Autoblog

Click above for high-res gallery of the 2009 Bentley Brooklands

Bentleys and buckets of torque go hand-in-hand. Therefore, it might make some sense for the German-owned British luxury marque to consider one of the VW Group's big, powerful turbodiesels for one of its upcoming models. Not so fast, says Bentley. It has specifically polled its customer base -- made up mostly of Americans and Asians -- to determine if there's any interest in an oil-burning Bentley. Apparently, there isn't. Instead, the luxo-barge company will focus on biofuels in an effort to lower the fuel consumption and emissions of a numbers of its models. As a matter of fact, the first flex-fuel engine from the Flying B is expected to debut in 2009 and Franz-Josef Paefgen, Bentley's Chief Executive, says that all of its models will be capable of running on biofuels by 2012 as part of its plan to go British Racing green.

[Source: Autocar]

Click above for high-res gallery of the Bentley Continental GT Speed

When we reviewed the Bentley Continental Flying Spur a couple of years ago, we showed you just how many other forms of transportation could be bought with the car's $183,825 out-the-door asking price. For this review of Bentley's new super coupe, the Continental GT Speed, we thought we'd list just a few of the cars that produce the same or less horsepower than the fastest Flying B ever made. The complete list is rather long considering that the GT Speed is powered by a twin-turbo, twelve-cylinder engine producing 600 horsepower, but here are just a few.

Dodge Viper – 600 horsepower
Lamborghini Murcielago – 571 horsepower
Ford GT – 550 horsepower
Porsche 911 GT2 – 530 horsepower
Corvette Z06 – 505 horsepower
Ferrari F430 Scuderia – 503 horsepower
1999 Oldsmobile Alero Coupe – 150 horsepower

While it's true that cars with 600+ horsepower are becoming common in the supercar segment, the GT Speed's 48-horsepower bump over the standard Continental GT drives it into some truly rarified air. Read on to find out how it fared in the Autoblog Garage.


Photos Copyright ©2008 John Neff / Weblogs, Inc.

click above image to view more high-res pics of the Bentley Continental GT Speed

Here at Autoblog we've had the fortune of reviewing not one, but two Bentleys – the Continental Flying Spur and the Continental GTC (still being written, but will be published soon). Perhaps if we only write glowing praise about Bentley from here on out they'll let us drive the new Continental GT Speed, the most powerful Bentley ever made. The twin-turbo W12 mill from standard Continental GT breathes better thanks to a redesigned and more upright grille, and its ECU has also been hacked resulting in a nice round 600bhp, a 48bhp bump. 20-inch wheels wrapped in ultra low-profile rubber, a new steering wheel not shared with VW, and optional carbon ceramic brakes round out the hardware upgrades. All told, 60 MPH should arrive in 4.2 seconds and the Continental GT Speed's 202 MPH top speed officially makes it the fastest Bentley ever made, as well.

The Bentley Continental GT Speed is one of the most photogenic cars at this year's Frankfurt Motor Show, so check out all the live high-res pics in our gallery below, and click here to read the official press release from our original post.

click above image for gallery of 2008 Bentley Continental GT Speed

Bentley released pricing today for its entire 2008 model lineup, which includes the recently announced Continental GT Speed, the most powerful Bentley ever produced and at $199,990, the most expensive model in the Continental line of cars. Prices appear to have gone up across the board save for a few Arnage models that will remain as expensive as they were last year. The company from Crewe also revealed that its upcoming Brooklands Coupe will be a 2009 model, and at $340,990 is the most expensive item on Bentley's menu. Price does not seem to be a deterrent for Bentley customers, however, as the first year's worth of Brooklands Coupe models has already sold out.

Check out the pricing data below and after the jump, as well as galleries of Bentley's two newest models, the Brooklands Coupe and Continental GT Speed.

Continental Flying Spur
2007: $169,990
2008: $170,990

Continental GT
2007: $169,990
2008: $175,990

Continental GTC
2007: $189,990
2008: $193,990

Continental GT Speed
2008: $199,990

Brooklands Coupe
$340,990

Bentley Continental GT badged as a Hyundai
priceless

click above image to view the largest high-res gallery of the GT Speed anywhere

The Bentley Continental GT Speed is the most serious piece of hardware ever built by the boys and girls from Crewe, England. 600bhp. 202mph top speed (the first Bentley to pass 200mph). 0-60mph in 4.3 seconds. The numbers speak for themselves. Based on the 2008 Continental GT, which itself received upgrades for the new model year, the Continental GT Speed boasts subtle tweaks to its exterior including a wider, more aggressive front air intake and a grille that's more upright to force additional cubic feet of atmosphere into the twin-turbo W12 engine. Lighter weight engine components and a revised computer also help account for the 9% bump in power over the standard GT's 552bhp. The GT Speed also rides lower than the "standard" Continental GT and rests atop a set of barely there 20-inch wheels that offer an unencumbered view of the optional carbon ceramic brakes. The interior is typical Bentley posh, and we also noticed a new steering wheel that replaces the old one borrowed from VW. There's really not much else to say except we want one really, really bad.

Check out the Bentley Continental GT Speed gallery below full of 24 gorgeous, high-res pics that would look right at home as your desktop wallpaper. The official details from Bentley can also be found after the jump.

[Source: Bentley]