BENTLEY Continental GTC V8 Review

We’re running our fingers across the headliner, but the usual feeling of fragility experienced when you do this in a convertible is missing. In fact, once you let the generous leather armchairs play their accommodation role, you feel like Alice in Wonderland.

Everything around you is dressed up nicely and has the feeling of a bespoke world. When Bentley says “soft-touch leather hides”, they’re not kidding. They should make shirts and jackets with small holes in them especially for this car, so that your back and arms can slightly touch the leather that surrounds you.

While up front you can stretch your legs even if you hold a Guinness World Record for human height, in the back, the Continental GTC can barely contain two adults. Despite the revamp bringing front Cobra seats with sculpted backs that bring extra rear knee room in the back, the word to use here is “medium”. Medium-sized persons can use the rear seats for trips up to a medium length. Oh and a bit more space in the boot would’ve also been useful.

You can bath in a wide selection of veneers and if you opt for a dark shade of wood, like the one in our test car, your female companion will have a huge mirror-like surface in front of her. Here, she can always fix whatever goes wrong with her hair due to the open-top driving.

Speaking of this, we have to tell you that you are protected from the elements by a seven-bow textile roof that uses three layers of fabric. The engineers usually clash with the designers when it comes to developments of this kind, but for this top they must’ve worked together.

That’s because you can fold or raise it in about 13 seconds, the exact amount of time it takes you to hit 20 mph (32 km/h), the maximum speed at which the top can be operated. Of course, this Bentley can accelerate much faster than that, but why not let those around you enjoy the transformation process?

It only takes a few minutes of cruising to realize that the roof manages to place the Bentley Continental GTC straight at the comfort top of the convertible car world. You may have bought this car because you love the wind and the sun, but the roof hates them for forcing it to be sent to solitary confinement. Thus, whenever it exits its cell, it keeps them far, far away from you.

However, we can’t help think that the Bentley Continental GTC shares this crown with the Mercedes SLS AMG Roadster. It’s really hard to say which of the two tops makes a better roof when they’re up, but they’re both amusingly good at what they do.