2016 Bentley Continental GT Speed Convertible First Test Review

In the world of Myers-Briggs you’re either an “I” or an “E”. An introvert or an extrovert. The personality test doesn’t analyze a person’s automotive preferences, but if it did it’s obvious which group would gravitate to the Bentley Continental GT Speed Convertible. This English cruiser is big and brutish, tailor made for the big “E”s of the world.

Especially in our tester’s shade of green. Bentley calls it Apple Green and it’s a garish hue ideal for eccentrics and Gwyneth Paltrow’s daughter. A warning if you chose to go green: People will turn their heads. People will point and stare, and they will mouth obscenities. (What the —– is that?!)

But even a more subtle shade would do little or nothing to mask the two-door mass. It stretches almost 16 feet long and it’s wider than Bentley’s own Mulsanne flagship sedan. It’ll easily outshine the Cadillac Escalade in a chrome showdown, and its bright red brake calipers only bring more attention to the 21-inch wheels. Yup, the Continental GT Speed Convertible is a bona-fide attention grabber.

The Continental lineup may be dominated by V-8s, but lurking underneath the GT Speed Convertible’s hood is Volkswagen Group’s monster 6.0-liter, twin-turbo W-12 churning out 626 hp and 605 lb-ft of torque. It’s a big engine for a big car that tipped our scales at 5,565 pounds. Despite its heft, the droptop Bentley ran to 60 mph in a quick 4.0 seconds and completed a quarter mile in 12.7 seconds running at 109.9 mph. If you have enough room, Bentley says the GT Speed will top out at 203 mph. Meanwhile, popping the drivetrain into Sport mode has two benefits. For starters, shifts from the eight-speed auto are snappier, if not abrupt, and the exhaust system opens up to amplify its deep snarl.

Piloting the Continental GT Speed Convertible through the canyons is definitely entertaining, if not comical. We expected a clumsy mess, but instead got cool and composed. About 55 percent of its weight sits at the front axle, but the chassis remains surprisingly balanced until you really push it hard through the turns. The optional carbon ceramic brakes ($5,990) also impressed us, stopping the two-and-a-half ton droptop from 60 mph in just 110 feet.

While the canyons were fun, the Bentley excels on the open highway. The air suspension does an outstanding job of erasing road blemishes and there are zero hints of wind noise. We wouldn’t be surprised if that soft top were bulletproof. To get an idea of how quiet it is at highway speeds, ride in a Mercedes S-Class while wearing earplugs. It’s that silent.

It’s not surprisingly that the interior materials and craftsmanship are top-notch. Thankfully, our test car’s cabin was dominated by gray leather and spiffy aluminum accents with a machined-finished circular pattern. The entire softtop headliner was wrapped in tight-fitting suede.

The tech, however, is woefully stuck in the early 2000s. The voice command system obeys just as well as a pug puppy and connecting Bluetooth devices requires a clumsy process done with the steering wheel controls and not the main touchscreen. USB ports? Zero. If you want to charge anything, you’ll have to run by Pep Boys and pick up a USB adaptor to plug into the 12-volt slot. Meanwhile, the premium Naim sound system sounds decent with CDs, but loses a significant amount of clarity with compressed music files commonly used with personal audio devices or streaming services like Spotify. Add to that the absence of driver assistance items (like blind-spot monitoring) and it’s evident the Conti’s electrical architecture hasn’t changed much since the first-gen model debuted in 2003.

Despite our test car’s technological shortcomings and eye-searing shade of paint, it’s very much a timeless cruiser and a rolling expression of economic privilege with an as-tested price of $289,795. That said, there are other options with just as much exclusivity, but a tad more tech. The Rolls-Royce Dawn would be one choice, and the upcoming Mercedes-Benz S-Class Cabriolet would be another. A Myers-Briggs test can’t determine a winner in this case, but perhaps we could settle it in an upcoming Big Test of these big drop-tops.

2016 Bentley Continental GT Speed Convertible
BASE PRICE	$263,400
PRICE AS TESTED	$289,795
VEHICLE LAYOUT	Front-engine, AWD, 4-pass, 2-door convertible
ENGINE	6.0L/626-hp/605-lb-ft twin-turbo DOHC 48-valve W-12
TRANSMISSION	8-speed automatic
CURB WEIGHT (F/R DIST)	5,565 lb (55/45%)
WHEELBASE	108.1 in
LENGTH x WIDTH x HEIGHT	189.2 x 87.7 x 54.8 in
0-60 MPH	4.0 sec
QUARTER MILE	12.6 sec @ 109.9 mph
BRAKING, 60-0 MPH	110 ft
LATERAL ACCELERATION	0.87 g (avg)
MT FIGURE EIGHT	25.3 sec @ 0.76 g (avg)
EPA CITY/HWY/COMB FUEL ECON	12/20/15 mpg
ENERGY CONS., CITY/HWY	281/169 kW-hrs/100 miles
CO2 EMISSIONS, COMB	1.33 lb/mile

 

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