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A Redesigned Bentley That Glides Like a Magic Carpet
The Wall Street Journal|January 25, 2025
IF AUTOMOBILES were sized like Champagne bottles, the Bentley Continental GT Speed would be a Nebuchadnezzar: larger-than-life, celebratory, and way heavier than it looks, with about 20 times the fizzy decadence of an ordinary car.
- DAN NEIL
A Redesigned Bentley That Glides Like a Magic Carpet

This year Bentley gives the bottle a good shake.

Gone is the long-serving and charismatic 6.0-liter W12, a twin-turbo, 12-cylinder wündermill, which was effectively taxed, fined and regulated off European and Asian markets.

In its place, a plug-in hybridized, twin-turbo V8 of four liters' displacement, backed up by a ferocious electric motor (188 hp/332 lb-ft) and mated to an eight-speed dual-clutch transmission; active center differential; and rear-biased all-wheel drive, including an electrically controlled limited-slip rear differential.

On city streets the hybrid's effortless power and hushed refinement makes the old Continental seem like a hay wagon.

Presenting his lordship, the Viscount Traction Jackson.

The hybrid-enhanced GT Speed decants 771 hp and 738 lb-ft of torque-11% and 19% higher power and torque, respectively, than the W12. Owing to the electrics' wrenching instantaneity, the GT Speed hybrid is even speedier off the line. With the launch-control function engaged, the 5,421-pound coupe can spirit itself to 60 mph in 2.8 seconds, says Car and Driver; to 130 mph (14-mile) in 10.8 seconds; and to 150 mph in 14.9 seconds, a pace that spritzes shame on many Porsches and McLarens. Top speed: 208 mph.

Thank you, meddling clean-air regulators.

This story is from the January 25, 2025 edition of The Wall Street Journal.

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This story is from the January 25, 2025 edition of The Wall Street Journal.

Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.

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