Pagani Utopia review plus Horacio reveals how he introduced Lamborghini to carbon fibre

Morning! Welcome to a new Harry's Garage video and today is going to be all about Pagani. We're obviously still on the Kuntas Tour celebrating 50 years of Kuntas but I've come down to Pagani because well first of all I'm going to do a test drive of the Utopia which I've not driven before last time here we just walked around it this time we're actually going to go out in it and obviously I've brought the Kuntas down because Horacio Pagani is about to appear and I'm going to just talk to him about his time at Lamborghini and some of the things they did he's obviously well known for doing the anniversary redesign but my car is 1987 and the engine cover if you've been watching these videos is of carbon fiber and I'm intrigued if Horacio Pagani had a part to play in that his involvement with carbon fiber is infamous and he was trying to introduce that at Lamborghini and they did that Kuntas Evolution which was all carbon fiber they didn't did a crash test on it so it no longer exists so he was very active at Lamborghini in mid-80s but did he actually build the engine cover how was that put on a production car I believe it's the first use of carbon fiber on a production Lamborghini I don't know but he's going to tell us and he's going to appear any moment now so was this the first example of carbon fiber on a Lamborghini fiberglass this is not carbon fiber ah what is it carbon fiber not carbon I'm gutted I thought that always it is in Kevlar so right this isn't fiberglass and Kevlar fiberglass and Kevlar okay but very light because there was no autoclave at Lamborghini so that's okay but you designed it he Horacio designed this is that correct design and made and design and made and I make really you wow and the carbon fiber Kuntas the evolution so that was you you did that and that was carbon fiber or is that Kevlar like this and you use an autoclave on the okay so this was all pre-date autoclave carbon at Lamborghini that's why I needed to know yes oh that was different to this in anniversary on the anniversary like this the bump is the same oh I see oh I didn't know that good Horacio thank you for that information yeah he's saying that the injection the American version would be in fuel injection had these yeah good Horacio thank you for that always good to see you I hope you enjoyed that chat with Horacio Pagani about the early days of Lamborghini I'm a bit shocked that having thought it was carbon fiber that engine lid and then discovering it's Kevlar but back then that was actually the link with F1 and they marketed it as with F1 but let's turn to the main event this car is actually the launch version when they did the world reveal in Milan this was the car they used things of note when you just look at the outside well 22 inch wheels now Pirelli 325 30 they've got this new technology now with Pirelli there is a sensor in there that will talk to the ABS it will talk to the traction controls literally a chip in there that passes information to the ECU running the car very clever tech looks as though we're going to be fighting the weather now I'm starting to get rained on which is not what I want with this crazy car 21 inch wheels at the front and lots of aero to drag the heat out of this wheel I've also been around Modena design this is now part of the Pagani group this company that does all this machining it's a signature now of Pagani it's just how they mill out a solid aluminium all the pieces on this car I'm looking at headlights the steering wheel everything you look at even the badging come is milled out of a solid piece of aluminium the Horacio Pagani signature that sort of detail is around the back we've got the these lights this how they're enclosed the Pagani it's the detailing once you start looking deeper into Pagani I think it's its signature then this car has the ceramic coated exhaust which is very visual one detail I love if I've got the key here which is basically a car and I'm going to press unlock watch those mirrors what they do and they furl out and then you're let free to have a look inside it's raining quite bad here so I'm going to step in and let's take it away from here and let's just see how it drives it's a special car this when you get in and just see all this you've got this crazy keys you can see here that has a little slot of its own that's there then manual this car seven speed manual and start I'm going to start it there you go no missing when this starts up and the thing you notice are all the dials they all start up yeah 57 000 kilometers this car it's got tyre pressures there and I can see on the mode it starts up in what is termed a comfort mode and having just been out in the car I have to say it really is a comfort mode it's a big surprise lightweight clutch as well having driven here in a Countach it's very nice to be in this it feels much easier much easier to manage but I'm just overwhelmed with the look I'm just seeing if I have the right information that I want in front of me yeah 370 kilometer an hour speedo and then yeah revs you can almost not see where the red line is just six and a half thousand rpm I think here I've got turbo pressure then oil oil temperature and water temperature on there and I have lift as well which you can just hear working now because I have a little ridge to go over here we can get on our way there's a sound of Pagani there's a lot to take in when you get in here it's sort of alien to your normal car but initially the things I'm picking up on extraordinarily compliant ride easy lightweighting on gear change on clutch throttle just beautifully beated and that sense that you're in a very special car other things you pick up whether the glass area I'm I can go I can adjust the height of the seat here I sort of want to be a bit lower than I actually am I look at the scuttle I feel as though I'm sitting up high and the rear view mirror has this little slit to look out of you're very much using your wing mirrors to use it rather than this there's not a lot of visibility it's a bit like the gearbox as well if you look here it's a dogleg first which is a surprise I thought it's going to be a conventional six speed but no it's a dogleg first and then a seven speed gearbox and it does self blip the throttle as well as you go through the gears and it's a tight gate Simone said whatever you do don't look at the gate just change gear normally and you'll be fine it does take a little bit of getting used to the gearbox so yeah the auto blip there if I change it a second there you go that's not me doing it that's the car doing it but these I love these I remember from Zonda position it's never been beaten one of these type of air outlets for me easy layout there come down here and then it gets just a bit trickier so this is back this is their way of doing changing what you want to do because I've got mirror adjustment and then I use this home screen volume for the radio that sort of thing oh I've got the exhaust if I want to put the exhaust on to quieten the exhaust I'll do that it starts off by the sound of things in noisy mode loads just got interesting and the Laura soft said there's a great big truck in a way 160 odd horsepower so the number of driver modes I've actually got it in comfort at the moment and it really does say what it what it means I'm very surprised I'm going to move it up one I've got in sport now one thing that surprised me when I was talking to the engineers is the weight of this car in full fluids like now 1430 kilos and that is actually the same weight as a Zonda S which I was amazed at but the thing about the Zonda S the AMG engine that generation of V12 engine was quite heavy this turbocharged all-aluminium unit actually saves weight so although the car's bigger the weight is identical to Zonda S distracts because it's quite something this car Italy's tarmac does not get any better their roads are a challenge that's two and a half thousand rpm 1100 newton meters in this car that talk sounds as though you're doing like 8000 rpm but you're not maximum power is at 6000 rpm and only the red line is at six and a half but you never guess it from the soundtrack it sounds way higher another thing about this engine this is its only application there is no longer a V12 Mercedes so AMG are actually making this purely for Pagani and it's known as the AMG Pagani engine internally and quite impressive that the dedication and the amount of effort AMG put in to deliver this power unit and it passes all regs so they can sell it worldwide is it and that's quite an achievement as well everything is quite lightweight the like the controls are all quite light and easy apart from the gearbox there is a bit of notchiness to the gearbox you're not as confident to throw this around as you want to be that was the same with the Zonda in actual fact but I think I can under sort of understand it because you need a pretty big mechanical gearbox to control this amount of power at all therefore you're swapping quite heavy cogs so I would expect a heavier sort of gear change just because of that that engine is just always there to deliver a proper load of grunt and I know it's turbocharged but the turbo lag is it's just minimal there's a sort of sound it's almost the sound of the turbo is what gives it away rather than the lag as I touch the throttle and just light it up and that gives you a little taste what it's like to start poking a utopia and just enjoying that crescendo of power and torque this twin turbo AMG unit delivers turn this engine off and when I open the door have a listen to this that's Harashio's little touch as you turn the car off you get that symphony music just play as you open the door this takes me back to my Zonda there it is yes V12 AMG well with Pagani written on it but the AMG emblem there set back there's the gearbox there's the rods going down to it down there you can see this glorious exhaust going out and this one ceramic coated you can see suspension upright here you can see the remote reservoirs there's adjustment on it however you want to set up the top wishbone acting against the damper and springs there look at the finish on here this is again a Pagani signature how they finished all the car in here but as I say a lighter unit expect and look at those storage bins they're still there just like they were on the Zonda they've just actually announced the roaster version and that is this panel is then removable on it it's not like Zonda that had that canvas top and this one is this panel that comes out still got glass in and then there is also a temporary roof that they have here so you leave perhaps leave that at home but you want a temporary roof well behind there in the stories is a canvas roof that you can then put on in its place they just look at those lights you see the heat sink at the back of the rear lights there all those fins like an air-cooled motorbike or something this is very typical of Pagani's sort of how they do the chromium aluminium the frame that holds the engine here so the carbon tub finishes on the bulkhead and then this is what all the suspension is mounted onto and gearbox sitting down there big change with Zonda as well is to remember they're all dry sump now these twin turbo v12 amg engines and I'm seeing here this engine oil here remote reservoir and that means the engine is that much lower and that's just something I noticed from driving them there is a more of a balance I always found the Zonda the engine sort dominated the weight I've had more weight on the rear understeer and then quite reactive and snap oversteer was a thing in my experience and with Huayra and I feel with this there's a confidence it gives you it's more balance and more easier to control the outer limits I love the theatre when you start this car up there we go they all do a little dance I can see the cogs moving the roads around here are unbelievable they typical Italian road surface nightmare in places but they that's what they've always been like and this is the sort of roads that test drivers around here use and I think bad as they are it gives us a very usable car it's why the ride is as it is in this car it is compliant it can deal with this not once is it grounded out and yes I've been really surprised how it can deal with the bumps and undulations and they're all over the place in this car I think it's time to summarize it go through some likes and dislikes well to start with the dislikes it's a personal thing but looking at this test car in the all one colour I'm not sure if it really shows its lines off to best having seen the other cars in build I was having one I'd have to have exposed carbon like in here it hasn't got the exposed carbon on the interior things they do Vergara do it so well I would want to see that in if I had this car but it's not on this one too when you first get in this car you've got to learn it it is like no other it's a hyper car it's full on and just the visibility I've got great side mirrors not so good rear view mirror the dials aren't incredibly clear I'm really just looking at the digital speedo but I do like the way car play comes up from there I've got a good map in front of me and you just got to learn your way around the cabin that's always been the way with Pagani other things gearbox again take some learning being a dogleg seven-speed gearbox is not something I've used before and it's the second third plane is quite a common plane you're in that's the one we actually have to keep pressure across and it's quite easy to go first to fourth when you actually wanted second you do get used to it though the more you use it I'd also like to be able to sit lower in the car than I am I want the seat to go slightly lower I feel slightly higher gives a good visibility but I'm sure it just feels more natural if I was lower in the cabin positives where did it start the lightness the Christmas the lightness of the feel of it as soon as you get in from the clutch to the brakes the accelerator everything feels like really nice waiting and also all the way through you feel the lightness of the car as well to be 14 50 kilos all fueled up full of fuel is actually really light for an 860 horsepower crazy v12 car and then that engine it doesn't feel nearly as turbocharged as it did with wire I don't know whether it's because it's the manual gearbox what it is but it's wonderfully mapped I'm talking to the engineers the other thing I was impressed by is the safety the level of safety this car has six airbag system you have knee protection airbags I'm very unusual in this class of car that is a death I know Horacio is always what said to me I want to make the safest hypercar and I'm always impressed that they go to that sort of lengths but yeah just the crazy road like this I feel goaded to push it along and that's not what I expected at all so would I buy one well this is the interesting point with this car never to be perfectly honest gelled with wire there was something I didn't I felt slightly remote I thought it handled better than a Zonda, Zonda always felt sort of engine heavy dominating it wire got around that but I just didn't feel connected this car feel absolutely connected and it reminds me of Zonda and I absolutely did not expect to say that when before getting in this car it has that character that we love the sound the overriding torque and the yeah I'm really enjoying it much more than I expect I've almost been dreading coming out to try it because I wasn't sure I was going to like it but I do like it I wish it wasn't quite so expensive but then that's where the market is and they're all sold out so they know the business better than me yeah the price of this car two and a half million plus taxes they've called it three million euros it's a lot of money but there seem to be plenty of people willing to pay that for this sort of car and the other crazy thing looking at the price of a Zonda today you can buy four of these cars for one Zonda that's just a mad ratio the Zonda was good but was it that good it's interesting that we've got this car we've got there's a new generation of these paper cars coming out with manual gearbox great engine great connection to the driver so there you go there is my brief test of the Pagani Utopia I hope you enjoyed it it was a slight smash and grab sort of review but I thought it was worth doing just to take the opportunity of trying this car out