Living the high life
There are worse ways to spend your days than cruising California in a top-down Bentley. Like, say, anything else you could think of.
The mere fact of the 2008 Continental GTC's Bentleyness makes it a bit intimidating. Throw into the mix a four-day, 200-mile limit (whichever came first — I'll give you one guess), and the process of test driving this particular prestige car smacked of exactly the sort of you're-not-worthiness the brand embodies. At $206,095 US including freight and guzzler tax (Canadian pricing won't be announced until November, and it will be interesting to find out what part parity plays), this is among the most expensive cars I've tested. I was eagerly anticipating discovering whether that would make it one of my best experiences.
It did.
And didn't.
As its detailer/handler Charlie noted when he brought it to me at my friends' home in Pasadena, this ain't a Chevy. You don't close these doors — you just bring them close enough to closed that they gingerly and silently close themselves. (No kidding!) Closing the "bonnet" (yes, they do call it that) takes a delicate touch, and the "boot" is opened and closed electronically as well. Given that they are made from aluminum, an overzealous closing could result in some unsightly bumpage, I suppose.
The interior is posh, sturdy, and small. The backseat in particular is tiny — with a taller person in the front, there is absolutely no legroom. And I don't mean "very little." I mean literally none. The back of the front seat presses right up against the front of the back seat. I sat behind my friend Anne while her hubby Tony drove a while — she and I are both five-foot-four — and I managed all right. Any taller and you wouldn't.
Did I mention leather? Oh, and leather? And, a whole lot of leather — "premium hide" in Bentley parlance. The seats, steering wheel, the dash except for some beautiful wood trim, the armrests … you get the idea. Two cupholders were tucked beneath a roll-top closing in the centre console under the leather armrests.
I guess at this price, you're still allowed to be a smoker, although nothing as pedestrian as cigarettes, because its amenities also included and ashtray and "cigar" lighter.
In another nod to the lifestyle they expect you to have, the boot features a carved-out niche tailor-made for the heads of golf clubs. Two bags of them did in fact fit, once you got the hang of levering them head-first into their niche.
The front seat was certainly comfortable, but the cabin lacked a convenient place to toss, say, a cell phone while driving. The rear seat was deeply sunken and featured no amenities of its own such as a cupholder. The rear "armrest," if that's what it was, was just plain odd. There was indeed some sort of panel in the centre back, but when I tried to flip it down it came right off. Just a big, flattish piece of leather-upholstered, um … well, kinda like a hard rectangular cushion-ish thing. I have no clue.
There were enough controls in it you'd think it would take you to the moon, including a Jaguar-esque push-button electronic parking brake, and instrumentation to alert you to anything you can think of, along with well placed and easily managed steering-wheel controls for a hundred other things, a centre-console for nav, sound and climate, all of it elegantly accented in chrome.
Power delivery was butter-smooth, and once past the tiniest lag from the 6.0-litre twin-turbocharged 12-cylinder (!) engine, it was a rocket. Shifting was imperceptible, and with the power of those 551 horses eliminating any need to downshift to pass, even on the steepest grades, I never made much use of the wheel-mounted paddles. They function intuitively, so you can just tap them and shift as you please without putting the gear selector into another mode. Leave them alone for a bit and they return to fully automatic.
The twin-turbo's position ahead of the front axle contribute to terrific stability, if not agility.
Steering, as well as ride, is floaty, as you'd expect from such a luxury vehicle, but it mercifully lacked that big-boat after-float of, say, an old Lincoln.
The engine is quiet, as is the cabin, even with the top down, although it was windier than I would have expected, particularly in the back.
Top up, it looks very much like its GT sibling except for the smart-looking chrome strip along the beltline, which is a very good thing. Top down, it really shines. The smooth-operating (in about 25 seconds) triple-insulated fabric roof tucks away flush under an attractive leather tonneau, and the chrome strip really gives it some added dash. The roof system is operable at lower speeds (up to 40 km/h), although I was too afraid of damaging something to try it.
The real value here, beyond the electronics, the leather and plush carpeting, the gadgets and all that power, is in the experience.
It is really something to be cruising through Laguna Beach in a Bentley convertible. People stare and whisper (more than once, I would catch a snippet of conversation on a corner as I passed that sounded like "rhubarbrhubarbrhubarbBENTLEYrhubarbrhubarb").
Perhaps my social conscience is a little too finely tuned — not only did the gas mileage set off the wee voices in my head, but driving LA's garbage-strewn and graffiti-littered freeways made me acutely aware of my appearing to be a have in a land more populous with have-nots.
So, is it worth the quarter-mil it would cost, post taxes, not to mention the gas to fill it and and the undoubtedly exorbitant insurance costs?
Only if you've got it.
Fact File
As tested, before tax: $206,095
Configuration: front engine/AWD
Engine/transmission: 6.0-litre twin-turbocharged W12/6-speed automatic
Horsepower: 551
Torque: 480 lb.-ft. @ about 1,600 rpm
Options: Moroccan Blue paint, $4,090; 19-in. thin-spoke alloy sports wheel, $1,540; Sirius satellite radio, $1,140; contrast interior stitching, $990; lumbar massage, $540; two-tone hide-trimmed steering wheel, $490; deep-pile carpet mats, $440; Mulliner alloy fuel filler cap, $290; valet parking key, $290.
Freight: $2,595
Gas guzzler tax: $3,700
Fuel required: Premium
Fuel rating (L/100 km): 21 city; 13 highway
Observed fuel economy (L/100 km): 15.68 over 360 km combined
Competition: BMW 6 Series Cabrio, Jaguar XKR
Strengths: Comfort, ride, materials quality, wow factor
Weaknesses: No place to put anything in cabin, too many electronics, fuel consumption
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