Tuesday 30th May 2017

Bentley Continental GT V8 S: Spotted

Old? Yes. Ubiquitous? Probably. Still rather nice? Certainly!

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If you haven't ever been to the Nurburgring 24-Hour, put it on your motorsport bucket list. Right at the top. Because one day the authorities will say that having GT3 cars on the same Nordschleife as Calibras and Mk3 Golfs really isn't safe, and that will be the end of it. The race really is like no other, and I absolutely love it.

Browse Bentley Continental GTs for sale in our used car classifieds

Well here's a colour you don't see every day

As a guest of Bentley this year, the car to take us to Germany was a Continental GT V8 S. And, truthfully, it's hard to think of a car that would have better. Oh sure, driving a Conti GT in Europe and describing it as great sounds a bit like falling in love with a Dodge Demon on the drag strip, but the fact remains that the big Bentley is a very good car for that sort of escapade.

It's sumptuously refined, incredibly comfortable and plenty fast enough. At high speed its composure is remarkable, so much so that at the UK speed limit it feels to be barely moving. While elements of it are old now, the Continental GT still lives up to the name very accurately.

Driven: read our first drive of the new Bentley Continental GT

The V8 is certainly the GT to have over the W12 too, unless you must tell people how much power your car has along with your handicap. It helps the car handle more sharply, it doesn't give away much in terms of performance and the noise is significantly more appealing. Sounds great, in fact.

So what's to be found in the classifieds? Well not as much as you might hope, simply because so many GTs are either in what might be called 'footballer spec' - black or white, with big wheels - or they're W12s. Remember the V8 was only introduced a few years ago.

It's even on the standard wheels!

This car looks spot on however. A V8 S in special order Kingfisher Blue, it looks far less moody than GTs normally do and the better for it. Our car for the N24 was on the 21-inch wheels that gave the ride an unwelcome lumpiness around town; the standard 20s here should help that. It just looks nice, for want of a better phrase, rather than some of the adjectives that have been used to describe this particular Bentley.

Now £100,000 is not in any way cheap - and it will continue to depreciate - but it does represent a useful saving from list price after 13,000 miles. Many other cars at this money depreciate though, as this Aston Martin DB9 and Mercedes S63 Coupe both demonstrate. Very, very good cars they are too, offering something a little different to the Bentley in the broader GT remit.

Having a car that is exemplary at covering large distances may seem like a luxurious niche too far, but there is little doubting that the Bentley remains stellar at it. With the V8 you can claim a (tenuous) motorsport link too. Come on the Bentley boys!

Browse Bentley Continental GTs for sale in our used car classifieds

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BENTLEY CONTINENTAL GT V8 S - Specifications
Engine: 3,993cc V8 twin-turbo
Transmission: 8-speed auto, four-wheel drive
Power (hp): 528@6,000rpm
Torque (lb ft): 502@1,700rpm
MPG: 26.7 (NEDC combined)
CO2: 246g/km
Recorded mileage: 13,000
Year registered: 2015
Price new: £139,000
Price now: £99,850

See the original advert here.

[PistonBroker]

I consider these a guilty pleasure because of the footballer connection, but I'd love to try one at some point.

Though the article singles out black and white as footballer colours, I do think these look better in the darker colours. Not convinced by the blue of this car.

That Aston would be even more tempting at this price point!