2020 Bugatti Centodieci

Bugatti's customers are some of the most affluent people in the world, and as such, they hang around with similarly wealthy people. When a Chiron that costs around $3,000,000 is pocket change for you, standing out from the crowd is easy, but becomes less so when your friends all have 20-car garages. So how do you get one up on your companions? Well, you buy something ridiculously rare and expensive. Enter the Bugatti Centodieci. With only ten units ever to be built, the Centodieci is the kind of car you may never come across in as many lifetimes. With a price tag of $9,000,000, it could take that many lifetimes to be able to afford one too. While offerings like the Koenigsegg Jesko are arguably better looking, this car builds on a heritage that the likes of Koenigsegg and Pagani will not achieve for another century. Based on the Chiron, but with more power, the Centodieci's 8.0-liter quad-turbo W16 produces a whopping 1,578 horsepower and 1,180 lb-ft of torque. But is it worth the money or is it just an easy payday for Bugatti?

Revealed in the second half of 2019, logic dictates that the Centodieci arrived as a 2020 model. However, Bugatti does not explicitly ascribe a model year to its custom exotics. Nevertheless, there have been no significant changes between the car revealed in 2019 and the one that will reach customers, other than the continuous refinements that Bugatti has employed during pre-production testing. Like other Bugattis, this one is dominated by its monstrous 8.0-liter quad-turbo W16 engine that produces nearly 1,600 hp.

As we've mentioned, the Centodieci's design is intended to be a modern interpretation of the EB110's design. As such, ultra-slim LED headlights in narrow slits feature at the front, along with a relatively minuscule horseshoe grille with horizontal strakes on either side. Below is a massive carbon spoiler, while the profile features redesigned wheels that look at home on a concept-like vehicle such as this. The blacked-out A-pillars create a visor-like look for the glasshouse, behind which cheesegrater vents channel air to the motor that features a unique glass cover. At the back, a massive LED light arrangement makes up the taillight setup, with a huge wing atop the rear. Below is an enormous diffuser, while double-stacked exhaust tips finish off the unique design.

The Centodieci is marginally wider and lower than the Chiron on which it is based, and features an overall width of 80.6 inches, with height at 47.3 inches. Overall length and wheelbase are unchanged at 178.9 and 106.7 inches respectively, but thanks to more extensive use of composite materials, the Centodieci is a little lighter than the 4,400-pound Chiron, weighing in at 4,356 lbs.

The same 8.0-liter W16 quad-turbo engine that powers the Chiron does duty in the Centodieci, but here it makes 99 hp more, although the torque figure is unchanged. The same seven-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission sends 1,578 hp and 1,180 lb-ft of torque to the permanent all-wheel-drive system. While only the very elite club of owners and Bugatti's own test drivers will have had an opportunity to drive the Centodieci, we suspect that it will respond very similarly to the Chiron, with surprisingly good throttle response and a very smooth kind of power delivery. This makes the car easy to drive in traffic, while still offering incredible performance. Speaking of performance, the Centodieci is quicker in a straight line than the Chiron, getting from 0-124 mph in just 6.1 seconds - 0.4 seconds quicker than the Chiron, although the 0-60 time is still "less than 2.4 seconds". Top speed is lower, however, than the Chiron's 261, and is limited to 236 mph.

As mentioned above, the Centodieci is not the kind of car that those of us with mortgages and loans could ever hope to drive. However, with the same sort of running gear and suspension, we expect that the Centodieci is just as approachable and enjoyable to drive as the Chiron. The Centodieci won't be noticeably more agile or engaging than the Chiron, since the weight reduction noted is just 44 pounds, but that's no bad thing. The Chiron is comfortable yet impressively well-balanced for such a large car, and its all-wheel-drive system finds traction despite such an absurd amount of power turning the wheels. At the end of the day, a car like this will likely never be driven in anger, but if a lucky owner has the guts to do so, the experience should be rewarding.

While no official EPA or manufacturer estimates are available for the Centodieci's fuel consumption, we expect them to mirror those of the Chiron, which achieves an abysmal 9/14/11 mpg on the city/highway/combined cycles and should return an average of around 240 miles from its 22-gallon gas tank.

The Centodieci has an almost identical interior to that of the Chiron, with only some minor trim pieces, accents, and logos changing. What this means is that a pair of luxurious heated seats keep occupants in supreme comfort, with plenty of headroom and legroom for even six-footers. The seats are also supportive on long journeys, but all-round visibility is poor, although that shouldn't be a problem in a car that will likely only ever get moved in order to be displayed.

No official cargo volume figures are provided for the Centodieci, but you can rest assured that the practicality levels of this car will be inversely proportional to its price. In the regular Chiron, you get just two cubic feet of volume, and the Centodieci is unlikely to blaze a new trail in this department.

In the cabin, a decently sized glovebox is accompanied by a spot in the center console for your phone and keys. You also get closable door storage compartments, but not much else.

Little information is available on what the Centodieci comes with in terms of features, but you can expect the Chiron's heated power-adjustable seats, power-adjustable steering wheel, rain-sensing wipers, rearview camera, and heated power wing mirrors to carry over. Parking sensors are also likely included, along with cruise control, adaptive height-adjustable suspension, ambient interior lighting, and a cooled glovebox. As with the Chiron, don't expect to find any advanced driver aids like adaptive cruise control or autonomous emergency braking.

As with other features of the car, the infotainment system in the Centodieci is likely very similar to that in the Chiron, meaning that there is no central display. Instead, details on media will be displayed on one of the TFT screens that flank the central speedometer. The Chiron's sound system with diamond membranes is likely to be included too, and is made by the Accuton brand. Wi-Fi compatibility and Bluetooth should feature, but Apple CarPlay and Android Auto smartphone integration systems are likely absent.

The Centodieci is meticulously crafted and it will take two years for all ten units to be built, so we don't expect any reliability issues. However, it may be worth noting that the Chiron was subject to a couple of recalls. The problems included a rear left-hand driveshaft that could break and a malfunctioning stability control system. Another two Chiron issues were for side airbags that may not deploy correctly and seat recliner brackets that were improperly welded.

For added peace of mind, the Centodieci was subjected to intense hot-weather and endurance testing to ensure that it holds up in extreme conditions, or the kind of conditions it will likely never be exposed to in its lifetime.

Although no info is publicly available on the warranty, we expect the Centodieci to come with four years of full warranty coverage and complimentary scheduled maintenance for the same period.

The Centodieci is the kind of rare, expensive machine that will likely never be crashed intentionally, at least not by a rationally thinking owner. Fortunately, although there are no crash test results, Bugatti crashed one Chiron multiple times with no weakening of the carbon body.

As standard, the Chiron features a rearview camera, parking sensors, frontal, side-impact, and curtain airbags, as well as rain-sensing wipers.

The Bugatti Centodieci is not really a car. It's a driving art piece, however abstract and unattractive that art piece may be. It's not the kind of car you buy for the way it drives, or the way it makes you feel. It's not the car you take on cross country road trip escapades and it's not the car you buy because you want to drive as fast as possible. Numerous other options on the market fill those criteria, and some fill all of them at once. The Centodieci is a car that you buy for only two reasons: to show off, or as a future investment. Due to its unbelievable price, you can tick the first box easily. Due to the car's rarity, it will likely be worth its asking price for a long time to come. However, the design is not the most alluring, and the EB110 to which this car pays tribute was never a fan favorite of die-hard Bugatti connoisseurs. That said, as long as there's money in the world, there will always be a market for limited-run uber-exclusive hypercars. Still, if it were our money, we'd buy a regular Chiron and spend the rest on a few other hypercars.

The Bugatti Centodieci starts at a whopping eight million euros, which, at the time of unveiling, meant that each car would cost at least $8.94 million. Even with that scandalous price, all ten were sold to existing Bugatti customers long before we had the chance to even see the car.

As mentioned above, the Centodieci was limited to just ten models and each and every one was sold out before the international press even saw the final product. If we had the option, we would likely spec ours in a pastel blue or a canary yellow, to match the iconic colors seen on EB110s of the 90s.

Arguably Bugatti's chief rival at the moment is Koenigsegg. The Swedish brand has created some truly memorable cars over the years, but the Jesko is one of the most incredible in an illustrious lineup. Powered by a 5.0-liter twin-turbo V8, the Jesko produces 1,281 hp and 738 lb-ft of torque, all of which is sent directly to the rear wheels via a nine-speed multi-clutch automatic transmission. Fueled with E85 biofuel, it can produce a Bugatti beating 1,603 hp. According to calculations made by the company, the insane supercar is capable of more than 300 mph, and with just 125 units being produced, it is a rare beast too. So, which to choose? Well, the Jesko is arguably the better-looking vehicle by a long way, it's faster, and costs less. Based on looks alone, we'd have the Jesko, and with Koenigsegg promising such incredible performance figures, it's difficult to choose the Centodieci.

The Centodieci is not the only car that Bugatti has produced since the Chiron. Named after French racing driver Albert Divo, this is a car that is meant to channel Bugatti's motorsport heritage. The same sort of engine powers the Divo, but in this application produces 1,479 hp. While the Chiron on which the Centodieci is based was created to chase top speed records, the Divo is Bugatti's idea of a track car and shares the Centodieci's top speed of 236 mph. However, as it's built for corners, it's going to be a lot faster around a track. It also looks absolutely phenomenal and is even lighter than the Centodieci, weighing 33 pounds less. For ultimate bragging rights, the Centodieci is better for its rarity, but as a car that has real ability on the track, we'd have the Divo.