(2003) BENTLEY CONTI R vs BENTLEY CONTI GT (2021)
Or, the time Bentley replaced a country pile on wheels with a 4WD tech fest
WELL THAT’S QUITE A PAIR.
Isn’t it just? You might be surprised to learn just 15 years separates the Conti R’s demise and the Conti GT’s introduction. The Silver Pearl land yacht pictured here is a 2003 car, a ‘Final Series’ Mulliner special that brought a car born in the early Nineties to a close.
IS IT SURPRISINGLY MODERN?
Not at all. This must have felt ancient as production wound down, the first-gen Continental GT that replaced it surely representing a leap to rival Neil Armstrong’s. Some contemporary reviews of the first Volkswagenified Bentley bemoaned a lack of sparkle, and when you experience the car it directly replaced, it’s easy to see just how sanitised the GT must have suddenly felt.
HOW COME?
This Continental R is as joyously idiosyncratic as luxury cars get. While both cars here are coupes, the older car is basically a two-door limo, longer than today’s Flying Spur and with acres of room and bay-window visibility for rear passengers. They even get help with ingress and egress, those humongous front doors wearing a handle at each end of their lusciously stitched inner side. Other interior quirks include distracting rows of tiny circular gauges, a foot-operated parking brake and a fiddly starter button.
AND HOW DOES IT DRIVE?
It doesn’t really drive, it wafts. Bentley’s venerable 6.75-litre V8 was producing around 420bhp by this point, which ought to be a lot for Nineties tyres and traction control to process, but the Conti R actually grips pretty gamely. It just feels engineered to deter the driver from aggression at every turn. A Sport button helps its 4spd automatic kick down a little more keenly, with negligible difference to actual progress (the 0–60mph run takes around 6.0secs). It’s a behemoth benchmark of comfort and a truly effortless thing to cruise around in; for all its rakish two-door vibe, it still feels like you’re being chauffeured even when you’re in the driver’s seat.
THE NEW ONE’S SPORTIER, RIGHT?
It certainly is. Though the modern Continental is still a paragon of comfort, this 4.0-litre V8 ‘entry’ model has genuine dynamic vigour to it. With its rear-biased four-wheel drive, four-wheel steering and 48V anti-roll tech it’ll happily play the role of something markedly below two tonnes, even if its 2,165kg kerbweight is only around 250kg down on its enormous grandfather. Their starkest difference is actually in cost: new, this Continental R was among the world’s most expensive cars at £230,000. Or close to £400k in today’s cash, where the latest Conti GT is £151,800 before options. Volkswagen influence may have softened some of Bentley’s edges, but it has helpfully softened its prices, too.