Bugatti Divo 2020 review

Опубликованно 04.09.2020 22:25

What is it?

Unveiled in 2018 and sold out almost immediately, the limited-edition Bugatti Divo is an evolution of the Chiron developed with a focus on handling, not high-end speed.

Stylists resisted the urge to create a pastiche of a 90-year old race like the Type 35. It doesn’t look like the Chiron, either, though its proportions are inevitably similar because the two cars share many parts under their carbonfibre bodies. What's it like?

Bugatti named the Divo after Albert Divo, an intrepid French pilot who won the Targa Florio road race in 1928 and 1929 in a Type 35, so it’s fitting that I experienced it on a short stretch of the event’s historic route.

Driving on the narrow, olive grove-lined roads linking the abandoned Floriopoli tribune to the Sicilian town of Cerda requires swerving around potholes big enough to fry arancini in and avoiding 30-year old Fiat Panda hatchbacks running amok as lane markings blur into mere suggestions.  

Every minute is a theatrical adventure, but it helps that the Divo is shockingly undemanding to drive for a 1479bhp machine that’s wider than a BMW X7. Its steering feels sharper and more communicative than the Chiron’s, so it’s easier to know what the front wheels are doing. Its braking capability (helped by the aforementioned air brake) is at least as impressive as its 0-62mph time. Should I buy one?

Whether or not the Divo – the first coachbuilt Bugatti of the 21st century – deserves a spot in your presumably large collection is a moot point. If your name isn’t on the list, it’s too late. Bugatti showed it to its most loyal clients before parading it in front of the champagne-soaked crowd at the 2018 edition of the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance and they scooped up the 40 cars, each priced at ?4.5 million (plus local taxes), in record time.

You’re not out of luck if you want a Bugatti that moves sideways as well as it moves forward, though. The Chiron Pur Sport, which was also designed for the mountains, remains available.

Категория: Краш-тесты