There’s something surreal about seeing Jay Leno take the wheel of a hypercar like the Bugatti Mistral. One moment, he’s cruising calmly, chatting with Donald Osborne in the passenger seat. The next, he taps the throttle and all hell breaks loose. The sound is like a jet engine coming to life behind you. That’s 1,600 horsepower doing what it does best.

It’s not just fast — it’s alive. The Mistral is the final chapter in Bugatti’s W16 legacy, and it’s going out in spectacular fashion. With a top speed north of 280 mph, it holds the crown as the fastest open-top production car in the world. And somehow, it still made Jay say, “Feels like a Miata.” Not because it’s small or light, but because it reacts with such sharpness that it messes with your sense of physics.

Crafted for the elite, only 99 units of the Mistral will ever exist. Each one is torture-tested by Bugatti’s engineers, fine-tuned until every component works in perfect harmony. It’s not just a reworked Chiron with the roof chopped off — it’s a statement. A handcrafted goodbye to one of the most outrageous engines the world has ever seen.

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And when someone like Jay Leno, who’s driven everything from pre-war Bugattis to cutting-edge EVs, gets giddy behind the wheel, you know this isn’t just another supercar.

To hear Jay Leno’s full take on the W16 Mistral, check out the complete drive video below.