New Bugatti Tourbillon vs Rimac Nevera Comparison: Emotions Over Reason

We're still stunned by Bugatti's latest hypercar, the Tourbillon, which brings the French carmaker into the electrified era. While the exterior design seems like a mild reinterpretation of the Chiron theme, the team delivered a stunning cabin makeover. Its signature feature is the tourbillon-inspired instrument cluster with analog gauges, which comprises more than 600 parts, including titanium parts, sapphires, and rubies. The ultra-luxurious instrument cluster protrudes through the steering wheel, which moves around it when turning.

I won't delve deeper into the Bugatti Tourbillon's technical details because my colleague Mircea Panait has done a wonderful job on this front. I will only add that the chronograph-themed hypercar is the first brand's model that was designed and developed entirely under Mat Rimac's supervision. Although the Bugatti Mistral was also released after Volkswagen married the Bugatti brand to Mate Rimac's EV startup, it is technically just another Chiron derivative and the last projected to feature Bugatti's iconic W16 powerplant.

The Bugatti Tourbillon is the brand's first electrified model, ditching the W16 turbocharged engine for a naturally aspirated V16 that looks tame on paper. However, don't dismiss the Tourbillon just yet because it makes up for the lack of ICE power by employing two electric motors on the front axle and another one at the rear, right behind the combustion engine. When all four powerplants work together, the Tourbillon gets its peak power figure of 1,775 horsepower.

That's a lot of ponies pulling the Tourbillon, almost 200 more than the most powerful variant of its predecessor, the Bugatti Chiron Super Sport 300. However, pitted against the 1,888-horsepower Rimac Nevera, it appears to lack in this department. The model that put Rimac on the map as a hypercar producer has not only an edge in power but also the advantage of having four electric motors, one for each wheel, with the ability to put all the torque to the wheel from the get-go.

The Bugatti Tourbillon can theoretically benefit from a similar advantage, but its three electric motors aren't nearly as powerful. Each develops a theoretical peak power of 250 kW (335 horsepower), but the 800-volt battery cannot feed more than 600 kW (800 horsepower). While still a respectable figure, it puts the Tourbillon at a disadvantage, at least based on the provisional figures that Bugatti communicated.

Performance figures are also preliminary, with the "less than" prefix on the acceleration times. This could mean that Bugatti might still surprise us with a much better performance when the Tourbillon would start production in 2016. However, one key specification will not change: the 236 mph (380 kph) top speed. This matches previous Chiron models unless a "speed key" is used to unlock the specified top speed of 276 mph (445 kph). This offers the Tourbillon a slight advantage over the Rimac Nevera, which peaks at 258 mph/412 kph).

However, this is not the most important metric to evaluate a hypercar unless you bought it to annoy the German police by going pedal to the metal on the Autobahn. The feeling you get while pinning the accelerator to the floor is equally important, and here's where the Rimac Nevera still trumps the Bugatti Supercar. While the Tourbillon needs 2.0 seconds to go from naught to 62 mph (100 kph), the Nevera does the same in 1.81 seconds.

However, nobody buys a hypercar to only drive it at 62 mph. The Tourbillon keeps the pace impressively well, with "less than 5.0 seconds" until 124 mph (200 kph), under 10 seconds until 186 mph (300 kph), and under 25 seconds until 248 mph (400 kph). Remember, these are preliminary figures, and "less than" could mean anything. Based on the same estimate, the Rimac Nevera has the same performance figures, technically less than 5, 10, and 25 seconds for 0-124, 0-186, and 0-248 mph, respectively.

However, the devil is in the details, and only the Rimac electric hypercar has the numbers to show exactly how fast it is. That's 4.42 seconds, 9.22 seconds, and 21.31 seconds, respectively. For the US readers, that would be 1.74 seconds for 0-60 mph, 4.19 seconds for 0-120 mph, 10.86 seconds for 0-200 mph, and 21.86 seconds for 0-250 mph.

Putting all these figures into perspective is the price that the Bugatti Rimac asks for each of them. Whereas the Rimac Nevera is more reasonably priced (if we can call it that), at about 2 million euros ($2.14 million), the Bugatti Tourbillon is almost double, at 3.8 million euros ($4.06 million). This money doesn't buy you more exclusivity because the Nevera production is limited to 150 units, whereas Bugatti wants to build 250 Tourbillon examples. However, it's undeniable that the Bugatti has infinitely more style than the Rimac hypercar.