2013 Bentley Continental GTC Speed First Drive

First Drive:

Research This Vehicle:

To those in the market for a supercar, numbers are a big thing. The biggest. The lightest. The quickest. Theyre potential bragging rights, quantified by a series of digits that justify the inevitably knee-weakening number representing the amount of cash needed to buy said supercar. In the case of the Bentley Continental GT Speed Convertible (GTC Speed for short), key numbers are 616 (horsepower), 12 (cylinders), 5500 (pounds), 4 (seats), 202 (mph) and 238 (thousand dollars before options). Excessive? Absolutely. At no point, we’d guess, did Bentley stop to ponder the rationale of creating a drop-top land yacht that can carry you and three of your friends to beyond the double-century mark. Of course, if you had the opportunity to build a car that could legitimately be billed as the fastest four-seat convertible ever made, you’d probably build it too. Just because you could. While we didn’t get a chance to put that claimed top speed to the test, given that our drive was relegated to public roads and occasional near-blizzard conditions, we can report that the Bentley’s twin-supercharged W-12 engine moves the near-three-ton GTC into highly illegal speeds with uncanny smoothness and composure. That’s thanks in part to ZF’s brilliant eight-speed automatic transmission, which churns though gears as if it were churning butter. Changes are smooth and quick and the ZF will skip gears when necessary, even making an 8-to-3 downshift with virtually no hesitation. One caveat: The column-mounted paddle shifters are large and crowd out the lighting and turn signal stalks â€" poor ergonomic design on Bentley’s part. The Bentley rides just the way a Grand Tourer of the highest caliber should, allowing you to travel at a rapid pace for hundreds of miles in complete comfort and composure. The adjustable air dampers have four modes, from full comfort to full sport, with two in-between settings. Even on the firmest setting, the Bentley’s ride could never be considered harsh â€" appropriate for this type of car, considering the “track-only” fully firm setting in many of today’s cars. The four-layer fabric top keeps near coupe-like quiet when upright, while chassis stiffness doesn’t seem to suffer in the least from having the roof chopped out. Put the roof down and the cabin remains calm and serene, with no buffeting well into illegal speeds. Eight-piston brakes inspire huge confidence with the Bentley’s typical closing speed on “ordinary” traffic and while the car is no lightweight, it does seem to shrink to some small degree when negotiating winding roa ds. Question is, does it work as a daily commuter? It does, but not perfectly. The navigation system proved to be slightly clunky on occasion, not registering that we had arrived at our destination and trying to send us back instead of continuing on the route ahead. And the car’s sheer size inherently requires more concentration than, say, a Mercedes SL 550 to maneuver around a city. Whether the latter is an issue depends on who’s driving, but the former is a little disappointing for a hugely expensive car that is designed to be driven frequently. Despite its huge credentials, the GTC Speed doesn’t scream excess in the way other cars do for the same amount of money. (Think Aston Martin.) Styling is somewhat understated, and this special Speed version doesn’t have a lot to distinguish it externally from standard W12 versions â€" you have to open the door to read the “Speed” script on the sills, the sole identifier. But if you don’t mind flying under the radar, this Bentley is one hell of a flight.

2013 Bentley GTC Speed
BASE PRICE	$ 238,000
VEHICLE LAYOUT	Front-engine, AWD, 4-pass, 2-door convertible
ENGINE	6.0L/616-hp /590-lb-ft twin-turbo DOHC 48-valve W-12
TRANSMISSION	8-speed automatic
CURB WEIGHT	5500 lb (mfr)
WHEELBASE	108.1 in
LENGTH X WIDTH X HEIGHT	189.2 x 76.5 x 54.8 in
0-60 MPH	4.1 sec (mfr est)
EPA CITY/HWY FUEL ECON	12 / 20 mpg (est)
ENERGY CONSUMPTION, CITY/HWY	281-169 kW-hrs/100 miles (est)
CO2 EMISSIONS	1.33 lb/mile (est)
ON SALE IN U.S.	Currently

download our mobile apps

new car buyer's guide

Research or price cars easily on MT

subscribe and save