2014 Bentley Continental is an agile beast
PALM SPRINGS, Calif. — The hardest thing about this auto-journalism gig (as if there can be anything even remotely difficult about testing expensive and exotic cars), is trying to figure out the metaphors necessary to provide some frame of reference of how it feels to be behind the wheel of a highpriced supercar.
Indeed, my job is not to detail phantasmagorical technological advancements or list mere hedonistic accoutrements, but to create an image, a point of reference if you will, that transports you from your bare-bones Corolla or Impala into the sumptuous leather, ferocious acceleration and sometimes face-distorting cornering that is the modern supercar. Telling you how fast a Ferrari 458 might be or listing the manifold gee-gaws that come with a modern Rolls-Royce is child’s play; making it come alive to those not born into wealth can appreciate, well that takes work.
So my many thanks to George Zicarelli, freelancer extraordinaire, for graciously offering up his metaphor that I might save time in writing this missive and get back to the more serious work of supping mojitos in sunny San Diego. No need, this time, for me to scour the thesaurus for synonyms for “scintillating” or prowl Google for anecdotes that say “performance beyond measure” — I’ll just run with what George said and fill in a few blanks.
His revelation was that this particular iteration of the big Bentley Continental GT is the automotive equivalent of Bo Jackson.
For those who have no idea who Bo might be — and don’t have ready access to Wikipedia — Mr. Jackson (to the IRS, just Bo to everyone else in the sporting world) was perhaps the most naturally gifted athlete of all time. Imagine Barry Sanders running through 250-pound linebackers on his way to Yankee Stadium to crush a home run like Mark McGwire and you have an idea of his otherworldly talents.
Throw in a few excursions into golf, luge and, yes, even auto racing, along the way and you might understand why he was such a legend. He was fast, he was strong and he had a desire to conquer all before him.
But it was the sheer grace of Jackson’s athleticism that made the then-famed “Bo Knows ...” Nike TV commercials legendary. The ads featured the world-class footballer/baseball player taking on the likes of Mary Decker, John McEnroe and even Wayne Gretzky to prove that Bo knew running, tennis and hockey as well as he did football and baseball. Jackson — despite looking like a walking, talking steroid commercial — was the very picture of the behemoth who could dance as if weightless.
And it is that very grace in the presence of girth that, I think, had George comparing the big Bentley to Bo. Like Jackson, a Continental GT is a big brute, its 2,295 kilograms in this V-8 S guise more in line with a hulking lineman than a sprinting halfback. And yet, like ESPN’s “greatest athlete of all time,” my big bright St. Jasmin Red Continental GT V-8 S (the coupe starts at $237,820, the convertible $23,870 more) can sprint to 100 kilometres an hour in a mass-defying 4.5 seconds. That it then powers on to a top speed of 309 km/h just proves that, like Bo, the V-8 S is not a one-trick pony.
That’s because, again, like Bo, the GT has might beyond measure. The V-8 S may have dumped four cylinders (the W12 is forsaken for an Audi-based V-8) and displacement (from 6.0 litres to 4.0L), but there’s a whopping 521 horsepower available and, perhaps more importantly when you’re trying to motivate almost 2,300 kilograms of leather and steel, 502 pound-feet of torque.
The scary thing is — scary as in, can you imagine if Bo had actually applied himself to hockey or tennis? — the big Bentley could have been faster still. The V-8 powering the GT V-8 S is lifted, largely intact, from Audi’s A7 where, in its ultimate guise, the RS7, it pumps out 560 ponies and 516 torques. Bentley says the reason for this comparative deficit is that the lower-output version is more in keeping with the company’s more civilized temperament, though a cynic (who, me?) might think Audi’s determination to keep the best for itself might have had an equal hand in the decision.
What is certain, however, is that, had Bentley imbued the V-8 S with the full-brunt 560-hp, it might have stultified sales of the GT Speed version of the Continental, which produces just 56 more horsepower than Audi’s version of the 4.0L from its gargantuan W12.
Whatever the case, the twin-turbo V-8 moves the V-8 S with alacrity and makes the joyous, yet thoroughly sophisticated, noises becoming of a big-buck English grand touring coupe/convertible.
Of course anyone, given enough muscle, can be strong. What sets the Continental GT, most especially in this V-8 S version, apart from every other car that weighs over 5,000 pounds is its ability to cut and pivot like Bo dancing through linebackers on his way to yet another touchdown.
Compared with the more pedestrian GT V-8, for instance, the S model gets all manner of enhancements in a quest for sporting bona fides. Ride height has been lowered by 10 millimetres, the suspension’s springing has been stiffened and the various bushes that join the suspension bits to the framework have been stiffened even more.
The GT is hedonism incarnate. The interior’s leather makes Gucci gloves seem harsh. The vents are honestto-God real chrome. And the piano black trim does indeed look like it was lifted from a Bechstein.