2011 Bentley Continental GT Surfaces!

Bentley's Continental GT, introduced in 2003, is still a superstar in my eyes. Of course, in terms of the uppermost echelon of automobiles, it's not just long in the tooth, it's already got one foot in the grave.  For 2011, Bentley is giving the Continental GT a healthy redesign both aesthetically and mechanically, making it both prettier and better suited for today's... unusual economic climate.

On the outside, Bentley has tweaked the Conti's now-familiar shape to bring it more in line with the new Mulsanne super-sedan, giving the brand some stylistic linearity.  The rear "haunches" (fenders to us plaebians) are more sharply defined, as is the character line atop the front fender that extends to the front.  The grille is more upright, and the headlights are more backswept - with inset LED running lights which are the "in" thing these days.  Out back, the LED taillights extend around the corners of the fenders, rounding out the back and reducing visual mass.  The overall look is both more modern and much bolder than the original Continental GT, but what's interesting is despite all these "more, more, more" changes, the Conti has a lower cD (Coefficient of drag) and reduced lift at speed on both axles.

If this Continental looks lower and wider than the old one, that's because it is - track widths front and rear are up 41 and 48mm, respectively.  The new Conti will roll on standard 20" wheels (surprise!) with 21" manhole covers optional.

There aren't a lot of surprises in the interior, but it's still absolutely gorgeous.  New seats (which for some reason, Bentley calls "Cobra") are made with self-forming foam material (Tempur-pedic seats?  Where do I sign up?) and look like they fit like a glove.  Oh, they're also heated, ventilated, and can be had with a 10-point electronic massage feature.  Of course!  There's also piles of thick carpet, polished wood, hand-turned aluminum trim, and all the luxury trappings you expect from a car that's the price of a modestly sized house.

On the electronics side, Bentley has gone to great lengths to make it's newest highway missile up-to-date.  There's a new 8" LCD touch screen display in the center console, which houses a 30 GB hard drive for all your music and data.  The satnav system is linked with Google Maps and has Dynamic Navigation, which takes traffic congestion data into consideration when plotting your route so you can spend more time flogging your Bentley and less time sitting in a line on I-95.  There is, of course, an absurdly fantastic stereo - custom designed by Naim Audio specifically for the new Continental.  You can play music from an iPod (integrated controls), an SD card, media stored on the hard drive, the 6 CD changer, or probably a direct feed from Beethoven's immortal soul.

But, enough about the leather and CD changer and headlights.  Is the Continental GT a runner, or a poser?  Thankfully, it continues the tradition of having a massive, turbocharged engine up front.  The 6.0L W12 is basically a carry-over from the previous Continental, which is not a bad thing.  With twin turbochargers on each side, the 48-valve quad-camshaft Rube Goldberg-inspired W12 produces 567 horsepower, a 15bhp improvement over the original turbo W12, along with 700nM of torque (516lb/ft) - a 50nM jump.  Like the Continental SuperSports, the new Continental GT is capable of running on straight petroleum (93 octane, obviously), E85 Bioethanol, or any mixture in between.  It has a "fuel quality" sensor in-tank which determines what's going through the pump and adjusts timing to suit - pretty neat!  The result is an improvement in power, torque, fuel efficiency, and C02 emissions.  This fits both with Bentley customer's desire for a metric ton of power as well as Bentley's desire to lower fuel consumption by 15% across it's fleet.  It doesn't hurt that the new model is 65kg lighter than the outgoing model, either.

The Continental retains it's ZF 6-speed automatic transmission, but it has been designed to shift faster (200 millisecond shifts are 50% shorter than before) as well as pop off double downshifts on kickdown for better passing power.  It also has a strengthened gearset to cope with the extra power.  Elsewhere in the drivetrain, the car's static front-to-rear torque split is shifted from balanced (50:50) to 40:60 favoring the rear, much like parent company Audi has been doing for a while now, to minimize understeer and give sharper cornering response.  Suspension components have been tweaked as well:  new cast aluminum control arms up front, a new rear sway bar, and retuned springs and damper settings make the new car more responsive and agile than before.  The shocks are also continuously variable, with a high-speed setting that lowers the ride height for increased stability.

As always, the Continental is a mixture of flawless luxury and astonishing power: with the W12 engine it will accelerate to 60mph in 4.4 seconds, 100 in 10.2 seconds, and top out at 198 miles an hour.  More interesting is what's in the pipeline for next year - a smaller 4.0L high-output V8 will find it's way under the Continental GT's hood as a base engine offering, making it more available to new customers and putting it in a lower, more accessible price bracket.  Bentley hasn't said anything specific about the V8 other than it's going to be available late 2011, but since it's going to be in a Bentley, don't expect it to be some limp-wristed weakling motor.

With these changes, the Flying B has brought it's biggest seller up to date and more in line with their halo offering (the Mulsanne) while still retaining the distinctly British charm of this super coupe.  Considering the original Continental GT broke all sales records for the luxury brand, there's no reason to believe this new model will be any different.  Look for the new Continental to debut at the Paris show in the next few weeks!