Progress report: Bentley Continental R vs Continental GT

Well that’s quite a pair.

Isn’t it just? You might be surprised to learn just 15 years separates the Continental R’s demise and the second-gen Continental GT’s introduction.

The Silver Pearl land yacht pictured here is a 2003 car, a ‘Final Series’ Mulliner special that brought production of the Conti R – which began in the early Nineties – to a close. Though it’s fair to say its lavish proportions (and lavish chrome) speak of a style much older. It’s a grand old looking thing.

Is it surprisingly modern?

Not at all. This must have felt ancient as production wound down, the first-gen Continental GT that replaced it surely representing a leap to rival Neil Armstrong’s. Some contemporary reviews of the first Volkswagen-ified Bentley bemoaned a lack of sparkle, and when you experience the car it directly replaced, it’s easy to see just how sanitised the GT must have suddenly felt.

How come?

This Continental R is as joyously idiosyncratic as luxury cars get. While both cars here are coupes, the older car is basically a two-door limo, longer than today’s Flying Spur and with acres of room and bay-window visibility for rear passengers. They even get help with ingress and egress, those humongous front doors wearing a handle at each end of their lusciously stitched inner side.

Other interior quirks include distracting rows of tiny circular gauges, a foot-operated parking brake and a fiddly starter button. Which all simultaneously delight the Millennial with their quaintness whilst vindicating the decision to allow mass-production ergonomics to tidy up the dashboard of its successor. It’s a bit of a mind-scrambling mess in here, but then so’s the floorplan of some of the most enchanting stately homes.

And how does it drive?

It doesn’t really drive, it wafts. Bentley’s venerable 6.75-litre V8 was producing around 420bhp by this point, which ought to be a lot for Nineties tyres and traction control (which turns off with one quick button press) to process, but the Conti R actually grips pretty gamely. It just feels engineered to deter the driver from aggression at every turn.

The steering is disconcertingly remote and though the V8 sounds grumbly under hard acceleration, it’s a million miles from the choreographed pops and bangs of today. A Sport button helps its four-speed automatic kick down a little more keenly, with negligible difference on actual progress (0-60mph takes around six seconds). It’s a behemoth benchmark of comfort and a truly effortless thing to cruise around in; for all its rakish two-door vibe, it still feels like you’re being chauffeured even when you’re in the driver’s seat.

The new one’s sportier, right?

It certainly is. Though the modern Continental is still a paragon for comfort – especially if you’ve gone for the silky W12 – the 4.0-litre V8 ‘entry’ model which we have here has genuine dynamic vigour to it. With its rear-biased 4WD, four-wheel steering and 48-volt anti-roll tech it’ll happily play the role of something markedly below two tonnes, even if its 2,165kg kerb weight is only around 250 kilos down on its enormous grandfather. One sharp press of its traction button activates the wonderfully humoured ESC Sport mode, and a car that handles uncannily well for its mass is unlocked.

Yet their starkest difference is actually in cost: new, this Conti R was among the world’s most expensive cars at £230,000. Or, once you’ve processed it through an inflation calculator, close to £400k in today’s cash. Which looks as intimidatingly oversized as the car itself when the latest Conti GT is £151,800 before options. VW influence may have softened some of Bentley’s edges, but it helpfully softened its prices, too.

2003 Bentley Continental R Final Series
6,750cc twin-supercharged V8, RWD, four-speed automatic
420bhp, 650lb ft, 0-62mph in 5.8secs, 151mph
2,420kg
£230,000 new

2021 Bentley Continental GT V8
3,993cc twin-turbocharged V8, 4WD, eight-speed automatic
542bhp, 568lb ft, 0-62mph in 4.0secs, 198mph
2,165kg
£151,800 new