A car like the Bugatti Veyron may never happen again

Record-breaking hypercar set the standard for all-out performance in the early 2000s

Two decades ago, Autocar drove the Bugatti Veyron for the first time – and it blew us away.
“The noise – a peculiar cacophony that sounds a bit like two TVRs on full reheat plus an industrial-strength air hose – is accompanied by mind-bending, heart-stopping acceleration, the like of which has never been felt before in a road car,” gushed our tester.
And yet they didn’t love it. “Despite the titanic performance and refinement, it doesn’t grab you emotionally like it should” was the conclusion.
Surely there can be no criticism to level at this mega-powered monument to mechanical excellence, which, even at 20 years old, still feels every inch the soul-stirring headline-maker it was at launch.
To me, the most impressive thing about the Veyron is not that it has a 13mph greater top speed than a McLaren F1, nor that it was the first production car to break 250mph. Nor even that it had an 8.0-litre engine