Bentley gathers the clan for a true Continental congress
Announcements of significant anniversaries often seem to mug us, sneaking up to make us feel suddenly old.
When Volkswagen acquired control of Bentley in 1998 the British company was closer to cottage than industry. That year it delivered just 414 cars, not in the UK, but globally - with much of the factory at Crewe so dilapidated that veterans from the time remember buckets to catch rainwater leaking from the roof. The Arnage, which previously owner Vickers had paid to develop, was freshly launched - but Volkswagen and uber-boss Ferdinand Piech saw Bentley as being pretty much a blank canvas.
It quickly proved to be a winning formula. The Conti was one of the fastest cars in the world when it was launched, the official 197mph actually downplaying its ability to get past 200mph ‘out of the box’ on a long enough straight - something I discovered on a quiet German Autobahn with a GPS speedometer. But it was also amazingly easy to drive for something so potent, and as happy pootling at low speeds as it was when fully unleashed.
While the original GT sold like hotcakes on a cold morning – driving Bentley’s global deliveries past 8000 in 2005 - the company was not unaware of its faults. The driving experience was progressively sharpened with a series of revisions throughout the first-gen’s long life, with the bigger changes reserved for the 2009 Supersports - which is the next model in today’s chronological experience.
The car at Crewe is the later and slightly more powerful V8S, with 521hp. I was a big fan of the V8 when it first came out, and my positive memories are reconfirmed by this one. Beyond the animal brain ‘big is better’, this is objectively a much better engine than the W12. The V8’s responses are sharper, its top end is both revvier and better sounding and it has an enthusiasm the W12 lacks. The V8 S turns rorty when pushed, not just getting louder and busier like the 12-pot.
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