The pillarless coupé body is a conventional steel monocoque wearing steel panels. The styling was done in-house and overseen by Bentley’s design chief, Dirk van Braeckel, previously responsible for the Skoda Fabia. In the steel it seems smaller than its badge and monstrous figures would lead you to expect; at 4804mm it’s only 100mm longer than a Passat. Aerodynamic aids include a spoiler hidden below the rear screen which emerges at 70mph and an underbody diffuser.
The 5998cc W12 engine is based on the Phaeton’s powerplant, but is assembled in Crewe to a very different specification. Two KKK turbochargers blowing at up to 0.7bar raise the peak power to 552bhp at 6100rpm and torque to 479lb ft at just 1600rpm. Vast figures, and the torque is produced at impressively low revs, but consider the equally vast kerb weight of 2385kg. The Aston Martin Vanquish is nearly 100bhp shy of the Bentley, but has a power-to-weight ratio 20bhp per tonne higher.
Power goes first to ZF’s superb six-speed automatic gearbox, and then to a Torsen centre differential which, in normal conditions, splits it equally between the open diffs on each axle, but can send it all to one end if the other loses traction altogether. The ASR traction control system uses the brakes to manage slip between wheels on the same axle. The brake discs are the largest fitted to a current production car: 405mm at the front and 335mm at the back.
The suspension also owes much to the Phaeton, sharing its double-wishbone front, multi-link rear configuration, and its air springs with selectable damper settings. ZF also makes the rack-and-pinion steering with its speed-sensitive assistance.
