A not so genteel Bentley
Bentley’s new twin-turbo V8 is both $40,000 more affordable and 40 per cent more fuel efficient, writes Paul Owen.
You’ll have to go elsewhere for a fourseat drop-top, but the FF does everything else well in coupe-estate style, and with 4x4 like the Bentley, it’s a surprisingly flexible package. At $635,000 it’s expensive too. Maserati offers six rag and tin-top coupes between $275,000 and $350,000. Beautiful cars with great presence, lots of the right kind of noise and performance. Cramped rear, but gorgeous both inside and out. THE LATE W O Bentley was a fairly sensitive chap, judging from his statement that he hated ‘‘noise for the sake of noise’’.
If he were alive today, I can imagine him sitting in the back seat of one of his limousines, with his finger twitching on the trigger of his engraved Purdy shotgun, ready to blow out the speakers of any drum ‘ n’ bass music-loving boy racer that he encounters. The council noise control office would also be one of the most frequently called numbers on his cellphone.
So I wonder what W O would make of Bentley’s latest engine? For the new 375kW 4.0 litre multicharged V8 emits a wide range of noises. Load it up at low revs and it sounds like a kid sucking out the last bubbly residues of a milkshake with a straw. Rev it out under a heavy foot and it has the muffled aural signature of a Nascar racer that’s escaped on to the road.
It’s during those latter moments that you can no longer give a toss what W O would think of the new V8. For it is quite likely that things are now moving so quickly that there isn’t the opportunity to think of anything other than the vanishing point of the road that’s rushing towards you, and what hazard(s) might lie beyond it. For the enthusiasm of the twin-turbo V8 to reel in the horizon certainly isn’t lacking.
You’d only spend the extra forty grand needed to access a W12- powered Continental GT coupe or GTC convertible if you considered the V8 alternative a little uncouth. You’re unlikely to do it because you found it too slow.
Bentley’s head of marketing for this region, Robin Peel, says he expects that the Australian and New Zealand markets will experience a higher proportion of V8 sales than elsewhere.
My only problem with this new Bentley motivator is its presentation. Opening the bonnet is a bit of a deflating experience, as there’s only the world’s most artfully designed oil cap to show off to the neighbours. The rest is the acres of noise- suppressing black plastic that hush the engine to nearsilence at light throttle openings, lightened only by the application of a couple of badges.
An Aston has the signature of the craftsman who hand- assembled the engine engraved into it. The 4.2 litre V8 of a far more affordable Audi RS4 has bold red rocker cover castings and a voluminous induction system that’ll have you muttering obscenities at its potential for performance. The Bentley V8 has a nice oil cap. It’s not good enough when you’ve just paid $ 325,000 for a GT coupe, or $375,000 for the 175kg heavier GTC Convertible.
Fortunately, Bentley compensates for the lack of under-bonnet finesse by really going to town inside the Continental’s cabin. V8 models even get their own unique wood veneer to select among myriad dash panel choices – a eucalyptus finished to look like the back of a violin. Chrome push-pull organ knobs for the air vents, and two-tone leather fitouts remain signature features of a Bentley cabin.
Meanwhile I’d arrive at the dealership prepared to pay the $26,000 required for a full Mulliner cabin upgrade, for it takes something that’s already sublime into the realms of the wonderful.
With an unladen mass of 2.3 tonnes, a 4WD Conti GT isn’t going to handle with scalpel-like accuracy, but it remains a surprisingly wieldy car for something so substantial. With the air- suspension stiffened to either of the last two of four settings, it batters the challenges of bumpy backroads into submission.
But then, this is a much more genteel car than the hyperactive Audi. A V8 Continental GT may possess the Bentley engine of which W O would least approve, but it easily retains its capacity to for a luxurious driving experience.