Bentley Continental R

Road Test

Your Say

Test date 23 August 1995 Price as tested £199,750

For Unparalleled sense of occasion, cabin ambience, styling, handling, slick gearbox

AgainstCosts more to run than a castle in Scotland, lumpy low-speed ride, wind noise, fuel consumption

Bentley produces "stately" cars, not sports cars, and, if you like, the "R" is a giveaway. It suggests that the pomposity has been traded for something well, sporty. Of course, it doesn’t look like a sports car – there’s no Carlos Fandango wide wheels, scoops, bulges or flares, thank you very much. That would be too un-Bentley.

Ok, so it has two doors, the cabin is a two-plus-two at the very best and the rear screen has a bit more of a slope than well, a saloon, but the beauty of this conception is what lies beneath. It has a monster of an engine that’ll take you from 0-60mph in just over six seconds and then all the way up to 151mph – it’s almost indecent. Yes, it’s not quite as rapid as say a Ferrari 456GT but it’s performance is on par with a Porsche 968 Club Sport and it is at least in the same league. You get all that power, and you get to enjoy some luxury into the bargain.

"Bargain", however, is not the appropriate word for a Continental R and its very existence will annoy some people. There is a popular perception that the cars Rolls Royce and Bentley builds these days need to be excused from their horrendously high prices and from their slow progress towards both their destination and the 21st century. And it is true that it’s easy to look at the spirits and shadows of the past and conclude that some kind of apology for Britain’s most prestigious marque is required. This perception is nonsense. The Bentley Continental R makes no apologies – it’s not a stuffy old, ponderous barge. It has the dynamics to go with the luxury.