All three presenters of the popular BBC motoring show Top Gear have given the Veyron considerable praise. While initially skeptical that the Veyron would ever be produced,Jeremy Clarkson later declared the Veyron "the greatest car ever made and the greatest car we will ever see in our lifetime". He also pointed out that the actual production cost of a Bugatti Veyron car was GB£5 million, but was sold to customers for just GB£1 million. When asked why, he jokingly said that Volkswagen designed the car merely as a "Technical Exercise". James May described the Veyron as "our Concorde moment." Clarkson test drove the Veyron from Alba in northern Italy to London in a race against May and Richard Hammond who made the journey in a Cessna 182 aeroplane.
The Veyron also won the award for "Car of the Decade" in Top Gear's end of 2010 award show. Clarkson commented "It was a car that just rewrote the rule book really, an amazing piece of engineering, a genuine Concorde moment". When the standard version was tested, it did not reach the top of the lap time leader board, with a time of 1:18.3, which was speculated as being due to the car's considerable weight disadvantage against the other cars towards the top. The Super Sport version - driven by The Stig - achieved the fastest ever time of 1:16.8 (later beaten by the Ariel Atom V8, the McLaren MP4-12C, the Pagani Huayra, the BAC Mono and the Lamborghini Aventador), as well as being taken to a (verified) average top speed of 431 km/h (268 mph) by Raphanel on the programme, thenceforth retaking its position as the fastest production car in the world.
The Veyron also won the award for "Car of the Decade" in Top Gear's end of 2010 award show. Clarkson commented "It was a car that just rewrote the rule book really, an amazing piece of engineering, a genuine Concorde moment". When the standard version was tested, it did not reach the top of the lap time leader board, with a time of 1:18.3, which was speculated as being due to the car's considerable weight disadvantage against the other cars towards the top. The Super Sport version - driven by The Stig - achieved the fastest ever time of 1:16.8 (later beaten by the Ariel Atom V8, the McLaren MP4-12C, the Pagani Huayra, the BAC Mono and the Lamborghini Aventador), as well as being taken to a (verified) average top speed of 431 km/h (268 mph) by Raphanel on the programme, thenceforth retaking its position as the fastest production car in the world.