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Bentley has been building cars for more than 100 years, but the famous British brand was re-born 20 years ago when it launched the Continental GT.
The sporty coupe and convertible reinvigorated the brand, returning it to its former glory days when it made cars that were dynamic and not just big and luxurious.
Now onto its third generation, the Continental GT has not only helped Bentley re-establish itself but also become a modern motoring icon.
Which is what the company wanted, an iconic model, like the Porsche 911 that could be a flagbearer for the brand.
Like the 911, this latest iteration is available in multiple forms, and we’re testing the Continental GT S Convertible, a two-door, four-seat grand tourer - with an emphasis on the ‘grand’.
It might not be as tribal as Ford vs Holden, but there’s a rivalry between BMW and Mercedes-Benz that occasionally becomes more obvious - the launch of the new Mercedes E-Class only months after the BMW 5 Series being one of those times.
But Mercedes has done something different. Instead of multiple variants and electric cars under the E-Class banner, Australia gets just one, the E300.
Is it enough to tackle the big Bavarian sedan in the sales race? We attended the Australian launch just north of Melbourne to find out.
It may not come cheap, isn’t ideal for family buyers and will have you visiting the petrol bowser regularly, but it’s still hard not to love the Continental GT.
It’s an over-the-top car in so many ways, from the dramatic styling to the plush and pampering interior to the effortlessly powerful engine, this is a car that is a pleasure to drive 10km or 10,000km.
It’s certainly not cheap, especially if you start diving into the options list, or the even more costly Mulliner program, but price is relative, of course, and for Bentley buyers purchasing one of these cars isn’t about getting a ‘bargain’ but instead it’s about experiencing the finer things in life.
The E-Class is stacked with kit, looks great, and is an effective and comfortable way to get around in built-up areas or across the countryside.
While it’s not the most dynamically engaging - it’s pipped by its Bavarian rival there - it offers more comfort-oriented features than most, and the cabin is a pleasant place to spend a day driving.
If you're disposed towards stumping up the asking price, the extra outlay for the 'Plus Package' will probably be most relevant to you if you’re covering long distances due to the Airmatic suspension.
Otherwise, even a simple-spec E300 provides a step up from what you might expect from an executive sedan.
Note: CarsGuide attended this event as a guest of the manufacturer, with accommodation and meals provided.
The most interesting aspect of the third-generation Continental GT design is how similar it looks to the first-generation model launched 20 years ago.
Put the pair side-by-side and you’ll notice the latest model is more refined and features crisper lines and more intricate details, but the overall shape and design themes, such as the grille, headlights, etc, bare a similar family resemblance.
This is a deliberate act from Bentley, choosing an evolutionary styling approach for the Continental GT in the same way Porsche has approached the 911.
As for the specific details of this particular Continental GT S model, there are some key differences between it and the standard GT and GT Azure models that sit beneath it in the range.
The most notable - even if it is slightly harder to spot on our black test car - is a ‘black pack’ that swaps all the chrome finishes on the exterior to black.
This includes the grille, headlight surrounds, lower bumper grille, window surrounds, door mirror caps and the exhaust tips. The S also adds black sports sills and black-painted alloy wheels.
Evolution rather than revolution is obvious when it comes to the E-Class’ styling, but that’s in Mercedes’ best interests, because it’s still a good-looking thing, and being a bit subtle is warranted in the executive sedan game.
The biggest changes come in the headlights and tail-lights. Up-front there are now more than one million pixels in the LED headlights, which have adaptive high beam as standard and are more connected to the grille via black trim, as has been seen in EQ electric models.
Underneath, the bumper now features an AMG-style 'A-wing' apron as part of the 'AMG Line' exterior package as standard. A set of 20-inch AMG alloys are also included.
To the rear, and the digital tail-lights feature a Mercedes-Benz star motif, making its lighting signature now more recognisable from behind.
The German Rainbow is well-represented with mostly shades of grey, black, or white available, though 'Verde Silver Metallic' is a slightly retro green, and 'Nautic Blue Metallic' is a subtle and classy tone.
The daring ‘Manufaktur’ shade of 'Patagonia Red Metallic' is a $2500 option, as is 'Opalite White Bright' while 'Alpine Grey Solid' is $2900.
As mentioned earlier, the Continental GT is a two-door, four-seat grand tourer, but while it’s certainly grand, calling it a four seater may be a stretch.
There are two small seats in the rear that can be used if absolutely necessary but anyone in the back won’t feel like they’re in a luxury car because they’ll be cramped for space - even with the roof down.
You could pop small kids in the back in a pinch (and there is a pair of ISOFIX anchor points) but the Continental GT is hardly a family car.
In fact, the Flying Spur is a four-door sedan built on the same underpinnings as the Continental GT, so Bentley does have family buyers covered.
So, let’s keep our attention on the front seats, which is where you want to be in this grand tourer. The seats are comfortable and offer fantastic support, thanks in large part to 12-way electronic adjustment.
To help you enjoy your convertible with the top down regardless of weather, the seats are heated and available with a vent to blow warm or cool air onto your neck.
The seats are just the start, the whole cabin is a blend of modern technology and classic luxury elements.
There’s the media touchscreen, but there’s also a physical button for most functions, so it’s a busy layout but one that will likely appeal to Bentley’s older clientele.
Our test car was fitted with not only the optional sound system but a rotating display, so you can hide the screen away when you’re not using it.
Overall the build quality and attention-to-detail is exceptional, as you’d expect for a car at this price. And it’s really one of the main reasons you buy a Bentley, because it has a level of luxury and quality above brands like Mercedes-Benz and Porsche.
Inside, the E-Class should feel familiar to anyone who’s spent time in a recent Benz, though the Superscreen might be the main point of difference. It’s an immediately comfortable place, though, with a relatively visually busy cabin.
The seats and their adjustability mean most drivers and passengers, regardless of height and size, should feel supported (and ideally relaxed), while touch-points are mostly either leather upholstery or digital screens.
The steering wheel, also seen in plenty of other Mercedes models, is a bit of a let-down, however, with its haptic touch pads on a slightly busy two-tier layout. This millennial found it irritating, surely too will the usually older E-Class buyer.
There are a few other small annoyances, one being that the MBUX Assistant sometimes won’t hear a command, or that not everything seems to be able to be controlled by it. The climate control vent positions are electrically adjustable to certain pre-sets through the menu, but the MBUX Assistant isn’t able to do this for you.
And while the driver display and central multimedia screen are fairly user-friendly, it’s not always immediately apparent what the quickest way to find some information or a setting is.
Our test car was fitted with the 'Plus Package', which means four-zone climate control available to the rear seats, which my 180cm-tall self found spacious with plenty of headroom, kneeroom, and even a fair bit of room under the driver’s seat.
Behind the rear seats, there’s a generous 540 litres of boot space, exactly the same capacity as the previous generation E-Class.
Naturally the Continental GT doesn’t come cheap, with the range beginning at $430,300 (all priced exclude on-road costs) for the ‘entry-level’ coupe model.
The Continental GT S Convertible we’re testing here is priced from $568,400.
But with cars like the Bentley, the list price is really only the starting point as the company offers a huge array of ways for owners to personalise their cars and this can make a dramatic difference to the cost.
For example, our test car featured several additional extras including its interior leather colour combination, upgraded 1500W 16-speaker Bang & Olufsen sound system, larger 22-inch alloy wheels and more, which pushed the price to $667,806.
In terms of personalisation, the sky's the limit. Or perhaps to be more precise, your bank account is the limit. That’s because Bentley’s Muliner department can create unique colours, leathers, trims, you name it, whatever your heart desires is yours - as long as you can afford it.
Even if you don’t want to go down that path there’s still plenty of choice, with the Continental GT available in 16 standard body colours plus an extended range of off-the-shelf hues.
There are three standard roof colours with four optional colours, as well as five interior leather choices and 11 different veneer 'species' to select from.
Focusing on the equipment that comes standard with the Continental GT S, this includes 21-inch alloy wheels, air-suspension, full LED matrix headlights, a 650W 10-speaker sound system and a 12.3-inch multimedia touchscreen which incorporates navigation, Bluetooth and WiFi streaming, digital radio, Apple CarPlay and even a CD slot (which is a rare find these days).
While cross-shopping the E-Class and a BMW 5 Series would normally be relatively easy, the Merc’s $131,500 starting price, before on-road costs, puts it plenty north of the base 520i, the only petrol one available, at $114,900. The electric i5 eDrive40 starts from $155,900, more than $20K over the Mercedes.
But the E-Class is stacked with features as standard, and while there are a couple of option packs, Mercedes Australia has tried to streamline the most popular features and specifications into the E300.
Its $131,500 price gets you a tech-heavy sedan with Merc’s latest 'MBUX' system housed in a visually impressive, if perhaps unnecessary, 'Superscreen' dash.
The dual-screen set-up incorporates a main 14.4-inch central multimedia touchscreen and a 12.3-inch display for the passenger, allowing the driver to keep, for example, a map visible while a passenger sorts out media or comfort settings.
The system is also designed to avoid taking users through sub-menus, though can be bypassed by wireless Android Auto or Apple CarPlay.
It also features a selfie camera mounted to the dash, which is disabled for the Australian market at present. Mercedes-Benz Australia hopes to change this soon.
Mercedes also plans to allow the MBUX system to learn what settings and functions will be most useful to the driver under certain conditions, but currently users are able to manually create so-called ‘Routines’ such as setting the climate control and seats to warm up if it’s below a certain temperature, and can even adjust the ambient lighting to a warmer colour.
More automation comes in the brand’s MBUX ‘Hey Mercedes’ system, which can now respond to commands without the driver needing to say “Hey Mercedes”.
Heated and vented front seats, leather upholstery, wireless phone charging, and a 17-speaker Burmester sound system with Dolby Atmos 4D sound are also standard - the latter being a clever feature that positions different elements of the audio, usually music, to give a 360-degree feeling, as well as turning bassier tones into a physical vibration via “tactile transducers” in each front seat’s backrest. Good for bassline junkies, then (apologies to Mr. Rascal).
With the $9400 'Plus Package', the E-Class also comes with 'Airmatic' suspension and rear-axle steering (which I’ll touch more on later), power-closing doors, 'Urban Guard' to monitor your vehicle while it’s parked, an illuminated grille up front, a more capable version of the MBUX 'Interior Assistant', four-zone climate control and Mercedes’ 'Digital Light' function, which uses the more-than one-million pixels in the headlights to project onto the road or surface in front of you when turning the car off or in driving situations to alert road users of potential danger.
A $6200 'Energising Package' adds multicontour front seats with comfort headrests, upgraded climate controls with 'Air-Balance' and fragrances, upgraded seat heating with armrest heating for the front occupants and heated seats for the rear.
Bentley is renowned for its big, powerful engines, specifically its unique W12. That’s available in the top-of-the-range Continental GT, but the S model we’re driving is motivated by a 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8.
It may not be what Bentley is famous for, but it’s a fantastic engine in its own right and it’s paired to a well-matched eight-speed automatic transmission and an active all-wheel drive system.
Making a very healthy 404kW and 770Nm it has no trouble getting such a big car moving.
Bentley claims the Continental GT S will run 0-100km/h in just 4.1 seconds, which is very rapid and particularly impressive when you realise this car weighs 2335kg.
This lone E-Class variant is powered by a turbocharged 2.0-litre engine pumping out 190kW and 400Nm, assisted by a 48-volt battery system. Under EQ boost, an extra 17kW and 205Nm is available for a short time.
It’s hooked up to a nine-speed auto that drives the rear wheels, and it’s all pretty traditional… for 2024, that is.
Mercedes says the E300 is able to hit 100km/h in a respectable 6.3 seconds.
If you’re looking for a fuel efficient car or are worried about the price of premium unleaded at your local service station, the Continental GT is not for you.
In an entirely unsurprising way, this two-tonne, twin-turbo V8 luxury car is not a fuel-sipping proposition.
Even the official combined urban/highway cycle is 12.5 litres per 100km, which is thirsty.
But if you’re spending most of your time around town, rather than driving to your country weekender, you’ll probably be looking at returns in the mid to high teens, based on our experience.
We saw an average of 16.7L/100km on the car’s long-term trip computer that included more than 1400km of driving.
Fortunately it has a 90-litre tank, which translates to a theoretical driving range of 720km - as long as you can hit the official claim.
Mercedes claims the E-Class drinks 7.2L/100km on the combined cycle, and though we weren’t able to test that properly at the pump on the launch program, the trip computer showed up to 9.4L/100km after some quite spirited driving, which gradually averaged out to about 8.6L/100km in the afternoon once some more calm, E-Class-appropriate distance had been covered.
With its 50L fuel tank, the E-Class should theoretically be able to cover 694km on a single tank if the 7.2L/100km is achieved, though realistically it would be much less, 550-600km depending on driving style.
There’s a duality to the driving experience of the Continental GT, as it manages to blend its obvious luxury focus with a genuinely dynamic edge that makes it a true grand tourer.
The combination of the powerful engine and air suspension means it possesses a laid back personality and effortless nature around town.
The engine delivers its performance with ease, moving this big car rapidly whenever you put your foot down, so you can jump into gaps in traffic or make a brisk getaway from the lights.
It soaks up all the bumps and imperfections on the road with minimal fuss, too, despite our test car riding on 22-inch wheels, so you feel cosseted inside the plush cabin.
However, if you find yourself on the open road, the Continental GT S is equally at home.
Dial up the ‘Sport’ drive mode and the engine feels more responsive, the steering is more direct and the suspension is more taut but still compliant.
It makes this a really fun car to drive on a fast, sweeping rural road, where you can let the engine stretch its legs.
Because of its size it’s not as enjoyable on a twisty road with lots of changes of direction, though.
But for enjoying an opulent daily commute or a weekend drive in the countryside the Continental GT S is a great companion.
While the E-Class has taken fairly sizeable steps in terms of its tech, it remains a fairly traditional car from behind the wheel, save for a few small changes like its mild-hybrid system and rear-wheel steering.
It’s still a petrol-powered rear-drive sedan, and it feels built more for eating up highway kilometres than it does tackling twisty turns. But that’s okay, because it will still do the latter.
Comfort is the main focus, clearly, for the E300, and the big Merc does it well. We weren’t offered a car without Airmatic air suspension on the launch, but the E-Class doesn’t seem like it would be particularly rough without it.
With it, however, large bumps and minor road annoyances only make their way into the cabin in the sense that you’re aware of them, but not bothered by them.
That slight dulling of feedback does extend to the steering wheel however, where, despite the rear-wheel steering making the car more nimble, the feedback to the driver is less encouraging of eager driving.
While 190kW on paper doesn’t seem like enough, the E-Class makes do with its meagre engine quite well - and even though it can seem like it’s working a bit too hard at times, the E-Class’ natural state isn’t responding to a planted foot, so it’s unlikely to be a daily bother.
Engine noise, as well as wind and road noise are suitably dulled by the E300’s NVH fitout, too.
The tuning of its drive modes, in particular Comfort and Sport, seemed well-judged on our drive loop, with the option to set the 'Individual' mode to a custom configuration, most elements in Comfort while the drivetrain is set to Sport is particularly helpful when on gentle, high-speed country roads.
If you do start to approach the limits of the big sedan’s capability, it’ll let you know fairly early on. The heavy E-Class isn’t prone to sudden lurching or poor handling, and isn’t much phased by mid-corner bumps.
It’s not as dynamically engaging as some rivals, particularly the 5 Series, but it does appear to be a better provider of cross-country comfort.
Despite costing more than $500,000 there are still several optional safety features for the Continental GT, which is surprising and disappointing.
There is a decent level of standard equipment, including four airbags - driver and front seat passenger, as well as side - and a reversing camera, as well as active safety items including pre-collision warning, collision prevention assist, rear cross-traffic alert and multi-collision brake.
However, equipment that is standard on much cheaper cars that’s optional on the Continental include active lane keeping assist, adaptive cruise control with 'Traffic Jam Assist', traffic sign recognition, pedestrian warning, reversing traffic warning and top view cameras.
These are available in optional packages, but it’s not unreasonable to expect every safety feature Bentley offers as standard given the asking price.
As for an ANCAP safety rating, the Continental GT doesn’t have one - again, largely because of its price.
As ANCAP testing requires multiple vehicles to be destroyed it’s not financially viable to test all models in this premium market, so cars from the likes of Bentley, Porsche, Rolls-Royce and others rarely have an independent safety rating.
ANCAP hasn’t had a go at crash-testing the E-Class yet, and it might not given the relatively small number that will be sold here compared to volume models, but Mercedes’ track record with safety is pretty stellar, and it’s extremely rare for a Mercedes to not cop the maximum five stars.
In the new E300 there are 11 airbags - plenty for a sedan. Mercedes lists front airbags, knee bags and pelvic/thorax airbags for the driver and front passenger, side bags for the rear and a front centre airbag.
It also comes with a fairly extensive suite of safety tech, including the usual ABS, lane-keep assist, blind spot monitoring and surround-view parking cameras.
But on top of that, there’s also ‘Evasive Steering Assist’, semi-automated cruise control with sign recognition, distance assist for following leading vehicles and can even project light arrows onto the road if leaving your lane, when 'Digital Lights' are optioned.
The E-Class also has a function if an imminent collision is detected in which it can, depending on the type of collision, take occupant protection measures. In the case of a side-on collision, the E-Class can “move an affected front occupant towards the centre of the car” before impact.
Another surprising feature of the Bentley range is the company’s three-year, unlimited kilometre warranty, which feels surprisingly short in this day and age - especially for a brand that takes pride in its carefully built cars.
There is a 10-year warranty available as an optional extra, but it feels like that should be standard if the company is willing to stand by its products anyway and owners are paying such a premium for their cars upfront.
The good news is all Bentley models are covered by a five-year servicing plan (intervals are 12 months/16,000km) which is included in the cost of the car.
As you should expect from such a premium brand, the local dealer will arrange to collect and return the car when servicing is required, and a loan car can be arranged if required.
The E-Class comes with Mercedes’ fairly industry standard five-year, unlimited kilometre warranty, though Mercedes-Benz Australia was unable to confirm exact servicing pricing on the launch.
It does however list pricing for the E-Class on its website for a three-service pack at $3325, four at $4535, and five at $6800, the latter averaging out to $1360 each.
This could increase with the new generation car, and Mercedes doesn’t list estimated serving pricing for new E-Classes yet in its booking system (I checked with one of the test cars).
Servicing intervals are every 12 months or 25,000km, whichever comes first.