2012 Bentley Continental GT

There are people who are concerned about maintenance bills, gas mileage and value. Then there are people who buy water in glass bottles for $5 each. For the folks in the latter category, the Bentley Continental GT is a nice addition to your stable of fine luxury automobiles. 

New for 2012, Bentley has widened, sharpened and improved the flowing exterior of the Continental GT. Also new for this model year is a supercharged V-8 that offers nearly as much power as the storied 12-cylinder beast that Bentley drivers have grown to love. For those who do care about gas mileage, the V-8 offers similar power with superior mileage.

Also new for 2012 is a larger and easier to use 8-inch infotainment screen—available to guide you through your gated estates streets, as well as through any music or media you’ve stored on the 30 gig hard drive.

Starting at $193,000, Bentley’s coupe is not for the faint of wallet. Though, to be fair, most Continental GT buyers will outfit their luxury sled with enough goods to inflate the price to a less modest $230,000.

No matter how many or few options a Continental GT buyer selects, the driver of the Bentley is guaranteed to own a piece of automotive excellence and artistry. Of course the Bentley is fast. The 567 horsepower churned melodically from its 12-cylinder heart is nearly incomprehensible. That’s enough power to rocket the solidly stable Continental GT to 60 miles per hour in 4.4 seconds. 

For the record, that’s as fast as the insanely powerful Mercedes SL65 AMG. But, as comfortable as the $200,000 Mercedes is, I personally found the Bentley Continental GT to be less of a chore to enter and exit. In fact, entering and exiting the Bentley is more pleasure and sheer joy than anything. 

As with the finest luxury motor coaches, the Bentley’s allure and personality shine, not only in the printed performance numbers, but in its effortless ability to make any road comfortable, any passing situation calm and any abandoned stretch exhilarating. 

The Continental GT is an incarnation, a personification if you will, of perfection. Imagine the smoothest car possible combined with the fastest vessel NASA could engineer, then wrap the package in a lust-worthy sculpture of a body and you’ve got the Continental GT.

Next to the ride and the lusty stares you will attract wherever you steer your Continental GT, its next best feature is its interior. Here you find yourself not in a car, but in a gallery of plush. Search as much as you desire. Pry between the woods, metals and leathers; you will not find a hint of cheap rubber, of façade or of normal. No, the Bentley’s cockpit is a true handcrafted space of British luxury.

Once you fire up the Bentley’s 12-cylinder engine, be careful how firmly you set your foot on the accelerator. Its incredible power is almost immediately available, at a breathtakingly low RPM of only 1,500. That means those huge 21-inch tires would spin as easily on asphalt as they would on ice—if not for Bentley’s exquisite traction control. 

So how do you summarize what it’s like to drive one of the finest (and most expensive) coupes in the world? Is it ostentatious and over the top and extravagant? Yes. Is there anything else quite like it on the road? No.  

© 2012 John Dickerson, Horsepower Auto Reviews