{ MOTORING REVIEW }
Motoring Editor: Maarten Hoffmann
BENTLEY CONTINENTAL GT V8 S
DIED AND GONE TO HEAVEN
TECHNICAL STUFF: Power: 4.0 litre twin turbo V8 Performance: 0-60mph 4.7 seconds Top Speed: 187mph Economy: 25.9mpg Price: £143,000 (Coupe £130,000) 76
W
hen the call came from Simon Elkin of Harwood’s Bentley in Pulborough, with an offer to test the new Bentley Continental V8 convertible, l struggled to think of a better way to spend an afternoon. My wife was in labour at the Sussex County and my daughter had a ballet performance that she had been rehearsing for well over three months but l still thought driving a new Bentley was the most important task l had that afternoon. I don’t regret it. The Continental moniker has been around for quite some time and was originally used on any model that WO himself had taken for high-speed testing to mainland Europe. The first was the 1952 R-type coupe and it is still an evocative name that conjures up images of Roger Moore and Britt Eckland cruising around Casino Square in Monte Carlo. I was blown away by the sheer majesty of the car, and if you pluck up the courage to open the taps on this 500 hp twin turbo V8 you will quickly learn that it is actually feasible to merge a luxury GT with the sort of power you might expect from a Ferrari. It can be savage, unless you would like to take your Nan to church, in which case it is well behaved and almost docile, with a stately manner that made me feel quite regal. With a car weighing in at 2320kg, you would be forgiven thinking it a misprint when l tell you that the 0-62mph score is 4.8 seconds.