Dreams Of England

Grand Touring Never Had It So Good

- Jonny Lieberman

Is there anything better than a British beast of a grand tourer? Specifically, one that’s stuffed with a 12-cylinder powerplant, covered in fist-bitingly gorgeous sheet metal, and lined with fine, sweet-smelling leather? Why, yes. Two of them.

That Aston Martin and Bentley arrive simultaneously with Union Jack–waving coupes is the world’s good fortune. That they are both outstanding reimaginings of the grand touring genre is providential.

Aston Martin comes to the table swinging the car I enjoy calling Big Sexy, the DBS Superleggera. Packing a 5.2-liter twin-turbo V-12 that rocks 715 hp and 664 lb-ft, this GT is the best design of the last 50 years and a veritable rocket ship.

Of course, the Bentley Continental GT ain’t no shrinking violet. New from the ground up, the muscular Conti comes complete with a 626-hp, 664-lb-ft twin-turbo W-12. The Bentley is down on power compared with the Aston, but the former’s all-wheel-drive more than makes up for the deficit. I also happen to think the Bentley looks quite fabulous.

What a matchup, eh? Opportunities like this are why I got into this business. I haven’t even mentioned driving around Spa, the Nürburgring, or attempting to hit 200 miles per hour on the autobahn. Yet.

These two cars are fantasy objects for the obnoxiously well-heeled. The starting ​price of the Bentley is right around $220,000, whereas the Aston Martin is dearer at $308,081. Note these prices contain the caveat, “starting.” It’s hard to nail down the exact as-tested price for the Bentley (and the plummeting English pound exchange rate could affect them both—perhaps the only side benefit of Brexit). But it’s safe to assume that as shown here, it’s dripping some $50K worth of extra bling, likely much more.