The Bugatti W16 Mistral has made its debut today as maybe the fastest roadster in the world, but also the last car which will be equipped with the legendary 8.0-liter quad-turbo W16 engine. They’re making 99 of these, each costing upwards of $5 million.
Actually, I don’t believe for a second these will stay at $5 million. The Mistral looks like a speedster/roadster version of the Divo, which has been rumored at anywhere from $6 to $8 million, and open-top versions are usually more expensive. On the downside, they made just 40 Divos, so this is going to be more common.
The engine in the Mistral is the familiar quad-turbo 8.0-liter. Specifically, they used the one in the record-setting Super Sport and Super Sport 300+, meaning the French gave it a nice, round 1,600 PS and 1,600 Nm of torque. In American money, that’s 1,578 hp and 1,180 lb-ft of torque.
The Mistal comes from excellent stock, being the first Bugatti roadster since the Grand Sport Vitesse. That car set a speed record of 254 mph (409 km/h) back in 2013. It will be interesting to see how this compares with the Hennessey Venom F5 Spyder, which is gunning for 300 mph.
The Mistral is probably going to be a little slower, but it’s won the beauty contest already. To make it clear, the Mistral’s body is quite unique, though some elements may look familiar.
For example, the front end looks just like the stunning Divo, having roughly the same air intakes. The main house grille in the middle is much bigger, though, because Bugatti wanted it to deliver all the air needed by the radiator. The side intakes are for the intercoolers. The C-shaped intakes down the sides are gone, and the much smaller ones at the top feed the oil cooling system.
And the air needed for the combustion is fed right behind the passengers’ heads. Can you imagine the induction noises from a quad-turbo W16?
The Mistral seems more like an intentionally beautiful car. They changed many of Chiron’s carbon fiber chassis elements to ensure this looks just right as a speedster. It’s not a hypercar with a chopped roof like the Grand Sport predecessor. And at the back, we see influences from another Bugatti, the Bolide’s X-wing taillight design.
Bugatti probably already has all the buyers it needs, but deliveries will take until early 2024 to be completed. In the meantime, the company is going hybrid with Rimac.
