- What is it?
- And better looking, right?
- Any progress under the bonnet?
- Our choice from the range
- What's the verdict?
- What is it like to drive?
- Any gizmos to make up for the bulk?
- Tell me about the powertrain.
- So, what’s its secret?
- What is it like on the inside?
- What should I be paying?
Overview
What is it?
A Bentley Continental GT – surely one of the world’s finest grand tourers – with a limitless amount of headroom, thanks to a z-fold fabric roof that can be stowed or erected in 19 seconds at up to 30mph. It competes with the Aston Martin DB11 Volante and Ferrari Portofino, among others.
Indeed, there aren’t many differences between the Continental GT Convertible and the coupe on which it’s based. Except the roof, obviously, which brings with it strengthening in the form of much bracing and metalwork. The structure is five per cent stiffer than before, while aluminium panels mean the body is 20 per cent lighter.
And better looking, right?
Oh yes, substantially better-looking. The old Continental GT was a not an unattractive car, but this new one moves things on. Bentley’s moved the front axle forward, improving weight distribution by shifting the engine lower and further back in the chassis. This means the front overhang can be much shorter, which together with the longer rear overhang gives the GT a much more aesthetically pleasing profile than the car it replaces.
Any progress under the bonnet?
Things have moved on mechanically, too. Engine wise, you’ve still got a choice of a 4.0-litre V8 or 6.0-litre W12 – each with a couple of turbochargers for good measure – but now there’s more power and torque, plus cylinder deactivation for better economy. The GT still drives all four wheels, but now through an eight-speed DSG rather than a torque-converter automatic, and up to 100 per cent of power can go to the rear wheels.
And in smooth, unruffled driving it often does, to save fuel. Three-chamber air suspension aims to give a silky smooth ride, while a 48-volt active roll control system is tasked with keeping the GT’s substantial mass in check through the corners.
Our choice from the range
What's the verdict?
“Top class. The GT in the Continental's name is there for a reason”
Just like the coupe, this is a massively more dynamic car than the one it replaces. All the drive systems give it an athleticism that a car of this size, type and mass ought not to have. And of course it’s hugely fast in a straight line. So fast and so refined, you never feel as though you’re going as fast as you really are. It’s a licence loser, that’s for sure, with an uncanny ability to carry speed cross country without getting all out of shape.
Good convertible too – while it’s plainly not as stiff as the coupe, the soft-top GT doesn’t shudder or shake like big, luxury convertibles of even just a generation ago, while with all the wind brakes in place there’s virtually no turbulence in the cabin. Which will please potential customers no end. A deeply satisfying car in which to cover lots and lots of miles, and we suspect own. At a price.
Driving
What is it like to drive?
There are a lot of very big numbers associated with the Bentley Continental GT Convertible, many of them very good. The engine, for example, is either twin-turbocharged V8 with 550bhp or a 6.0-litre W12. The 626bhp version has now been superseded by the GTC Speed.
Less good is how much the GT weighs. Its 2,414kg (that’s 170kg more than the GT) bulk in W12 form means this two-door cabriolet is some 100kg heavier than a five-door, seven-seat, fully-loaded Land Rover Discovery. Or if you’d prefer, not far off four Ariel Nomads. Yes, four.
Any gizmos to make up for the bulk?
Not unlike some of its VW Group stablemates (Porsche, Lamborghini and Audi), Bentley has chucked a lot of technology at the GT to make it handle like it doesn’t weigh as much as a small country. To try and outfox physics. A 48-volt anti-roll system for flat cornering and torque vectoring front-to-back and side-to-side means the GT does things a near 2.5-tonne car should not be able to do. It steers, grips and goes very well indeed – night-and-day better than the barge it replaces, which used to struggle to keep its mass in check.
There’s a measure of fun to be had driving this new one quickly – it’s still a heavyweight, and proud of it – but there’s no heaving or lurching, as direction changes are handled ably, without fuss or furore. So long as you don’t go crazy, you’ll be just fine.
Why? Because where you notice the weight is on the brakes. These may be the biggest steel discs ever fitted to a production car, but they still aren’t quite tough enough for the job. In everyday driving they’re just fine, but use them hard and often and things start to unravel. The other thing is that because this is a convertible, despite loads of strengthening (especially for the sills and A-pillars) there is a weeny bit of scuttle shake. Nothing like as much as a Mercedes S-Class Cabrio, but enough that you might notice a wee bit of a wobble through the steering column over rough roads. Your passenger will notice if they rest their hand on the top of the windscreen as you’re driving along. No big deal. Either way this is still a tremendous car in which to do distance – the ride is smooth, seats comfortable and interior quiet and opulent. Proper Bentley.
Tell me about the powertrain.
All-wheel drive and a smooth, quick-shifting eight-speed, double-clutch gearbox (which it doesn’t really need, because all the torque is there from just 1,300rpm) means despite the weight, the GT is hugely fast. 0-60mph only takes 3.7 seconds with the W12, while the top speed stretches beyond 200mph. Just probably not roof down.
Introduced in 2021, the GTC Speed is possibly the quintessential distillation of ‘modern Bentley’. And if that sounds pompous, then put it this way: it’s bloody tremendous, and possibly the best Bentley built since Volkswagen took the reins at the turn of the century.
And funnily enough, raw speed has little to do with it. With a top speed of 204mph, it’s barely any faster in the irrelevant top speed stakes than a standard (now discontinued) Conti GTC with the 6.0-litre W12 engine. Here it’s been lifted to 650bhp, but when the standard car already develops 626bhp and the car weighs the thick end of 2.2 tonnes, that’s like stirring a teaspoon of sugar into a chocolate cake mix. Hardly changing the recipe radically, is it?
So, what’s its secret?
Bizarrely, it’s the handling. The last thing you’d expect to be remarkable in a big, bluff, boaty Bentley. Like the Continental GT Speed coupe, the GTC has been treated to a complete refresh in where in deploys its torque, so this opulent and dignified grand-tourer – which can cruise into triple figures with less wind noise through the canvas roof than most hard-top hatchbacks – feels properly rear-driven. Not in a lairy way, more of a caddish suggestion that if you really open the taps, the Conti has some sporting juice in its blue-blooded veins.
And that’s refreshing. Bentley often talks up itself as a more sporting brand than Rolls-Royce, say, but in the 12-cylinder cars, this is a lot less evident than the V8 models we tend to prefer. The W12s feel like the grown-up, buttoned down examples, and it’s the lustier V8s with their less ponderous cornering we find ourselves falling for.
But in the Speed… something magical has happened. You still get that sense of limitless power and industrial torque, enveloped in a luxuriant world of leather, wood and turned metal, but somehow there’s a character shift. A sense of ‘I’m here to entertain, not just cosset.” This is genuinely a Bentley you might take ‘for a drive’, rather than a cruise. Selecting Sport mode might seem a rather ignoble action in a Bentley – the sort of sullying nonsense you’d expect of an Audi driver.
But here, the Speed rewards you with a hilarious biddable yet always comfortable chassis. And of course, phenomenal pace. It’s so complete, so intoxicating, it’d give even the most ardent Bentley critic their flying-B epiphany. As soft-tops go, this is truly one of the very best in the world right now – an Aston Martin DB11 Volante, Ferrari Portofino or Porsche 911 Turbo S Cabriolet wouldn’t even come close in our affections. This car is the rare proof that Speed can be big and clever.
Interior
What is it like on the inside?
It’s exceedingly refined, roof up or down. So you won’t notice you’re doing multiples of the speed limit until you’ve been pulled over and thrown in prison, which is mildly irritating.
Bentley claim the cabin is as quiet as the old coupe’s, and we believe them. Sit in traffic and there’s no telltale murmur of pedestrians that usually give away the fact you’re in a soft-top.
Indeed, there are so-called ‘luxury’ cars with proper, non-folding roofs with louder cabins than the GT Convertible’s. And when you’ve got the roof down (and windows and wind-break up), there’s basically no turbulence to speak of. Your hair will survive the journey intact. The light breeze might even give it a bit more volume. Keeping you warm with the roof down are a pair of air vents that blow hot air on the back of your neck, heated seats and heated armrests.
The interior is very good indeed – techier and better made than an Aston DB11’s, and more opulent than a Ferrari Portofino’s. Everything that looks like metal is metal, ergo everything that looks like leather is leather and everything that looks like wood is wood. All the stalks and buttons (there are loads) are beautifully damped. Its party piece is the optional rotating infotainment screen, which lets you hide the 12.3in display behind either a plain piece of veneer, or a collection of analogue clocks (a compass, temperature gauge and stopwatch). The instrument cluster is a version of VW/Audi’s Virtual Cockpit, and there’s a superb head-up display too.
The infotainment system itself looks like it borrows the basics of its interface from the Porsche Panamera, with a vertical menu down the side for switching between media/climate/nav and so on. CarPlay and Android Auto are present and accounted for. The base stereo is a 10-speaker, 650 watt setup by Bentley itself. But you’ll want to upgrade to either the 16-speaker, 1,500 watt system by B&O or the 18-speaker, 2,200 watt system by Naim. You really, really will.
Seating is for four, though you won’t use the rear two (it’s either carry three passengers and sacrifice your hairdo, or pick your favourite and keep the wind-break) and while it’s obviously not as spacious as the coupe, there’s still space enough for everyone’s luggage. The boot remains the same size – roof up or down.
Buying
What should I be paying?
Prices start at around £16,000 more than the coupe, in the mid 160s. The Aston DB11 Volante, meanwhile, costs just shy of £160k, while the Ferrari Portofino is a weirdly specific £166,241. The Rolls-Royce Wraith is over £100k more than the GT Convertible, and at the other end of the scale a Mercedes S-Class Cabrio is only £140k.
Nobody will spend mid 160s on one of these, though. The options list is simply too tempting. That cool, rotating infotainment screen? Some £4,700. The car we tested for this review was specified up to £222,960 – thank £4,500 worth of paint, the £5,000 mid-range B&O stereo and much more besides.
But buying a Bentley is not an economical move, so who cares? You certainly won’t. Nor about economy, though it’s worth noting that even the big-boy W12’s claimed 20.2mpg, 317g/km of CO2 and circa 400-mile cruising range are all far from the worst we’ve seen.
Keyword: Bentley Continental GT Convertible