Wing and a prayer

One of the very few true bargains at £115K.

Kevin Haggarthy considers Bentley's most popular flagship to date – the stunning Bentley Continental GT

Bentley’s re-launch with the Continental GT is quite a story. It’s a tale of romance and inspiration with its roots in a long and venerable tradition of British motor manufacturing at its most refined.

The future means business
To Bentley, the Continental GT is more than a new model – it is the future of the marque. To parent company Volkswagen, it is also a proposition that makes sound business sense.

Volkswagen’s substantial vote of confidence came in the reliable form of a £500 million investment. This was not just about making sufficient funds available to build the car properly, but also the transformation of Bentley’s Crewe HQ into a state-of-the-art manufacturing base.

Take heed, for when Volkswagen makes such a hefty investment in a marque it usually means business. And when a company’s CV involves the highly successful transformation of a previously foundering Skoda – possibly the most daunting challenge for any motoring manufacturer at the time – you are compelled to take them very seriously indeed.

Fortunately, in spite of the anxieties of British motoring heritage purists, VW seems to have the exceptional management and branding skills needed to make the new company a success.

Good news for Bentley, then.

The business case
So to the business case. The design brief for the Continental GT was to create a car with as much room as the most spacious coupés on the market, equip it with the performance and responses of the world’s most dynamic supercars, yet retain the whole within compact dimensions.

The Continental GT does exactly that.

What’s more it’s pitched at the £100,000-plus price point – a category virtually devoid of competition in this sector, bar the Mercedes CL65, which costs an additional £30,000. Yet the Continental remains true to the Bentley brand in every sense – its quality equivalent to any Bentley product from the company’s glorious past. While it might seem odd to speak of a £115,000 bargain, this turns out to be a pretty accurate description of the Continental GT.

To Bentley this keen market placement and aggressive pricing strategy opens the doors to many new converts to the brand. This view is now supported by last year’s sales which total an impressive 6576 and currently look even stronger for 2005/6.

The GT is clearly a winner and shrewd VW is already starting to recoup its investment.

In the beginning…
From concept to credentials, the new Bentley Continental has hit the motoring world by storm.

With a top speed of over 180mph, and cap-able of 0-60mph in only 4.5 secs, this remarkable machine is now officially the fastest four-seater coupé in the world. Powered by a Bentley-designed, 6-litre, twin-turbocharged W12 engine, it will churn out an eye-watering 500 brake horsepower. The decision to opt for four-wheel drive is a first for Bentley, as is the paddle operated six-speed automatic gearbox. And the four-wheel drive set-up contributes not only to this car’s exceptional handling, but also its year-round versatility in all conditions.

In addition to the impressive mechanical spec, the Continental GT’s winning formulae include comfortable cabin space for four proper sized adults and enough luggage space for a fortnight’s tour.

In styling terms, Bentley translated the design philosophy of models such as the classic 1928 Bentley Speed Six, and the 1952 R type Continental, into contemporary form with a keen eye to the future. Due to the miracles of virtual technology it took just four months for the preferred design to be submitted to the board. ‘What you’re looking for,’ claims designer Dirk van Braeckel, ‘are the things that gave those [classic models] such presence and a stance that shouted “Bentley”.’

Every detail is a testament to the Bentley heritage.

The lines are both clean and attractive, complemented by a cabin encased in the finest quality hides and wood veneer. Aficionados would expect no less from Bentley, of course, and newcomers to the brand will immediately be won over to cabin’s quality and finish.

Dash controls are uncluttered and easy to use. Even the feel to the switch gear has been quality-controlled to maximise ergonomic and sensual satisfaction. Most routine dash functions like hi-fi, phone and cruise control are mounted on the steering, while the remainder are set either side of a multi-function screen mounted to the centre of the dash.

As we were to find on our factory visit, craftsmanship and tradition dominate the ‘look and feel’ and finish of every minute detail.

In the factory…
Here’s the challenge. Go for your first factory visit to Bentley with your cheque book firmly tucked into your inside pocket and make a dec-ision to keep an open mind over the prospect of a purchase. Have a word with your friendly bank manager and ask him to kindly allow your account to clear £115,000 over the next few days should you choose to spend it. Then go for your tour.

Our guess is that you’ll leave Crewe thinking that this was the best value one hundred grand shopping spree of your life.

You won’t have your newly acquired pride and joy delivered to your home either. No, instead you will probably travel hundreds of miles for the sheer privilege of collecting this jewel of motoring heritage from its birthplace (as most new owners do) after having savoured its painstaking development over the previous six months. No doubt you’ll have visited the factory at least twice to see how your Continental GT is progressing, making the final handover a cause for celebration in its own right.

You are a shrewd and very lucky person.

It is said that you can read a successful company from the minute you walk through its doors. We at MARQ were immediately impressed by the sense of optimism, enthusiasm, and dedication to the brand we experienced at Bentley – from management to factory floor. As we were expertly led through the assembly corridors of the Crewe factory we met dedicated crafts people who had a real passion for the role they play in creating the GT.

We could have spent half an hour talking to the women painstakingly sewing the hand stitched leather on the doors (it takes about a day and a half per door and make one mistake and the cotton has to be stripped out and you start all over again) and then another half an hour’s discussion with the man crafting the wooden steering wheels, marvelling at his dexterity for carving pinpoint-accurate sew holes on the leather steering wheels measured with a bent dinner fork – he found it more accurate than the computerised system.

In the Crewe factory craftsmanship takes centre stage.

On the technical side, the enthusiasm and ex-pertise is nothing less than obsessive – nothing is too much trouble, and you will not be allowed to leave until you are given an answer.

Thank god we left our cheque books at the office.

On the road...
So to the afternoon and following a pleasant lunch discussing all-things-Bentley with head of corporate communications Kay Francis, and head of product communications Martin Broomer, it was our turn to sample the subject of our visit – the Bentley Continental GT.

While our factory tour had left us impressed, the ultimate assessment of the new Bentley must rest with its performance on the road. Everything to date told us this car just had to deliver.

But as our publishing director, riding passenger, was already having trouble wrenching his head away from the headrest it was clear that two turbo chargers, a 12-cylinder engine and 479lb/ft of torque had its own way of showing who’s boss when serious acceleration is called for. The accelerative surge is simply relentless – yet the Bentley driving experience charms the ear the second the key is turned, its sharp burbling subdued yet underlying aggressive exhaust note an inviting prospect to what lies ahead.

Despite its simply enormous power potential, the experience behind the wheel of the GT is by no means a daunting one. At low speeds it sits, hums, and obeys your every command. The quality feel of the coachwork is very much in evidence in the driving experience; the seats sit firm but are extremely comfortable, and the car feels remarkably compact for its size and bulk. You’re always aware of the GT’s latent power just waiting to be applied, yet at the same time the car also works as a day-to-day commuter ride, albeit one of exceptional style.

Suspension settings are variable but the emphasis is on a firm sure-footed ride – and so it should be for a Bentley. Work the Continental hard cross country, flicking through the six gear ratios via paddle shift, and the GT simply has amazing pace. It’s the torque that does it – the maximum torque curve is set low, meaning you get very high torque at low revs, ensuring quick and purposeful pick up from low speed

With a firm right foot, and holding the GT in low gear, you will be in an exceptional high speed rush to the next bend, the speedo will be 20mph or even 30mph higher than you thought, but then you’ll relish the cornering composure the big GT maintains. Its tendency to slightly oversteer is balanced out by understeer as the four-wheel drive technology and chassis tuning sort themselves out. It’s fun, almost fairground style, and while the sheer bulk of the GT pressures the suspension on ultimate cornering load, you’ll be delighted by such blinding pace and road-holding finesse.

Need we say that motorway cruising is a doddle, often tempting you to hold back from an overtaking opportunity so that you can appear in a flash to the car ahead and disappear into oblivion the moment the mood takes you. Road hooligan? No, just enjoying a contemporary classic, Officer.

There is certainly a tinge of regret every time you step out of the Bentley Continental GT. But only because the experience is over…


BENTLEY CONTINENTAL GT
Price £115,000
Engine W12 twin turbocharged
Top speed 180mph+
Capacity 6 litre
Max power 500bhp
0-62 mph 4.5 secs
Transmission 6 speed automatic

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