Bugatti Veyron

When Volkswagen revived Bugatti, it set an engineering target that bordered on absurd: a road car with more than a thousand horsepower that could exceed 400 km/h and still be docile enough to potter through town. The Veyron met it. In 2005 it became the first production car to break 400 km/h, recording a two-way average of 407 km/h — about 253 mph.

Doing that required a powertrain unlike anything else on sale: an 8.0-litre W16 — effectively two V8s sharing a crankshaft — fed by four turbochargers, making 987 hp. Cooling it took ten radiators; at top speed it would drain its fuel tank in minutes. The car weighed 1,888 kg yet hid its mass completely.

Only 252 of the original Veyron 16.4 coupe were built. It didn't just set a speed record — it reset the definition of what a road car could be engineered to do.