2018 Bugatti Chiron Fuel Economy Figures Released: Not a Toyota Prius Rival Just Yet

The Bugatti Veyron EB 16.4 debuted in 2005 to spec sheet acclaim. On paper, there had never been anything like it. 16 cylinders, four turbos, 987 horsepower.

And 10 miles per gallon of premium gasoline.

The 2018 Bugatti Chiron is a better car, as it should be after more than a decade passed between development cycles. There are still 16 cylinders and four turbos, but Bugatti increased the power (having intermittently done so during the Veyron’s tenure) to 1,500 horses.

That 52 percent increase in power is not quite matched by a commensurate improvement in the distance travelled per gallon of premium gasoline. Not quite.

That said, the decision to add 513 horses — like adding to the Veyron the power of two Subaru Legacy six-cylinder powerplants — is not a decision that is expected to be associated with any fuel economy improvements. Nevertheless, time marches on, and the 2018 Bugatti Chiron will travel 10-percent farther on a gallon of gasoline than its Bugatti Veyron predecessor: 11 miles per gallon on the combined cycle.

In fact, the Chiron isn’t quite as efficient a highway traveller as some of the Veyron variants. The final five model years of the Veyron (2011-2015) were rated at 15 mpg highway. The Chiron drops to 14 mpg.

But because of the weighting the EPA testing procedure gives to city ratings — the Chiron is rated at 9 mpg city; Veyrons were 8-mpg cars — the 2018 Bugatti Chiron has the superior overall mpg rating. This is an important issue, a matter of grave consequence, as it speaks to the advances automakers make on the insides of engines and the outsides of cars to effectively reduce global emissions.

Granted, at top flight, a Chiron will empty its 26.4-gallon fuel tank in 12 minutes, so it may not be the darling of green car media. But if we could look forward to mainstream cars adding 50-percent more power and consuming 9-percent less fuel, all would be well with the world.

For the record, the Environmental Protection Agency says the Bugatti Chiron would annually cost $3,800 to fuel as a daily driver (8,250 city miles, 6,750 highway miles, $2.80/gallon) and $12,250 more to fuel than the average new vehicle over the course of five years.

[Images: Bugatti]

Timothy Cain is a contributing analyst at The Truth About Cars and Autofocus.ca and the founder and former editor of GoodCarBadCar.net. Follow on Twitter @timcaincars.