Here’s a simple rule: when it comes to boys and their toys, bragging rights are very important. This is true whether we’re talking about children in a playground competing at Top Trumps or grown men going for their weekly Sunday drive. As Doris Rowland is reputed to have sharply observed back in 1975, “The only difference between men and boys is the price of their toys.” She was referring at the time to her husband, Ross Rowland Jnr., who had been responsible for creating the American Bicentennial Freedom Train, but that’s immaterial. She could have easily been talking about any one of the 3.5 billion men alive today.
It’s for exactly this reason that Bugatti were able to sell over 300 Veyrons. Logic dictates that few of those fortunate owners will ever get the chance to drive at 400 km/h, let alone test the car’s top speed but that’s beside the point. When we’re talking the world’s fastest supercar, owning one is all that really matters. And before our esteemed female readers turn their noses up at such childishness, let me remind them of the race to the bottom of the barrel that is the world of luxury handbags. Glass houses.
Clearly, those bragging rights are precisely what Bentley are hoping will play a part in the success of their latest 240,000 USD, 616 bhp, six-litre twin-turbocharged release. You see, I’m sitting in a hotel conference room in the middle of Arizona, about to take their baby on an almost 1,000 kilometre journey through the Grand Canyon and on to Las Vegas and the fundamental message they seem intent on making is that the Bentley Continental GTC Speed is the fastest open-top four-seater in the world.
That does make a lovely statement but can you imagine being in the rear-seat when this car hits its top speed of 325 km/h? Not only is there a crippling amount of legroom and limited forward visibility at the back, at those speeds, the hapless passenger would also be subjected to the kind of wind buffeting and g-force that would put off a skydiver. Doesn’t sound very pretty or like very much fun, does it? Which makes me wonder if the real reason that most sportscars are two-seaters is in fact to limit the number of passengers that can shriek you into ‘Driving Miss Daisy’.
So what is the GTC Speed and why should we care? Essentially, it’s a four-seater convertible based on the Continental chassis that’s been tweaked to perform to the best of Bentley’s abilities. In other words, the Speed is basically the fastest Conti there is. It’ll sprint to 100 km/h in just 4.1 seconds and its top speed, as I mentioned above, is a headline-grabbing 325 km/h.
It does all of this with the standard six-litre twin-turbocharged W12 Bentley engine thanks to some added turbo pressure and a reprogrammed ECU, meaning Speed drivers will get to play with almost ten per cent more power and heaps more torque – 616bhp and 800Nm respectively. Naturally, Bentley’s engineers didn’t stop at the motor. Revisions have been made to the chassis too. Ride height has been dropped 10mm, there are stiffer springs all around, the suspension bushes are new and they’ve revised the anti-roll bars and the adjustable damping.
So how does it actually feel? I have to admit that I wasn’t overwhelmed. At least not initially. Pulling out from our hotel in Scottsdale with the roof down and my hopes up, my first sensation was that I was driving a rather sedate but well-constructed saloon. There was no initial bark from the engine and no immediate response from the throttle. Perhaps the boffs at Crewe would have been better off calling it the GTC Smooth or even the GTC Composed.
I looked over at my good-natured Australian co-pilot and asked him if he knew how much this thing weighed. I’m still shocked by his response. It’s no wonder Bentley spent so much time harping on about its top speed; they wanted to avoid addressing the elephant in the room. It may be fast but it certainly isn’t light; the GTC Speed is just a few kilos short of 2.5 tonnes. When you consider that a fully loaded top-of-the-line Range Rover weighs less than this, it makes you realise that Bentley would do well to keep up with the times. It reminds me of what my personal trainer told me recently: sometimes it’s better to diet than to add muscle over fat.
But in all fairness, cars aren’t people. Spend a little time with the GTC Speed and you can’t but love it despite its obvious shortcomings. The key is to stop hoping for a white-knuckle ride and settle into supreme comfort. Don’t think of the GTC Speed as a sportscar but rather as a tremendously fast yet (sadly) unengaging grand tourer.
Its cabin is so well constructed, its fit and finish so perfect that when you raise the four-fabric layered roof, the insulation is such that you really do feel you’re in a coupé. The leather is gorgeous and diamond-quilted, the clock is by Breitling, the 8-speed gearbox is superb and the 14,000 USD carbon-ceramic brakes are epic.
Lower the suspension, slip it into tiptronic and for a moment you can almost fool yourself into thinking you can play with the big boys. But you can’t. Really. And that’s why despite its name, the Speed will never appeal to racers. Then again, in a world of traffic jams, potholes and long hours spent at the wheel, it will get you somewhere faster and in infinitely more comfort than a Ferrari or Aston can. So you could say the Bentley GTC Speed is a nice little all-rounder.
But is it worth buying? I seriously doubt I could convincingly argue that it’s worth spending the considerable additional sum this version commands over its lighter, more sonic sibling, the GTC V8 but an argument based purely on money ignores the Speed’s obvious Top Trumps factor. Put it another way. Would I want to be able to tell my friends I owned the world’s fastest four-seat convertible? I think you already know the answer to that.
Model Bentley Continental GTC Speed
Engine 6.0-litre twin turbocharged W12
Power 616 bhp
Torque 800 Nm
Drivetrain All-wheel drive, 40/60 front-rear split
Gearbox 8-speed ZF automatic
0-100 km/h 4.1 seconds
Top Speed 325 km/h
Weight 2,495 kg
Price 245,000 USD
