Overview
THE better of British marque Bentley is winding up the warmth this yr with a brand new ‘S’ variant added to its two key fashions to bundle the very best of fashion and efficiency.
Bentley stated the ‘S’ adjusts its grand touring recipe with a particular concentrate on driving pleasure and, after driving the primary of the Continental GT fashions in ‘S’ guise, the luxury-car maker appears to have hit the nail sq. on the top.
In fact that hammer blow comes at a value. The brand new model of the Flying Spur saloon and Continental GT coupe and convertible make the money register ‘ka-ching’ at $538,200 and $517,800 respectively, plus on highway prices. The Continental GTC ‘S’ convertible is from $568,400, plus on highway prices .
Above the ‘customary’ Continental GT V8, it squeezes about an additional $58,000 from the pockets. Alone, that’s critical cash. In contrast with the overall price of the coupe, it’s about 9 per cent additional. Hen feed.
So what do you get?
Oddly, the additional equipment doesn’t stand out and dazzle. The ‘S’ begins as a V8-engined coupe after which Bentley tailor it – actually in the event you contemplate the fragile stitching of the leather-based upholstery – with enhancements to swimsuit this ‘driving pleasure’ creed.
See the black chrome, darkish tint over LED lights, black grille (chrome is elective) and gloss-black 22-inch alloys?
Does all of it make the coupe a extra fascinating bundle?
Is there worth within the new variant?
Learn on.
Driving Impressions
That is the primary Continental I’ve pushed in about eight years. Lots of issues have modified, as evident by the look of the coupe and the gray hair reflecting again within the solar visor mirror.
In actual fact, a lot has modified that you just’d be arduous pressed to swap any parts of the outdated automotive with this 2023 supply. Effectively, to be particular, one half – the glove field deal with.
A lot of what’s new within the Continental seems to be invisible. What appears to be like the identical truly isn’t – so which means there’s an terrible lot of recent stuff underneath the physique.
Though it’s readily identifiable as a Continental GT from prior years, the physique is all new.
Beneath the pores and skin, the structure of the earlier Continental has been changed with the identical platform used first by the Porsche Panamera.
The brand new coupe additionally picks up a Bentley-specific modification of the Porsche/Audi 4.0-litre V8 with two turbochargers (additionally utilized by Porsche) and eight-speed dual-clutch transmission, together with a major checklist of different parts from Porsche/Audi together with the infotainment system.
So is it a Panamera and can you get the identical buzz out of the Porsche whereas saving a number of {dollars}?
Sorry, no.
The Continental is in one other, totally different class. The place the Panamera is a sports activities automotive with luxurious, the Continental is luxurious with sports-car efficiency. The emphasis is subtly reversed.
The Bentley hides its enamel beneath the leather-based and wooden, the alloy and Dinamica (fake suede).
Dinamica is used for the steering wheel, gear lever, seat cushion and seat backrest whereas leather-based disguise is on the seat bolsters, door pads, alongside the instrument panel and across the console.
The ‘S’ will get driver-focused instrumentation with the identical graphics because the Continental GT Pace. The seats are fluted, with Bentley providing quilting as an possibility, and the ‘S’ emblem is embroidered on the headrest of every seat.
There’s additionally the choice – for gratis, win-win – of embroidered Bentley wings on the seats. Different ‘S’ identifiers embrace a steel ‘S’ signature badge on the sprint and illuminated Bentley tread plates with the ‘S’ machine changing the Bentley Motors Ltd plaque.
The coupe can’t disguise its measurement. It’s a powerful 4.85m lengthy and sits extensive and hungry on the kerb at 2187mm, together with the mirrors.
Pop it on the scales and the two-door coupe is a hefty 2172kg dry. Add people and it’s heading in direction of 2.5-tonne.
And right here’s the factor: the figures on the paper don’t add up. All this conjures up an expectation that the Continental is a fats and lazy big-engined UK cruiser constructed for 2. Lavishly, after all.
I bear in mind the outdated Continental. And certainly the Mulsanne that has left the Bentley mannequin index when somebody in Volkswagen Group realised that the four-door Flying Spur saloon had way more skill, enthusiasm and sporty character.
That’s one other story, and one other check, however the brand new Spur is an absolute deal with and generations away from the Mulsanne.
So the outdated Continental, cozy as a Posturepedic although it was, however one finest to again off when the purple mist descends.
Welcome to the most recent GT. Hearth it up and level it on the suburban rat race throughout peak-hour diversionary site visitors time, and it has completely no admission about its measurement or weight.
The steering is sharp, well-weighted and managed by a wheel that falls completely handy thanks primarily to its adjustment and that of the seat.
It simply feels proper and pleasingly – fortunately – it has that the majority fascinating of attributes which is its skill to shrink across the driver. So it magically turns into compact, extra manageable, extra agile and quicker.
Then there’s the audio. Bentley match 4 fats exhaust pipes for a motive. The 4.0-litre Porsche/Audi-derived engine has been honed to attract out all the beautiful mannerisms of gobs of torque on the backside finish, a fiery coronary heart within the mid-range of the tachometer, and the power to scream its eight lungs out in direction of the tip of the tacho’s dial.
The V8 has been utilized in a variety of tunes by a number of of the top-end fashions within the Volkswagen Group, together with Audi’s A8 and a few RS variations; Porsche’s Panamera and Cayenne; the 2 Bentley vehicles and its Bentayga SUV; and in its most 478kW/850Nm guise, the Lamborghini Urus.
Within the Continental (and Flying Spur) it pumps 404kW (542 bhp) at 6000rpm and torque of 770Nm at a dinner-table flat 2000-4500rpm.
Aided by the eight-speed dual-clutch transmission that boasts razor-shape adjustments, it’s sufficient for a 0-100km/h dash of 4.0 seconds. That’s spectacular however much more so for a beast that weighs a slip underneath 2.2 tonne.
Bentley claims 23.2 mpg – yeah, proper – which is 12 litres/100km in Australia. It attracts 95RON gasoline from a 90-litre gasoline tank, good for a blast down the coast. Any coast.
When you’re anticipating me to make a comparability with the elective W12 engine, I received’t.
Extra precisely, given the very fact I haven’t pushed it and that Bentley has introduced it’ll finish manufacturing subsequent yr, it’s a pointless argument apart from the truth that as a probably appreciating asset, the W12-engined Continental may be a worthy tax-free funding.
Scorching although the V8 engine is, the drive line is much more spectacular. The place Bentley beforehand used a everlasting all-wheel drive system, the more moderen automotive has an electronically-controlled drive that favours the rear wheels just about on a regular basis.
Torque vectoring sits on prime of this extra versatile drive and can allocate energy to any wheel it deems match.
Then there’s the model’s ‘dynamic journey’ to mix sports activities dealing with with a journey that befits the necessity for occupant consolation.
Bentley’s ‘dynamic journey’ is a intelligent little bit of equipment. It’s a 48-volt electrically-operated lively anti-roll management system, developed by Bentley, that compensates for cornering forces to minimise physique roll. Bentley stated it additionally boosts journey consolation by separating the left and right-hand wheels.
So drive it arduous and it reacts to the physics of cornering forces however deal with it gently and it rewards with a super-comfy journey. Certainly, cruising on this automotive isn’t solely a glide however exterior noise is barely perceptible.
These digital options are knitted with the facility steering as nicely, so there’s a barrage of sensors and displays that may make this automotive sit and act like a ballet dancer with barely any enter from the motive force apart from enthusiasm.
Bentley has elevated its cowl to a 5 yr, limitless distance guarantee.
Pricing:
Bentley Continental GT S V8: $517,800 plus on highway prices
