Managing the thrust from that monumental engine happens at both ends of the car. This Continental feels rock solid at speeds well beyond what the Carabinieri would find acceptable.
Still, the Continental GT Speed is more eager to change directions than the V8 model I drove a few years back, which minimizes the feeling of weight over the front end that a 6.0-liter engine imparts – the lighter V8 feels more nimble than the standard W12, but the Speed closes the gap. The other boon of four-wheel steering – low-speed maneuvering – is harder to parse here, as the coupe's 112.2-inch wheelbase simply means there's less length to hide than in a Panamera or Bentayga. If you're buying the Speed, it should be for the dynamic qualities it brings to the table. While the Speed Convertible is an impeccable droptop – the roof is quick to raise and lower, wind management at speed is hard to beat, and the fabric roof has little negative impact on the shape – that's also true of the V8 or W12 models. It's hard to say which experience is preferable for audiophiles, but I'll give the edge to the Speed Convertible. Staccato barks from trademark oval exhausts accompany each wide-open-throttle upshift. Opt for the convertible, as I did for the first half of my dash across the Sicilian countryside, and you’ll enjoy a booming exhaust note that overwhelms the drama coming from under the hood. The howl of twelve cylinders up front is unmistakable in the hardtop model, with much less bass coming out the back. How the GT Speed tickles your ears will depend largely on which body style you go with. Limitless grip from the larger tires (the Speed's standard 275/35 front and 315/30 rear rubber are optional on the regular W12) and standard all-wheel drive guarantee power reaches the ground, allowing the 650-hp Conti to outpace most other vehicles on the road.
It’s addicting: diving into the throttle so you can feel the G forces at work. Low-end torque is immense, with all 664 lb-ft available between 1,500 and 5,000 rpm (a slightly better spread for high-performance driving than the standard car's 1,350 to 4,500 rpm max), and on the few straight roads the Sicilian countryside presents, I'm confident in Bentley's 3.5-second claim.īut it's the immediate thrust while rolling that sets the chonky 5,011-pound Speed Coupe back on its rear air springs. A Conti with a W12 can and will rearrange organs with its performance regardless of the badge on the fender.Ī Conti with a W12 can and will rearrange organs with its performance regardless of the badge on the fender. Put the stopwatch away and that difference disappears, although that's not to discount the effect of matting the throttle on a twelve-cylinder Bentley. Unsurprisingly, that modest increase in output translates to a modest improvement in performance – the Speed scampers to 60 in 3.5 seconds to the standard car's 3.6. But where it started with 552 horsepower and 479 pound-feet of torque, today's GT packs 626 hp and 664 lb-ft, while this new Speed model is home to 650 thoroughbred Anglo-Teutonic ponies. The Continental GT Speed's twin-turbocharged 6.0-liter W12 is a known quantity, having served under the hood since the first-gen car arrived in the early 2000s. But while this former military base (thankfully) never went out with a bang, the last gas-powered Speed does, taking a spectacular grand tourer to a new level. And with Bentley phasing out gas-powered engines by 2030, including the W12 engine that’s been its tea-and-biscuits powerplant for nearly two decades, the 2022 GT Speed is the swansong of another soon-to-be-bygone era. Three decades on, as I tested a 650-horsepower, twelve-cylinder GT, humanity stands at the precipice of a different kind of world-ending disaster, with climate change driving increasingly devastating catastrophes around the globe.Ĭomiso and the future it threatened are a relic of a different time. The shocking decay of the abandoned air base and the knowledge that the weapons stored there could have ended the world as we know it was an odd backdrop for the newest member of the Continental GT family. I'd just blasted past the structures a few minutes prior, twin-turbocharged 6.0-liter W12 engine thrumming in a display of power like what those nine dozen warheads promised to deliver had the Cold War turned hot.
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