Miata might not always be the answer, but it was for Christian von Koenigsegg when he was asked which car he’d drive with the last tank of fuel. The head honcho of the Swedish hypercar brand was inquired by Top Gear Magazine’s Jack Rix about the car he’d pick for a hypothetical ride with the final gas tank or battery charge. Rather than choosing one of his company’s exotic models, he decided to go with something far simpler and affordable.
While Christian von Koenigsegg went with the MX-5 (NA) he bought when he was 19 – and still drives on a nearly weekly basis – Gordon Murray picked one of the cars that inspired Mazda to develop the original Miata. The mastermind behind the McLaren F1 thinks the Lotus Elan Series 3 remains the best-handling sports car to this day. Mate Rimac chose a car from the same era as the first-gen Miata, a BMW M3 E30. As for John Hennessey, he’d go with a 1969 Oldsmobile Cutlass 442 Convertible he received from his wife and five kids on his 60th birthday.
Top Gear’s “The Ultimate Car Boss Chat” is chock-full of juicy tidbits, like how Gordon Murray wasn’t necessarily interested in the McLaren F1’s top speed during development. The only reason why they had to find out how fast it could go was to determine the gear ratios. Decades later, it’s still the fastest naturally aspirated production car in the world after hitting 240.1 mph (386.4 km/h). With EVs looming, it’s hard to imagine it’ll ever be dethroned.
Mate Rimac speaks about how hard it was for him to build the company from the ground up, mentioning Rimac was on the brink of bankruptcy several times. The situation was particularly bad after Richard Hammond’s crash, but there were other bad moments with cash running extremely low. He also spoke about his original project, converting a 1984 BMW 323i he used to drift to an EV after the combustion engine blew up.
You can watch the full interview below:
