Elegance and power can be a heady mix if the balance is right. Bentley’s latest Continental GT Speed happens to have the right dose of both. The most powerful production car made in the marque’s 101-year history is easy to handle, lovely to occupy and is a perfect grand tourer to take on long cruises.
The circa $225,000 Speed I’m driving today represents the third generation in a family which started life in 2007 with cars that are visually based on the Continental GT and spiritually inspired by the Bentley Speeds of the 1920s. As the name suggests, the focus is on power and performance with impressive results. The 6.0-liter 12-cylinder engine, which is unique to Bentley, delivers 659 horsepower and 900Nm of torque, while top speed can be reached at 208 mph and 60 mph in just 3.5 seconds.
Power at this level can be a little intimidating — for me at least. Yet here, technology helps make driving the Speed a breeze. The adjustable air suspension, for instance, helps the car glide over tough and rugged surfaces. Meanwhile, Bentley’s active anti-roll keeps the Speed level through corners, while the electric all-wheel steering enhances the dynamic handling in the various drive mode on offer by allowing the car to feel more agile or stable, depending on road conditions and your driving style.
The Speed comes equipped with Bentley’s latest advanced driver assistant tech to put the mind at ease especially on busy city roads and narrow lanes where I drove the car. The Speed also boasts the largest brakes fitted to any Bentley production car. To add to the ambience on-board this vehicle, the acoustics are tweaked to mask the unpleasantries of road noise and vibration and so on, while tuning-up the sporty notes. It certainly adds to the fun and drama of driving a sports car.
The overall design continues the story of the quieter Continental GT in Coupé and Convertible but with added visual reminders to the Speed’s performance. Styling details worth noting include dark tint radiator and lower bumper grille, sculpted sports sills, a darkened radiator matrix and discreet Speed badging in chrome on the front fender. The car I’m driving rides on 22-inch special Speed wheels in bright silver, with the option of a dark tint or black gloss finish. The exterior flourishes extend to jeweled fuel and oil filler caps, while illuminated Bentley treadplates to the sills are a nod to the performance.
As a maker of luxurious hand-built motor cars, it’s only fitting for Bentley to offer an ample choice of exterior color combinations on this car. On the Convertible, for instance, seven roof colors are available, including a modern take on the traditional British tweed. The interior is classic modern Bentley with surfaces covered in diamond-shaped quilted fine leather and single-piece wooden veneers. Here too the marque is offering a vast menu of materials to choose from to include some 26 shades of hide which can be mixed with tactile Alcantara.
There are a great number of wood veneers on offer, including an open pore dark burr walnut, crown cut walnut and Koa. For a technical aesthetic, you can also order carbon fiber elements or simply finish the center console in a dark tint aluminum trim. Meanwhile, for a highly tailored experience and for the vegans among us who would rather have an animal-free car, customers can visit the skilled Mulliner craft team at the home of Bentley in Crewe in the UK, who will help shape something one-of-a-kind.
The Continental GT Speed is being made at Crewe in limited numbers and these, I’m told, will depend on customer orders. The Speed also marks the final few combustion engine motor cars to roll off the production line since, from 2026, Bentley has committed to making only hybrid and battery-electric cars. Perhaps the knowledge that we are at the final chapter of our love affair with the motor car (as we have come to know it) heightens the allure of a car like the Bentley Speed.
Nostalgia and speculation aside, for now the Speed is best enjoyed top down in the fast lane, although the car’s formidable power should really only be tapped into when and where necessary. The engine may offer a sweet note on high speeds, yet the absence of a spoiler and overt macho signifiers of power indicate that this Speed isn’t so much about showing off, but rather being in the moment and enjoying the pleasure of driving. The latest and final gasoline Bentley GT Speed is as elegantly luxurious and powerful a gran turismo a driver could wish for. And if this is the last gasoline car I get to drive before we all go electric, then I’ll enter the new age smiling.
See my latest interview with Andreas Mindt, Bentley’s new design director, who discussed the upcoming electric cars and how he would like to explore reused and recycled leather and wood, including Venetian briccole. See the hand-built Bentley Mulliner Bacalar and the bespoke whisky with Scottish heritage brand The Macallan.
