2010 Bentley Continental Supersports Review

SEE ALSO: Bentley Buyers Guide

By Andrew Frankl
European Bureau Chief
The Auto Channel

The phone rang the other day. Hello, said the voice all the way from Boston, would you like to have a 621 horsepower Bentley Supersport for a test? No, thank you, I am busy with a 1 liter Smallmobile GXLYZ was the answer.

Only kidding. Robin, an old friend from the Volvo days decided to go up market and join this great British company. Yes, before you e-mail my Editor in Chief I know that Volkswagen purchased Bentley some years ago but it is still assembled in Crewe, England with loving care.

The Continental Supersports was delivered by my good friend Brad and it looked sensational and yet unobtrusive. Whereas a Rolls –Royce would have looked completely out of place the Bentley was just fine among the Porsches, Jaguars and its elder sister a 1993 Bentley owned by our neighbors. It was no great surprise that seconds after I’d parked my phone was ringing.

Can we take it for a spin please asked the owner of the “other” Bentley. Well, I didn’t need too much persuading. One slight problem rose immediately. We live in a 25 mph zone with nice but strict policemen patrolling day and night.

So off we went to an airport where son Nicholas joined us. I know it wasn’t quite the same as the Nurburgring but at least we could all do some acceleration and brake tests without getting huge tickets. And while there wasn’t quite enough room to hit the magic 200 miles per hour the Bentley is capable of, we did see the needle on a steady 170, fast enough ,I think ,for most of us.

The Supersports is aimed at Aston’s stunningly beautiful V12 DBS and Ferrari’s legendary 599 GTB. I am fortunate to have driven all three and luckily –or unluckily-my finances stop me from having to make the choice. For sheer beauty the convertible Aston DBS cannot be beaten. It also has that special ingredient, the James Bond connection. The Ferrari 599 GTB is the top of the Ferrari tree and trees don’t come much taller than that . Whether some people would find the engine sound too much on a long run depends on how much you enjoy listening to it. With the 599 Ferrari can justly claim that a certain Michael Schumacher had a hand in sorting out the handling . On a scale of 1-10 he is a 15.

As for the Bentley, well, there is no doubt that it is very much in contention for top awards. The minute you open the –very heavy-doors you are reminded of Ferrari’s Enzo. The beautifully trimmed two-tone leather and Alcantara seats complete with side bolsters are seriously inviting.

Bentley have removed the rear seats to save some weight and for the same reason they’ve also removed the electric seat-adjusting mechanism. No big deal, you pull a lever, adjust the seat and that’s that.

As for the engine, just press the button and you know you are in supercar country. Burble, burble and ready to go. You can just pop it into D for drive which will see off most other cars or into S for Sport in which case you won’t see anyone other than the cop waiting some way ahead with one of those unfriendly carpets across the road full of nails having been alerted by the whirly bird, just about the only thing that can keep up with you.

The obligatory paddle shifts are totally misplaced. These are not on the steering wheel and therefore pretty useless except on a straight road.

Handling is terrific especially in an automobile weighing 4,850 pounds. The ceramic discs are the size of the biggest pizza you’ve ever seen and the stopping power is nothing short of amazing. The four-wheel drive has a 40-60 rear wheel bias which again works just fine.

Ulrich Eichhorn, Bentley’s Head of Engineering is an accomplished racing driver so the result is an extremely fast and rare car. When I tested it there were only 4 in the United States.

Is it worth 300 thousand dollars? That really does depend on just how selfish you are. You cannot even take your children for a spin because there are no back seats just lots and lots of luggage room. More than in the 599 and the Aston put together.

Oh, by the way, as the seats don’t adjust upwards-unless it was just me who couldn’t figure it out- you have to put a cushion under your wife if she is only 5 foot three like my good lady. She couldn’t see a thing. Not a great selling point at 300 big ones. Is it an overkill? Is it an engineering tour de force? Probably. If you would like to buy one I would suggest the somewhat less exotic version, namely the Bentley Continental. Just as beautiful, a lot more comfortable, vastly more practical and as you are cruising from Sun Valley to San Francisco you can have two smiling little Johnnies in the back. Talk about brownie points!

2011Bentley Continental Supersports Technical Specs

ENGINE
Engine Capacity 5998cc 
Max. Power621bhp / 630 PS / 463kW @ 6000rpm
Max.Torque800Nm, 590 lb-ft @ 2000-4500rpm
Compression Ratio 9.0:1
Emission LevelEU4 / LEV2Fuel98 (95) RON

DRIVELINE AND TRANSMISSION 
Continuous all-wheel drive 
40/60 front/rear torque split 
zf 6-speed automatic transmission 
Quickshift 

PERFORMANCE 
Max. Speed 204mph / 329km/h 
Acceleration 0 - 60mph 3.7 seconds 
Acceleration 0 - 100km/h 3.9 seconds 
* Power rating based on 98 RON fuel 

FUEL CONSUMPTION 
EU DRIVE CYCLE 
Urban 11.3mpg 25.0 litres/100km 
Extra-Urban 24.8mpg 11.4 litres/100km 
Combined 17.3mpg 16.3 litres/100km 
Co2 emissions (combined) 388g/km 
EPA DRIVE CYCLE 
City Driving 13 USmpg 
Highway Driving 23.8 USmpg 

WEIGHTS AND VOLUMES 
Kerbweight 2240kg 4940lb 
Gross Vehicle Weight 2750kg 6060 lb 
Front Axle Weight 1433kg 3160 lb 
Rear Axle Weight 1317kg 2900 lb 
Boot Volume 370L 0.37m3 (13.1cu-ft) 
Fuel tank capacity 90L 19.8 Gallons / 23.8 US Gallons