Performance:
- Acceleration 0 to 60: 4.8 sec
- Braking 60 to 0: 108 feet
- Quarter Mile: 13.4 sec
- Slalom: TBD
- Skidpad: 0.90 g
Ian Fleming may have portrayed Agent 007 as an Aston Martin fan, but the character from the 1950s novels actually drove a Bentley Continental, and for the 2012 model year, here comes a freshened version with updated styling and even more speed than ever before. Okay, maybe this car is not the absolute fastest convertible money can buy, (a 2013 Mercedes SL550 will make this luxury yacht look like a tugboat in a dash through the quarter mile) but that’s not really the point of what the GTC is all about.
Even with its 567 horsepower 6.0 liter W12 engine, this car will do 4.8 sec to 60 mph (Bentley estimates 4.5 sec, but Motortrend recently recorded 4.8). “Huh?” you might say, “But what about all that power…”. Well this car is that slow because it weighs 5558 lbs.!! So, with a curb weight that would make Peter Griffin feel thin, this car is not going to win over the heart of a hard-core performance minded enthusiast, if you are, than go buy a BMW M3 or something. The engineers over at Bentley Motors Limited put this much weight in the GTC, for one reason; ride comfort. When driven fast, the GTC feels like a 200 mph bullet train belting across the Japanese landscape, it’s that tank-like.
Sure the acceleration wouldn’t be impressive in an M3, but in a 5500 lb-plus convertible, it is astounding. The Continental’s weight and power, combined with very clever suspension (which is also adjustable) makes it a car with a bi-polar personality. Similar to the SL63 recently submitted; this car manages to coddle it’s occupants from point A to point B, in absolute comfort while getting there fast, just not as fast as the SL63. In the end it doesn’t matter who’s faster than who, because at the end of the day, YOU are in a Bentley driving in absolute comfort and THEY are not.
