James Ochoa
The moment you realize that you have settled into a flashy, magenta Bentley is not when you sit down in its comfortable driver's seat, nor when you turn on its four-liter twin-turbo V8, nor when you gaze past its long hood out towards the open road.
It's when you start to notice the stares. From other drivers to people on the street, as well as smartphone wielding kids, teenagers and full grown adults, I witnessed many people stop in their tracks to take pictures of the Barney-colored, big-bodied Bentley.
It's ironic. The most comfortable, the most tactile, the quietest and one of the fastest cars that I have ever experienced is the car that triggered the worst of my social anxiety.
This is the Bentley Continental GT S V8. It is a big, two door coupe that will make you rethink your priorities and what you want out of a sports car.
The Bentley Continental GT S V8
James Ochoa
The Ride:
Most cars on the market are on opposite ends of a scale: either very, very slow, or fast enough to rearrange your guts.
In the past, Bentley has made cars meant to dominate the race track. Today, as a brand under the German powerhouse Volkswagen (VLKAF) , they have adjusted to making comfortable, ultra-luxury sports coupes.
Typical run-of-the-mill "luxury" automakers can get away with just offering leather, wood, and other appointments and accoutrements in their cars. But no guidance from an atelier, design studio, or boardroom can dictate how a car feels out on the streets. That is the job of an engineer, and the ones at Crewe know how to make a comfortable car.
The best way to describe the feeling of the Continental GT is "jet-like."
Commercial airliners are fast, but when you are above the clouds at 30,000 feet, you don't exactly "feel" the speed. The Airbus A321neo, one of the most common airliners in the sky, has a cruising speed of 518 miles per hour, but you wouldn't know it from your seat in 21C.
Engineers know that people who fly on these kind of planes want to relax for the five to six hour cross-country flight from New York City to Los Angeles. If passengers were able to actually feel what 518 miles per hour feels like, I can guarantee that you wouldn't be napping or sleeping on that plane.
Simply put, if you drive it very gently or “drive like a grandma,” you can expect a nice feeling of gentle acceleration that carries you to where you want to go at your desired speed. At highway speeds of around 55 to 80 miles an hour, the GT is buttery smooth, both in power delivery and ride quality.
James Ochoa
But if you think that this is all the Bentley Continental GT S V8 can do, then you are underestimating what this beast is actually capable of. It is no slouch when it comes to going fast.
Bentley is a manufacturer known for winning the 24 hours of Le Mans four times in a row. Additionally, a racing version of this Continental GT won the grueling 12 hours of Bathurst.
Though this car is a hefty 4,800 pounds, they know how to make a heavy vehicle still feel like a “real” race car, and you'll get a taste of that if you wish to explore it.
In the corners, the near 2-and-a-half-ton Bentley feels as nimble as a Honda. For a car that seems so heavy, the steering is very light and responsive. Combined with a competent all-wheel-drive system, every little kink, curve and corner on a twisty backroad can feel like a roller coaster.
But when you stomp on the gas pedal, the real beast is unleashed. Dr. Jekyll becomes Mr. Hyde and you are roped into a burst of acceleration that takes you by surprise and doesn’t hold back.
If you are the kind of driver who is used to throwing the hammer down to pass a semi truck, the kind of power that this British bulldog exerts is not for you — it is more powerful than you think.
James Ochoa
Under the hood is a four-liter, twin-turbo V8 producing 542 horsepower and 568 pound-feet of torque. Zero to sixty is done with in 3.9 seconds and the speedometer can hit 198 miles per hour.
Though the V8 gives you a feeling of whiplash when the turbos kick in, the noise the engine produces makes the kick worth it. No artificial engine noise here, what you get out of that motor is the sweet sound of rumbles, burbles, pops and bangs that sound musical.
The dashboard of the Bentley Continental GT S V8
James Ochoa
But while we are on the topic of how the car performs, we have to talk about the place where all the action happens — the interior.
The Interior:
If you have high expectations about what a Bentley interior is supposed to feel like, the Continental GT S doesn't just meet them. It exceeds them.
After driving the brand for nearly a week it became clear why Bentley holds Royal Warrants — everything that makes contact with your fingers is fit for only the most discerning. Save for key buttons on the steering wheel and on the dashboard, very little plastic is used inside the car.
Every single surface inside is either covered in leather, aluminum or another metal. Every piece — even on surfaces like the top of the dashboard, or the parts of the door that your feet scuff are finished in leather that feels very similar to what Hermés uses in its Birkin bags.
The seats are styled like sport seats, but are supremely comfortable compared to the racing-style buckets that many sports cars have.
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The Audi e-tron GT I drove in Connecticut back in October 2023 took a little bit of getting used to, comfort-wise. Results may vary, but for someone who wears a size 50 short sports coat, it was a little uncomfortable at first.
The Bentley on the other hand, felt a little tight when I first sat in it, but not as tight as the Audi — which tried to hold you in by squeezing you. The seats in the Continental GT S feel more like the warm, secure embrace of an old friend, than the stern handshake of an authority figure.
Let’s be real, you wouldn’t look forward to driving home in hour and a half traffic if it meant having to endure sitting in the most uncomfortable chair in the world — but for some reason, people pay money to do so.
James Ochoa
I often talk about a car's "party piece" — the feature in a car that makes it stand out — and for the Bentley Continental GT S, it would be the long list of gizmos and gadgets that you can spend all day playing around with.
My favorite things about this car are the quality-of-life improvements that separates a Bentley from a 'normal' car.
The Continental GT S is the literal definition of a “personal luxury car,” a vessel where everything fits like a glove and you are the center of attention.
The moment you open the door, sit inside and close it, the seatbelt is nicely presented to you by some sort of personal 'safety butler.' Hit the starter button, and the steering wheel and driver seat moves from their resting position to your preferred setting — locking you in for the optimal driving experience.
The tech is so embedded in the Bentley experience, that if you spend enough time with it, you’ll forget how to do some basic driving tasks that you would need to do in any other passenger car.
Headlights? It’s got automatic headlights — the kind where the driver does not touch the headlight stalk at all.
Parallel parking? Turn on the park assist and it can parallel park by itself.
Left the air conditioner too hot or too cold? It’s got automatic climate control with fans so silent, you don’t think it’s actually working.
Driving? You still have to do that, unfortunately. (But it is so much fun.)
Cons:
James Ochoa
As much as I loved the overall experience I had with this car, there were a few glaring things that I did not like and simply couldn't ignore.
First is the visibility. The long hood makes it very hard to see what's right in front of you, while the back window is almost next to useless. The rear view mirror that Bentley gives you to see out the back window is so small, that cars at your back do not appear to be visible until it looks like they are riding your rear.
Additionally, for a vehicle of its caliber, I would expect that this car would have wireless Apple CarPlay integration. Having exposed wires stick out of the center console does not align with my idea of luxury — even my mom's Subaru has wireless CarPlay.
James Ochoa
Also, I was not kidding when I said that this car tested my social anxiety. This is not a car for introverts; if you hate the feeling of a thousand eyes staring at you, this car is not for you.
Driving in a magenta Bentley will draw lots of attention to yourself, whether you like it or not.
I am talking about stares from other motorists to the people on the sidewalk, everyone and their mother was trying to snap a picture of the Bentley. This car is bait for cameras.
Not to compare myself to some sort of celebrity or pop star, but over the span of a few days, I felt that kind of attention. Everywhere I went, everywhere I was, it felt like there was always someone watching me.
The car was that flashy — I was constantly looking over my shoulder.
James Ochoa
But for such a flashy car, I do not find it to be that stylish.
Let me explain.
When I was growing up in the early 2000’s, my older sister had control of the television, which meant most of my media diet before I was 10 consisted of a lot of programming that played on MTV and its affiliated networks.
My idea of Bentley to this day still revolves around Arnages and Azures with chrome trim and big wheels that I saw in various music videos at the time. (Think Big Tymers and G-Unit)
The carbon fiber trim and blacked-out accents on the Continental GT S V8 come from a more recent automotive styling trend, which rejects chrome in favor of ‘blacked-out’ and carbon fiber accents that make cars look more sporty, but it doesn't sit right with me.
The Conti already follows some of the design language of yore, but even with its modern twists, it deviates from good taste and dives into a territory that is hard to describe with words.
But the best way I can describe what I feel about the styling is to compare it to office shoes.
Have you ever seen the kind of shoes that a lot of men working in finance and real estate are wearing these days to the office?
A particular shoe that I see to be really popular are made by a company called Cole Haan. They make a shoe called the Originalgrand and a cousin shoe called the Zerogrand.
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These shoes are meant for people who want work-appropriate elegance, but complain that a wood and leather sole is uncomfortable. To combat that issue, the Nike-owned Cole Haan combined the upper of a normal Oxford brogue with the sole of a Nike Lunarlon distance running shoe to create the Grand, which now goes by the name Originalgrand.
What you get is a shoe that’s neither stylish nor athletic. It’s comfortable, but if comfort is what you seek, other vineyards yield riper and tastier fruit. I mean, President Biden wears Hoka Transport hiking sneakers.
I am aware that Bentley has made a version of the Conti GT for FIA GT3 racing, but in my view, if you want "sporty" — fully commit. Spending the extra money to tack on "racing-style" accents comes off like a half-assed attempt at making the car look cool.
If you have the money, buy a GT3 car and take it on track days.
Personally, for a style-conscious person like me, it’s not my cup of tea. I'd rather have my chrome.
James Ochoa
But, the styling is a trivial issue when compared to the worst aspect of the vehicle by far: the gas mileage.
There are a lot of friends, family, acquaintances, and other people in my life — including myself — who complain that their Hondas, Acuras or late-model Mercedes and BMWs get bad gas mileage at 24-29 miles per gallon.
After driving the Continental for some time, honestly, the only words I have to say to them are “you know nothing about fuel inefficiency until you have driven a Bentley.”
Over the duration of my time with the Bentley Continental GT S V8, I averaged about 15.6 miles per gallon — which is dismal compared to other cars on the road.
For reference, EPA estimates say that the big four-wheel-drive Chevrolet Suburban and the Range Rover gets up to 26 miles per gallon on the highway. To find a car that got worse fuel economy than the Bent, I would have to dig through the pages of automotive history.
When Motor Trend tested the 3-ton Ford Excursion in 1999, they managed to get only 11.2 miles per gallon.
From a pure engineering or “car guy” perspective, this is one of a few cars that I genuinely feel would benefit from having a hybrid engine under the hood.
Bentley’s intention with this car‘s turbocharged V8 is that it is supposed to be an “efficient” alternative to the big W12, but it is far, far from efficient. Compared to what I’m used to in my own “gas guzzler” of a Honda, the Bentley chugs fuel faster than a fraternity pledge chugs beer.
And with a gas tank of 24 gallons that can only be filled with 91 premium fuel, no amount of girl or boy math can alleviate the feeling of your money leaving your bank account.
According to British car magazine Evo, Bentley will be introducing a hybrid version of the Continental GT this year, and I am all for it.
Reflection:
By the time I was finished testing the Bentley Continental GT S, the anxiety had mostly worn off, but there is one aspect about this car that I simply can't get over in my own head.
The base price for one of these is $274,000, but things get out of hand quickly if you tack on the options.
The long list of optional extras in this car include the special paint color, the LED welcome lamps, the mood lighting, the special leather color, the front seats that also massage you, the suite of digital assistance features, the 22-inch wheels, the rotating display, the amazing Naim stereo and the carbon fiber aero body parts, and much more that is too much to list.
All in all, the complete list of options in this car tacked on an additional $69,340, making for a grand total of $347,490 with destination and gas guzzler tax included.
That is not cheap. The base price alone amounts to the MSRP of about 11 base model 2024 Honda Civic Sedans, while the options list is the MSRP of nearly three of them.
Theoretically, for the price of a new Bentley Continental GT S V8 like the one I drove, many of my people I dearly love could drive brand new Civics.
James Ochoa
There is no way I could justify purchasing one, even if I won Powerball twice in a row.
According to figures released as part of its 2023 earnings presentation, Bentley disclosed that it was not unusual for the average customer to tick off a five-figure amount in options. Though the brand saw a dip in the amount of cars sold over the course of last year, they saw an increase in profitability because the average Bentley customer spent over €39,000 (~$43,000) in just options.
Additionally, in recent remarks about its earnings to the press, Bentley CEO Adrian Hallmark blamed an 11% dip in sales during 2023 on high interest rates, a weak economy, as well as a peculiar term he used to describe rich people being sensitive.
"Even though our customers can still afford our cars... there was a level of emotional sensitivity that slowed down demand," Hallmark said.
A Bentley company spokesperson recently told The Drive that the term "emotional sensitivity" meant "caution showing displays of wealth in some markets, China, U.K., that are experiencing continued economic and political difficulty,” meaning that the social climate in certain places is such that rich people have to be worried about triggering the “sensitive” proletariat.
I feel like those comments by Bentley’s corporate structure validates the anxiety that I felt. Before this whole encounter, I understood subtle things like tucking your crucifix in your shirt before getting on the subway, or keeping your iPhone in your pockets, but I never thought that a car could make me a target because all I drove were "civilian" cars that blended into normal traffic all my life.
What I got during my time with the Bentley was a real dose of reality, whether it be the worry my loved ones expressed before I went out for a drive in the vehicle, as well as the looks, stares and subtle comments from people out in public.
“Driving this car is like wearing a big f---ing diamond necklace. Be careful,” my father told me one morning before driving. That evening, I began storing the Bentley under a car cover and fitted it with a steering wheel lock I purchased just for this experience before going to bed.
As someone who is interested in niche avenues of style, I can say that wealth and status can easily be hidden with the kind of clothes you wear — but cars can scream presence through all of the senses.
More Automotive:
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James Ochoa
I do feel that throughout this whole experience, I got more than a taste of what life “on the other side” feels like. A world I only saw through South Korean TV dramas like Boys Over Flowers. While driving the Bentley, I was the “rich kid” like Goo Jun Pyo, and not a "commoner" like the love interest Geum Jan Di for once.
It's funny, a memorable chunk of one of the early episodes involved Jun Pyo cozying up to the idea of being "a commoner" after spending time with Jan Di's family and doing things that more lower-middle-class South Korean families did, like making kimchi from scratch and eating street food.
When he goes back to tell his other silver spooned rich friends what happened during his day, they think he had gone crazy.
Nonetheless, the experience as a whole reminded me of an encounter I had with a salesman from a North Jersey Mercedes-Benz dealer at a local car show a few years ago.
While looking at a G63 AMG, we were spitballing around about issues surrounding the purchase experience of those kind of high end cars — namely the post-COVID era dealer premiums that some dealers were notorious for tacking onto flagship models.
I will never not forget how he justified the dealer premium tacked onto the six figure price of the big Mercedes 4x4.
He said, "People who need a car for transportation will go out and buy a Kia, and if they don't like the price there, they'll go to Hyundai, or Honda or Subaru."
"People who want a Mercedes, want a Mercedes; and when people want a Mercedes, they'll pay any price."
I hope the day will come where I walk into a dealership and “pay any price.” Hopefully, it'll be a Bentley dealership for a Continental GT with all the chrome in a time in the future where everything is all sunshine and rainbows.
I can only dream.
Disclosure: Bentley offered James Ochoa the opportunity to experience the 2024 Bentley Continental GT S V8 and loaned the example he wrote about for six days.
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