Bentley S2 Reviews

The arrival of a baby usually means dad has to get rid of his beloved, impractical car. So news that Prince William has recently added a £250,000 ($456,000) Bentley to his garages is likely to make him the envy of many fathers-to-be up and down the country.The Bentley Flying Spur, which the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will use for high-profile official engagements, is one of the world's fastest sedans with a top speed of 320km/h. But it's hardly economical, costing $215 to fill up and managing to use about 15L/100km.It's expensively fitted out, with a hand-crafted walnut interior, champagne cooler and the wi-fi internet capabilities. William and Kate are also understood to have opted for heated and massaging quilted-leather seats. Safety features include bullet-proof windows and super-hardened steel armour, contributing to its three-tonne weight.The couple were seen in the Bentley last week as they arrived for a reception at the Natural History Museum in London. It is being leased privately from Bentley, a common arrangement for official cars used by members of the Royal Family. Neither the carmaker nor Kensington Palace were willing to discuss how much the Cambridges' deal is worth or whether they have been given preferential rates. Read full story at www.news.com.au 

Every year Bentley visits the frozen north of Finland -- close to the Arctic Circle – to pit their powerful vehicles against the slippery surface of the region’s frozen lakes. The annual ‘Power on Ice’ event for 2014 sees their all-wheel drive Continental in a starring sub-zero role, punishing the icy track at full power.Watch the Bentley Power on Ice 2014 | video on the desktop version here.

If you need to ask the price, then you probably can't afford it. We're talking about the new Bentley Home furniture collection, inspired by the renowned craftsmanship and exquisite materials that characterise the interiors of all Bentley cars.Designed to furnish luxury homes and offices, the collection combines Bentley's inherent qualities of craftsmanship, heritage and tradition, exclusivity and style, with the exacting design of one of Europe's leading furniture makers.This exclusive collection blends the finest elements of traditional and modern design, an exercise in subtlety rather than showmanship, incorporating functional performance with comfort and luxurious, sensuous quality. It captures the elan of the Bentley driver, through items that mirror the impeccable quality and attention to detail which is a landmark of the Bentley brand.The bodies of the new Richmond pieces are created with an embracing double shell and can be covered in either leather or a fine veneer of burr walnut. The same wide selection of veneers which is available for Bentley car customers is also available for most pieces in the collection.The wood is then carefully matched to a padded structure covered in a sophisticated light cashmere. Intricate details such as the leather braid around the contours highlight the soft and sinuous lines. The iconic quilted diamond pattern embossed in the leather interiors of a Bentley has also been interpreted into the unique designs of the furniture.

It's not some frivolous energy drink that gives you wings, it's a Big B. Bentley - with a racing pedigree but a profile that was long overshadowed by Rolls-Royce

Only a company like Bentley could get away with calling a car 'Speed' without arousing the wrath of the world's wowsers.

Bentley is expanding its Continental range with two new sporty editions based on its GT V8 coupe and GTC V8 convertible. These V-8 models are positioned as the sportier option for drivers, thanks to the lighter weight of their V-8 engines compared to the big W-12 mills also offered in the Continental, and the associated improvement in dynamics that come with carrying less weight over the front axle. The new editions, the GT V8 S and GTC V8 S, heat things up further by stiffening the suspension, sharpening the steering, freeing up the exhaust and raising output. The cars also get unique ‘S’ styling cues to set them apart from their regular GT V8 and GTC V8 brethren. At the heart of Bentley’s V-8 Continental models is a twin-turbocharged 4.0-litre V-8 engine. Normally, this engine delivers 373kW and 660Nm of torque but in the new S models output is increased to 389kW and 680Nm of torque, the latter of which is delivered at a mere 1,700 rpm. Delivered via a ZF eight-speed automatic and standard all-wheel drive, the increased power is said to offer effortless performance and smoother power delivery. There is also an S mode for the transmission, which sharpens the throttle response, speeds up shift times and allows gears to be held for longer.  Bentley claims a 0-100km/h in 4.5 seconds and top speed of 309km/h for the GT V8 S and figures of 4.5 seconds and 308km/h, respectively, for the GTC V8 S. Simply incredible figures considering the coupe weighs 2295kg and the convertible a hefty 2470kg. 2014 Bentley Continental GT V8 S despite the gain in performance, Bentley is confident the engine will still be able to carry the big bruiser that is the Continental GT over a distance of 805km on a single tank of gas. EPA-rated fuel economy will be announced closer to market launch, though owners can expect a combined rating of about 10.6L/100km for the coupe and 10.9L/100km for the convertible. As mentioned, stiffened suspension has been installed and sees the cars lowered by about 10 millimetres. Spring rates, damper settings, the bushes and stabiliser bars have all been stiffened. Self-levelling air suspension is still featured, along with 20-inch wheels. Unique styling cues include more aerodynamic fascias front and rear, discrete side sills and a subtle rear diffuser finished in Beluga gloss. The 20-inch wheels are also unique to the S models and are also available in 21-inch dimensions. Subtle “V8 S” badges are applied to each front fender, and as with the other members of the Continental V8 family, the famous Bentley Wings badges feature a red centre and the exhaust tips have a 'figure 8' shape. Two exterior colours (Kingfisher Blue and Monaco Yellow) are unique to the cars. Inside, you’ll find all the Bentley hallmarks, such as soft-touch leathers, wood veneers and knurled chrome detailing. Additional “V8 S” badges are displayed on each sill tread plate. Most of the options are customisable and buyers can also opt for Bentley’s Mulliner Driving Specification, which adds a number of touches to both the exterior and cabin. Following a debut at the 2013 Frankfurt Auto Show next week, the Continental GT V8 S and its GTC convertible sibling will go on sale in early 2014. www.motorauthority.com    

The name game is underway for a new British baby - but it's not the new Royal. Bentley has started the search for the name it will apply to the most important car in generations, its first SUV.The top-drawer British brand has just had the final go-ahead for its first family-focussed crossover which was previously previewed in 2012 as the EXP 9F, ahead of sales in the final months of 2015.The jumble of letters and numbers - which reflect the cars place in the experimental line at Bentley - will definitely be going and there will be a new name to sit it alongside the Continental, Mulsanne and Flying Spur."It will have a name. Asobultey. Yes," the spokesman for Bentley Motors, Robin Peel, confirms today to Carsguide as he wraps a downunder visit with brand ambassador Andy Green, holder of the World Land Speed Record. "Is that name decided yet? No."Is there a process for deciding that name? Yes." Peel says Bentley will be looking into the archives for potential choices from the brand's earlier days but is giving no hints on the final outcome, beyond ruling out EXP 9F."That's not a sexy name, but as a concept you had to give it something that's at least recognisable." The 9F toured the world as a tease for a new direction for Bentley and got an overwhelmingly positive response, despite the ugliness of its front end.It's a similarly predictable outcome to the Lamborghini Urus, which was also revealed as a motor show tease before getting a production go-ahead. Ironically, both Bentley and Lamborghini are part of the giant Volkswagen Group and their new SUVs will sit over the same mechanical package, which will also run under the next Porsche Cayenne.Peel refuses to be drawn on exact timing for the Bentley SUV but says it will be public sometime in 2015. "For me to say it's the end of 2015 or the start of 2016, we don't actually know. That's the working timetable," he says.The SUV is expected to more than double Bentley's annual sales - just as the Cayenne did when Porsche joined the SUV hordes - although sales were already up by 22 per cent in 2012 at 8510 deliveries worldwide.It will bring an employment boost at Bentley's factory at Crewe in England - the traditional home, also, of Rolls-Royce - with more than $1 billion to be spend on extra production facilities and the employment of an extra 1000 workers. Bentley has only given the barest outline of the SUV in its first official picture of the production car, but is touting the newcomer as the world's most powerful and expensive SUV.It says the styling will be "changed considerably" from the 9F, no surprise since the nose was voted as worst in show anywhere it appeared. The Bentley SUV - whatever it's finally called - is likely to have a pricetag beyond $250,000 in Australia, matched by a top speed beyond 250km/h.This reporter is onTwitter: @paulwardgover 

The first official pictures of the Bentley Continental Flying Spur have leaked on the internet well before the car’s official unveiling at Geneva motor show next month.While the interior strongly echoes the latest Continental GT and GTC, the images show some exterior changes from their design cues with a more upright grille, more streamlined profile and trimmed styling of the rear light clusters.Bentley is yet to release details on the drivetrains, but is tipped to be using the current Continental's 373kw/660Nm 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 and 423kw/700Nm 6.0-litre W12.This journalist is on Twitter: @KarlaPincott 

It used to be that when you wanted a taste of outdoors you went camping. You carried your own canvas, erected it somewhere you hoped was not snake-infested, then incinerated food on that most fickle of stoves, the campfire.So along came the campsite, which introduced the toilet block. It should have been a good idea but wasn't due to the incessant sound of generators. A similar catch-22 confronts convertible makers. Remove the roof, and the rigid metal canister that was a car becomes a soggy mass of uncertainty.These are the motoring equivalents of the campsite: they appear convenient -- four seats, say, and a secure folding metal roof -- but actually ruin the very thing they set out to make acceptable. You've got wind in your hair but can't enjoy it because the ride quality is intolerable and your knees are pressed to your chin.I'd rather go behind a tree and happily some convertibles are still like this. The Lotus Elise, for example, is a loud and uncompromising sportscar with a roof from a 1950s scout manual. It's as raw as the environment you're in, a two-person bivouac on wheels.Or, if you're going to make the experience luxurious, at least do it with conviction. When we're talking tents this is called “glamping” -- glamorous camping. You're in pristine natural wilderness, of course, but never far from a comfy bed and a coffee machine. When we're talking large convertibles, this is called the Bentley GTC.If the Rolls-Royce Phantom Drophead at $1,075,000 is the Everest of convertibles, the GTC is K2. Not the tallest, but head and shoulders above everything bar one. The version I drove, with a new V8 engine, starts at $407,000.After a few essentials were added, such as deep-pile floor mats, a knurled gear lever and diamond-quilted upholstery, it came in at $497,288. The next most expensive, Maserati's Grancabrio, starts way below at $338,000.A BMW M6 Convertible is $308,500 while the most luxurious Mercedes four-seat convertible is the E500, at $188,635, which wouldn't give any self-respecting glamper altitude sickness. You could buy a convertible Aston DB9, Jaguar XK or Porsche 911, but only if you're clear about your seating needs. The rears are splendidly upholstered parcel shelves.In the Bentley, rear seating is tight for adults but at least usable by humans of some dimensions. And if its rivals' cabins are splendid, it ups the ante with sumptuous. Bentley is fond of saying that if a piece of trim looks like wood, it is wood, and if it looks like metal it is metal.That's rare these days but it's more than that. A paperclip looks like metal. In the GTC, each piece could come from an expensive watchstrap. As if to prove it, there's a little Breitling set in the dash. A nice touch, as is the silent silver arm that moves the seatbelt within reach. Did I mention the knurled gear knob? Few cabins are this lovely.The roof is large and leisurely in operation, at around 25 seconds. It doesn't open on the move and a wind deflector must be manually fitted. A bit old-school, but without it the cabin stays fairly calm and it delivers on other counts. Closed, the tight roofline gives the car great hunkered-down proportions and tightly insulates the interior.There are fold-out beds less generously padded. This is the second generation of the GTC and it follows the coupe, driven almost two years ago, in making modest changes. So modest, at the time it felt a little underdone. This is especially true of the exterior, where the crisper lines need an acute visual memory to discern from the original.But it's even more true of one crucial area: the control screen. It shares this with other brands in the Volkswagen group and even two years ago the upgrade was off the pace. Perhaps that won't matter because other impressions are more potent. Few cars take pride in their weight these days because they're shedding every conceivable gram to lower fuel consumption.Certainly, it feels better balanced than its nose-heavy predecessor, which was offered only with a huge turbocharged 6.0-litre 12-cylinder. That engine, upgraded, remains available for another $42,500. But even for a badge that relishes extremes it now looks like overkill.The 4.0-litre turbocharged V8 is shared with Audi and I was expecting it to be a bit more vocal, especially roof-down. But it has enough power for the car, with easy driveability thanks to loads of low-rev torque. The GTC gathers pace with inevitability, like a steam train.Then it's easy to exceed the speed limit. It will reach 100km/h in five seconds, amazingly quick for something this heavy. In a nod to efficiency, there are fuel-saving features such as direct injection and the ability to shut down half its cylinders when cruising.A new eight-speed automatic also helps, even if it's not the quickest changing transmission. Eight -- a lucky number for Bentley -- is also the piston count on the huge brakes. They work, thankfully.So even more than usual, a Bentley can make other cars feel like toys. It has substance. After just a few hundred metres behind the wheel this solidity betrays the badge. Blindfolded (a thought experiment!) I reckon I could tell what it was just from its road feel. Few, if any, convertibles ride this well, with just the occasional minor shudder reminding you that it's an imperfect world. One you can blithely ignore.Because at heart it's tarmac imperialism, this 2.4-tonne British expeditionary force, and it imparts a certain road swagger to the driver. You become a hoon in a pith helmet. That's because it's good to drive. Bentley claims it's the stiffest convertible in the world and the suspension engineers must have been delighted. You feel the weight in corners but it settles into the task and the chassis is surprisingly nuanced and subtle in the signals it sends the driver. Huge rubber and all-wheel drive, split 40:60 front-rear, add to its fundamental ability. Driving it fast feels like you've mastered juggling medicine balls.I've confessed before in these pages to being no lover of convertibles. But I've realised now it has to be one extreme or the other. If I'm going to commune with nature, it's got to be hardcore. Or hedonistic. And few do it as well as this Bentley GTC.

Just a couple of weeks ago, Bentley CEO Wolfgang Schreiber gave an update on the status of the company’s plans for its first-ever SUV, revealing that senior managers at the Volkswagen Group, Bentley’s parent company, were yet to give final approval for production. Schreiber also revealed that a significant redesign of 2012’s controversial EXP 9 F concept would be implemented for any production version. According to a recent report in Germany’s Handelsblatt, first picked up by Automotive News (subscription required), approval for production of the EXP 9 F has been given. Citing company insiders, the report also said the new SUV would retail in Europe for 200,000 euros (approximately $261,000 AUD). Despite the steep price, the SUV is expected to be Bentley’s most popular model, commanding a sales volume of up to 5,000 vehicles annually. Last year, Bentley’s total sales were just 8,510 units. A spokesman for Bentley said the company is still waiting for approval, though things were looking very positive. The new SUV is to be based on the Volkswagen Group’s new platform for mid- to large-sized SUVs. The platform will debut in the next-generation Audi Q7 and will eventually spawn new versions of the Porsche Cayenne and Volkswagen Touareg. The basic structure of the Bentley SUV will be built alongside the Audi version at a plant in Slovakia before being shipped to Bentley’s headquarters in Crewe, England for final assembly. As for engines, Bentley’s new twin-turbocharged 4.0-litre V-8 will likely be standard, with the twin-turbocharged 6.0-litre W-12 remaining an option. This range-topping engine is expected to be updated soon for improved performance and efficiency. As previously confirmed by the automaker, a plug-in hybrid option may also feature. Based on the Volkswagen Group’s next-generation hybrid technology, the plug-in hybrid system likely employed in Bentley’s SUV will feature a V-6 engine and offer an electric-only driving range of about 30km and 0-100 acceleration in less than 5 seconds. There’s still no word on a possible launch date but previous reports have suggested a launch sometime in 2014. www.motorauthority.com