Continental GT Supersports: If not now, when?
Discussion
A week or so ago I took the Supra to a Cars and Coffee event held at local trading estate that only has car related businesses, (trimming, detailing, repairs, servicing...and sales).
Sat at one end was a Bentley that took my eye; intially I couldn't work out why this one had captured my attention - but there was just something about it that attracted me in a way no other Contintental had before. I actually managed to blag a very brief test drive right there and then!
I took a few pics, got home and looked up the advert online, then I realised why it looked slightly different; it's a Supersports! (Vented bonnet, different front bumper/vents, lots of carbon on the inside, black wheels and massive carbon ceramic brakes)
Trying desperately to be rational I put a lot of hours into research, even paid a monday lunchtime visit back to the dealer to take a lot of detailed photos of the car so I could do even more research... (to quote the Ferrari F1 team: We are checking
)
Thursday last week I had an extended test drive and also took it home to check if it will fit in the garage OK, it's broadly the same dimensions as the LC500 was so shouldn't have been an issue at all - but needed to make sure. I spent hours going through the cars history, (it's had relatively few owners for a 15 year old Continental, I will be the 3rd) which was impeccable and showed Bentley main dealer servicing for 13 years, and Phantom Motors after that.
As part of the research I called up Bentley and had a long and fruitful conversation with a Brand Advisor - a really friendly chap, he was able to dig out the original build sheet for me and email it over. It's also a pretty rare model, with 172 produced for the UK.
So what do we have?
A 2010 Bentley Continental GT Supersports in Beluga Black, with black bits and the four seater option.
Headline figures when it was launched were 621hp, 590ft/lb, 0-60 in 3.7 seconds and a top speed of 204mph.
Over to Jeremy:
On Sunday it was the Pistonheads Sunday Service at Castle Combe, so it would have been wrong not to use that as my first proper drive out in her!
It actually feels smaller to drive than the LC500 did, but is a massive old boat compared to the Supra!
Performance is seriously impressive, the Supra was probably faster 50-100, but the Bentley does it with such ease - you can be doing very naughty speeds very easily.
The brakes are incredible, my first experience of carbon ceramics, but the way they pull it up is insane! (Also interesting is that they get quite "grabby" once warm, you have to be quite deft on the pedal to bring it to a gentle, non-dirty-look-inducing-from-the-wife, halt)
MPG is hilarious, this car has 55k on the clock and the averages are about 12.5mpg! A gentle cruise to Castle Combe on Sunday morning it was over 19mpg, so not that bad on a motorway/A-road cruise vs anything else of similar performace. Around town it drops to 9mpg, on full chat I suspect it's much less than 9mpg!
Niggles? Well... it's a 15 year old, 2.2ton leviathan with a petrol and rubber dependency.. so yes! The drivers door restraining strap clicks, and there is evidence of some movement/play on the body mounting. Some signs of rust on the turbo oil return line too, although Bentley have said this needs repainting and not replacing; both of these are going to be sorted by the suppling dealer.
My plans are to get my private plate moved over to this from the Supra, (which I PX'd against this) send it in for a full detail and an IGL Kenzo coating, annual service and precautionary gearbox fluid change, and move the MOT from Christmas to summer.
Then I'm just going to drive it and enjoy it.
Onto the pics!
Sat at one end was a Bentley that took my eye; intially I couldn't work out why this one had captured my attention - but there was just something about it that attracted me in a way no other Contintental had before. I actually managed to blag a very brief test drive right there and then!
I took a few pics, got home and looked up the advert online, then I realised why it looked slightly different; it's a Supersports! (Vented bonnet, different front bumper/vents, lots of carbon on the inside, black wheels and massive carbon ceramic brakes)
Trying desperately to be rational I put a lot of hours into research, even paid a monday lunchtime visit back to the dealer to take a lot of detailed photos of the car so I could do even more research... (to quote the Ferrari F1 team: We are checking
)Thursday last week I had an extended test drive and also took it home to check if it will fit in the garage OK, it's broadly the same dimensions as the LC500 was so shouldn't have been an issue at all - but needed to make sure. I spent hours going through the cars history, (it's had relatively few owners for a 15 year old Continental, I will be the 3rd) which was impeccable and showed Bentley main dealer servicing for 13 years, and Phantom Motors after that.
As part of the research I called up Bentley and had a long and fruitful conversation with a Brand Advisor - a really friendly chap, he was able to dig out the original build sheet for me and email it over. It's also a pretty rare model, with 172 produced for the UK.
So what do we have?
A 2010 Bentley Continental GT Supersports in Beluga Black, with black bits and the four seater option.
Headline figures when it was launched were 621hp, 590ft/lb, 0-60 in 3.7 seconds and a top speed of 204mph.
Over to Jeremy:
On Sunday it was the Pistonheads Sunday Service at Castle Combe, so it would have been wrong not to use that as my first proper drive out in her!
It actually feels smaller to drive than the LC500 did, but is a massive old boat compared to the Supra!
Performance is seriously impressive, the Supra was probably faster 50-100, but the Bentley does it with such ease - you can be doing very naughty speeds very easily.The brakes are incredible, my first experience of carbon ceramics, but the way they pull it up is insane! (Also interesting is that they get quite "grabby" once warm, you have to be quite deft on the pedal to bring it to a gentle, non-dirty-look-inducing-from-the-wife, halt)
MPG is hilarious, this car has 55k on the clock and the averages are about 12.5mpg! A gentle cruise to Castle Combe on Sunday morning it was over 19mpg, so not that bad on a motorway/A-road cruise vs anything else of similar performace. Around town it drops to 9mpg, on full chat I suspect it's much less than 9mpg!
Niggles? Well... it's a 15 year old, 2.2ton leviathan with a petrol and rubber dependency.. so yes! The drivers door restraining strap clicks, and there is evidence of some movement/play on the body mounting. Some signs of rust on the turbo oil return line too, although Bentley have said this needs repainting and not replacing; both of these are going to be sorted by the suppling dealer.
My plans are to get my private plate moved over to this from the Supra, (which I PX'd against this) send it in for a full detail and an IGL Kenzo coating, annual service and precautionary gearbox fluid change, and move the MOT from Christmas to summer.
Then I'm just going to drive it and enjoy it.
Onto the pics!
Edited by BrettMRC on Tuesday 22 April 13:36
Edited by BrettMRC on Tuesday 3rd June 07:47
Bravo.
A proper car & I think the first Gen Supersports will become collectible / valuable one day, very much the modern equivalent of the old Aston Martin V8.
I had a really long look at a 2 seat one before buying my TVR. But the potential borkage & the fact I already own a Range Rover meant that the Bentley wasn’t what I was looking for in a car.
I look forward to living vicariously through your experience.
A proper car & I think the first Gen Supersports will become collectible / valuable one day, very much the modern equivalent of the old Aston Martin V8.
I had a really long look at a 2 seat one before buying my TVR. But the potential borkage & the fact I already own a Range Rover meant that the Bentley wasn’t what I was looking for in a car.
I look forward to living vicariously through your experience.
Mezzanine said:
Shall I set up the GoFundMe page for you?
These are cracking cars and I am always happy to see when someone else buys one
Looking forward to following your journey with this brute.
I think this level of consumption requires going one step up to an OnlyFans!These are cracking cars and I am always happy to see when someone else buys one
Looking forward to following your journey with this brute.
Really love this version - quintessential 'brute in a suit' for this era.
salmanorguk said:
Mezzanine said:
Shall I set up the GoFundMe page for you?
These are cracking cars and I am always happy to see when someone else buys one
Looking forward to following your journey with this brute.
I think this level of consumption requires going one step up to an OnlyFans!These are cracking cars and I am always happy to see when someone else buys one
Looking forward to following your journey with this brute.
Really love this version - quintessential 'brute in a suit' for this era.
Congratulations Brett, enjoy it.
Mezzanine said:
Shall I set up the GoFundMe page for you?
These are cracking cars and I am always happy to see when someone else buys one
Looking forward to following your journey with this brute.
Thanks - I'll keep the thread updated and keep my fingers crossed! These are cracking cars and I am always happy to see when someone else buys one
Looking forward to following your journey with this brute.
Cheese on Toast with Worcestershire Sauce said:
Did you have your eye on a Continental before? That's quite a car to stumble across..... congrats!
Sort of... a friend who goes to the same car meets as me picked up a nice Continental awhile back and has had it mapped, exhaust mods amongst other things - I hadn't realised or remembered quite how good they were, and then this one appeared before me! (It was parked next to a Flying Spur that was also very lovely!)Mr Tidy said:
It was great to get to speak to you on Sunday. 
And it looks even better in the metal than the photos, although it does seem a bit thirsty!
Good to meet a fellow PHer - always happens when I'm leaving! And it looks even better in the metal than the photos, although it does seem a bit thirsty!
I ran in to Lawrence from SW Autoworx on the way out too, he got a first hand glance at what he's got to deal with next month!
cerb4.5lee said:
salmanorguk said:
Mezzanine said:
Shall I set up the GoFundMe page for you?
These are cracking cars and I am always happy to see when someone else buys one
Looking forward to following your journey with this brute.
I think this level of consumption requires going one step up to an OnlyFans!These are cracking cars and I am always happy to see when someone else buys one
Looking forward to following your journey with this brute.
Really love this version - quintessential 'brute in a suit' for this era.
Congratulations Brett, enjoy it.
keo said:
Looks good! How does it compare to the LC500?
You don’t mess about buying cars. Me and my mates have a saying
“No time for games”
It's probably fair to say it's like an LC500 with the power turned up to 11, although the LC sounds a lot a better. (Not to say this doesn't sound good, but the LC was much more theatrical in terms of noise)You don’t mess about buying cars. Me and my mates have a saying
“No time for games”
I've come to the conclusion that there is no point in waiting - if you can do something without it negatively impacting anything else important, do it.
Here's the MPG page, please give generously!
BrettMRC said:
Goodness me! My hat is off to you for sure.
It is a shame that ESSO don't offer Tiger tokens anymore I reckon, because you'd get loads of nice stuff with your build up of Tiger tokens!
My Dad collected loads of them from 1980 to 1990 when he was running his 1979 V8 5.0 Mustang as well for example.
Tesco and Shell both do 99ron, so in theory theres some clubcard points coming at least... should probably sign up to Shell Go as well! 
Having said all that, it's not a daily driver so fuel economy is pretty much moot - but it's certainly up there with early rotaries in terms of consumption.
Having said all that, it's not a daily driver so fuel economy is pretty much moot - but it's certainly up there with early rotaries in terms of consumption.
BrettMRC said:
Tesco and Shell both do 99ron, so in theory theres some clubcard points coming at least... should probably sign up to Shell Go as well!
Having said all that, it's not a daily driver so fuel economy is pretty much moot - but it's certainly up there with early rotaries in terms of consumption.
I take exactly the same view as you on that too, and the fuel doesn't matter on the occasional car as you say. Having said all that, it's not a daily driver so fuel economy is pretty much moot - but it's certainly up there with early rotaries in terms of consumption.
I've tried running V8's a couple of times over the years as daily drivers, and I pretty much ran out of money on both occasions though!
But when I ran the Cerbera as my occasional car, I never noticed the fuel it used in comparison for example. Edited by cerb4.5lee on Thursday 24th April 13:58
cerb4.5lee said:
BrettMRC said:
Goodness me! My hat is off to you for sure.
It is a shame that ESSO don't offer Tiger tokens anymore I reckon, because you'd get loads of nice stuff with your build up of Tiger tokens!
My Dad collected loads of them from 1980 to 1990 when he was running his 1979 V8 5.0 Mustang as well for example.
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