To be honest, I’ve never been a massive fan of the first-generation Bentley Continental GT. There are several reasons for this. Firstly, I grew up with certain ideas of what a Bentley was, having studied the colourful history of the marque, the flamboyant gentlemen behind it and the descriptions of some of the older models. Getting into the then-new GT was therefore somewhat of a shock, as it was a bit “normal”.
Secondly, I thought the looks were “amorphous”, lacking in character, and the interior, though of sound design direction, was let down by execution in some parts. Overall, I’d say the original Bentley GT lacked the sense of occasion I was expecting.
As described above, it is clear that the disappointment was mostly as a result of my own preconceived ideas. The new car is, however, off to an easier start as we’ve become used to having the GT as part of the modern Bentley line-up. Nevertheless, when the first images were released, I was again left disappointed, as it looked very similar to the old car.
But then I went to the Paris Motor Show and saw it in the metal. It’s a stunner. Gone are the soft, weak lines of the original, replaced by clearly defined character lines that give the new GT a much stronger presence. It looks wider, lower – more “manly” – and the detailing is quite exquisite, especially in the head- and taillamps and the way the lines meet and curve to define the bootlid.
It’s a similar story inside, where the design is similar to the old car, but the execution has been taken to another level. Once again, the design of the facia echoes the “flying wings” of the Bentley motif, but this time round the lines are more defined, the edgings stronger. Inside and out, it’s as if the previous designer used a soft, blunt pencil, while the designer of the new car used a sharpened one. It works very well. In terms of infotainment, the new model is big step forward, too. There is a new 30 GB on-board hard drive and a crystal-clear eight-inch colour display with a graphics interface that was engineered in-house to make sure the visuals fit in with the rest of the interior. As a result, the digital sliders and switches are knurled just like the real ones are for continuity sake.
We didn’t get to drive the new car, but it looks promising on paper. The new GT is 65 kg lighter than before, has more power (423 kW), more torque (700 N.m) and a revised six-speed ZF automatic transmission. Bentley claims a 0-100 km/h time of 4,6 seconds and a 318 km/h top speed.
Priced at around R3,2 million, the new Continental GT is likely to be as exclusive as its predecessor was, but my gut feeling is that this time the look-and-feel elements, so important in a car such as this where the buying decision is almost purely emotional, are vastly more convincing.
To view the car, visit the dealership at the Harbour Edge building on Hospital Street in Cape Town. Phone 021 419 0595 for more info.