For this, the latest Bentley Continental GT, Crewe broke with convention and got things going with a bang.
In the past, we’ve had to wait a short while for the excesses of the Speed derivative, but for the Mk4 car it was the first one out of the factory and into showrooms. Here’s the new 208mph Conti GT, they said. It will out-drag a Ferrari Enzo yet cruise more quietly than the latest Mercedes-AMG S63. Satisfied?
If the goal was to make a statement, job done. We can now move onto the model most owners will opt for: the ‘regular’ Continental GT, which is of course nothing of the sort, becuase the entry-level car is mechanically closer to the Speed than ever before.
For one thing, both cars use the same V8 hybrid powertrain (detuned from 771bhp in the ‘Ultra Performance Hybrid’ Speed to merely 671bhp in ‘High Performance Hybrid’, as this lesser powertrain is known).
Both also have the same Porsche-developed dual-clutch gearbox, the same two-chamber air suspension, active anti-roll bars, rear-steering and electronically controlled limited-slip differential, which plays a pivotal role in controlling the amount of torque each side of the car gets.
This hardware overlap is confirmed by the homologated weights: exactly 2384kg for each car. Of course, in terms of their calibration, all these systems are also tuned for less ‘attack’ than in the Speed.
You can read all about the Speed here, courtesy of a full, instrumented road test in the UK. The regular Continental GT will soon undergo the same treatment and we will record a formal verdict, but for now, these impressions are from a brief blast at an event in the US.
The standard Continental GT cabin, with its fine balance of digital and physical controls, is stunningly opulent – even more so if you opt for the panoramic roof. In fact, without the Dinamica trim of the Speed, it is arguably an even more compelling, elegant luxury space.
As ever, you can split the hide colours, merging the entire rear portion of the cabin, including the rear seats, in with the front doorcards, with a contrasting colour for front chairs so indulgently sculpted they border on the soporific. Altering the focus in this way makes the Continental GT feel even more debonair.
For those who need the last word in deco-era chic, there’s also the Azure, which sits between the basic car and the more powerful Speed and is recognisable by its neo-classical wheels, its more prominent exterior brightwork and vertical grille slats (a look not all will love). There's also a striking, parquet-style transmission-tunnel lacquered trim.
The character of your Continental GT is going to be dictacted by the tone of the leather and your chosen veneers, of which there are many. There are technical finishes such as turned aluminium, carbonfibre and even, for the horlogically inclined, a Côtes de Genève finish, as well as the usual suspect: burr walnut, dark eucalyptus and plenty of painted gloss options.
As for ergonomics, the Continental GT is never going set you as low to the road – or position with the same degree or intent – as something like an Aston Martin Vanquish or Ferrari 12Cilinidri, but it isn't intended to directly challenge those cars. The view forward is more commanding and relaxing and generally easier to get along with. A thousand miles in a day in a Continental GT is no hardship at all (and your scribe should know).
Drawbacks? Taller drivers will pine a just a little more reach in the steering column, although strangely none of the current batch of super-GT get this quite right. Elsewhere, the boot has shrunk, on account of the new hybrid hardware. It's now notably shallower, although for two people the Continental GT can still hardly be accused of being tight on luggage space.
You don't so much fire up the Continental GT as turn it on. Where the old car used to burble quite raucously into life (especially the V8 versions), the new defaults to electric mode, with the Audi-derived V8 remaining, for the time being, totally dormant.
With 22.0kWh of battery capacity, it’s not impossible to squeeze 50 miles of electric running out of a fully charged Continental GT, and in its Comfort and Bentley driving modes, the car certainly tends towards silent locomotion when it can.
On good roads, the effect of cruising silently can be profoundly special. On poor surfaces, the powertrain silence throws tyre-roar into relief just a little too starkly.
We would also be inclined to stick with the standard 21in wheel to best curb the suspension’s occasional reactivity.
But what about when you really want to make some progress, or indeed experience the exertions of a large and interesting engine?
Well, this powertrain can need a bit of a jab in the ribs to bring that engine into play, but when it does so, it generally finds the right gear at the first time of asking. At this point the car is ready to drop just about anything you might find in its frameless rear-view mirror.
This is not the most soulful outing for Bentley’s V8 (the titanium-exhaust-equipped pure-V8 system from the new Bentayga Speed isn’t available in the coupé… yet), but it is monstrously effective, and the torque-fill effect you get from the electric motor gives the car a fleet-footedness that belies that kerb weight.
This is just as well, because the previous Continental GT, even with a 6.0-litre W12 in its snout, was 140kg lighter.
From a handling perspective, the car is somewhat aloof. There is bottomless traction and a steady, stability-focused manner to the way the chassis flows into bends that makes something like an Aston Martin DB11 feel razor-sharp by comparison.
Given that the Continental GT shares its platform and several other bits of hardware with the Porsche Panamera, we know there is head room here to create something more agile.
That said, in isolation, the Continental GT impresses. That traction is paired with high levels grip and the kind of body control that, until quite recently, would have been impossible to achieve in a heavy luxury coupé that can do a passable impression of a Rolls-Royce Ghost on the motorway.
As for cost, the Continental GT range now starts at £202,000 – a considerable uplift over the old entry-level V8, which you could get for less than £150,000 in 2019.
Plump for the Azure, with that new grille and deco-inspired cabin, and you're up to around £240,000. Then it's the Speed, and at the very top of the tree is the Mulliner, which uses the same 771bhp Ultra-Performance Hybrid powertrain as the Speed but wraps it in every last bit of opulence Bentley can summon, for upwards of £275,000.
But getting back to the basic Continental GT proposition, set against the uplift in the price is the fact that this new PHEV model is quicker and more versatile than the old one. That electric range of 45-50 miles really will allow the car function as an EV much of time in daily use, and from an ownership perspective that might prove surprisingly enjoyable.
Of course, for longer journeys or more interesting roads, you've got the V8, which combined with the electric motor serves up seemingly bottomless torque and does so in responsive fashion.
For all its newfound technology and performance, whether the new Continental GT is more charming and engaging that its forebear is ultimately something we will have to assess when we drive one in the UK over the summer.
Richard joined Autocar in 2017 and like all road testers is typically found either behind a keyboard or steering wheel (or, these days, a yoke).
As deputy road test editor he delivers in-depth road tests and performance benchmarking, plus feature-length comparison stories between rival cars. He can also be found presenting on Autocar's YouTube channel.
Mostly interested in how cars feel on the road – the sensations and emotions they can evoke – Richard drives around 150 newly launched makes and models every year. His job is then to put the reader firmly in the driver's seat.
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