Bentley Continental GT Speed Convertible 2021 first drive

The Bentley Continental GT Speed, whether as a coupé or a convertible, is a slightly evasive car to define. It does what it says on the tin, being the fastest, most powerful and most driver-focused version of this third-generation Bentley Continental GTC that currently exists, or that is ever likely to. But it’s not a special, limited-series, 'get-’em-while-you-can' performance derivative, instead slotting into Bentley’s European product line-up as a replacement for the standard Bentley Continental GT W12 rather than alongside it.

The Crewe-based firm’s stated aim for this car was that it be as refined, luxurious, comfortable and usable as any other GT – and also the most agile and dynamic-handling Continental that has ever been built. Quite the ask when you think about it. But this car is also quite the technological departure, being the first GT with four-wheel steering and the first with an electronically controlled limited-slip rear differential – and also getting its regular GT-spec air suspension, active anti-roll bars and four-wheel drive system all adapted to produce even greater body control and handling agility than any of its range-mates can muster.

GT Speeds get 22in wheels as standard, their size being necessary for Bentley to offer (as an option) the biggest carbon-ceramic brakes available on any new car in the world. You get whopping 440mm carbon-silicon-carbide discs and 10-piston calipers up front, if you’re prepared to pay for them. They look about ready to stop a bullet train in its tracks, by the way.

Those brakes are also the one place where a GT Speed might weigh less than an equivalent GT W12 or V8; because, in a wider sense, this isn’t a car where Bentley has looked to make gains through ‘lightweighting’ or aerodynamic modifications.

Externally, some new smoked radiator grilles, an optional carbonfibre styling kit, some discreet ‘Speed’ badges and those aforementioned 22s identify the car. Internally, there are a few bold new colour and trim combinations, and a new kind of dark-tinted, ‘engine-turned ‘aluminium decorative trim.

The idea is that this Continental GT loses nothing. It’s simply a faster, more involving, sweeter-handling, better GT – and it can be had as a two-door, four-seat Coupé, or in the two-door, four-seat Convertible form in which we tested it.

Editor-at-large Matt Prior was quite struck by the gains on handling balance and agility presented by the GT Speed Coupé when he drove it on track at Silverstone earlier this year. While you clearly can’t gauge the car’s limits in the same way on the road, I can confirm that the fixed-head’s greater incisiveness and mid-corner throttle-on balance are apparent and can be enjoyed here, too, even at gentler speeds. It goes in to tighter corners more keenly, and comes out of them under power in a more lively, balanced fashion than other GTs.

In the heavier, less rigid convertible, though, the GT Speed’s dynamic gains seem more marginal. The open-top certainly controls its mass well, and resists understeer surprisingly effectively for such a wide, heavy car. But when you dial up Sport mode and go looking for some entertainment, it just doesn’t make you sit up and take notice of the GT’s new-found handling dynamism in quite the same way. Where the coupé’s cornering attitude can be adjusted a little both on and off the throttle, the convertible doesn’t tuck its big, square nose in to a corner quite as readily – and it needs just a little longer than the coupé to settle on its line, begin to work its rear axle, and drive towards the exit.