Yahoo Autos The Bentley Continental GT V8 Is a Big Brute That Can Dance
I had to leave very early in the morning to get to Road & Track's Performance Car of the Year test at Lime Rock Park. I'm all for an early-morning drive, getting out before the rest of the world wakes up, but a 5:00 AM departure was a bit extreme. At least I was driving the Bentley.
It's the ideal car for the task. While the Continental GT V8 is Bentley's entry-level coupe, it certainly doesn't lack in luxury, especially as our tester was optioned. Those beautiful diamond-pleated leather seats give a lovely massage, and the central infotainment screen rotates away, three analog gauges taking their place. Not having a big screen staring back at you really does a wonder on the psyche, as well as bleary eyes.
But the Bentley isn't all gadgets—old-school luxury abounds in the smell of the leather, the shine of the burr walnut trim, and most importantly, the expertise of the chassis tuning. Sneaking out of New York City, I selected Comfort mode for a supple ride over our city's decaying streets. Out on the highway, I upgraded to Bentley mode, which ramps up body control and provides a mix of ride comfort and controlled handling that's ideal for long-distance travel. The best English cars nail this balance. They have to, in order to deal with that country's twisting, undulating, often ancient roads. Despite German underpinnings—the Continental GT shares a platform with the Porsche Panamera—this car embodies that English approach perfectly.
The route from my home to Lime Rock starts boring and gets really good as you draw closer to the track. It's on those winding rural roads that the Bentley really shines, with surprising agility and quiet, ever-present muscle from the 4.0-liter twin-turbo V-8. The engine comes from Porsche—though it sounds sweeter here—as does the eight-speed dual-clutch gearbox, which moves through ratios with a crispness a torque-converter auto could only dream of. Couple all that with active anti-roll bars and a clever all-wheel drive system, and the Bentley reveals itself to be a surprise back-road weapon. You could have a lot of fun keeping up with hot hatches in this leather-and-walnut trimmed luxo-coupe.
At the track, the Bentley really gets to show its stuff. It seems a little ridiculous here; the sight of the big-body coupe clipping apexes will never not be amusing, but the Continental GT is perfectly at home. It's not the quickest car we have here, but it's precise and satisfying at speed. Credit the active chassis systems, which manage the car's prodigious weight with seeming ease. In Sport mode, the body control is excellent, the car barreling into Lime Rock's two big braking zones without nose-dive. Ample torque from the V-8 and quick shifts from the gearbox mean you're never wanting for power.
