The toy of summer
No Wayfarers, no slicked-back hair. But a few months with a droptop Conti GT would have cheered Don Henley right up. By Ben Miller
To avoid this becoming a gushfest, let’s cover off the Continental GTC’s drawbacks first. (It’s now ‘the old’ Conti GT, of course. Bentley has unveiled the new Conti GT, in flagship Speed guise only for now; less fast and expensive plug-in hybrid versions will follow.)
Going convertible brings with it a few compromises, from increased wobble to decreased boot space. But you should do it anyway, because gliding across sun-dappled open country like a low-flying Lear, sun on your skin and summer on the breeze, is an exquisite joy for which leaving behind a spare pair of trousers feels like a small price to pay. I’d recommend the V8 over the W12. The latter wins on paper but the eight, big on noise and more than big enough on shove, wins out on the road, particularly in combination with the S’s sports exhaust.
Ferrari, Aston, Porsche all offer more exciting GTs. If you crave a hair-trigger throttle, a chassis so pointy you could use it to pick weeds out of block paving and steering that chatters away like a retired couple at the head of a very long checkout queue, this is not the car for you. But when comfort, luxury and build quality like a fourwheeled Rolex become the priorities the Bentley is right up there in a class of one.
What has it felt like to use a car this refined, capable and comfortable every day? A privilege. Its charisma elevates every drive, however ordinary, and the closer your journey is to the grand touring dream – hours of scenic, trac-free driving, at speed, with nothing to irk you but the menu choices at your chosen overnight accommodation – the better the Bentley becomes, disassembling distance with its grip, poise and power while tickling your feelgood faculties with its style, majestic audio system and sheer sexiness. Am I getting carried away? Has anything broken or failed? Not so much as an OS wobble. Fuel economy’s hovered in the mid-to-high 20s.
Recently Ford unveiled the new Capri, an electric reboot of ‘the car you always promised yourself’. The internet is still on fire with ire. But if a droptop Conti GTC is the car you always promised yourself then you’ll hear no arguments from me.
Count the cost Cost new £282.745 Partexchange £177,720 Cost per mile 35.0p Cost per mile including depreciation £19.69 Bentley Continental GTC V8 S Month 6
The story so far
Droptop version of Bentley’s timeless Continental GT 2★2
★ Riotous performance; blissful comfort; top-down fun
- Not the (now defunct) W12 Speed, so lacking that car’s playful tech; fuel bills
Logbook
Price £227,100 (£282,745 as tested) Performance 3996cc twin-turbo V8, 542bhp, 4.1sec 0-62mph, 198mph E ciency 22.6mpg (ocial), 24.0mpg (tested), 284g/km CO2 Energy cost 35.0p per mile Miles this
month 1706 Total miles 5431