CARS / December
At high range, the engine revs more freely than
it used to but still has a hint of laziness about its
delivery above 4500 rpm, the transmission upshifting
automatically at 6200 rpm even in manual mode. Be
smooth, though, and the powerplant gives you su-
preme smoothness back, which is entirely the point.
The car devours millpond-flat dual carriageway in
Comfort mode, but with the gentle and cushioned
ride to which Bentley regulars will be well accus-
tomed. It can devour B-roads in the same mode and
fashion, and without ever coming close to running
out of body control, but it doesn’t feel much more
meaningfully athletic or ‘sporting’ than its predeces-
sor thusly configured.
The Continental GT also has a ‘Bentley’ driving
mode, which is certainly a step up for the car, evi-
denced in terms of handling agility and body control.
It’s the mode the car defaults to, and it’s the one most
testers said they’d use for most journeys – with one
or two preferring an à la carte Custom setting, mix-
ing in either the softer suspension settings of Com-
fort or its weightier Sport steering settings, or both.
The greatest success of the adaptive suspension
and active roll control systems is to so cleverly juggle
and cradle the Continental GT’s body, and to put its
various contact patches to work, that you’re hardly
aware of the car’s mass, until you begin to approach
the limit of grip at least.
Verdict
The sporting realignment of the
Continental GT has got off to a fine start
with this new 12-cylinder, launch-edition
coupé. It retains all of the tactile material
lavishness, top-level luxury, and first-order
touring refinement we’ve come to expect
from its maker, but it probably halves the
gap that existed between its predecessor
and the best-handling cars in the super-GT
niche on driver appeal.
The car’s towering real-world perfor-
mance and all-surface stability will be big
draws for customers who use their cars on
a daily basis, but they come partnered with
much better body control and cornering
poise than existing GT owners will be used
to. Except for one or two details, it’s hard to
imagine how Crewe could have better deliv-
ered on this car’s dynamic brief. Granted, a
couple of rival super-GTs nail that compro-
mise of handling agility and involvement
and touring comfort ever so slightly better.
Given the weight of opulent luxury it
has to bear, though, the Continental GT
has just come a remarkably long way as a
driver’s car. We’ll be watching with interest
how much further it may yet come. bo