Was the SSC Tuatara Worth the 15-Year Wait? We Finally Drive It

They say perfection takes time. SSC founder and CEO Jerod Shelby takes that phrase to heart.

SSC wowed us with the first Tuatara concept way back in 2011. It took another seven years for the first production car to make its public debut in Monterey in 2018. Now, 14 years after its debut, the supercar maker is finally getting its highly anticipated hypercar into the hands of its first few customers.

The question remains, was it worth the wait?

Short answer: Yes. Hell yes. Built entirely from the ground up, the Tuatara uses a twin-turbocharged 5.9-liter flat-plane crank V-8 that makes an absolutely mind-boggling 1,350 horsepower on pump fuel or 1,750 on ethanol. That gets it to 60 in just about 2.5 seconds and on nearly to 300 miles per hour flat out.

A seven-speed single-clutch gearbox manages all that power, which is sent exclusively to the rear wheels. That’s right, 1,350 hp on the back tires. A clever traction management system and a custom hydraulic suspension help control the madness, which means you can safely rip the Tuatara on public roads without (too much) fear of coming face-to-face with a concrete barrier.

The design—even though it’s nearly old enough for a learner’s permit—is still beautiful. Former Pininfarina designer Jason Castriota penned the aerospace-inspired, ultra-streamlined shape. Castriota is the same artist responsible for the Ferrari P4/5 and the Ford Mustang Mach-E, so he knows a thing or two about slippery designs.

Buyers can choose from two versions: The standard Tuatara, which was made for high-speed runs (the same car that reached an officially recorded top speed of 282.9 mph), or the track-focused Striker, which comes with a bevy of aerodynamic upgrades. The Striker’s various wings and things yield 1,100 pounds of downforce at 160 miles per hour, with 45.4 percent of that downforce applied to the front of the car. The track-focused tweaks are meant to make the Tuatara an absolute monster at your local circuit, and this trim seems to be a favorite among early buyers.

“Once we introduced [the Striker] last year, it seems like this is what everyone is ordering,” CEO Jerod Shelby tells me from the passenger seat. “It just looks more aggressive with bigger rockers and all the fins and dive planes… We’re doing a lot of track testing right now, getting ready to try and break a lap record at COTA or Laguna Seca this year.”

Sadly, my test is relegated to the highways and backroads around this year’s Moda Miami event in Coral Gables. Not exactly Laguna Seca. Nevertheless, puttering around public roads in SSC’s 1,350-hp monster machine for 15 minutes gave me a brief preview of what this car is truly capable of. And it’s impressive.

Photo by: Ethan Haynes | @ct_car_photos

Photo by: Ethan Haynes | @ct_car_photos

Photo by: Ethan Haynes | @ct_car_photos

Photo by: Ethan Haynes | @ct_car_photos

I slowly dip into the accelerator pedal’s travel on the first highway onramp just to get a feel for this car’s immensely powerful V-8. It’s impressive. Even though I’m not pushing this car anywhere near its limit, the Tuatara’s acceleration is incomparable. The back end twitches just enough under hard acceleration to get those butterflies in my belly a’fluttering, but it’s simultaneously moving in a straight line at speeds my puny mind can hardly comprehend. The Bugatti Chiron never felt this quick, and the Rimac Nevera wasn’t anywhere near as visceral.

The V-8 behind my head sounds like it’s trying to escape the engine bay while the seven-speed automated manual is firing off shifts with unbelievable quickness. Shelby says the seven-speed shifts at a rate of sub-100 milliseconds, and I believe it.

With more bravery, I push the Tuatara harder on the highway—third gear, fourth gear, and well into illegal speeds before traffic slows me down. Again, even at these speeds, the Tuatara Striker doesn’t feel anywhere near its ultimate capabilities. And frankly, that kind of insatiable speed is addicting.

Photo by: Ethan Haynes | @ct_car_photos

What’s even more impressive about the Tuatara is how well it handles the monotony of stop signs and speed bumps. The hydraulic suspension in the softest setting does a surprising job of soaking up bumps. The seats aren’t super comfy—they typically aren’t in hypercars—but it never once felt backbreaking. An abundance of glass makes the tight cockpit feel less claustrophobic, and even though the seven-speed takes some finagling to figure out, it’s not all that difficult when you know what to do.

Even in just 15 minutes, the Tuatara blew me away. It’s immensely powerful, addictingly quick, and frankly, not all that terrible to live with. I would have loved to spend more time with the Striker on the track to uncork its full potential, but for a hypercar nearly 15 years in the making, I’d say it was well worth the wait.

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Ethan Haynes | @ct_car_photos