Test the new Bentley Continental GT
Test Drive

Test the new Bentley Continental GT

It presses into the seat so that it takes its breath away, and when overtaking on two-lane roads, sometimes it takes longer to brake than to overtake itself

Volkswagen engineering and German pedantry still could not squeeze some native English things out of the coupe. At last year's presentation in Moscow near the exhibition car, the rotary display of the media system deteriorated. And driving tests for journalists generally had to be postponed for six months due to the need to fine-tune the gearbox.

The story that the Germans put a preselective "robot" DSG on the Continental GT, which they could not bring to mind, could have amused the haters very much, but the designers were definitely not laughing. As a result, the presentation was postponed for a good six months, which is not so much against the background of seven years of the conveyor belt life of the second generation model. The dish had to be served ready-made, because a lot ultimately depended on this - it was the coupe, and not the monstrous Mulsanne, that is the real flagship of the brand in terms of charisma and recognition.

Despite the obvious external similarity with the two previous models, which are generally not easy to distinguish between themselves, the work was colossal. First, the GT has moved to a new platform and instead of the seemingly archaic D1 chassis from VW Phaeton shares nodes with the Porsche Panamera. Divides rather conditionally, because both of these machines, like a number of other senior models of the group, are built from elements of the "longitudinal" MSB platform. Plus, Bentley has its own powertrain and unique layout.

Test the new Bentley Continental GT

Secondly, the middle-aged dude Stefan Zilaff, the chief designer of Bentley, honestly got the right to wear orange pants and dark aviator glasses even at dusk, successfully reconciling the style of the concept car with the requirements of technologists and marketers. The coupe turned out to be surprisingly harmonious, no matter how you look at it.

The new Continental GT has a longer hood, a wide radiator grille lowered below and wheels shifted to the front overhang - the so-called distance of prestige between the front axle and the windshield pillar has become canonically large. And the complex plastic of the sidewalls with muscular shoulder lines is also a merit of the technologists who learned how to bake aluminum panels using the super-molding method at a temperature of 500 degrees.

Test the new Bentley Continental GT

The quality flaws could be attributed to the notorious manual assembly at the old plant in Crewe, which the creators are so proud of, if all technologically complex operations were not carried out at other enterprises of the Volkswagen group. Moreover, the box, of course, is not a DSG at all. Structurally, it is closer to the PDK unit from Porsche, with which the concern has never had any problems. Another thing is that the Continental GT is far from a Panamera. The car weighing more than 2,2 tons has a titanic W12 engine with a torque of 900 Nm, which, together with a gearbox, had to be taught to work as delicately as possible in any mode.

By the way, there are four modes, including a configurable one, and instead of the conventional standard selector it has a position "B", that is, Bentley. It was not possible to achieve from the engineers other words than "optimal", but according to personal feelings it is nevertheless closer to comfortable. In general, the strangest thing about the Continental GT is the sense of simplicity with which a 600-horsepower car can be removed and driven through the narrow streets of European cities, without fear of accidentally killing the car with a sudden movement.

Test the new Bentley Continental GT

Feeling at your fingertips is not about him, but about two tons of mass and $ 194. you forget almost immediately. And even the heavy W926 ceases to inspire awe immediately after starting, especially if it has time to close the door. Behind thick glass in a package of solid sound-insulating mats, you sit slightly detached from the world.

The true Gran Tourismo really unfolds somewhere in the middle of the unlimited autobahn, and there the Continental GT is able to really kick off. Those who are 3,7 seconds to a hundred today seem to be something quite ordinary, apparently, have completely lost the points of the report. The coupe, with its soundproofing and traction reserve, at once shifts these points to the second half of the speedometer. It presses into the seat so that it takes its breath away, and when overtaking on two-lane roads, sometimes it takes longer to brake than to overtake itself.

Test the new Bentley Continental GT

The new W12 has a faster turbine response, an easier pickup, if you can call it a burst of acceleration, and a very solid but muffled voice that does not change the timbre very noticeably in the sports mode of the units. Fuel consumption will be high in any case, and against this background, the system for turning off half, that is, six cylinders, as well as the start-stop function, seem to be some kind of inappropriate joke about the environment.

At the top of the Grossglockner Pass, which begins in the winter beauty of the Austrian Alps and ends in the May bloom of the Italian Alps, the Continental GT dives with the ease of a schoolboy jumping a step. Twelve cylinders do not care whether they are driven uphill or downhill, and any free piece of asphalt here turns out to be suitable for overtaking. Breathe in, breathe out, breathe out, breathe out - in about this rhythm, the coupe exchanges sluggish trucks and hatchbacks of mountain-enchanted tourists, adding to these mountain beauties its own aesthetics of a squat aluminum body.

Test the new Bentley Continental GT

From a driver's point of view, this is not a race through clenched teeth at all, but rather solid next-level automotive zen. The coupe is absolutely comfortable in its speed, requires almost no effort to tighten the serpentine pins, and it's not just the steering mechanism with a variable gear ratio. The GT no longer crouches on the front end when braking hard, the heavy long nose bounces calmly into corners, and the 900 Nm of thrust does not try to turn the coupe inside out when pedaling ridiculously early.

In addition to the air suspension and adaptive dampers, the Continental GT also features active anti-roll bars, for which there is a separate 48-volt power supply on board. Roughly speaking, electric motors instantly twist the halves of the stabilizers, canceling the rolls to naught, and this works so efficiently that it's hard to believe.

Test the new Bentley Continental GT

With the distribution of thrust is about the same story. Firstly, smart four-wheel drive constantly plays with thrust in a wide range, although by default the coupe will still be rear-wheel drive with all the inherent sensations. Secondly, the system for redistributing traction between the wheels is coolly tuned here, and you will never guess that it works according to the simplest principles, slowing down the inner wheels with respect to turning. As if it could not be otherwise, because the car costs at least $ 194, and must go so quickly and easily.

The surrealism of what is happening is that the driver does not get tired at all while driving, even after a good four hundred kilometers. It is difficult to say why exactly - because of the ultra-comfortable ride or because of the atmosphere of understated luxury that surrounds the cabin. But what's even nice inside is a medical fact. That is why the interior is assembled not only from natural wood, exquisite leather and metal pleasantly cooling hands, but from stories about how many thousands of stitches, millions of lines and square meters of wood are spent on each car, and with what jewelry precision in a fraction of a millimeter this or different clearance.

Test the new Bentley Continental GT

Old-fashioned ventilation deflector control valves ask for touch and solidly, with a delay, change the air flow. Every detail here is pleasant to look at and touch, and the rotary display wants to be played just like that, wrapping it either with a beautiful (finally!) Display of the media system, or with a panel with analog dials of a thermometer, chronometer and compass, experiencing, as dude Zilaff put it, digital detox.

But even in the once old-fashioned Bentley, it will not be possible to completely escape from the numbers. In addition to all the invisible electronics that help the driver to drive, the car has a full set of quite tangible assistant systems from panoramic cameras and emergency braking systems to steering in the lane and night vision systems. German engineering defeated English conservatism, and that's perfectly fine. And what is a little buggy will be quickly corrected. In the end, machines are still made not only by robots, but also by humans, and they can be forgiven a lot for their approach with soul.

Body typeCoupe
Dimensions (length / width / height), mm4850/1954/1405
Wheelbase, mm2851
Curb weight, kg2244
engine's typePetrol, W12 turbo
Working volume, cubic meters cm5998
Power, hp with. at rpm635 at 5000-6000
Max. cool. moment, Nm at rpm900 at 1350-4500
Transmission, drive8-st. robot full
Maximum speed km / h333
Acceleration to 100 km / h, from3,7
Fuel consumption, l17,7 / 8,9 / 12,2
Cargo space, l358
Price from, $.184 981
 

 

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