Bugatti's CEO himself showed us all what it's like to drive the convertible Mistral
- Mate Rimac took his Bugatti Mistral for a spin
- He showed off one of the car’s cool features
- Check it out in the clip below
Published on May 22, 2025 at 5:14 AM (UTC+4)
by Claire Reid
Last updated on May 22, 2025 at 5:40 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Kate Bain
Bugatti CEO Mate Rimac has shared a clip of himself driving his open-top Mistral and used it to showcase one of the car’s best features.
The stunning Bugatti Mistral was unveiled in 2022 and went into production last year.
Bugatti created just 99 Mistrals, all of which were sold – for $5 million apiece – before production even began.
Now, Rimac has shared what it’s actually like to be behind the wheel of the Mistral, and it’s safe to say it’s a very impressive ride.
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Fitted with a powerful 8.0-liter quad-turbocharged W16 engine, the Bugatti Mistral is a record-breaking car, earning the title of fastest open-top car in the world in November 2024, after smashing out a speed of 282mph (453.91km/h).
And it was the open top that Mate Rimac was keen to share more about.
In a clip uploaded to Instagram, he can be seen sitting behind the wheel of the ‘truly special’ Mistral as it makes its way along the road.
“One of the really special things about it is the W16 quad turbo engine is taking the air in right behind your head,” he explained, pointing to the air intake that’s situated behind the driver and passenger seat.
“So when you floor the car and accelerate, it develops an incredible sound.”
He then demonstrated by taking the car ‘full throttle’, and you can hear the turbos pulling in the air as the car gains speed and propels forward.
Rimac goes on to explain that the car’s four turbos are situated sequentially, so two of the turbos spool up at low RPM and the second pair spool up at high RPM.
When sitting in the car, you can actually hear it when it moves from one set of turbos to the other.
He then demonstrated the sound again, just for good measure – and if you’ve listened to the clip above and think it sounds impressive, Rimac went on to say that it sounds even more amazing in real life.
But unless you’re one of the lucky 99 who managed to snap one up back in 2024, it’s quite likely as close as you’ll get to hearing it.
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With a background in both local and national press in the UK, Claire moved to New Zealand before joining the editorial team at Supercar Blondie in May 2024. As a Senior Content Writer working on New Zealand Standard Time (NZST), Claire was the first writer on the team to make the site’s output a slick 24/7 operation covering the latest in automotive news.
