Source for Automobile Information and News
October 27 , 2005

    Two new Bentleys Continentals are on their way                      

The Bentley Continental GT was heralded as one of the greatest cars of our era as soon as it came to be. The New York Times not only named it car of the year they went on to say it would still be a bargain at twice the price, which is pretty impressive given that the car cost $155,000. The two new versions are; a convertible and a four door version called the Bentley Continental Flying Spur. 

The reasons why a car that cost more then a house in Pittsburg can be a bargain are twofold; first the only other current Bentley model the Arnage cost $211k and has only a 450 horsepower engine, second the Continental GT gets the same engine as the Audi A8 W-12 except it has been twin turbo charged to produce 552 horsepower. Although the Audi lists for less at $117,000 the Bentley has been produced to give it the sense that it should only belong to royalty. Although other manufacturers put speed limiters on their cars, Bentley actually incorporates a speed suspension that kicks in at 155 mph; Bentley felt that their car buyers should know no limits.

In 2003 the Bentley Continental GT became the first Bentley built entirely in the post Rolls-Royce Bentley days. In 2002 the Rolls-Royce brand name was licensed to BMW for 40 million pounds by the aircraft engine division of Rolls-Royce, VW thought it was theirs when they bought the entire Rolls-Royce Bentley automotive division in 1998 for 470 million British pounds. VW may have had the chance to buy the Rolls-Royce name but did not act fast enough or chose not to, either way the Rolls-Royce name and the best hood ornament the “Spirit of Ecstasy” all ended up at BMW.

What makes the Continental so good is that its engine makes the car very fast, 0 to 60 in 4.7 seconds while its interior is truly spacious. While some cars claim 4 passenger seating, they still mean smaller back seat space then up front, although this may also be true for the Continental GT, you won’t see anyone under 6 foot complaining about sitting in the back. To make the car more comfortable for all passengers some very distinct changes have been made. The seats both front and back sit much higher off the floor then other cars, the engineers at Bentley were looking for a living room type comfort and they delivered.

The new Continental convertible will probably get a new name, will have a cloth top and will have a 30% heavier frame to increase over all rigidity. This extra weight might make the car a tad slower but the huge open area will truly give this car that land yacht feeling. It will be priced right at $200,000 and you should be seeing them around southern California and South Beach by next fall as a 2007 model.

- Automotive Insider
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