Continental Drift

14 Aug Continental Drift

It’s been a while since we’ve had a Bentley on the blog, and since they’re just so damn attractive, we had to feature it.

Not too long ago, a local dealership rolled into our lot with this 2005 Bentley Continental. Despite this moniker being around for decades upon decades, this is technically a “first generation” (2003-2010) Continental GT. Sadly, it wasn’t in to get a custom exhaust or some degree of crazy engine work; nope, this is a dealer car, and it was here for a malfunctioning gas door button. Not very exciting? Well, the job itself might not be, but the car sure is.

As one may expect from a car of this caliber, it’s in absolutely lovely condition, from the chrome finish on the wheels to the ever-shining winged B emblem. Every corner of this car is a bit like Lindsay Lohan, in that it goes around screaming, “Everybody pay attention to me!”

The interior is in excellent condition as well, with nary a scuff or scratch on any of the various finishes inside. And trust us — there are quite a few different materials coming together to make the inside of this car look like a Upper East Side penthouse. Hell, even the center console’s clock is made by Breitling, meaning it may cost more than your entire vehicle (depending on the vehicle). And did we mention the wood? Holy hell, the wood. Not only is it real (and we’d be quite angry if we paid hundreds of thousands and received some plastic crap), it’s laid out artfully in pretty much any place they could sandwich it — the door panels, the dashboard, center console, if it’s not covered in very plush leather, it’s got wood.

The front of the car, while defining the Bentley look, is also relatively no-nonsense. From a set of split bi-xenon headlights to a plastic front grille with a very convincing chrome finish (it had to be this way for pedestrian crash testing, as plastic will break where chromed brass will not), it’s pretty much business and business alone up front in the Continental. It does have quite the trick hood latch, though; once you pop the hood from inside, you have to grip the B in the Bentley hood emblem to lift the bonnet up. And it’s not a very large emblem, so while you think it might break, it won’t.

Under the hood is when the business turns to party. Sandwiched between the bumper and windshield is the pride of the Volkswagen Automotive Group, the W-12 motor. Instead of two banks to the motor, there’s actually four banks of three cylinders each. It helps keep the motor shorter than a two-bank equivalent, which is good, seeing as how any more length to this car and they’d have to classify it as a yacht. It puts out about 550 bhp and rockets the sedan to 60 mph in 4.9 seconds, which is impressive, considering this Bentley is sort of a pig with a curb weight of 5,181 pounds.

Overall, the gas door maintenance worked out just fine, so now we’re left gawking at it as it lays out underneath this mild August sun. Which is not bad at all for us; it sure beats spending countless hours chasing down eerie mechanical gremlins to get the gas door open. Don’t forget, it is an Audi, after all.