Bugatti W16 Mistral | Review and W16 love-in | And, for Bugatti, what next?

The (very limited edition) Bugatti W16 Mistral is one of the production cars that's bringing Bugatti's amazing W16 engine to the end of a splendid 20-year life.

This 8.0-litre, four-turbo engine type first made its debut in the Bugatti Veyron of 2005, where it made 987bhp (1001 metric nags) and has been developed and honed and updated and renewed time and again since to the point that, right here, right now, in the W16 Mistral it makes a faintly astonishing 1578bhp.

It has been quite the ride. Approximately 1100 W16 engines have been made during the past two decades, it has powered Bugattis to numerous production car speed records, and a multitude of multi-million pound derivatives have played host to the final boss of car engines.

It's going to be replaced by a naturally aspirated V16 with hybrid assistance which, among other things, will rev to 9000rpm, which is something. But there'll never be another production car engine quite like this one.

So let's hear it for the W16, and join Matt Prior as he takes a brief test drive in the S16 Mistral, the last series production Bugatti to be fitted with this engine.