Base 2dr Convertible
2013 Bentley Continental GTC

Loses its Head, Keeps its Bespoke Cool This is the 10th anniversary of the Bentley Continental GT, the 5,500-pound shim that pried open the market for bespoke luxury at $150K. We're into the second generation of the supercoupe that is still – and we think unfairly – derided as a grossly exaggerated Volkswagen, which to us is like saying the Hulk is just Bruce Banner in a tizzy. There are credible grounds for both statements, but in neither case do they accurately convey the chasm between the alpha and the omega. Nevertheless, checking off the list of updated models brings us to the Bentley Continental GT Speed Convertible, the moderately augmented version of the non-Speed GTC. Back to the notion of unfairness, it's probably just that to say the GT Speed Convertible is only "moderately" changed. It did, after all, take Bentley three years to engineer the changes that separate your 'basic' Bentley from the Speed variant, and although they might be imperceptible, they are numerous. We were invited to drive the world's latest and fastest four-seater convertible for two days from Las Vegas to San Francisco. In a twist we never would have expected, it turned into a desperate hunt for thrills. It has the Bentley of tops: fabric, seven layers, massively engineered, looks gorgeous up or down, takes 25 seconds to stow. There are so many experiences we wish we could say we had during our drive of the Bentley Continental GT Speed Convertible, but we can't, because the drive route refused to offer them. We could wax factual about the convertible's details, but frankly, you've already read most of them – it's the same car as the GT Speed that our own Zach Bowman drove to heart-stopping and brake-mashing exhilaration last year, except this has a convertible top. Not just any top, of course, but the Bentley of tops: fabric, seven layers, massively engineered, looks gorgeous up or down, takes 25 seconds to stow. The stolidity of that top and a bodyshell stiffness of 22,500 Newton-meters/degree – just 500 Nm/deg less than a Lamborghini Gallardo coupe – eliminates the jittery compromises usually faced when opting for less enchanting convertibles. Oh, and there are neck warmers beneath the headrests, and it has independent climate control settings for when the top is up or down. It is called the world's fastest four-seat convertible by virtue of its top speed: 202 mph. After that it would be reworked press release material, and even Bentley's own PR spends maybe 250 of its 2,202 words detailing items exclusive to the convertible. There's a 6.0-liter W12 rocking two turbos and making 616 horsepower and 590 pound-feet of torque, a ZF eight-speed transmission that can 'block' downshift up to four gears at a time, 15-percent better fuel economy, a stouter suspension with better reflexes that's lowered 10 millimeters versus the non-Speed version, and the whole thing sits on 21-inch wheels, matrix mesh treatments up front and rifled exhaust pipes in back. Inside are turned …
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