| Product: |
Pagani Zonda C-12 |
| Date: |
26.08.02 (2241 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Looks, Performance, Customisability
Disadvantages: Price
The Pagani Zonda C12 is the product of the dream of one man, Horacio Pagani, to build the ultimate exotic road car. The car was designed, developed and finally produced in the outskirts of Modena, Italy, within a stone's throw of Ferrari.
The Zonda was launched at the Geneva Show a few years ago and was met with a mix of opinion. At the launch many things set the car apart from other 'new' sports cars. One of the main things was that the company had already confirmed supply of the factory supplied Mercedes-Benz V12, the powerhouse behind the extraordinary performance claims made by the producers. Another thing was the build quality of the show vehicle; everything was immaculate and thins set it apart from some of the hastily constructed show vehicles seen in the past. The car was recognised as designed extremely extravagantly, some would have said that this was an indication that the car could only be a concept, but in fact the car was only months from production.
The Zonda is a beautiful car. Four central tailpipes at the rear, stunning grilled air vents, and leather straps to secure the bodywork. The bodywork and central driver tub is carbon fibre, making it light and strong. The company's motto is 'art and engineering' and this is clear as you pour over every square inch of the cart and see that every detail seems to have been considered. The company even sells the cars to customer specification so many of the custom details can be changed.
Horacio Pagani comes from Argentina, and before setting up his own company worked with many big names like Ferrari and Lamborghini. The name Zonda means Argentinian wind. The car is made from a special carbon that took no less than 8 years to develop; a huge amount of effort went into the car's development.
The car weighs 2756lb, Very light. The powerhouse is the 394bhp 6-litre V12, or on the tuned models the 7-litre AMG-tuned 500bhp version of the same engine.
I noticed another review of this car claiming that the Pagani was the fastest car in the world. I'm afraid that is wrong, beautiful as the car is, it's not quite as quick as some others on the market. One of particular note is the McLaren F1; it has a huge power to weight ratio and performance to match. The F1 weighs just 1100kg (2425lb), but then it does cost nearly £700,000!
This brings me to the price of the car. The 6-litre version is £180,000, and the 7-litre version is £240,000.
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