Bentley Continental GT convertible: an escape from the humdrum

Bentley has expanded its Continental GT range with this new convertible, says Jake Groves in Car magazine. “It’s for the millionaire who spends most of their life on a riviera of some kind – and happens to have a real liking for tweed.” That’s because the convertible top can be bought with a “contemporary tweed fabric roof”, according to Bentley. It’s just an option, though.

The cabin is quieter than the previous generation coupé, and that is no mean feat, says Tom Harrison on the BBC’s Top Gear website. Wind and road noise can be a real problem with convertibles, but not for this Bentley. The new Conti GT Convertible is three decibels quieter on the move than its predecessor (and that wasn’t a loud car). Bespoke tyres from Pirelli, with the tyre maker’s noise-cancelling technology, help too. But don’t let the silence fool you. It has a top speed of 207 mph, for heaven’s sake. That’s supercar speed, from a two-tonne-plus luxury GT. “The mind boggles.”

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It’s also beautiful in the old-fashioned sense, says Michael Harvey in The Daily Telegraph – “long before it was necessary to have a PhD in advanced laminar surface air flow to understand whether a car was good looking or not”. In fact, the whole concept behind the Continental Convertible is essentially romantic. It’s “a dream of escape from the humdrum (for that read ‘traffic in the southeast of England’) to some place empty, lush and fresh”.

Aside from the Continental’s “hair-raising” top speed, there is another good reason for dropping the top, says Howard Walker in the Robb Report – the car’s “exquisite new interior, which, in usual Bentley fashion, is only limited in its level of bespoke customisation by the girth of your wallet”. The metal finish for the centre console is one “stunning option”. Inspired by the Côtes de Genève pattern that adorns the surfaces of many high-end Swiss timepieces, the finish yields a retro, three-dimensional look, while the retro theme also spills over into the dashboard. Bentley says it provides the driver with a “digital detox”.

Price: from around £171,500. Engine: 6.0-litre W12. Power: 626bhp. 0-62mph: 3.8 seconds. Top speed: 207 mph.

This article was originally published in MoneyWeek