2007 Bentley Continental GT Speed

Bentley has always held themselves to be the standard by which other ultra-luxury cars should be judged. They also have a reputation for being able to make extremely heavy and large cars handle like they are half the size. For many years, prior to their purchase by German interests, Bentley refused to divulge the details behind their horsepower and torque numbers, merely stating that they were ‘adequate’. New ownership has made that kind of coy attitude a thing of the past, and Bentley now routinely bashes competitors over the head with the excessive power figures being developed by their excellent engine program.

The 2007 Bentley Continental GT Speed represents the ultimate in personal luxury for the buyer with an infinite wallet and no desire to compromise. This beautiful and elegantly sculpted 2-door coupe is based on the standard Continental GT coupe with one big difference: what you can find under the hood. Injecting 50 more horsepower into the mix, the ‘W’12 engine sitting in front of the GT Speed’s driver puts out a whopping 600 horsepower and 553 lb-feet of torque. These stump-pulling numbers lead to some truly astonishing performance figures from the very heavy Bentley: a 0 to 60 miles per hour time of 4.3 seconds and 0 to 100 miles per hour in only 10.3. The car uses a 6-speed automatic transmission with paddle shifting to help the driver row through the gears. A special lock-up torque converter helps firm up shifting to better replicate a manual driving experience.

This excess of speed is complimented by a revised suspension system which includes a lowered ride height and thicker sway-bars, as well as speed-sensitive steering and stiffer rear bushings than those found on the regular GT. The car sits on self-leveling airbags, and ride height is controlled dynamically during driving. The engine programming has been tuned in order to respond aggressively to throttle inputs, and large 20-inch wheels keep everything connected to the pavement through Pirelli tires. The car also employs an all-wheel drive system in order to ensure maximum traction during launches and high-speed maneuvers. Even with all-wheel drive split 50:50 between the front and rear axles, there is so much power in the GT Speed that a special stability control program was written in order to give the car the ability to instantly restore power to the affected wheels once traction has returned. This makes it react more aggressively in low-traction conditions, and provides greater transparency to the system. If the traction control system doesn’t prove to be up to the task, the driver can quickly bring things back down to a standstill with the largest brakes fitted to any production car on the market.

Aesthetically, there is not much to identify the GT Speed from its slightly slower sibling other than darker chrome on the front of the car and wider exhaust pipes out back. The interior of the car is an exercise in excellence. The GT Speed uses the same Mulliner interior that is option on the standard GT, and this gives the driver a choice of different woods for accents, special leather seats, a three spoke steering wheel and drilled alloy foot pedals. The word ‘Speed’ is engraved onto the doorsills.

There simply aren’t any other cars out there that can be added to the list when shopping for something like the 2007 Bentley Continental GT Speed. It truly is in a class all by itself. There are of course vehicles which are faster, and vehicles which may be more luxurious, but there are none which combine both speed and pampering to such amazing effect. The Continental GT Speed is a special car in the world of exotics.