2013 Bentley Continental GT Speed

I'm travelling at the approximate speed of privilege. With the aluminum accelerator of the 2013 Bentley Continental GT Speedburied to its neck in the high-pile carpet of the floorboard, the 6.0-liter twin-turbocharged W12 underhood is at full boast. The 616 furious British horses pumping under that long, proud prow set the German countryside to frappé with breathless ease, and with the sprawling sheetmetal of the coupe settled comfortably onto its haunches in eager anticipation of ever more thrust, it's clear this machine is content to consume endless kilometers of Autobahn in wide-mouthed gulps. There's an open lane of unrestricted tarmac unraveling before me, and I'm keen to oblige every thread of temptation singing in my chest. The speedometer has just clicked past 165 mph.

At this clip, the new crown jewel of the Bentley war chest is covering land at the rate of nearly one football field per second. The white lines on the road are beginning to fade into a solid stream, and I'm suddenly aware of the increasingly rapid heartbeat whispering the truth of my mortality in my ears. There's no looking anywhere other than as far to the horizon as possible, but even with my eyes set to long-range scan, it's clear that if something goes wrong at this velocity, they'll be burying an empty box in the hills of Tennessee. That little bit of trivia makes it all the more disconcerting when an ambling Volkswagen Jetta strays into my lane for no other reason than to take in the glorious sight of me manufacturing a stack of bricks in the quilted-leather driver's seat of someone else's $228,600 supercar.

Save one very impressive underwater Lego fortress from my 11th Christmas, I have never wanted anything so badly as I want to bring this machine down from speed. I delve into the carbon silicon-carbide brakes on the 2013 Continental GT Speed with as much force as I dare, keenly aware of the dark hilarity that could ensue from introducing words like "panic," "stop" or "ABS" to this recipe. The nose of the big Bentley heads for the ground, but we're still closing the gap at an uncomfortable clip. The lub-dub in my ears ceases altogether, and I take a brief moment to hope my wife and her next husband spend my life insurance with the same gusto in which it was earned.

Despite our rapid deceleration, the Conti and I are still in imminent danger of punting that damn Jetta clear past the frosted tips of the Alps and straight into Mongolia, forcing me to cease my polite petitions for sensible speed and grab a foot-full of pedal. We are at threshold. My adrenal glands are humming the entire score of Wagner's Flight of the Valkyries at triple pace as the GT Speed wiggles its hips, claws at the concrete with physics-bending grip and settles in at 70 mph a solid 10 car lengths behind the Jetta of Doom. The driver calmly signals before wandering back to the right. At some point, I remember to resume breathing.

A top speed of 205 mph may seem impressive, but trust me when I say that feat isn't nearly as amazing as being able to capably deduct 95 mph from the speedometer on command. This is one hell of a machine.

It will take a keen eye to differentiate the 2013 Bentley Continental GT Speed from the rest of the Continental family. Subtle exterior tweaks like a new dark-mesh grille, 10-spoke 21-inch wheels and rifled exhaust outlets are just about all that set this machine apart from its more common kin outside. But the quiet changes betray substantial mechanical revisions beneath. It took Bentley three years to create the new Continental GT Speed with substantial tweaks to the machine's drivetrain, cooling system, aerodynamics, brakes and chassis. The result is the fastest production vehicle to ever wear the company's badge.

Indoors, buyers can expect to find new quilted door panels paired with drilled aluminum pedals, knurled shift lever trim and standard "engine sign" aluminum trim work. Our tester came with the optional carbon fiber veneer, and while the look befits the sportiest member of the Continental line, were it our money, we would prefer to see the company's superb wood trim work at play in the cabin. It takes Bentley's team of woodworkers 17-25 man hours to craft a matching set of wood veneer trim for Continental, and the finished product looks good enough to lick. Wood trim is a standard alternative to the aluminum gear.

Otherwise, the cabin remains the same sumptuous nest of the nouveau riche we've always known and loved. The full 9 to 10 matched bull hides are all in attendance from headliner to kick panel and everywhere in between, and the cockpit remains impressively quiet even well above the triple digit barrier.

While designers left the 2013 Bentley Continental GT Speed largely unmolested, the manufacturer's engineers allowed the twin-turbocharged 6.0-liter W12 engine no quarter. The company scrapped the mill's old engine management system for the new Bosch ME17 platform. Capable of dishing out up to 180 million calculations per second, this new tech allows the big grand tourer to more accurately manage the engine's fuel system, turbochargers and spark for optimum power and efficiency. The machine's full 590 pound-feet of torque piles on from just 2,000 rpm and plateaus all the way to just past 4,000 rpm, while the breadth of the 616 horsepower steps onto the dance floor at 6,000 rpm.

Of course, big power and big speed require serious cooling, which is why everything behind the front fascia has been restructured. At full bore, the new GT Speed shoves the equivalent air volume of a mid-sized conference room through its radiator every second, which allows the machine to achieve its full 205 mph top end at ambient air temperatures of up to 104 degrees Fahrenheit. With coolers for the transmission, differential and oil, the beast's nose is a busy slice of real estate.

Speaking of the transmission, Bentley turned to ZF to supply an eight-speed automatic transmission capable of ripping off shifts in the .1 second range. For comparison's sake, a traditional slusher can pull the same stunt in .4 seconds, while a dual-clutch unit can swap its cogs in around .2 seconds. Stick the shifter in manual mode, click through the awkwardly placed column-mounted paddles and the GT Speed will oblige with quicker-than-you-can-think swaps. Very impressive. More importantly, the box's logic allows the transmission to "block shift," or kick down up to five gears in a single step should engine and road speed allow. The result is a gearbox that's always ready to plant the full grunt of the big W12 on the machine's all-wheel-drive system.

The drivetrain can hustle the 5,115-pound 2013 GT Speed to 60 mph in a scant four seconds flat, and according to Bentley, the 100-mph barrier falls in nine seconds even. Each plunge of the accelerator is like beating Newton about the head and face with a sock full of pennies. Repeatedly.

Read more by Zach Bowman at Autoblog.com

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2013 Bentley Continental GT V8

I have a friend who once told me that he would never buy the cheapest version of anything. I pressed him about cars and figured he was backed into a corner when I mentioned Bentley. With only the Continental series of cars – GT coupe, GTC convertible, Flying Spur four-door – and Mulsanne sedan on offer, surely this friend of mine would go for something like the Continental GT coupe over the larger, much more expensive Mulsanne. While their base prices are separated by over $100,000, the Continental GT's starting price of $212,600 should still command enough respect from my friend's imaginary – and judgmental – group of country club acquaintances.

"No way, it's the entry-level Bentley."

Ouch, though on some level he's correct. Any automaker who offers more than one model technically has an entry-level option. The Continental GT coupe is that car for Bentley, the least expensive ticket that gains you access to the Flying B's party and all the pampering, personalization and performance that entails.

Well, friend, have I got a car that's not for you. The 2013 Bentley Continental GT V8 is the new entry entry-level Bentley that offers less of everything: less weight, lower emissions, fewer horsepower and a smaller price. Indeed, my friend might say that by subtracting four cylinders, Bentley is taking its Continental range downmarket to the point where aspirational millionaires can now rub elbows with self-made billionaires. Oh, the humanity.

In fact, this isn't what Bentley is doing at all. While lesser luxury marques like Mercedes-Benz and BMW offer a range of automobiles that begin around the average price of a new car and reach well into six figures, Bentley has no interest in courting buyers who might cross-shop one of its cars with a loaded Camry. The proof is in the pricing, as this new V8-powered Continental GT comes with a base MSRP of $174,000 – only about 10 percent shy of the starting figure for the twelve-cylinder W12 model. At that price, the competition for Bentley's new entry-level model remains the very best offerings from those other brands, cars like the Mercedes-Benz CL63 AMG and BMW M6. Buying even this base Bentley still keeps you a status level above those German bahn-stormers, and there's virtually no way a Continental customer will escape a Bentley dealership without having optioned up and customized his car for tens of thousands of dollars extra.

Our test car certainly didn't exit the factory as a "base" Continental GT V8, arriving at our doorstep with an as-tested price of $215,880. Most expensive among its optional extras was the carbon ceramic brakes with black calipers, which ring in at $13,600. The next most costly option was our car's Mulliner Driving Specification with Color Specification package for $12,230. Believe it or not, all that one gets you are those lovely 21-inch "tuning fork" wheels with black finish and an assortment of interior filigree like embroidered Bentley wings on the seatbacks, quilted leather, drilled pedals and a wider assortment of interior colors, veneers and finishes. It didn't even include our exterior color choice, Sunburst Gold, which added another $4,305 to the bottom line.

Indeed, most of the options on our tester were ornamental, which makes sense considering nearly all the good things in life are standard equipment on a vehicle like this. All that's left is to express your taste by throwing money at the personalization process, and Bentley's skilled team of craftsmen and colorists are only too happy to oblige.

Despite the $36,000 worth of options that makes this Continental GT V8 unique, it still shares the same basic shape of the current generation Continental GT. Redesigned for the 2011 model year, it's a classically handsome form we find no fault with. We thought, however, that Bentley would work to retain the status position of the W12 model by visually differentiating the GT V8 in a more obvious way. But in fact, at first glance we couldn't find any obvious cues that hinted at what lies underhood. No "V8" badges and nothing missing from the exterior suggested that one could masquerade undetected in this car as a card-carrying W12 driver.

Alas, 'tis not so, as Bentley did leave a few clues for those paying attention. The two most obvious tip-offs are the Continental GT V8's black grille with its chrome frame and vertical center bar, and the Bentley badges that feature a red enamel background instead of green. If you're passed by a GT V8, you'll also notice its unique lower rear valence that frames a pair of new figure eight-shaped exhaust outlets. That, however, is all that visually separates the two Continental GTs.

There is another identifying trait that works just as well to differentiate the two coupes, but your eyes are not required. Tune your ears to the sound of the exhaust and you will hear a banquet of delicious tones coming from this new V8 engine. As our Executive Editor Chris Paukert noted in his First Drive, "It simply sounds much more engaging than the W12." Indeed, the sound of this new twin-turbo 4.0-liter V8 co-developed withAudi (versions of which are also available in the S8, S7 and S6) is deeper, richer and altogether more athletic than the more powerful and heavier W12, so much so that we found ourselves stabbing the throttle around town just to hear it speak.

The specs of this new V8 are also surprisingly impressive compared to the twin-turbo 6.0-liter W12, especially considering the physical differences between the two amount to an entire 2.0-liter four-cylinder engine. The twin-turbo 4.0-liter V8 produces a solid 500 horsepower at 6,000 rpm and 487 pound-feet of torque at only 1,700 rpm, numbers that fall just 67 hp and 29 lb-ft shy of the 55-lb heavier 12-cylinder. The V8 punches so far above its weight thanks to the pair of twin-scroll turbos feeding it fresh air, and premium fuel being directly injected into its cylinders.

Also assisting the GT V8 is its engine's dance partner, a ZF-sourced eight-speed automatic transmission. This gearbox houses two more gears than the W12's six-speed unit and uses those cogs to great effect. For one, the transmission can "block downshift," or drop up to four ratios at once for quicker reaction times, and the tall final gear has the engine turning over at just 1,500 rpm while traveling 70 mph. The benefits are tangible both on paper and pavement: The GT V8 is just 0.2 seconds slower to 60 miles per hour at 4.6 seconds, yet returns 15/24 city/highway miles per gallon compared to the W12's estimate of 12/19 mpg. The engine also features variable displacement that cuts the number of working cylinders down to four when cruising. The truth is that the V8 doesn't feel a lick slower than the W12 in real world conditions, though an extra four miles per gallon will certainly be felt by less frequent stops for fuel – Bentley says the GT V8 can go 500 miles between pit stops.

What happens in the interim is an entirely enjoyable and adaptive driving experience. We mentioned vehicles like the CL63 AMG and M6 as potential competitors for this car, but the Bentley is nothing like those performance machines. Where they focus on amping up adrenalin, the GT V8 zeroes in on meeting its master's needs – all of them. When you want a coddling English coach, the GT V8 can be that by setting its air suspension to the softest setting and leaving the transmission in Drive. In this state, the GT V8 feels like a coddling leather-lined bank vault. But switch the suspension to its firmest of four settings, flick the stick to Sport and start tugging those paddle shifters, and you'll get something more akin to a British bulldog straining at its leash.

While Mr. Paukert got to play with the GT V8 on a racetrack in Spain, I was stuck with suburban Cleveland's confining grid of roadways. But even traveling stoplight to stoplight with an occasional bend encountered, it was plainly obvious that the lighter and better balanced GT V8 is more comfortable being thrown into a turn than the W12. Mind you, the GT V8 still weighs 5,060 pounds, so the rear-biased all-wheel-drive system and carbon ceramics brakes still work incredibly hard to keep this polished porker on the ground and out of trouble, but we never heard a peep of protest or experienced any system overwhelmed by the task. Again, that assessment might be different on a racetrack in Spain, but here in the real world, that level of driving isn't encountered unless you're fleeing the scene of a white-collar crime.

Read more by John Neff at Autoblog.com

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