Behold the 2014 Bentley Continental GT Speed Convertible. I won’t bury the lead, so here it is: this car costs $272,220.
From this point forward, I’ll attempt to justify that price.
It’s not enough that the Sequin Blue paint is $4,395, or that the premium audio option is $7,300 (what’s a standard radio on a Bentley anyway?). It’s that every single thread, stitch and morsel of metal on a Bentley does two things simultaneously: reminds you how expensive it is, and makes you forget that instantly.
I’ll elaborate. The Continental GT Speed has a 616-horsepower, 590 lb.-ft. of torque twin-turbo W12 superhero under the hood that’s less dramatic than the instruction manual to your refrigerator. The topless beast rockets up to 60 mph in around 4 seconds — faster than many sports cars — but only feels like it wandered there. “Did you mean to rocket like a bat from hell, sir?” That’s only the beginning.
There are 21-inch shoes shod with resplendent rubber that burns out all day and all night long in my dreams; those rims are gaudy like a black cocktail dress. Which is to say, it doesn’t attract attention unless you’re staring right at it. Oh, your wife is watching you, by the way.
The trick the GT Speed has is built right into the name: it’s just fast. In fact, it’s the fastest four-seater convertible in the world with a top speed over 202 mph. In many mechanical respects, it’s astonishing. The permanent all-wheel drive system and engine management computer delivers 180 million calculations per second to keep you alive. That’s because more than 600 horsepower in anything without a Boeing name on it requires some restraint, whether you’ve got it or not.
The eight-speed ZF transmission keeps things sedate when you’re not looking to set land speed records, but quickly resorts to violence if you ask. Tip the Mulliner knurled sports gear lever into sport mode and shift the contents of your stomach into the diamond, hand-stitched seats. The transmission will, if you ask, shift from eighth to fourth gears and melt your mind. Repeat when necessary.
Let’s do the walk around. From beak to butt, the Bentley looks somewhat familiar here. The two-door coupe design is classic and the ragtop roof is a dead giveaway that this car is better looking when it’s giving you a tan. This isn’t a dig at Bentley, but I can’t imagine $2,125 more wasted dollars than giving the Bentley GT Speed Convertible a rooftop in dark grey — this car should never wear its canopy.
Like everything else, Bentley has had plenty of its designs copied by other automakers including the signature honeycomb grille and circular headlamp design. The a dead giveaway that you’re driving something special however is the winged B up front. Only 25 winged B’s leave the factory in Crewe each day and this Continental probably took just over 100 hours to build. One doesn’t look at a Continental GT Speed so much as one basks in the 6-liter hand-built glory it took to make it.
I’m drifting off topic.
To start, the Continental GT Speed Convertible runs $238,700. That’s without the neck warmer ($1,035) rear-view camera ($1,215) or red paint on the brakes ($1,495) along with the rest of the incredible options that run the price to nearly $300,000. For that kind of money, there better be plenty of stories to tell your friends riding along with you. There’s hand-stitched contrasted leather everywhere, which took 25 hours to sew. The leather is harvested from Northern European bulls that can be dyed whatever color you want to dream in. The wood is all crafted by hand from trees that live better than you do.
I’m off topic again.
The superlatives in a car like this are easy, but its real trick is making you forget all about it. Part of Bentley’s mystique has been in the idea that it’s been so approachable. Ferraris and Lamborghinis have doors that open in impossible ways, despite costing just as much. Both Italian automakers make 200-mph cars, same as Bentley, but with so much drama and self-satisfaction. As a matter of fact, there’s really nothing in the Bentley Continental GT Speed Convertible that screams champagne and caviar or Avant Garde, the is convertible more like a $200 steak. Once you’re done you realize you’ve been to the mountaintop without seeing where you were going.
The exhaust purrs. The needles glide. The stereo pulses. The Bentley Continental GT Speed Convertible is alive. How do you put a price on that?