2013 Bentley Continental Gt V8 on 2040-cars

Auto blog

Mansory Bentley Continental GT V8 Convertible is gaudy and green to the max

Mansory is all about excess, and if the Geneva Motor Show were going on, all visitors to its booth would likely need eye protection upon entering. Take this Mansory Bentley Continental GT V8 Convertible for an example. The exterior paint may be matte black, but it’s gaudy to the max. ThereÂ’s a body kit in play here, giving the hood, front bumper, side skirts and rear bumper the Mansory edge (or ugly, however you want to look at it). Much of the classy Bentley styling is interrupted here, but the interior is where Mansory really went nuts. That green youÂ’re looking at is called “green chrome-oxite,” and it might just be visible from the International Space Station. The leather is all in-house Mansory work, which is then complemented by carbon fiber. If you like diamond-quilted stitching, youÂ’re in luck. The leather design is literally everywhere it could possibly be, even in places where it makes no sense, like the floor. This Continental GT V8 also has a couple performance modifications, too. Mansory has fitted a high performance exhaust system and fiddled with the ECU for a little extra power. It now makes 640 horsepower and 656 pound-feet of torque, up handily from the 582 horses and 568 pound-feet of torque it makes in stock form. That lowers the 0-60 mph time by one tenth of a second to 3.8 seconds. Top speed also rises from 198 mph to 205 mph. Finally, you can crest 200 mph in your V8 Continental. Mansory truly leaves no stone unturned in a build like this. Even the engine bay features green accents all over the place. Pricing wasnÂ’t detailed by Mansory, but if youÂ’re one of the few (or maybe just the one?) who actually wants a Bentley in this spec, weÂ’re sure Mansory will put a number out there for you. WeÂ’ve shot a note over to Mansory ourselves to see what this monstrosity of a Bentley conversion costs. ItÂ’s sure to be extravagant. Related Video:    

Bentley Mulliner Bacalar is probably a roadster

The upcoming coachbuilt Bentley Mulliner Bacalar has been teased before its Geneva Motor Show reveal once again. Instead of one of the wheels or a glimpse of its rear quarter panels, we get a rather clear view of the interior. Bentley highlights the fact that there are only two seats, making this only the second two-seat car the company has offered since 1930. But looking closely, it also suggests that the Mulliner Bacalar is a convertible. The first indication is the angle of the photo, which is clearly from high up, and generally unobstructed. Perhaps it could be a design buck, but there's more to it than that. At the bottom of the photo, there's a black, horizontal object obscuring the base of the seats. It's too close to the seat backs to be the dashboard, so we think it's actually the windshield header. Then there's the placement of the seatbelts. They're mounted really low in the interior, seemingly below the window line. That's something automakers normally do if there are no pillars to mount to higher up, and if you didn't want to mount them to the seats. There also appears to be trim wrapping around behind the rear cargo area at the same height, further suggesting there's no solid roof and pillars in place. With all this under consideration, plus a previous report of a convertible in the works, we're thinking the Bacalar is a droptop of some sort. Taking a turn back to what's obvious in the photo, the interior is clearly a two-seat design, and you can see that it features matching luggage to fit the cavity behind the seats. The seats are upholstered in a nifty and sporty-looking diamond pattern with contrasting gray and yellow fabrics. Bentley doesn't specifically say what materials are used, but it says everything was sustainably sourced. The Mulliner Bacalar will be fully revealed on March 3 at the Geneva Motor Show. It will apparently take styling inspiration from the electric EXP 100 GT concept, and Bentley is stressing the sustainability aspect of the car. The same report that said a convertible was coming, though, also said it would probably get a W12 engine, and at least the convertible part of the report seems to be true. Also expect a price tag well into the seven figure range. Related Video:

2019 Bentley Bentayga V8 First Drive Review | Losing cylinders but not much else

There's no such thing as a cheap Bentley. Even though the new-for-2019 Bentayga V8 is $30,000 less expensive than its W12-powered sibling, the twin-turbo V8's $165,000 window sticker still puts it well into the upper echelon of pricey luxury vehicles. Bentley is loathe to compare the two versions of the Bentayga — what parent wants to pit siblings against one another? — but does frame the V8 edition as a somewhat sportier alternative to the full-bore, glitz and glamor W12. Let's examine that line of reasoning. Under the hood of the Bentayga V8 is a 4.0-liter turbocharged engine that shares most of its bits with the latest Porsche Panamera and Cayenne Turbo. The engine is specifically tuned for use in this new application, with a unique sound signature and a cooling package that Bentley says will keep it running comfortably even in the face of the largest desert sand dunes in the world. The V8's peak of 568 pound-feet of torque hits below 2,000 rpm and stays exactly there until 4,500, with a horsepower peak of 542 at 6,000. From behind the wheel, the Bentayga's V8 engine feels a bit higher strung than the effortless W12. Instead of instant torque, there's a strong rush of power that builds nicely until it nears its 7,000-rpm redline, the highest rev limit of any engine the brand has ever installed in a passenger vehicle. If such a peaky-sounding engine seems incongruous with the intent of a luxury SUV, just know that there's plenty of stonk available any time the driver decides to push a red-bottomed Louboutin into the plush carpet. It's just a little less than what'd be on call from the W12, but there's not enough of a discrepancy to really matter. The V8 is a bit less sprightly to 60 than the W12 — 4.4 seconds versus 4.1 — and, with its 180-mile-per-hour top speed, it's a meaningless 7 mph slower at the top end, too. So, that doesn't really support the idea of sportiness. Neither too does the V8 handle any differently than the W12. There's only about a hundred pounds separating the two vehicles, with the new V8 edition weighing in at 5,264 pounds. And since only half of that weight savings is centered over the front axle, there isn't any real change to the Bentayga's driving dynamics or steering feel. That's not to say the Bentley Bentayga V8 doesn't drive well, it just doesn't drive differently than its more powerful, more expensive sibling.