Bentley Continental vs Ferrari Purosangue

What's the difference?

Close your eyes for me and try to picture a two-door vehicle with a thumping V8 engine, 575kW and a whopping 1000Nm on tap, a 0-100km/h burst of 3.2 seconds and a top speed of 335km/h. Does it look like a Ferrari in your head? Something else Italian, or German perhaps?

Well, what if I tell you it also weighs 2.5 tonnes. Are you imagining a luxe SUV with the rear doors removed, perhaps? Think again, because what we’re discussing here is arguably the very best of Britain (albeit German-owned), the all new and highly impressive Bentley Continental GT Speed.

Gone is the famous and fabulous W12 engine, never to return (Bentley was long the world’s biggest maker of 12-cylinder engines, henceforth it will make exactly none), to be replaced by the one and only power plant the company will now offer, in various tunes, in all of its ICE cars (yes, a Bentley EV is coming, of course).

All that torque isn’t just from the big 4.0-litre V8, it’s also an 'Ultra Performance Hybrid', which will allow you to drive up to 81km in fully silent electric mode, should you be so boring.

We flew to a posh and very private members-only race track in Japan to find it out if this really is, as Bentley suggests, the everyday supercar.

Yes, this is the car that Ferrari said it would never build. In fact, Ferrari Chief Design Officer, Flavio Manzoni told this very publication (albeit way back in 2015) that "Enzo Ferrari would turn in his grave" should the company ever make something other than a two-door sports car.

But I'd advise you not to get too hung up on all of that. Times change, and the automotive world is a very different place compared to five or 10 years ago.

So, yes, this is the first Ferrari SUV (even if the brand steadfastly refuses to call it one). And it’s the first prancing horse with four doors and four seats.

But it’s also the only SUV on the planet (at least, that I’ve ever heard of) that’s powered by a properly screaming naturally aspirated V12 petrol engine.

So, is this Purosangue the world’s most super SUV, and thus worthy of its iconic badge? Or does it only detract from the brand’s impressive performance legacy?

Let’s go find out, shall we?