New Bentley Continental Supersports Demands Respect

It is the most powerful Bentley ever made!

Understanding the range of the Bentley Continental series is one of the world’s great unfathomable puzzles. The chances of going to a Bentley showroom and coming out with the model you want are slim. Allow me to explain. Under the Continental range, Bentley has the GT, GT V8, GT V8 S, GT Speed and Supersports. All of them look more-or-less the same, with a few styling tweaks here and there. If you have a knack for the engineering that goes behind the pretty exterior, your chances of getting the right model might improve... marginally.

But what if you are after the most powerful Bentley ever made, that seats four in sumptuous comfort and can put Lambos and Ferraris (not all!) to shame? Well, the British carmaker has made it a lot easier for you. Say hello to the new Bentley Continental Supersports - a two-door, four-seater grand tourer which is available in both a coupe and a convertible avatar. Its updated 6.0-litre twin-turbo W12 cranks out 710PS of power and 1,017Nm of torque. Performance figures are just as bonkers for this 2.4-tonne car. Naught to 100kmph is dealt in 3.5 seconds (3.9 seconds in the convertible) and the top speed is 336kmph (330kmph in the convertible).

Vital ingredients of the new Supersports’ performance figures are the newly designed, higher-capacity turbochargers and a revised charge-air cooling system. It also gets a new torque converter which makes use of the available power in a more efficient manner. Although the weight is higher than other performance-driven sports cars, the new Continental Supersports is the lightest-ever iteration of the current Continental GT and is lighter than the 2009 four-seat Supersports model.

Power is transmitted to the wheels via a rear-biased all-wheel-drive system, which sends 60 per cent of the available power to the rear wheels. Bentley claims that despite being lighter than before and featuring sharper driving dynamics for a sporty character, the Supersports retains its comfortable ride-quality.

As far as looks are concerned, it still resembles all the other variants of the Continental series. But Bentley has tried to make it stand out. Front and rear bumpers have been tweaked and they now house a carbon-fibre splitter and diffuser respectively. There are new side sill extensions and bonnet vents which have also been carved out of carbon-fibre. Additionally, the new car gets gloss-black front wing vents and a striking gloss-black, rifled exhaust pipe design. This ‘dark-treatment’ carries on with dark-tint finishing in headlamps and tail-lamps, and black-finished brightware on the front grille, lights, rear bumper, door handles and window surrounds.

There are a few options that the customer can opt for. For instance, a rear spoiler and a front splitter combination for the coupe, new Supesports badging, a new black and bright machined finish for the 21-inch forged alloy wheels and side decals.

Bentley has tried to make the new Supersports feel different from the inside as well. It receives the first tri-tone interior in this generation of Continental GT. Seats get diamond-quilted finishing and door side panels feature a unique signature in Alcantara. The car gets a new steering wheel and gear-lever design, both of which also feature Alcantara accents.

Customers seeking even more personalisation can opt for ‘X Specification’ pack. It includes eight unique dual-tone paint treatments, carbon-fibre door mirrors and heel plates, titanium exhaust, interior side panels with a carbon-fibre finish, a carbon-fibre engine cover and a gloss-black finish to the 21-inch alloy wheels. That’s a lot of carbon-fibre treatment. Not sure if customers would actually want to transform the already-very-dark Continental Supersports into an even darker one.

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