► Month 2 with Bentley’s convertible
► Open-topped luxury
► Read month 2
There’s nothing like a couple of days in electric cars to obliterate all your reference points. After a Lotus SUV with more than 600bhp, a four-door Porsche that tops 1000bhp and a Pininfarina with nearly 2000bhp, my brain and inner ear are in dire need of recalibration. In their near-silent wake, a V8 Bentley feels merely adequate.
The Conti GT’s V8, with its twin-scroll turbochargers, direct injection and cylinder deactivation, is smooth, drenched in torque and musical in a bass-heavy, ripples-your-pancreas kind of way, and perfect in the nose of the Conti GT. It’s thrilling when you rev it out; barely there when you don’t. But at the risk of sounding spoilt, is it enough? When a £65k Hyundai Ioniq 5 N can run 0-62mph in 3.4sec, is it okay that this £250-ish Bentley takes 4.1sec?
The instant torque of a fast EV also shines a light on just how long it can take for the Bentley to find the gear the engine needs. The Tesla Model S Plaid, in the titular drive mode, is a machine without a shred of pedal- to-velocity delay. If you’re driving the Continental GT’s eight-speed twin-clutcher in Comfort or Bentley mode, digging out the right gear can take what feels like seconds and inches of pedal travel.
Two conclusions, then. One, the V8 S deserves more power. I get that it can’t, in model line-up terms, trouble the flagship Speed. But it can’t be right that the sportiest V8 features exactly the same power output (and chassis tune) as its wellbeing- and more luxury-orientated siblings.
We know the engine can do it (Porsche’s Cayenne Turbo GT Coupe gets 631bhp from the same motor), the chassis and four-wheel- drive drivetrain can handle it (the W12-engined Speed had 650bhp and remained a paragon of reliability) and, as uncomfortably quick family EVs proliferate, the cachet of Bentley-badged luxury motoring surely demands a comfortable margin of straight-line superiority. Nor should we forget that Aston’s new DB12 musters 671bhp.
And conclusion number two? When shifting drive mode is as effortless as turning a dial, there’s no excuse for ever being caught out. Be ready, reacquaint the loud pedal with the carpet and you’ll be reminded of why you fell in love with the V8 S in the first place.
Logbook: Bentley Continental GTC V8 S (month 3)
Price: £227,100 (£282,745 as tested)
Performance: 3996cc twin-turbocharged V8, 542bhp, 4.1sec 0-62mph, 198mph
Range: 249 miles (official), 221 miles (tested)
Efficiency: 22.6mpg (official), 19.0mpg (tested), 284g/km CO2
Energy cost: 35.0p per mile
Miles this month: 221
Total miles: 1911