Bentley Continental R

Overview

What is it?

Believe it or not, the Silver Pearl land yacht pictured here is a 2003-registered car. It’s a ‘Final Series’ Mulliner special that brought production of the Bentley Continental R, which began in the early Nineties, to a close. Though it’s fair to say its lavish proportions (and lavish chrome) speak of a style much more antiquated.

It’s a grand old looking thing and one that must have felt ancient as sales wound down, the first-gen Continental GT that immediately replaced it surely representing a leap to rival Neil Armstrong’s. Some contemporary reviews of the first Volkswagen-ified Bentley bemoaned a lack of sparkle, and when you experience the car it directly replaced, it’s easy to see just how sanitised the GT must have suddenly felt.

This Continental R is as joyously idiosyncratic as luxury cars get. While both the R and its GT replacement are four-seat coupes, the older car is basically a two-door limo, longer even than today’s Flying Spur and with acres of room and bay-window visibility for rear passengers. They even get help with ingress and egress, those humongous front doors wearing a handle at each end of their lusciously stitched inner side. There’s little of the uncouth hurdling over the front seat that modern 2+2s demand.

I’m assuming it has ample power.

You assume correctly. The rear wheels are driven by Bentley’s famed – and now retired – 6.75-litre V8 engine, here utilising turbocharging but with no link to the front axle. Which isn’t to say it’s some kind of wild drift-monster beside Crewe’s modern AWD stuff. The engine’s delivery is far too eloquent for that.

The figures it produced varied wildly through the Conti R’s life, from 315bhp at the model’s 1991 launch to around 420bhp by the time production slowed to a halt in 2003. Torque is the more appropriate number to analyse, though, for here’s a car that works best when revs are kept low. It rose from 485lb ft to a gargantuan 650lb ft through the R’s life, with both figures delivered at just 2,200rpm. The rev counter, for reference, redlines at 4,500rpm. Like an old London cab’s.

Less manoeuvrable, though?

Well, at 5.3m long and 1.8m wide this ain’t small. But it’s an old car, so visibility is great, thanks to both its huge glasshouse and the proud prow of its bonnet. And driving it is a doddle generally, with a broadly smooth four-speed automatic gearbox and a huge wheel that twirls around like there’s helium pumped through the steering rack.

New, this Continental R was among the world’s most expensive cars at £200,000 (plus). Or, once you’ve processed it through an inflation calculator, nearly £400k in today’s cash. Which looks as intimidatingly oversized as the car itself when the latest Conti GT is £152k before options. VW influence may have softened some of Bentley’s edges, but it helpfully softened its prices, too.

But you certainly can’t argue against the sheer materials provided for such money. The R still feels leviathan, which is great news for roominess in the back seats, but less good for scalpel-sharp handling. But with an absolute mountain of torque from tiny revs, this isn’t about frenetic progress. It’s about swishing around in near silence marvelling at the world outside its massive windows. And what a wonderful time you’ll have doing so.

Driving

What is it like to drive?

It doesn’t really drive, it wafts. Bentley’s venerable 6.75-litre V8 was producing around 420bhp by this point, which ought to be a lot for Nineties tyres and traction control (which turns off with one quick button press) to process, but the Conti R actually grips pretty gamely. It just feels engineered to deter the driver from aggression at every turn.

The steering is disconcertingly remote and though the V8 sounds grumbly under hard acceleration, it’s a million miles from the choreographed pops and bangs of today.

A Sport button helps its four-speed automatic kick down a little more keenly, with negligible difference on actual progress. While 0-60mph takes around six seconds on paper, momentum is gained in such a smooth and linear way, you’ll barely notice velocity gather at the current going rate of a rapid hot hatchback.

All told it’s a behemoth benchmark of comfort and a truly effortless thing to cruise around in; for all its rakish two-door vibe, it still feels like you’re being chauffeured even when you’re in the driver’s seat. It’s likely Bentley foresaw the world of assisted driving systems and simply engineered them into the chassis and powertrain from the off.

Interior

What is it like on the inside?

As we mentioned, it’s like a limo in the back of the Conti R, with handles at each end of the elongated doors so that both front and rear occupants can unlock and open them. Whether you’d want to sit in the back as a grown adult – wallowing through corners – is another question, but you could probably make yourself quite comfortable doing so.

Other interior quirks include distracting rows of tiny circular gauges, a foot-operated parking brake and a fiddly starter button. Which all simultaneously delight the Millennial with their quaintness whilst vindicating the decision to allow mass-production ergonomics to tidy up the dashboard of its successor, the Phaeton-in-disguise Conti GT. It’s a bit of a mind-scrambling mess in here, but then so’s the floorplan of some of the most enchanting stately homes.

Yup, it’s a cliché, but this really does feel like a plushly furnished abode with four wheels, a mobile annex to your manor with all the aesthetic charm seamlessly carried over. And to say it’s hushed is a clanging understatement. We’ve been in more headbanging libraries.

Buying

What should I be paying?

When new, these cost a lot. Shocking, we know. By the end of its life a base Continental R was a few quid short of £200,000, with a tarted up Mulliner like you see here commanding £225,000 or more.

Rarer and more expensive still were the Continental T (a 4in shorter wheelbase nipped at rear legroom but improved the handling, while the top speed rose from 155 to 170mph) and the Continental Sedanca Coupe, which took the weenier T and removed its roof in targa-top fashion. Just 79 were built, over half of them in left-hand drive for sunnier climes. Sales were roughly 1,500 for the R, and a mite over 300 for the T.

But nowadays?

Go for an R and prices are pretty favourable. While not the entry point into Bentley ownership – that still belongs to its Nineties saloon equivalent, the Turbo R, which can be had for under ten grand if you’re canny – a starting point of £30,000 is appealing for a car that’s so rare and, dare we say it, still rather exquisitely styled.

You might be looking at 100,000 miles (or more) for that sort of money. While not a big deal in theory – it’ll be fewer than 5,000 miles per year on average – big distances will obviously have taken their toll on the Conti R’s big and expensive consumables if they’ve not been renewed with the necessary vigour.

A £40-50k budget opens up loads more options with loads fewer miles, while a late Mulliner like you see here will command around £80k with low miles and from a specialist forecourt. A wide range of prices, then, and happily the colours and specs vary vividly across the board. People dared order these in bold schemes. Hurrah! Want one of those rare Continental Ts? We found one on sale for £110,000.

What should I keep my eyes peeled for?

The main issue to look for when buying an old Continental is corrosion. While they won’t rot like an old French hot hatch, a proper inspection of sills and arches – cranking the steering lock to its extremes at the front to have a proper look in there – is essential. Inside, check the front seats fold neatly and effortlessly forward to allow passengers access into the back without cricking their back.

As a big, heavy car, it’s worth listening for knocks on the test drive which could indicate the upper and lower ball joints are suffering. It’s a few hundred quid each corner to fix. And make sure the car looks ‘right’ when observed in side profile; if its bum is slumped to the ground, the self-levelling suspension’s knackered.

Keyword: Bentley Continental R