The H factor
Alan Judd
The one-year-old Bentley Continental GT coupe is still sometimes called the Baby Bentley, but since it weighed in at just under two and a half tonnes at birth it's clearly no mewling automotive infant. With a top speed of 198mph, it's the fastest road-going Bentley ever, and, they claim, currently the fastest production four-seater. It's not the fastest road car. That title was set years ago by the awesome and beautiful 240mph Maclaren Fl. Others have tried hut so far no one's come near it. When Autocar tested the contenders, they recorded 219mph in the Ferrari Enzo, 206mph in the MercedesMaclaren SLR and the Porsche Carrera GT, 203mph in the Lamhorghini Murcielago, 198mph in the Bentley and 190mph in the Aston Martin DB9.
Bentley could have made their car faster (though 0--60mph in 4.7 seconds feels rapid enough) hut they wanted that weight for stable high-speed cruising, they wanted peak torque at low revs (4791bsift at 1600rpm) and they wanted the car to take four with luggage. The boot is indeed surprisingly capacious, but rear passengers are advised to shrink back to childhood on longer journeys. Until last week I hadn't driven the car since its launch in Spain. My impressions of it were somewhat blurred by other features of the launch — aerobatics in a fast jet trainer and being blasted around the circuit in the Le Mans-winning Bentley.
A year on it feels just as good and its muscular looks have improved. I was always uneasy about the rear; the haunches work well but the boot I thought too brutal. However, some cars improve with familiarity and you see the odd GT around now, though not everyone will have noticed. It's distinctive, but it doesn't shout at you. When I left it in the Sainsbury's ear park most shoppers didn't appear to notice. Those that did were probably the minority that always notices cars.
A car's 'feel' is more difficult to describe. Some simply have it, others have everything that ought to constitute it but somehow lack it. It's the something over and above the sum of its parts, when power, suspension, point of view and position combine with particular aptness to give a sense that the machine is not only fit for its purpose but that it fits you. Part of this Bentley's secret is what they call the II point, the commanding driving position set above where it is in most supercars, with an ideal hip-to-heel angle. Although very different, this is also what gives Range Rovers their distinctive feel.
The GT is also unlike other supercars in that it was designed and engineered (in Crewe) to be used as an everyday car. It won't overheat in traffic, has manageable rear visibility and is easy to park and manoeuvre at low speed. If, on the other hand, you want to exploit the four-wheel drive, W12 power, the six-speed paddleoperated automatic transmission and the self-levelling air suspension, you've got the largest brake discs fitted to any production car to bring you back down to earth.
Who buys them? At the launch it was estimated that there were in the world around 1.5 million people (sorry, High Net Worth Individuals) with over £3 million spending money in their back pockets. These were the target group for the £110,000 GT (next year's model will be just under £113,000), with projected annual sales of 3,500. In volume-car terms that's derisory, but for Bentley, accustomed to selling in hundreds, it entailed a £500 million investment in a new production line by their VW owners.
Early indications were good, with the first year's production sold in advance and 75 per cent of depositors new to the company. Reality was even better: they sold 4,300 by the end of October this year, plus 470 of the big Arnage saloon. Very few women have ever bought the latter but a significant portion of GT buyers are women. Most, male or female, tend to be entrepreneurs in their late forties, still involved in their businesses and already owning two to three cars. There'll be a four-door version soon.
By any standards, this car is already a success, and deserves to he. If you doubt it, drive it. But it's not for everyone. It wouldn't do for me, not only because I'm a Low Net Worth Individual but because I'm a lorry driver at heart, preferring the space and presence of the bigger bus, the Arnage T. I'd be content to dawdle along at 168mph in one of those tailor-made beauties.
Nor would it do for a friend who says he's put off the GT by the numbers of footballers who've bought one (he reckons they hand them out with the shirts at Manchester United). But then he found that the footballers had got the Ferrari, Porsche, etc. competition, too, so he went for a seriously fast Audi, frighteningly modified. An excellent car, but no Bentley. And this Bentley's no Audi. That's the key to its appeal.
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