. I'd buy a house.

.... My car can do 0-60 in 4.2

Its TT viper was also terribly unstable and scary beyond 200mph; the Veyron you could drive with your hands off the steering wheel at that speed.

If you want to make comparisons, then the TT viper is way too expensive because a toyota supra with 1500 horsepower can achieve the same thing but you might die lol.

Its true, I used to have a lot of problems with the Vette. However this GT has had problems with my exhaust, oil coming out of the charger. (also some cosmetic issues that are coming apart.) The latest and it is in the shop right now as I type this. The Clutch assembly has blown out at 5k miles. Its getting pretty annoying. Need to find a car I dont have to worry about. I have a E63 AMG and that thing has run great, same with the E55 I had before that.

:D I will get my Veyron sometime in August of 2008.

Fuck no! There are much better things to buy, much better uses for that kind of money.

You're a fag too.