Bentley raises the roof
BenTleY’s gorgeous new 207 mph British-built convertible must be on a fair few Christmas wishlists. But a £180,000 price tag might just be beyond santa. Ahead of next year’s centenary, Bentley has taken the top off its third-generation Continental grand Tourer to produce a powerful cabriolet capable of accelerating from rest to 60 mph in 3.7 seconds.
And for the first time, buyers can choose to have a traditional British tweed material for the car’s canopy. The roof opens or retracts in 19 seconds while the car is travelling at speeds of up to 30 mph and soundproofing is better than the previous hard-top coupe version. Plus there’s a neck-warmer to blow warm air around the headrests of the seats, which also have cooling, heating and massage functions.
The Convertible costs £20,000 more than the hard-top coupe. It’s built at Crewe and powered by a 635 hp 6-litre 12-cylinder petrol engine linked to an eight-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission. It averages 22.8 mpg, but half the engine can shut down to run on just six cylinders.
There’s a choice of 17 exterior paint colours (up to 70 in the extended range) plus bespoke options, eight interior hood linings, 15 interior trim hides and 15 carpets. each handmade cabin has ten square metres of wood veneer.
It has the world’s first rotating dashboard with three ‘faces’ — a plain veneer, a high-tech 12.3 in touchscreen for satnav or media, or three circular analogue dials displaying the temperature, compass and a chronometer.
Myriad safety features include traffic- sign recognition, trafficjam and lane assistance system, head-up display and roll-control to boost handling.
Bentley Motors chairman and chief executive Adrian hallmark promises ‘full electrification’ of the range by 2025, with several plug-in hybrids in the pipeline.
The company was founded in 1919 by english engineer Walter Owen Bentley, and has been owned by germany’s Volkswagen group since 1998.