Criticizing a car which will reach 60mph in 4.9sec and 100mph in 11.8sec for being too slow is going to look unreasonable, but we’re forced to do it. We can only compare the Continental GT with its rivals, and the Mercedes CL alone offers three versions capable of taking two seconds out of the Bentley to 100mph. The fastest, the CL65, will strip nine whole seconds from the Bentley’s 28.3sec 0-150mph time.
Despite its vast weight, the Continental’s stopping distances over our regular measurements are on a par with a Porsche 911’s. But our second stop from 150mph to 50mph during acceleration testing saw the pedal lengthen and the retardation lessen noticeably.
The steering is very light around town but weighty over 30mph; although the difference between the two is marked, and keen drivers might prefer more linear behaviour, we suspect this set-up will suit most owners very well. You’ll notice the weighting change if you accelerate hard out of a slow bend, but once over 30mph it’s consistently meaty. Despite offering little real feedback, it lets you place the car accurately on the road.
A marked resistance to roll, the huge traction of the four-wheel-drive system and the mighty grip from the tyres combine with the steering to enable you to punt the Continental faster down tight, twisty roads than its weight and orientation suggest, and certainly faster than any previous Bentley. Push too hard and there’s a natural tendency to understeer, but the front ends bites harder and for longer than you’d think. When it eventually washes out, a swift lift and reapplicaton of the throttle brings it back into line.
But the trade-off is in the ride. There are four driver-selectable damper settings, and although body control in all bar the softest is good at low to brisk speeds, its composure at high speeds on demanding roads is less impressive, even in the two firmest modes.