2025 Bentley Continental GT Speed: Preview drive

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2025 Bentley Continental GT Speed

This is going to be a mightily frustrating review for some of you. The Continental GT is about to undergo a facelift at the hands of the original’s interior designer, Robin Page. He took us right through all the changes inside and out, and I can’t even tell you whether it’s nice or not. That has to wait until the end of June 2024.

But what I can tell you about is the thing that has everyone at Bentley very, very excited.

Those of you who know the Continental GT will know that it’s a big, comfortable grand tourer, probably the last of its kind. I am endlessly surprised the global SUV madness hasn’t killed it, not least because the brand’s own Bentayga has been such a success.

The Continental GT is the nameplate that took Bentley from selling just 414 cars in 1998 – when it was still glued to Rolls-Royce – with that single model peaking at 10,000 sales in a single year. Freed by the Volkswagen Group from its association with pre-BMW Rolls-Royce, the brand soared. The 100,000th Continental GT will roll down the line sometime next year.

That milestone car will be one of two specifications, both of them hybrid. One a V6, the other the Speed, a twin-turbo V8 replacing the retiring and still-intriguing W12. Which itself will bow out with a limited-edition hybrid version. It’s not clear if the new V6 is intended as a replacement for the current car’s V8.

The new 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 is the result of a collaboration between other parts of the VW Group including Porsche. The ICE engine itself is much lighter than the W12 and shorter, meaning it sits further back in the chassis despite the addition of the hybrid gear. Bentley calls this power unit the Ultra Performance Hybrid powertrain.

On its own it’s almost as powerful as the W12, developing 441kW at 6000rpm and a sobering 800Nm between 2000 and 4500rpm. The electric motor contributes 140kW and a whopping 450Nm for a total combined output of 575kW and… I can hardly believe this… 1000Nm.

While Bentley refused to tell us how much the car weighed, it did concede it was heavier overall with the hybrid powertrain. 

Almost buried in those figures is the fact that this is a plug-in hybrid. A 25.9kWh battery is nestled under the boot floor – robbing some space, but again, we don’t know how much – and can be charged for a claimed 80km electric range. Charging isn’t especially snappy, taking nearly three hours on a ‘fast charge’ (around 11kW) or nearly nine hours from a domestic plug at 3kW.

The electric motor can work on its own in EV mode at speeds of up to 160km/h and up to three-quarters throttle application. Obviously, you’re not going to get 80km while exploiting either of its maximums, but being able to silently whistle along at the imperial ton is pretty good going.

Most of the time it just acts as any other plug-in hybrid, and Bentley says it will deliver a CO2 figure under 50g/km, which is not bad for a car likely to be well over two tonnes. You can switch modes, telling the car to charge the battery from the engine, act in regeneration mode or in e-boost mode.

So a lot has changed under the bonnet, and as far as the Speed badge goes, it’s all new, apart from the eight-speed twin-clutch transmission.

The chassis has also had a great deal of attention. Fans of the Continental GT will know that it’s a bit of a barge, particularly in Speed form, with the huge W12 forcing a lot of the weight forward and delivering a less-than-ideal 60:40 front-rear weight distribution.

Dropping in the shorter, lighter V8 and balancing things out with the battery at the rear has meant a much more favourable 50:50 weight distribution figure so beloved of BMW and sports car manufacturers.

The Speed will also ship with 48-volt-powered active roll bars, air suspension with new twin-valve dampers, and the same huge 420mm front brakes and 380mm rears. Rolling on 22-inch wheels shod with Pirelli P-Zero tyres (275/25 front, 315/30 rear), there is a large amount of rubber on the ground. 

As ever, the Continental GT is all-wheel-drive and includes an electronic limited-slip diff with torque vectoring.

Bentley took us to Barcelona’s Parcmotor Castellolí. This is a racetrack well known to Dr Matthias Rabe, Member of the Board – Research & Development at Bentley Motors. His role takes in every element that makes the car go (my translation). His familiarity stems from his work at Cupra, with the testing of that brand’s hot hatches and race cars conducted here. 

Like its more famous counterpart, Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Castellolí is to the north of the city of Barcelona, almost due west of the former. Unlike the other track, it’s nestled in the hills among twisting roads and has a huge elevation change (for a racetrack) as you work your way around its technical layout.

It seemed an odd choice for a first-drive launch. The cars were not yet homologated for the road, so that ruled out a road drive. But with the big hills, an extremely bumpy, downhill section and a decently long straight, the choice of Castellolí became a little more sensible once we were cleared for our laps.

The Continental GT is the first car under Dr Rabe’s guiding hand, and I got the distinct impression he’s a bit of a hoon in his spare time. But importantly, he and his team understand what the GT is. He told me that his team have not turned it into a track demon, but the fact it is fun on the track speaks to the overall improvement in the car’s dynamics.

Irritatingly, my ability to make it rain wherever I go struck again, with a biblical downpour moments before the track session started, with water streaming across the surface of a track that hadn’t seen a drop of rain in six long months. So this would make things interesting.

Like the new WEC cars, we trundled down pit lane under electric power and in Bentley mode, which is roughly the same as comfort in other cars. Once clear of the pitwall and the speed limit, the V8 burst into life. While I’d heard the engine from the outside during other groups’ runs, it sounds just as sweet inside the car.

With the hybrid providing torque fill, the Continental took off like a politician chasing a vote. The new V8 lops half a second off the W12’s 0–100km/h time, taking it down to 3.3 seconds. 

The test car was fitted with the optional carbon ceramic brakes, measuring a gigantic 440mm at the front and 410mm at the rear. They brake the new Continetal like it’s a hot hatch, hauling pretty big numbers off the rolling speed with even moderate pressure.

Turning into the first corner, you could immediately feel that this is a very different car. The old one was pretty quick in a straight line – V8 or W12, didn’t matter – but corners were not its strong suit, which made the hilariously capable GT3 race car all that more amusing to watch (it won the Bathurst 12 Hour, would you believe). For most owners that was fine, but Bentley must have thought it could steal plenty of Aston Martin buyers with a more capable chassis on the Continental.

With all-wheel steer, the much-improved weight distribution and Bentley’s Dynamic Ride, even in the least sporting mode, the GT is a much more wieldy machine. The next two laps were in the more dynamic mode – but still with the traction and stability controls on, albeit in a much looser calibration – and the car was more alive than any previous Continental I’ve driven.

That liveliness comes from a tail that is more than willing to wag out of corners when you pin the throttle into the deep carpet. The car takes off like a shot, that huge slab of torque washing the car down the road at great speed but with low hassle. There’s plenty of drama from the V8, with a bassy wail at the top end and a bit of crackle and pop on the downshifts (but suitably gentlemanly and only when provoked), but the chassis ensures occupants just waft along.

The steering is still pretty light and insulated from the road surface. That feels by design as the word ‘serenity’ kept coming up when talking to Bentley engineers about the way it rides. The all-wheel steer ensures a sharper change of direction (and impressive turning circle), but it feels more natural than some other systems, without that weird pivoting feeling.

Of particular note is the effect of the new twin-valve dampers. Dr Rabe told me on our way around the track – surely the bravest board member at Bentley, heading out with me on a track I’d never before seen – that this design means a lot more control in the damper. Right on cue, we passed over a particularly bumpy part of what is an otherwise smooth track where you’re braking from not far off 200km/h, slightly downhill, and the car just sails over the top of the chaotic surface.

I’d noticed these bumps on the first lap and both involuntarily braced and braked early. By the third lap I was marvelling at the car’s unflappability over this particular surface. It was a bit of a shame more of the track wasn’t bumpy, because exploring this new-found capability would have been even more fun and informative.

Another thing to marvel at was just how impressively powerful the engine is. After the right-hander of turn one, the track climbs high, still climbing through the second right-hander at turn two. It just didn’t feel as steep as it looked. Or steep at all – the hybrid V8 didn’t break a sweat powering up the hill.

The cool-down lap gave me some clue of what the car might be like on the road. Back in comfort mode, it whispered around the track. Like the old car, it’s extremely comfortable, and if an owner never looks to take it any further than the car park at a racetrack – or the shops – they’ll never know about the car’s newfound fun, nor will they care.

I paid particular attention to the transition between regenerative braking and physical braking. It would be easy to say there wasn’t one because it was very difficult to detect. An engineer joked with me afterwards that the dual-clutch gearbox really has three, the third looking after feeding the power in an out from the electric motor. It was very smooth, and once again owners may not really notice it’s a hybrid, at least from the braking.

How much could we tell from such a short squirt in the 2025 Bentley Continental GT Speed? Surprisingly, quite a bit. It’s still likely an imperious cruiser, comfortable and refined. It doesn’t suffer at all from the loss of four cylinders nor from the addition of hybrid power. In fact, the latter improves it and I imagine around town – surely the car’s likely home – it will mean a pleasant ride into the office/club/whatever it is very wealthy people do with their time.

The improved chassis makes it a more broadly appealing car, which is obviously great news for Bentley that can now lure in a few more customers looking for a bit more from their Gran Turismo.

Whatever happens, it’s a milestone in the Continental GT’s two-decade story and for Bentley itself. With five new models over the next few years, the brand’s most famous model is starting the journey to (eventual) electrification with a solid, exciting bang.

The post 2025 Bentley Continental GT Speed: Preview drive appeared first on Drive.

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