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The Continental GT changed everything for Bentley. In 2002, the craftspeople in Crewe – many of whom still referred to their workplace as ‘Royce’s’ ‒ hand-built just over 1,200 cars. But when the svelte new W12-powered coupe was unveiled in early 2003, dealers were inundated with 6,500 advance orders. Almost overnight, Bentley had gone from a cottage industry to a leading luxury car brand.
Twenty-one years later, the Continental GT is entering its fourth generation and fast approaching 100,000 units sold. Factor in the drop-top GTC and related Flying Spur saloon and it’s the best-selling 12-cylinder car of all time.
But now the 6.0-litre W12 engine is dead, its place taken by a 4.0 V8 with plug-in hybrid batteries. If that sounds like a backwards step, the numbers say otherwise; a colossal 782hp makes the new Continental GT Speed the most powerful Bentley road car ever.
Bentley Continental goes green
It’s also one of the greenest, at least according to the official figures. A 25.5kWh battery delivers 50 miles of fully electric range and CO2 emissions of just 29g/km. For business buyers, that equates to £30,000 less on benefit-in-kind tax than for the W12 version – a significant saving, even on a car priced from £236,600.
A win-win on paper, then, but what about on the road? To find out, I travelled to Switzerland to drive the flagship GT Speed coupe and GTC convertible on some of Europe’s most challenging – and breathtakingly beautiful – Alpine passes. It’s a tough job, etc.
Still recognisable as the car that reinvented Bentley in 2003, the latest Continental GT has a hewn-from-solid look, its muscular wheelarches filled out by 22-inch rims. Bold round headlights with jewel-like LED ‘eyebrows’ are the biggest visual departure, making this the first non-coachbuilt Bentley with single front lamps since the S2 of 1959.
V8 replaces W12
The Bentley’s chassis also bristles with technology, including four-wheel steering, torque vectoring, 48v active anti-roll bars, new twin-valve dampers and an electronic limited-slip differential. Kerb weight rises by a substantial 186kg versus the W12 version, but locating the battery in the boot evens the load: now a near-perfect 49:51 balance between the front and rear axles.
Little has changed inside the new Continental GT, yet little needed to; its cabin is as sumptuous and beautifully appointed as a boutique hotel room. Points of note include the knurled aluminium switches, organ-stop air vents and rotating central touchscreen, which can disappear to provide a ‘digital detox’.
The rear seats are roomy enough for adults, at least on short journeys, but the hybrid battery slashes luggage space from 358 litres to a less-than-practical 260 litres.
The hills are alive…
Our plan (or Bentley’s plan, in truth) is a four-hour driving loop from Andermatt, a ski resort that overlooks the Schöllenen Gorge, taking in the Susten Pass, Grimsel Pass and St Gotthard Pass as we go. A couple of days earlier, much of this route was closed due to heavy snowfall, but now the roads have reopened and the verdant Swiss Alps are bathed in glorious sunshine. In near-silent EV mode, you can even hear the faint chiming of cowbells.
Blatting between hairpin bends in adaptive ‘Bentley’ mode, the transition between engine-off coasting and V8 thunder can feel abrupt. So I soon find myself using Sport, which notably tightens the damping and drivetrain response, while also keeping the battery charged to ensure e-boost is readily available.
Driven as such, the GT Speed feels alert, precise and even quite playful. Where the old W12 was nose-heavy and demanded broad-shouldered steering inputs, the new one is easier – and simply more fun – to coax through corners, with a lighter helm and a neutral, throttle-adjustable sense of balance.
The huge carbon-ceramic brakes are mighty and the arsenal of electronic hardware does an impressive job of disguising the Bentley’s 2,459kg heft, even on roads better suited to a hot hatchback. It’s also outrageously, bombastically fast, with 738lb ft of torque making light work of the long climbs into the clouds.
After a coffee and cake at the summit of the Grimsel Pass, we swap into the GTC. With the roof down, the temptation is to take things easier, so I twist the dial to Comfort and enjoy panoramic views of the mirror-like lakes and jagged, snow-capped peaks. Switzerland truly is spectacular.
A superb cross-continental GT
The Bentley is a spectacular way to see it, too. It undoubtedly has a greater bandwidth than before, not only in terms of performance and the ability to drive in electric mode, but also in ride and handling, the twin-valve dampers switching from tightly clenched to languidly laid-back depending on the drive mode.
An Aston Martin DB12 or Ferrari Roma might have the edge on a mountain road, but it wouldn’t be as utterly effortless on the drive home.
Did I miss the W12? Not really. For all its technical accomplishments, it was never the most endearing of engines. The new V8 sounds brawnier, punches harder and uses less fuel. And the new Continental GT Speed is a better car to drive, whether you’re stuck in Zurich traffic or blasting up the St Gotthard Pass. I guess that’s a win-win.
Tim Pitt writes for Motoring Research
Bentley Continental GT Speed
PRICE: £236,600
POWER: 782hp
0-62MPH: 3.2sec
TOP SPEED: 208mph
FUEL ECONOMY: 188mpg
CO2 EMISSIONS: 29g/km