Bentley Continental GT: more than a VW in fancy dress clothes?
Automobile Magazine analyzes the Bentley Continental GT and its relationship with the VW Phaeton, on which the Bent is based. The W-12 from the VW is adorned with a few turbos, the suspension is pretty much identical, and there are interior bits snagged from the dub's cockpit that betray Bentley's legacy of unadulterated bespoke luxury. But if you can get past the borrowed architecture, the entry-level Bentley provides an extremely swift, smooth ride, one which exemplifies the "you can't tell how fast you're going" cliché. The feeling of sheer isolation is achieved at the expense of road feel and agility, but this coupe was meant as a highway cruiser, not a corner dicer. Consumers looking to drop 150 large on a car have apparently gotten over the VW origins pretty quickly, as the first production run of the GT has already been sold out.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Eric 11:10PM (12/18/2005)
This might be the first time ever that the Bentley Continental GT and the VW Phaeton have been mentioned together and nobody said a thing (until now!) about how incredible the damn trunk hinges are (and incidentally the same on both cars) and what a true marvel of engineering they represent.
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