Bugatti Veyron 16.4

Read purely by the numbers, this sits in a remarkably narrow corner of the catalogue. Only seven of the 600 cars here combine a turbocharged W16 with all wheel drive, and this is the least expensive way into that group. That rarity of engineering matters because it is backed by performance that still places the Veyron 16.4 among the sharpest cars in the collection, rather than relying on novelty alone.

Its 8.0 litre turbocharged W16 produces 987 bhp and 1,250 Nm, figures that place it 28th for power across the catalogue, firmly inside the top five per cent. Straight line performance follows naturally. A 0 to 100 km/h time of 2.6 seconds ranks 27th of the 600 cars available, leaving 573 behind, while a top speed of 410 km/h stands even taller at 12th overall. Those rankings reveal the real character of the car. It does not excel in a single headline figure while compromising elsewhere. Instead, it occupies rare territory across every measure that defines a hypercar.

The supporting details reinforce that position. Power reaches the road through an all wheel drive system, and the two door coupé body keeps the focus exactly where the numbers suggest it should be. France contributes only 23 cars to the entire catalogue, while Bugatti accounts for 10 of them, giving this model an important place within both groups. Production stopped at 252 examples, making it rarer than 119 of the 177 catalogue cars for which production figures are recorded, without pretending to be scarcer than it is.

Its market position is equally revealing. At a typical used price of £1,200,000 it ranks as the 62nd most expensive car in the collection, more costly than 538 others, yet it remains the least expensive W16 available here. That works out at roughly £1,216 per bhp, a figure that adds another perspective to its standing rather than replacing the emotional appeal of the engineering itself.

Living with this choice in a dream garage means accepting a clear trade off. There are faster accelerating cars, more powerful cars and rarer cars elsewhere in the catalogue. Few, however, gather so many exceptional rankings into one machine while also representing one of only seven turbocharged W16, all wheel drive combinations. Selecting this Bugatti is less about chasing a single record than about preserving a uniquely concentrated set of achievements within the collection.