The Utopia is Pagani's Surprise Third Act with a Manual Transmission and 860 HP

Photo: Pagani

Pagani has come out with its own Godfather Part III, but this time it’s actually good. Feast your eyes on the new Pagani Utopia. It may look like a Zonda and Huayra came together and had a baby, but Pagani says it’s all new… and it’s got a dogleg manual transmission if you want one.

Photo: Pagani

Let’s start out with the heart of the all-new Utopia – its engine. Like all Paganis before, it comes sporting a Mercedes-AMG-derived V12. This one just happens to have two turbochargers strapped to it, making a claimed 864 horsepower and 811 lb-ft of torque out of six liters of displacement. Here’s the big news: the return of the manual transmission. All that power can be routed through either a seven-speed manual transmission or an automated manual. Unfortunately, there’s no Koenigsegg manual and automatic transmission in one wizardry here.

Okay, let’s take a look at the design of the Utopia. We’ll get back to all of that techy stuff in a bit. Bear with me here, because I think it looks great.

Photo: Pagani

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According to Horatio Pagani himself, the Utopia was first penned over six years ago. While there are some new design elements, a lot of the car harkens back to Paganis of yesterday, which is sort of wild considering the first one came out only 23 years ago. Some of the most recognizable Pagani traits are here – especially at the back. There’s a center-mounted quad exhaust flanked on each side by stacked tail lights. It definitely has a very Zonda look to it, despite being all-new.

Up front, Pagani’s signature small twin headlights are present, and overall the car’s canopy/teardrop silhouette is still there. It’s unmistakably a Pagani, and I’m positive that it was by design. If you’re a billionaire buying a Pagani, you want people to know what it is.

Photo: Pagani

The Utopia’s body is made from a new type of carbon fiber. Pagani says the new material offers increased stiffness over the old car’s shell. For that extra level of “pa-zazz” – the Utopia has butterfly doors. I mean, it would be insane if it didn’t, right? All in all, the new Pagani weighs just 2,822 pounds dry. If it had fluids in it, who knows how much it would weigh? Perhaps a billion pounds. Who knows?

Inside the Utopia is a very interesting mix of old and new, all while maintaining that signature Pagani look. It’s not really a surprise that the car is also covered head to toe in leather, aluminum and carbon fiber.

What may be a surprise is the fact the Italian company ditched the big center-screen that the Huayra had. In its place are four gauges, seven toggle switches and h-vac controls. The screen has been moved between the two analog gauges in the instrument cluster.

Photo: Pagani

Okay, okay, back to the techy stuff you guys were clamoring for. The Utopia has a double wishbone suspension that Pagani says is made out of an aerospace-grade aluminum alloy. It’s got electronically adjustable dampers and inboard coil over springs.

Photo: Pagani

The Utopia comes standard with carbon-ceramic, 16.14 inch six-piston Brembo calipers up front with 15.4 inch four-pistons in the back. Going over those rather large brakes are some rather large wheels. The Utopia will feature 21s in the front and 22s at the back. Take a look at them. They’re rather neat, aren’t they?

Those wheels are wrapped in Pirelli P-Zero corsa tires measuring 265/35 at the front and 325/30 at the rear.

Pagani says the first series of Utopia coupes – all 99 of them – have already been spoken for. So, even if you have the $2.5 million Car and Driver says it’ll cost to buy a Utopia, you’re out of luck. But don’t worry. I’m almost certain there will be a number of special editions and roadster variants coming down the pipeline.

It’s a new era at Pagani, and unlike Coppola, it doesn’t look like Pagani is screwing up its third act.