Austria’s Grossglockner Large Alpine Street had just recently exposed for the growing season once we nosed our 2019 Bentley Continental GT through the toll gate. With spritzing water and the melting snowpack wetting the tarmac, we started our ascent of the a lot more than 8200-foot go, turning and unwinding the wheel through one switchback following yet another as we stair-stepped to the clouds and then descended by way of a thick fog. The last Continental GT would not have been pleased on this road. Positive, it might have stormed up the hill, taken along by the sufficient thrust from among its turbocharged motors, however it would have suffered through the turns, impatiently waiting to unleash its torque after the wheels were again pointed straight.
2019 Bentley Continental GT Performance
Although that is still a luxurious great tourer and perhaps not a lively sports car, the newest Continental is remarkably at home on the hill pass. Rather than overburdening its entrance tires, it uses all four contact patches, steers consistently, and indicates a graceful fluidity that its predecessor never knew. The Grossglockner unveiled a brand new Continental GT that believed fitter, fleeter, more energetic—like the vehicle have been provided an elixir of youth.
That work up the Hochter Move dovetailed with the newest Continental’s aesthetic impression. First introduced for 2004 and reworked for 2012, the Continental GT light emitting diode the company out of musty obscurity with almost 70,000 complete devices sold—a wide array by 2019 Bentley Continental GT standards. “It is now our icon,” says fundamental outdoor custom David Paul Gregory. “It’s extremely important that it be instantly recognizable.” The general measurement, form, and critical style elements are kept, and yet the newest edition seems wider and lower, although these proportions have changed by less than an inch. Credit the broader, more upright grille, collection lower in a far more sculpted fascia. It’s flanked by new headlamps with 82 LEDs fixed in matrices (which unfortunately is going to be dumbed down for the U.S. industry, with simple high- or low-beam performance rather than the capacity to switch off individual LEDs to form the supports around oncoming cars). Design-wise, probably the most critical functions are that the fascia is a lot more than four inches closer to leading wheels, the wheelbase has developed by 4.1 inches, and the rear overhang is also lengthier, all of which considerably increase the car’s stance.
2019 Bentley Continental GT Interior
The four-seat interior of the 2019 Bentley Continental GT is perhaps its most old-fashioned aspect. One beholds miles of leather, its quilting equally stitched and embossed. The hides increase even to usually forgotten places: the A-pillars, the edges of the unit, the low rush and door panels. Polished timber cut or a new-for-2019 ribbed-aluminum alternative stretches from the unit across the rush onto the doorway systems, as the regulates and turns are made in chrome. Unlike in past 2019 Bentley Continental GT, however, the ritzy completes aren’t compensating for outdated, wonky electronics. The 12.3-inch central touchscreen (with Apple CarPlay and Android Auto) is not merely nicely measured, it’s sharply made and easy to use. Physical links under and on-screen touchpoints along the medial side give fast techniques, and the home screen can concurrently exhibit up to three functions. But if that appears also garishly modern, the optional Bentley Spinning Show ($6270) allows anyone to push a key to make it vanish and show a group of analog features or, once the motor is off, an easy reel of veneer. Prior to the driver is a virtual tool cluster, which is also configurable, and there’s a head-up display. Against modern traits, Bentley doesn’t believe that stark minimalism is the main element to style. The large, extensive center unit includes plenty of physical links and knurled-edge calls, all of which work with a good feel that no haptic smooth section can impart.
2019 Bentley Continental GT Engine
The greater improvements are mechanical. The previous edition discussed a platform with the staid Volkswagen Phaeton; the newest design uses the VW Group’s MSB architecture, observed also in the Porsche Panamera. The W-12 motor results, but this can be a new iteration. Presented in the Bentayga, it now delivers port and direct energy treatment, a pair of twin-scroll turbochargers, and a dual-mass flywheel, yet it’s 66 pounds lighter. Result here’s 626 power (versus 582 previously) from 6.0 liters, along side 664 lb-ft of torque, which pours forth from 1350 to 4500 rpm. The W-12 will be the just motor at launch, but considering that the V-8 was plumped for by roughly two-thirds of customers of the outgoing vehicle, we’d assume it to return, possibly a 12 months following the 12-cylinder design occurs next spring.
