lWe pass yet another policeman hiding in the bushes as the cab driver cheerfully tells us a 10kph indiscretion here will cost the thick end of €500 (Dh2,600). What we’re planning will buy us more jail time than shooting nuns. With just one major road, apparently a stakeout every five minutes and a glossy slick of rain on the surface, it occurs to us that Norway might not be the best place to drive the Koenigsegg Agera R, one of the fastest cars in the world.
But just minutes later I’m tempting fate, powering down the same road, admittedly in the opposite direction, deep into triple figures as the roar of this 1,150bhp monster sends the birds scattering from the trees and the tyres fighting an endless battle to keep more than $3 million (about Dh11 million) of carbon fibre and metal in control.
Some cars just defy logic, they demand this kind of madness. The Koenigsegg Agera R is such a car; in fact it might just be the best in the world right now, in this crazy, rarefied hypercar class that comprises the Veryon, the Zonda (as we don’t have the Huayra just yet), and not much else.
Visually it’s a big, buff fighter, sitting almost perfectly between the mildly effeminate Zonda and the crushing Veyron, with a smooth, curvaceous front end, powerful haunches and, when it’s in place, a low-slung double bubble roof that gives the car a real stealth fighter look. That works well, because the ghost insignia on the windscreen pays homage to the airforce squadron that was based at Koenigsegg’s base in Angelholm, Sweden. We’re over the border in Norway as the car is at the new dealer in Fredrikstad.
The skibox on the roof here is borderline ridiculous, though. Koenigsegg tells us it’s a visual representation of how well the car handles in the snow on the specially developed Michelin Pilot Super Sport tyres. But snow? In a hypercar with 1,150bhp that costs millions? Really?
Besides, the standard roof is cooler and slots in underneath that clamshell front end for open-top motoring with a spanner and two minutes. Practicality is a big thing at Koenigsegg: you can even get a set of golf clubs in the front section. I wouldn’t, but you can.
That’s not the only neat touch either. Look closely and the Agera R is full of cute design, from the LED brake lights, extortionately intricate diffuser and exposed carbon fibre that the whole car’s made of, to those dihedral synchro helix doors that twirl out and up in one effortless motion. It’s useful in car parks, but it’s epic to watch too and has probably sold more than one car on its own.
Inside, it’s another world. The centre console looks like a modern interpretation of an old-school telephone dial that comes to life along with the LCD displays in the centre console. The instrument panel, meanwhile, has been totally replaced with a high-tech digital display. It’s luxurious, too, there’s even a blue backlit button on the steering wheel to activate the hands-free phone. If they’d told me the seats were clothed in newborn kobe cow I would not be surprised.
As for the car, it’s gentle and though most won’t, at least one eccentric will use this as his office commute. It’s an absolutely docile creature until the revs hit 3,500rpm. It even soaks up bumps in the road with admirable skill, although the cobbled streets of Fredrikstad’s old town are painful at best.
But then it’s time for the real rush, the real test of pure acceleration. It takes a moment to summon the courage to plant 1,150bhp and 1,200Nm of pure muscle, and when I finally do it the Agera R, which is the Swedish word for the verb ‘to act’, just goes mad.
All that power ploughs through the rear wheels and in the dry will send the Koenigsegg scorching to 100kph in 2.9 seconds, way faster than the Zonda. In 7.5 seconds, 200kph is conquered, and the R will go from 0-200-0kph in just 12.7 seconds, which leaves mortals with internal bleeding. It will also breach 420kph. In the wet, it feels much faster, scarier and more alive.
Because it’s not just the numbers, it’s the sheer violence of the turbo-powered delivery that marks this car apart.
When it hits an open road, and it seems to know when that is, there’s a massive explosion at that 3,500rpm and suddenly the car is somewhere else. There’s a jolt, a lurch and then a break in the space-time continuum as the car arrives at the next apex. The Agera R is one of those cars that requires a total recalibration of the senses — the Veyron is the only other one and this feels more alive, more connected, more involving. Strangely, though, the car still fixes itself and bolts down the road like the Veyron, but the side-to-side shimmy lets you know that this cat could take some work.
Then on lift-off, as I prepare to hit the ceramic brakes and flick down two gears on the seven-speed dual-clutch paddle-shift from Cima, the whole car spasms as the wastegates open and send a convulsion through the drivetrain. It feels like it might just be the start of a massive accident and on this road that winds through the Norwegian fjord, with a watery grave awaiting a serious mistake on either side, it’s a thoroughly unnerving experience for the first few runs.
But this is all part of the character of the car. The pent-up energy shows itself at the surface, it involves the driver and yet somehow doesn’t need any help fixing the problems. It even feels heavy. I’m using shoulder muscles to force the car into bends, rather than fingertips, but that’s a legacy of the epic grip rather than anything intrinsically wrong. It’s a more muscular experience than the Veyron, or the Zonda: both of those can be driven with the fingertips. This car is a physical workout.
In skilled hands, though, it can generate more cornering G than the all-conquering Bugatti and on the right road, or track, the 25 per cent lighter Koenigsegg could leave it well behind. Carefully sculpted bodywork, a flat floor and that diffuser provide epic levels of downforce and the rear suspension even comes with a third damper to help spread the force and prevent pitch and roll. It’s clever stuff, but it’s race track stuff and this is a car that assumes a certain skill level. Without the safety net of four-wheel drive, a bad driver will probably finish in a ditch and that right there is the appeal.
Verdict
The Agera R is a car for a special kind of person, the kind of person who already has a Veyron, and a Zonda, and is looking for something more aggressive, more extreme. Koenigsegg only has to find 17 such individuals a year, because that’s the production capacity, and he’s sold out for the foreseeable future. Heads of state, heads of nations, they’re the kind of people who come looking for this adrenaline rush on four wheels.
And as I tempt fate, bankruptcy and the Norwegian legal system I can understand why the rich would want this Swedish fighter jet on wheels. It’s unique, it’s loud, it’s wild and it makes everything else feel ordinary. And it could just be the most extreme hypercar in the world right now. Is it the best? That depends on how good you are behind the wheel.
Specs & ratings
Model Agera R
Engine 5.0-litre V8 twin turbo
Transmission Seven-speed, RWD
Max power 1,150bhp @ 2,700rpm
Max torque 1,200Nm @ 4,100rpm
Top speed 420kph +
0-100kph 2.9sec
Price Approx Dh11 million
