RE: Bentley: big engines to stay

RE: Bentley: big engines to stay

Author
Discussion

soad

33,398 posts

182 months

Thursday 16th February 2012
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Good stuff, pleased with that.

McSam

6,753 posts

181 months

Thursday 16th February 2012
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No matter how big and heavy the car, giving yourself more space and less weight is only ever a good thing! The W12 makes good sense, especially if it is actually based on the VR6 idea.

I've just had a look, and yes, in fact it's more correct to call it a WR12. In that case, it's an awesome use of a currently existing design smile

Edited by McSam on Thursday 16th February 15:03

buyer&seller

800 posts

184 months

Thursday 16th February 2012
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Trusty Steed said:
My neighbour has a 10 plate GT convertible, he reckons that the new V8 will see his one drop by 30k overnight! Not a happy bunny!
Sorry but this is absolute nonsense. The dealer network and knowlegeable buyers have known that this car has been coming for ages, so why would a car drop £30k in price overnight just because it has become news to the public. This is always the case when any manufacturer brings out a new model, the network are aligning used car prices months before the first cars land in the showroom as they don't want to get their fingers burnt, so it will have been a gentle reduction over the months. What probably didn't help was the fact it was possible to get £30k off of a new 12 cylinder GT last year and nothing to do with the V8

urquattro

755 posts

192 months

Thursday 16th February 2012
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Gorbyrev said:
So it is two narrow angle V6's - 15 degrees as I remember. Drove a VR6 Sharan once - man that thing could go!
So does this W12 engine re above has some affinity to the VR6 engine in the VW range, i.e. Golf, Sharan, Carrado etc family, as its now 3.2 litres and probably sprayed around other german marques as well, could be wrong but I thought one of the Audi TT models used the VR6 based engine.
Welcome correctons on this.

XitUp

7,690 posts

210 months

Thursday 16th February 2012
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stain said:
The GT bay is actually quite small. The short engine block does free up space inside the cabin as the engine sits quite far forwards. Don't forget they have a 4wd system stuffed in there too.
Is it as small as a V8 would be? If not then what's the point in it being a 12 when it doesn't have the natural balance of a V12?

stain

1,052 posts

216 months

Thursday 16th February 2012
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XitUp said:
Is it as small as a V8 would be? If not then what's the point in it being a 12 when it doesn't have the natural balance of a V12?
Yes it is and balance is fine. The 12 is very smooth to drive.

XitUp

7,690 posts

210 months

Thursday 16th February 2012
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But it won't be as smooth as a V12. Is it that the engine is smooth, or that the car is so refined it insulates you from any harshness?

Chris944_S2

1,987 posts

229 months

Thursday 16th February 2012
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E38Ross said:
stain said:
E38Ross said:
just out of question - why use a W12 when it is (in theory) inherently less smooth than a V12?

is it purely packaging and development costs?
Yes it is a very compact engine
in that case, will it have 4 cylinder heads?!!?

if so....i bet that's a fecking nightmare to work on when things start going wrong, no?
No, just two like a V12.
In the same way that VW's VR6 has 1 cyl head and the W8 in my passat has two. The banks of cylinders are only offset by 15 degrees, so you can use 1 cylinderhead to cover the whole lot. Easier to figure out if you google pictures of it rather than explaining in words biggrin

MRCC

337 posts

163 months

Thursday 16th February 2012
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Just wish it sounded nicer, makes too much of a 'drone' like noise. A V12 would sound much better!!

Regards,

Mr. CC.

Jaged

3,598 posts

200 months

Thursday 16th February 2012
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Was speaking to a chap just today who said he got £69k off list of his new Speed (old model without the flared arches) last year!

Yep - said he went in and made an offer and they accepted it!

Never met him before, but he was more interested in showing us his Browning B25 he paid £30k for!
"Forget the car, come look at this" he said!!

His boot kept opening itself!!
Then he noticed the keys were still in the boot, nice touch that!

stain

1,052 posts

216 months

Thursday 16th February 2012
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MRCC said:
Just wish it sounded nicer, makes too much of a 'drone' like noise. A V12 would sound much better!!

Regards,

Mr. CC.
It sounds very different in the Spur with longer pipes.

stain

1,052 posts

216 months

Thursday 16th February 2012
quotequote all
XitUp said:
But it won't be as smooth as a V12. Is it that the engine is smooth, or that the car is so refined it insulates you from any harshness?
No it's not as smooth as a vee at high revs but it is far from harsh or unpleasant. The V8 sounds brilliant. Not quite as rumbly as an AMG but not far off. The car is fairly well isolated but I feel that Bentley have tried to remain true to their heritage and leave some mechanical interaction in place. The Mulsanne is similar in fact. The master is the Phantom which is so refined it has to be driven to be believed.

Peter Griffin

101 posts

152 months

Friday 17th February 2012
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It's nice to see, in the age of eco-this, save the pandas that, one manufacturer is sticking with these glorious engines. Regardless of their style, the Bentleys do sound fantastic.

XitUp

7,690 posts

210 months

Friday 17th February 2012
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In your opinion. V8s and V12s sound better, in mine.

Peter Griffin

101 posts

152 months

Friday 17th February 2012
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XitUp said:
In your opinion. V8s and V12s sound better, in mine.
You and I share the same opinion! My point was more I am glad a company is sticking is a 12 cylinder engine.

stain

1,052 posts

216 months

Friday 17th February 2012
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XitUp said:
In your opinion. V8s and V12s sound better, in mine.
The big V8 in the Mulsanne sounds very smooth, almost too smooth which is a shame. The old 6.75 from the Turbo R had the lovely chugga chugga rumble.

But the amazing thing about the new V8 in the GT is that you can have your cake and eat it. They say it will average 27 mpg which will make it a great long range car. The issue with the 12 is not so much the 13mpg average but the fact that the tank is quite small meaning a useful range of only 275ish miles. The V8 has a 4 cylinder shut down now on light load and you really can't tell when it is doing its stuff. Another benefit is less weight on the nose making it a sharper steer. And no - I don't work for Bentley smile

XitUp

7,690 posts

210 months

Friday 17th February 2012
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How much smaller than the 6.75 is the W12?

gck303

204 posts

240 months

Friday 17th February 2012
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Chris944_S2 said:
E38Ross said:
stain said:
E38Ross said:
just out of question - why use a W12 when it is (in theory) inherently less smooth than a V12?

is it purely packaging and development costs?
Yes it is a very compact engine
in that case, will it have 4 cylinder heads?!!?

if so....i bet that's a fecking nightmare to work on when things start going wrong, no?
No, just two like a V12.
In the same way that VW's VR6 has 1 cyl head and the W8 in my passat has two. The banks of cylinders are only offset by 15 degrees, so you can use 1 cylinderhead to cover the whole lot. Easier to figure out if you google pictures of it rather than explaining in words biggrin
Nevertheless, a V12 is superior to a W12. Would happily loose the 4 wheel drive too. It makes the platform very close to its Audi/VW roots.

Interestingly, a W8 uses a flat plane crank.

http://www.autozine.org/technical_school/engine/sm...







stain

1,052 posts

216 months

Friday 17th February 2012
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XitUp said:
How much smaller than the 6.75 is the W12?
0.75

XitUp

7,690 posts

210 months

Friday 17th February 2012
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No, not capacity, that's irrelevant, and obvious.

Actual physical size.