Thursday 30th September 2010

Paris: Bentley Continental GT

It's refresh time for Bentley's chunky coupe

---

After seven years in its current form the Bentley Continental GT has received a facelift. It's not as blink-and-you'll-miss-it as first thought, but you still have to look quite hard to see what's changed.

The car as a whole is more muscular - it's got a more focused look now. The headlights have been adjusted to put its looks more in line with the new bug-eyed Mulsanne (though thankfully Bentley hasn't made it too similar), while the radiator is more upright, too, adding to the more aggressive stance.

Given the exterior's sporty overhaul, what about the interior? The dash has been reworked into a more sweeping affair and been given a swish new touchscreen infotainment system. There's 46mm more rear legroom thanks to thinner front seats - children older than three can fit in there now.

Power-wise the Conti GT's W12 has been given some extra shove; it now pushes out 567bhp and 516lb ft of torque. That means 62mph arrives in 4.6secs and hit 198mph, just missing the magic 200.

It'll be priced at 'around' £120,000.

[bencollins]

*tut* fast news day?

Edited by bencollins on Thursday 30th September 01:31

[Complex]

Slightly 6 series styled boot, great.

[BlueMR2]

They seem to take the ugly parts of cars, eg the lights from the non chav Bentley, the boot of 6 series/7 series.

Then meld it together to look pretty dull.

Its a shame really, Bentley used to make some good looking large saloons and coupes. Then the VW influence arrived and it ain't been pretty.

[TheOrangePeril]

Very much disagree with the above comments. Looks like everything a Bentley should be for me. Improved legroom sounds like a winner too, spot on revision considering the 1st gen's sales.

[Zad]

The rad grille looks a tad small don't you think?

[daveco]

I like it, especially the rear 3/4 view.

Bentley need to give their client base a facelift though

[10JH]

Bentley press release said it starts at £135, 760 (inc VAT).

Will be interesting to see what the V8 engine will cost when it comes out.

[soad]

Looks mean. I'm a fan of these.

[Plotloss]

Improvement on the last one, fo sho.

[pSyCoSiS]

It looks alot better than the saloon that has single round headlamps.

Lovely car, with great presence, ample power.

[vintageracer01]

Saw it in reality and it is much improved to the one before.

Every line except the window lines are reworked and the car look much
stronger and defined now. Even the rear fender line is more dynamic now.
I think they did just about the right amount of changes.

Altough the tail lights are smaller and wider now, I still think they are too
big and too red. But that's just for my taste though.

Otherwise brilliant!

[bobberz]

I still think the old one looks great; a lot of presence. I can't wait to see the new one in-person, as pics don't often do a car justice. For instance; the Mercedes SLS and Nissan GT-R are two cars that look far better in person than in photos.

[Carl_Docklands]

Sorry, this is a £120k shoe-box of a car, awful.

[mc_blue]

It does look a lot better than the old one that's for sure. I've read that it is a bit more than a facelift, pretty much an extensive reworking of the old vehicle.

[Cra5h]

:'( They Ruined it! the back end looks like something from the first Sims game, and the boot lid IS from the old Serié 6 Beemer! The front looks okay.. Can't wait for the GTC though! Blue one with white and black comtrast interior please, thanks