CHANGING TIMES AT BENTLEY. THE FOURTH-generation Continental GT will be revealed imminently - turn to page 98 for the full story - and it adopts a 770bhp-plus plug-in hybrid V8 powertrain: the next step on Bentley's stated mission of a fully electrified line-up at the end of the decade. Meanwhile, it's goodnight from the Crewe firm's famed W12 engine. The big, smooth, distinctive powerplant has been synonymous with big, smooth, distinctive Bentleys since 2003, but production ended in April after more than 100,000 of the four-bank, 6-litre units had been built. (By the time you read this, production of 4-litre V8 Bentley Continentals and Flying Spurs will have stopped too.)
A timely moment, then, to bid farewell to one of the automotive world's most singular powerplants by revisiting the car in which the W12 first found a berth: the original Continental GT. And, as the new Conti GT prepares for launch, a timely moment to acknowledge just what a pivotal car the original has been for Bentley. A real before-and-after car, a watershed moment for the brand, it delivered a new audience and vastly increased sales. The reason Bentley is in rude financial health right now - perhaps, even, in existence at all - can be traced back to this car's launch.
This story is from the July 2024 edition of Evo UK.
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This story is from the July 2024 edition of Evo UK.
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BEST BUYS BMW M CARS
THE PERFORMANCE CAR LANDSCAPE WOULD HAVE looked very different over the last five decades without BMW. Its M division, founded in 1972, has produced some of the best driver’s cars ever to hit the road, and in the process has provided a stream of benchmark models for its rivals to chase. In recent years, stricter emissions regulations, downsizing and electrification have seen some of those rival cars falter, yet by and large BMW’s M machines have remained strong. In fact, some rank among the greatest the department has made think of the eCoty-winning M2 CS and M5 CS while others are the only options worth recommending in their respective segments. Price tags have risen with performance, however, putting those latest offerings out of reach for many, but the marque’s popularity means there are numerous earlier M models available on the second-hand market for far more attainable figures. Here are four of our favourites.
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