Bentley Continental GT
An alternative to flying first class, the new Bentley Continental GT nails the grand tourer brief
Ettore Bugatti, head of the French car manufacturer that bears his name to this day, didn’t respond well to Bentley pitching up on his patch back in the 1920s.
Aware of the British manufacturer’s intent to make off with the laurels at the Le Mans 24 hours endurance race, he looked upon the sheer heft of the British Racing Green monoliths alongside his petite sky blue racers and declared Bentley “makers of the fastest trucks in the world.”
On a number of levels he wasn’t wrong. Despite founder Walter Owens Bentley describing Le Mans as “a stupid race” — he felt running for an entire day and night would break any car — Bentley won in 1924, then every year from 1927 to 1930. So the cars were the fastest. But they were also truck- size big. Harking back, perhaps, to WO’s days as a locomotive engineer.
And, for all the advances of Bentley’s justcelebrated 100 years as a car builder, and the intervening leaps in automotive construction, 95 years on from that first Le Mans win, the echoes of Bugatti’s sharp observation remain.
To this day, Bentley products — be they
coupés, convertibles, saloons or SUVs – are high performance, luxury products with a price tag to match. In such echelons, where absolutes are sought, weight and displacement inevitably follow. Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose ( the more things change, the more they stay the same), as Bugatti may have said.
Broadly, there should be no issue with that. Solidity, integrity and quality are points of reassurance in any high- end piece, and a car is no different. And anyway, if – to achieve the requisite levels of refinement and comfort – Bentley need to offset the weight that follows with a hike in power, well, they’ve historically proven very good at that.
This has meant, over the years, helming a Bentley has felt exactly that: the driver as the captain of a ship that turns more slowly than it accelerates, but does so with assurance and aplomb. And a rabid commitment to the consumption of fuel. Which, two decades into the 21st century, was becoming a bit problematic.
As a result of which, the all- new, thirdgeneration Bentley Continental lands on your drive a full 80kg lighter than its predecessor. Making it more economical and yet, paradoxically, quicker. It changes the driving characteristics, too: the nose more willing to change direction under load and ever- keener to launch from standstill.
And yet, the GT remains the consummate Grand Tourer its nomenclature suggests. In just four days, I did London to Manchester and return, followed by London to Exeter and return, close to 1,000 miles. The nearest equivalency I can offer is flying first class.
You sit ensconced in the finest leathers, surrounded by immaculate veneers and face a dashboard with a rotating display, James Bond- style, to show analogue or digital information as you require. Progress is peerless, the balance between comfort and handling sublime, and even at speed there is silence all about and power delivery as though cream being poured from a jug.
Be in no doubt, as a 2+ 2 coupé, this Bentley remains big. But it is clever. Ettore Bugatti would hate it.
Bentley Continental GT. 6.0- litre // twin- turbocharged W12 // 626bhp // 664lb/ ft torque // 0- 60mph in 3.6 seconds // top speed 207mph // 23.2mpg combined // 278g/ km CO2 // From £ 159,100 //
bentley. co. uk