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  <title><![CDATA[comparison- bugatti veyron 16.4 grand sport vs lamborghini murcielago lp 670-4 sv]]></title>
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    <article id="13042">
      <title><![CDATA[comparison- bugatti veyron 16.4 grand sport vs lamborghini murcielago lp 670-4 sv]]></title>
      <author><![CDATA[Exotic Auto Network Staff]]></author>
      <createdate unixtime="1280172001" delta="5 weeks ago"><![CDATA[7/26/2010]]></createdate>
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      <lead><![CDATA[It's 6 A.M. The light is soft and the air cool. In two hours, it'll be about 95 degrees F., the sun pouring heat onto the pavement until the place feels like one giant hotplate. Around here, oil isn't a dirty word; how does 90 cents a gallon sound? Thanks to vast oil reserves and even bigger natural gas stores (14 percent of the world's total), tiny Qatar, thrust out into the Persian Gulf like a sandy thumb, has the highest per capita income on earth. ]]></lead>
      <text><![CDATA[Somehow this leads one to expect Bugattis on every street corner, Ferraris used as taxis. It isn't like that. There are signs that Qatar is a coming nation. The whole place is a sprawling building site, the new Pearl-Qatar resort, an island built on reclaimed land north of Doha, is dripping with opulent hotels and pretentious shops. But mainly it's chaotic, grubby, barren; and most of the largely immigrant population look like they're lucky if they earn $100 a year instead of $100,000. It is, we decide after a few days, the armpit of the world.For now, though, where we are doesn't matter. We have a 1001-horsepower Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport and a 661-horsepower Lamborghini Murcielago SV, a fistful of notes that amounts to very little money but lots of fuel, and a crumpled map of Qatar. We'll head north first in search of long, quiet straights, then back through Doha and to the south of the country where the dunes rise up and flow all the way to Saudi. After the sun dips behind the soft mountains of sand and the only light is provided by the vast flames venting out of the nearby refinery towers, we have an appointment with the Qatar Racing Club dragstrip in Doha's industrial area. Before we slide slowly out of Doha's suffocating traffic, Bugatti's pilote official, Pierre-Henri Raphanel, calmly runs me through the Grand Sport's controls. You sit low, the side glass up at shoulder height; the steering wheel is small, and the little metal paddles attached to the rear of its spokes barely move. Their action is incredibly light when you consider the thunderous forces at work. Twist the key, push the Start button, and a high-pitched starter motor squeal is quickly replaced with a breathy, deep, but unremarkable noise. The W16 is smooth and sounds vast, but doesn't have that inertia-free feel that usually characterizes a supercar. This is heavyweight engineering, and yet the pedals are so light to operate. The throttle -- set quite a lot lower than the brake, which feels odd -- feels almost like it isn't connected. I later discover it definitely is.These first few moments in a Bugatti are to be savored. You quickly get over the "I'm-driving-a-bloody-Veyron-whom-shall-I-call?" euphoria, but only because the quality of the experience is, frankly, stunning. The steering is light and quick, but also humming with detail. The gearbox seems to have had all the big metal cogs replaced with special helium-filled parts that meld in total harmony. In fact this seven-speed twin-clutch transmission, engineered by Ricardo, is undoubtedly the most incredible element of an incredible car. You hear the changes, but you don't feel them, not at all. Not even when that power dial is pinned at 1001. Amazing. Imagine how clunky and crude a manual 'box would feel with 922 pound-feet to transmit. Pierre-Henri is a bit of a legend. He's raced F1 at Monaco, been on the podium at Le Mans in a long-tail McLaren F1...but more than anything, he's just a good bloke. And refreshingly honest: "The Grand Sport is for most people more interesting to drive than the Veyron. The noise is so much more, and because the car is not so structurally stiff there is more interference with the steering. Less understeer too, you will feel how responsive it is at the front. The car also feels harder in ride, more connected, although it is actually softer." Why? "We tried the same settings as the Veyron with this car, but it didn't work. [As he says this, he puts his hand up to mimic the car and then spins it violently.] So we have new suspension and even a different tire compound, which makes it more progressive at the limit."This we'll have to take his word for it, because we're about to find Qatar has one meaningful corner and the Veyron can take it in fourth at about 150 mph. The ride does feel a few notches stiffer than I remember with the closed Veyron. And the noise, oh, my, the noise: In the coupe, the W16 feels like a power-making device with little charm or beauty other than the sheer thrust it produces. But the Grand Sport, with nothing to separate you from the twin-snorkel intakes slurping in fresh air, feels like a living, breathing monster, hungry for oxygen and, probably, innocent bystanders. Only an F40 sounds so conspicuously turbocharged, and even then the old Ferrari can't match the sheer cubic volume of air the Bugatti sucks up.You'll get all this within 100 yards. And then you'll put all your weight into that throttle pedal, and your brain will be scrambled for, well, pretty well forever. Forget 911 Turbos, GT-Rs or even Enzos, Paganis and the like: The Veyron makes them all feel puny, highly strung, and a little bit pathetic. Suddenly, there's a white car in my mirrors. Still quite close in my mirrors, actually. Ah, yes, the Lamborghini: A car that usually warrants more attention than an underwear-challenged Britney Spears. Not today, though. Today it's the support act, the aftershock of the main event. But it still looks good, the SV. In fact -- and this is not an exaggeration -- even when driving a Bugatti, the sight of a Murcielago makes you feel ever so slightly jealous. There's something about the big-banger Lambo that speaks to you on a primeval level.There's such ceremony in driving a Murcielago. You approach it and poke your thumb into a little dimple on the top edge of the door, a handle flicks up and you grab it and heave upward. The door arcs in a slow, lethargic movement. Then you plonk your backside down into the seat and swing your legs under the steering wheel (you'll hit your knees first time around). Now reach up and grab the big chunk of Alcantara trim and pull down hard, so hard you're hoisted out of the seat, just to get the door to click shut. You're in the belly of the beast. It's dark in here after the tan leather and open roof of the Bugatti. Everything is black; the side glass seems shallow, and you feel like you're at the pointy end of a large arrow, with acres of engine and body and sticky rubber stretching out behind you. Everything is a little bit awkward too. The seats are hard and hopelessly uncomfortable, and you have to grapple with a four-point harness before you dare twist the key. And even when you're strapped in, the SV still feels determined to unsettle you: The seat is angled in toward the offset pedals, so your left arm has to reach a little further to grab the wheel than your right.The SV is a notch or two firmer than the Bugatti. Its steering doesn't seem so clear and detailed, and the Veyron's snorts and sighs are replaced by the thrum of road noise and the hard, tight, frenzied howl of 12 cylinders. There's no lag to deal with here (the Grand Sport has little, but it's present when you're ambling and then stab at the gas pedal), but the engine likes to be running at over 4500 rpm before it really finds its knockout punch. It's worth the wait, though. This is one mighty engine. A match for the Grand Sport? We're about to find out.The road ahead is wide and straight and runs to a vanishing point melting in heat haze. I'm in the SV in Corsa mode to quicken the brutal gearshift when the Bugatti pulls level with one great gulp of hot air. My depressing prediction for the next few moments is this: On the signal of three, we'll give it the lot; by the count of four, the Grand Sport will be about five car lengths ahead; and another moment later, it will be nothing more than a rapidly disappearing silvery blob. So...one, two, three!The Veyron leaps ahead with sand and grit and hot spent gases raining down behind it, but it's no more than three car lengths ahead. Into third, and it's still pulling away; but as the SV's V-12 hits its sweet spot, it, unbelievably, starts to peg the Bugatti. Yep, the gap has stabilized at about five car lengths, and the mighty Bug can only pull farther ahead inch by hard-fought inch until we're on the other side of 150 mph. Perhaps the high temperatures hurt the turbocharged W16 a little more than the naturally aspirated SV.]]></text>
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