Hi and welcome to Exco Cars Review of the Year where today we'll be rounding off 2013 with November and December.
We went to Italy to talk to Horacio Pagani and have a look at the Huayra and we had a walkabout round the new Mini.
-Let's [unk] the new Mini.
I love the new Mini as a brand.
I've [unk] for ages.
I owned one for 8 years.
The first year [unk]
supercharged thing.
It was great fun.
Now, the New Mini was released in, what, in 2000 or its concept.
And-- that means there's a generation of 14 year olds who haven't actually seen or be near or been in an old Mini.
So, to them that is a Mini and to them Mini is a tiny little cheap thing that was perilously unsafe but an enormous laugh and very cheap.
Actually for them, it's a fun brand that do awesome stuff, they make nice cars that handle incredibly well.
[unk] about.
It's a step up.
It's bonnet [unk] was a bit snouty.
It's better in the [unk].
It's not as snouty.
It's not as-- it's not as imposing as you you think it is.
It's a good looking car.
I'm looking forward to driving it next year.
Anyway, moving on from the Mini, the new, new, new Mini--
-Whatever we decide to refer to it as to possibly the highlight of the entire year, Exco's trip to Northern Italy to visit Mr.
Horacio Pagani
and drive some of his lovely, lovely cars.
-And it's [unk], we weren't expecting to drive the Huayra.
The-- the new one.
But after an interview with him, where he revealed himself to be the loveliest man ever, he said you must drive my Zonda, so I had a drive with Mr. Pagani in his own Zonda.
It was the sixth one ever made, it was the first car, all in carbon at the Geneva Motor Show, he drove me around, showed off what it could do and then pulled over and went, you know, "Get in."
So, I got in and drove Mr.
Pagani's Pagani Zonda, with HP embroidered on the head rest.
-Nothing can beat a naturally aspirated on the V1, it was just-- it blew us away, it screamed past us and wow.
-Never heard anything like that, I mean people have their favorites between, you know, like, the screaming V6's, the deep, you know, guttural V8's, the kind of balanced V10's and the really high-pitched screams of the V12 but it's that V12 sound, naturally aspirated that's just--
it's-- it's a pure super-car sound.
-It's funny cause the Zonda looks absolutely mad but when Horacio Pagani talked about it in the interview, he did say that Fangio-- Fangio who inspired the car, his primary concern was safety and accessibility and that car was built to be incredibly safe first and incredibly accessible so that anyone could drive it.
But you look at that car--
-Oh yeah.
-and it's an intimidating stance, I mean, it just looks absolutely mad.
Especially in old carbon fiber then the next day,
we got to drive a Huayra.
It was winter in Italy, the roads were wet, the tires were brand new, it wasn't the best day to shoot Huayra but it was just such a fantastic car and the reaction we got, turning round in like farmers' drives, they'd be like-- coming up to us, smoking and be like, "Huayra?" and we'd be like, "Yeah," and they'd be like.
Just didn't mind that we were trespassing.
-Yeah.
-It's okay 'cause the car's worth a million Euros, just carry on about your business, son.
-In Italy, people loved the car.
We were just in a town square, revving the hell out of it
and this sound coming out of it was ungodly and these Italian-- these Italian policemen were just standing there just kind of going, "Yeah." And you get that in no other country.
In England they'd just be running up to you to shut that thing off.
In Italy, people have such a passion for this thing and especially in that area of the world, it was just so wonderful to see.
-And the car itself is simply outstanding, I've never driven anything like it and probably won't in a long, long time.
-It's-- yeah, everything about it.
The visual experience, the aural experience, from the physical experience of actually
feeling the whole thing around you, feeling it move, feeling how solid it is, feeling how well-built it is and feeling the-- the sheer force of the acceleration from that 6-liter, twin-turbo V12 is just, yeah.
As year-- as year-ends go, that one's pretty good.
-We had our photographer-- our favorite photographer, Rue was along with us and he took some amazing pictures and we've got galleries on the exterior, on the interior which is, hands down, one of the most impressive I've ever seen in a car.
It's just an absolute child's dream of how a car interior can look.
-Yes, how a super-car should look or a hyper-car, in this case.
-Yeah and we've got our exlusive interview with Horacio Pagani, talking about where he came from, how he came from relatively nowhere to rivaling Ferrari and Lamborghini to-- for-- in the hyper-car stakes.
We have some amazing content, all linked below so please check it out.
So that brings us to the end of 2013 and I want to say an absolute deep heartfelt thank you to everyone who's been watching our content
I'm sure the guys will agree that we couldn't do any of this without you viewing.
So please, stay tuned to 2014 in Exco.
We have, I promise you, some amazing content coming up and hopefully by this time next year, we'll be recapping on even more great stuff.
Until then, stay with us and we'll see you next time.
