Enzo first few hundred miles observations...

Thought I'd post a few observations after the first hundred miles of owning my Enzo.

I was seriously considering a Veyron at the same time as an Enzo. I was kindly invited to Molsheim to test drive a Veyron (by Werner at Miller). I got to drive the SuperSport for about an hour around the factory. It really is a completely awesome piece of machinery, its absurdly useable for something so fast. I felt it feels like a 997TT or a big Turbo Benz but rather than spinal tap turned up to 11, turned up to about 25. As Pierre-Henri Raphanel said during the drive "with this car you can at any time you want destroy any other car on the road". He is absolutely correct. The Bugatti experience is one to be reckoned with, its an amazing facility, they host you the right way, I can see why its worth the money.

So why did I buy an Enzo? Perhaps I'm just too much of an F-car fan, but there were a bunch of factors:

Running Costs - this may seem absurd, but as a driver, the cost of running a Veyron really is a little silly, esp in tires and wheels.
Looks - personal, but I prefer the Enzo to the Veyron.
Weight - the Enzo feels "somewhat" light, the Veyron feels like a jet taking off.
Value - I think a Veyron is still somewhat uncertain in value, I think an 07/08 Veyron vs an Enzo is probably close a good one of either is 900-1.2M depending on miles etc, but a SS Veyron at 2.5M seems like a good place to wipe out a bunch of capital as I personally don't see it as 2.5x the car the standard car is.

The Enzo doesn't disappoint as a car to drive, my observations would be:

It is relatively high geared - 2nd and 3rd are common gears for loafing around town compared to 3 or 4 in a "regular" Ferrari. In all the other F1 Ferraris I've owned the clutch is fully out by 6mph, in the Enzo its still slipping till 10 or 11mph.

The gearbox does feel last generation if you are "in-between" in your actions, it seems that you have to operate it in Race mode all the time to be where you want. On light throttle it works great, similarly for full throttle when shifting at high rpms, partial throttle is where it doesn't compare as well to the recent stuff. This is actually an interesting challenge to drive, it feels very similar to the gearbox software on the 360CS I had. This makes sense (to me at least) since they were made essentially at the same time.

It is properly fast - my initial feeling is "I need to ship this thing to Germany" so I can drive it at its best.

It really does have an intangible feel to it, where the Bugatti feels like it will steamroller everything and feels surprising everywhere, the Enzo is skittish around town, but once you get out of town on a semi-decent road it feels amazing. Arguably the Bugatti is a better engineering achievement, but I happen to prefer the Enzo.

The Veyron you could drive every day on every journey (comedy luggage space not-withstanding), the Enzo is an event every time you even sit in it. The motoring world is richer for both, and I feel richer for having driven both and having have to have decided which I wanted to own!

 

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Yes the F1 was a special experience - driving at 205mph at Bruntingthorpe is still the fastest I've gone in a car. Perhaps a summer trip for the Enzo to Germany so we can try and beat that

The highlight in the F1 was Gateway Canyon in Colorado, chasing a friend of mine driving the Mantide, beautiful open range, fast sweeping roads, amazing scenery, fabulous.