Bentley Continental GTC: ‘S’ version is competent but confused
The GT S gets piano black veneer and microsuede upholstery as standard, but the full range of leather, wood, carbonfibre and aluminium remains available for those who aren’t fans of dust and fingerprints.
This particular car is slathered in carbon along with ‘Beluga’ leather, with plenty of embossed S logos, and also has the Touring specification package at a cost of £6035. This adds adaptive cruise control, night vision and a head-up display. Bentley now offers a bewildering array of these packages, including a Smoker’s specification, with a solid ash can in the front and cigar lighters at both ends of the cabin. Talk about a blast from the past, but nearly anything is available if you’re willing to pay for it, and quite rightly.
We won’t retread our tracks after the full road test of the GT Speed last year, but it suffices to say that the ambience and material lavishness of the current Continental’s cabin remain a true highlight of any journey. There are endless switches, buttons and dials, and while the digital array has been updated, its physical presence is no larger than it was for the previous-generation car – a judicious approach on Bentley’s part and one that helps retain a pervasive sense of privacy and calm in a cabin that equally wants nothing for modern functionality.
As for ergonomics, our road test rule showed that the convertible suffers no shortfall in head room – front or rear – compared with the coupé. And while the rear window is smaller on the convertible, the sheer size of the Conti GT ensures the back of the car never feels unduly claustrophobic, as can often be the way in cars with folding fabric roofs.
Anyone wanting to maximise the sense of light and space could also select one of the lighter hues from the eight-strong range of roofliners on offer – Magnolia or Camel would do the trick. And there are plenty of exterior fabric choices as well, including a tweed (though pairing this with carbon exterior trim would be strange to say the least).
For a machine with deeply rooted touring credentials, where the GTC suffers concerns boot space. The floor is already high, with packaging considerations for an 80-litre fuel tank, the drive battery and what must be a substantial differential. The berth for the roof mechanism complicates matters further, to the extent that the official capacity of this shallow boot is just 134 litres. Rather implausibly, this is less than that offered by the frunk of a Ferrari 296 GTB, and is also less than what you will find in the similarly compromised Aston DB12 S Volante.
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