APRIL 2019 | CARMAGAZINE.CO.UK 51First Drives
is special: demure, cultured and almost silent
under low load, but able to summon at will a
clinical and scarcely believable turn of speed the
moment you need it. Or just want it.
As the climb gets interesting, the road hunting
left and right as it gains height, the unforgiving
gradient inevitably starts to slow trucks and
less special cars. By contrast the Bentley seems
blissfully unaware. Direct- and port-injected
and with twin-scroll turbos, there’s no delay, no
moment in which the thing gathers its thoughts:
brain, throttle, three-car overtake – done.
But while the W12 fully extended, its might
shrinking distances and pulling distant places
near, is deeply impressive, with time it is its
flexibility and effortless speed that starts to build
a bond. Stop flicking between the impressively
smooth and sharp twin-clutch ’box’s third,
fourth and fifth gears and work the engine’s rev-
range instead; effectively 6000rpm, given peak
torque arrives at 1350rpm. Now you appreciate
a couple of things: that you’re barely covering
ground any less quickly; that doing the same
with the chassis (guiding it with a little in reserve
rather than flinging it) feels right; and that,
fittingly, the internal combustion engine has
never felt more wondrous than now, as it plays its
last innings. Consumption of 18mpg (20.2mpg
officially) is the tax you pay on that sense of awe,
but what price 0-62mph in 3.8sec, 207mph and
being able to fly without leaving the ground?
That rhythm, the one that comes with holding
gears and cornering with grace, comes quickly in
the Convertible because it’s a car able to mould
your mood like few I’ve driven. The interior – as
befits a £175,890 luxury car in the first days
of its life – is gorgeous. It’s a lovingly wrought
space in which the stuff you need – good driving
position, clear information, some isolation from
the world speeding by beneath you – is there ⊲First drives
THE FIRST HOUR
1 minute
You’ ve a couple of
small bags... and still
you fill the boot2 minutes
Marvel at the
ambience, then drop
the roof and wonder
why it takes so long10 minutes
Firmly in the
background thus far,
you finally uncork the
W12... oof!42 minutes
Slaloming down a
comedically good
road, something’s
missing – no bodyroll!Remember when
dropped soft-tops
looked entirely tragic?
Those days are goneIf you were to propose the automobile today – a
selfish, potentially lethal machine capable of
distilling speed from old plants, and to be
enjoyed with complete autonomy wherever and
whenever you wished – you would, quite rightly,
be locked up.
But were you somehow able, as part of your
pitch, to take doubters up the road in the new
Bentley Continental Convertible, you’d prompt
not screams of terror as their established physi-
cal truths – horses are fast, heavy things are slow
and travel is intrinsically tiring – were turned
neatly on their head, but a profound sadness.
Eventually you’d stop, they’d step out and,
knowing they’d never experience anything like
it ever again, they’d wander off to start the rest
of their now somehow paler, emptier life. For
while almost any modern car is a minor miracle,
the new third-generation drop-top Conti is
remarkable for its mastery over physics and its
curmudgeonly rules.
Climbing quickly and effortlessly inland from
the Mediterranean coast, melancholy threatens
as you ponder the truth that this Continental
is surely the last of its kind: a decadent and
profoundly 20th-century car in concept if not
in execution. While not as overtly hybrid-ready
as the new Porsche 911, whose transmission
and electrical architecture sit ready to take an
electric motor, this third-generation Conti will
be electrified before it gives way to its successor.
And then what? Another Conti with nothing to
power it but a 6.0-litre W12 in its nose? Unlikely.
It’s a curious engine, the W12, with neither
the analogue ferocity of a big, turbo-free V12 nor
the bear-hug charm of big-capacity V8. Plenty of
Bentley owners prefer the more honest charms
of the eight that’ll inevitably make its way into
this car, and I can empathise. But while it never
sounds as special as you hope it will, the W12▲
PLUS
Style, substance,
speedMINUS
▼
Horrifically compro-
mised boot, slow
soft-top