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Bentley Continental GTC: First Drive
BENTLEY CONTINENTAL GTC
BENTLEY ALMIGHTY
Words and photos by Alessandro Marrone
Although a Bentley is perfectly at ease in any circumstance, I feel I can no longer resist without letting the W12 take over.
I really think I have to pinch me again and really understand if this is all true or just a beautiful dream. I am aware that my heavenly day at the wheel of the new Continental GT convertible aptly called GTC has the hours counted, indeed I would say minutes, and then let’s face it, the traffic in the center of Milan is not really its natural habitat. The tight times and my innate ability to get lost even with the help of the sat-nav push me away from the heart of the city and from the futuristic City Life district towards wider roads without any kind of danger for the immaculate body of the First Edition at my disposal. Although a Bentley is perfectly at ease under any circumstances, I do not want to waste that nuclear power plant hidden under the hood and I feel that I will resist for a short time without letting the W12 take over.
My first contact with the new generation of the Conti GT, which took place last summer during the beautiful stay in Porto Cervo, left me with all the improvements that the Anglo-German technicians brought to the third generation of the elegant coupe. A body with softer lines, stiffer but at the same time showcasing a lighter frame, despite the fact that to carry around infinite luxury, an automatic transmission, all-wheel drive and the immense 635-HP W12, in a way or another means you have to come to terms with the scale. But the Continental GTC, just like the coupe version, does not fear any sort of bikini test, rather it is ready to accompany us exactly where it will feel more at ease, always and in any case behind the wheel. One of the key points of the GTC is in fact the ability to satisfy the driver, both in terms of on board comfort and for the dynamic qualities of a grand tourer that has elevated its handling, transforming what used to be a very fast GT into a ‘even faster and more effective luxurious sports car. The fact of being able to fold the canvas roof – an operation that requires 19 seconds – is a way like any other to feel even more in symbiosis with the environment around, whether it is a renowned tourist resort or a twisty road, it’s up to you to choose, the result will always be to feel in seventh heaven.
Since 1909 Bentley has been bringing the world an unparalleled combination of automotive pleasure and mechanical luxury, 100 years that the brand intends to celebrate properly, as for example with this First Edition, a prestigious anniversary package like this one which costs something like € 36,000 and reminds it with the various commemorative plates scattered on the various badges, on the door sill and on the dashboard too. The orange flame of the bodywork is another optional that you pay € 4,500, but that is able to make the silhouette of the GTC racier and distinctly devoted to sportiness, also thanks to the set of 22” Mulliner wheels (in this case included in the First Edition package). The general design of the car is the one we have met with the solid roof version, at least as far as the front with its mammoth chromed grille and the two pairs of round headlights, where the smaller ones are positioned externally so as to make more tapered the nose itself. The magic is that even with the canvas roof closed over the elegant interior and perfectly isolated from the outside world, the fluidity of the shapes is not affected by any renunciation in terms of harmony, but when you decide to drive top-down, the square rear assumes a more marked relevance, making the entire car more muscular, without sacrificing the luggage compartment too much, which will therefore have to make room for the folding canvas.
Time is running and the desire to launch the Conti GTC like a gigantic big-hunting bullet makes me wriggle through the city traffic, noting that the multitude of buttons scattered on the central tunnel is not there to confuse, but to simplify life on board and put everything at your fingertips. Among the various driving modes we have Comfort, Sport, Custom and the well-known Bentley mode, which allows the car’s artificial brains to adapt to the driving style of those sitting in the driver’s seat. The gearbox is a ZF 8-speed, a fast and fluid double clutch, which if used in automatic mode does not leave the slightest hint of its work, but when called into question with the knife between the teeth is instead able to accommodate our desire for speed, unloading a mighty load of 900 Nm of torque, obviously distributed on both axles. The huge tires, the weight and the perfect traction allow you to really take advantage of such a reserve of power, which from just 1,350 rpm seems to really catapult you beyond some satellite orbiting around the planet. It is literally unbelievable how the GTC manages to run through tight bends, not caring about its size and the extra-large dimensions (it is 1,954 mm wide and has a wheelbase of 2,851 mm), with the W12 howling towards the sun above my head like a werewolf would do to the moon on his first full moon night.
Reducing everything to a purely performance argument would be wrong, above all because we are talking about a convertible grand tourer that makes its ballistic top speed of over 330 per hour and a 0 to 100 kph of just 3.8 seconds just one of its thousands plus points. Its main objective is to offer the maximum in luxury and usability, thanks to noble materials, fine leathers and – between seats and dashboard – as many as 2 kilometers of stitching. The opulence of that front end is perhaps the most representative trait and that always keeps on light the awareness that you are on board of something extremely special and addressed to those customers who in their vocabulary would never run into the word compromise. Once I reach another quiet residential area free of other cars and people, I turn off the engine and let the timid chirping of some birds become the only sound to reach my ears. I look to the right, then to the left and then to the right again, letting my eyes to capture every little detail of what is in effect one of the best places you could find yourself in. The references to the past confirm that Bentley is looking to the future by keeping its respectful handshake with a hundred-year history firmly in place, it can be appreciated from the analogue clock and also from the beautiful Bentley Rotating Display, a find of maximum elegance and refinement that puts available to the user a 12.3-inch touch screen, or a three analog dials (outside temperature, compass and stopwatch), or just a refined panel of wood. Finally, so to speak, we have a 2,200 W Naim audio system with 18 loudspeakers (€ 6,500, as optional) that can replace the original or the optional 1,500 W Bang & Olufsen system.
You can easily go mad in here, just like that constant desire to hear the 6-liter barking and creeping into the luxurious living room of this wonderful day of first contact with the new GTC, a true point of reference that will obviously be also available with the less bombastic V8 engine, in case you’d like to play your role saving the planet and avoiding the 12.4 l/100 km needed to quench the W12’s thirst. Bentley does not only rhyme with luxury, indeed extreme luxury. Now you’ll need a Bentley also to escape from the busy streets of the city center and to make yourself a 635 horsepower electrostimulation, being even more comfortable than you do on your sofa at home. The pleasure of raising an arm trying to grab the clouds, or the stars above you, is nothing but the umpteenth excuse to turn around and look at it once again, confirming that you have made the right choice. At this point you will have realized that we are not talking about figures reachable by eliminating some aperitifs from your weekly routine. The GTC W12 requires at least € 192,000 and without even realizing it, you will have passed the 200,000 mark. Needless to say, if you will get carried away in the configuration phase, it’s easy to reach even more important shores, as for the model I’ve tested here, which apparently just misses the ability to speak, or perhaps, around six thousand revs, had it said something?
BENTLEY CONTINENTAL GTC W12
Layout – front-engined, all-wheel-drive
Engine – W12 cylinder 5.950cc – twin-turbo
Transmission – 8-speed automatic gearbox
Power – 635 hp @ 6.000 rpm
900 Nm @ 1.350-4.500 rpm
Weight – 2.414 kg
Acceleration – 3,8 sec.
Top Speed – 333 kph
Price – from € 192.000 (as tested € 245.370)
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