BENTLEY CONTINENTAL GT Sleeker, slicker and sexier V3.0 drawing room on wheels

Third-gen Brit bruiser knows how to soak up the hits

CAN WE talk about good decisions? The success of the third and latest generation Bentley Continental GT hinges on just one. Surprisingly, it’s a decision that so many Grand Touring class cars get wrong and if – as Bentley is – you’re intent on defining the best grand tourer in the world, it’s the fundamental building block of the car. That single attribute you need to nail is ride quality. It’s as simple as that.

The Continental GT’S trump card is the polar opposite of a sub-eight Nurburgring lap time. Dial the diamond-knurled drive selector switch into Comfort and it rides better than any Continental GT before it. The reason for that is the new three-chamber air spring design that delivers 60 percent more air volume and a wider range of stiffness controls. You’ll feel it on city streets, where the Continental now has a properly sybaritic waftability that’s so well-honed that you’re going to spend most of your time in this mode. Some tyre noise from the custom-designed 21-inch Pirelli P Zeros – even with proprietary noise cancellation tech – defeats the double glazing, but otherwise it’s a delightful place to be. At typical highway speeds, it’s one of those cars that covers ground effortlessly. Has Bentley built the best? It has to be up there with a Porsche Panamera on that score, which is no great surprise, given the commonality of engineering between the two cars.

Point the lower and wider nose at a twistier road and switch the Conti into Sport and it does a fairly convincing impression of a sports car when driven at seventenths. Go harder than that and the suspension starts to run out of travel as 2252kg of car starts to hammer into compressions and massive unsprung weights contend with mid-corner bumps. Drive goes to all four wheels, but there’s a clear rear bias. In Comfort, a maximum of 38 percent of the 900Nm of torque can go to the front tyres, while in Sport, that’s dialled back still further to 17 percent.

The eight-speed ZF dual-clutch transmission is a curious choice. Just when most manufacturers are re-embracing increasingly sharp-witted torque-converter automatics, Bentley has instead decided to go the other way. We remain unconvinced that, at low speeds at least, a dual-clutch – even with a dual-mass flywheel – can slur between shifts quite as smoothly as a torque-converter automatic.

The price before on-roads of most Conti GT W12s is bound to start with a 5 rather than a 4, as most buyers will also purchase the optional City and Touring specification packs. The former removes some of the worry about manoeuvring this car

with decidedly limited threequarter visibility by adding a suite of cameras and sensors as well as auto-dimming door mirrors. Touring specification nets you adaptive cruise, a head-up display, lane-keep assist, night vision and AEB. It seems a bit rich to charge extra for features you’d find on a Kia, but the two packs are $10,382 and $16,245 respectively.

Despite the niggles about options, Bentley has pretty much nailed the brief on this car. It’s a delight of a GT car, with a useable 358-litre boot, a 900km range and a 333km/h top speed that ensures you’ll always have plenty in reserve. It’s a half-milliondollar-plus proposition in typical trim, but what price do you put on the best grand tourer in the world? The Continental GT might just have the talent to claim that crown. Even with this sort of financial commitment, some decisions are easier than others.