XCAR's look back at the Bugatti Veyron->ke1112 is an unusual one, in that it feels much more like a review of a current model than any kind of retrospective. But if ever there was a car where this approach makes sense, it is the Veyron. Bugatti's->ke16 own obsession with top speed has encouraged many people to think of the car as nothing more than a collection of numbers, and in that sense it has become somewhat outdated in the decade since its launch. But the car is much more than that, and even the monstrous power, speed and acceleration figures aren't nearly as important as what an accomplishment it was to make that kind of power usable, and so long before other companies really had that part of the equation nailed down.

This video->ke278 talks a lot about the car's speed. Not in terms of 0-60 times or top speed, but about what that speed is like on regular roads; even country roads, which is where most of the footage was shot. That's because the Veyron wasn't built to be a track-only machine, and even if it took 10 years for a review that acknowledges this, we finally have one here.

Why it matters:

The styling, which has its roots in a concept->ke169 from the end of the last century, has been criticized, and this is perhaps understandable. But Bugatti's offering of one-of-one special editions to customers who were willing to pay serious money was a window into the prewar glamour of having your individual Bugatti styled by a coachbuilder. It is these kinds of things that made the Veyron special, and that make it still relevant even after the end of its production cycle. It's an approach to building cars that's very different than other cars, even fast ones.

Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse

Read our full review here.