Bentley Continental GT Coupe (03-12) - Review

Forget your low-slung supercars. If you want to enjoy 200mph performance without needing a twice weekly course of yoga to help you through it, the Bentley is the car you need. The beautifully trimmed front seats are incredibly comfortable for long trips and the cabin feels surprisingly spacious and suitably hushed even when you're using the performance. The back seats are usable by adults providing the front occupants aren't overly tall. But it wouldn't be fair to call it a true four-seater as they're better suited to children and the tombstone front seats limit the view forward from the back, making it feel quite claustrophobic.

While a boot that's only just bigger than Volkswagen Golf's doesn’t sound huge in a car this large, it is big by the standard of the class and should carry all the luggage four people would want to take on the sort of long distance trip the Bentley was designed for. And many owners will treat the GT as a two-seater, leaving extra space behind the front seats. There's a storage cubby under the central armrest in the front, another cubby in the console between the rear seats and even storage space for sunglasses in an overhead console. Parking visibility isn't great although front and rear sensors are thankfully standard.

The Bentley's cabin is as impressive to the eye as it is to the touch and the upright driving position gives a good view ahead although the windscreen pillars cause blindspots. The shape of the dashboard apes the wings of the famous Bentley badge, the deep set instruments are both stylish and easy to read and the chrome-clad rotating air vents with the organ stop controls and stitch-perfect leather work reek of olde-worlde class. Even the LCD display looks like a 1930s valve radio. Is that why the satellite navigation takes an eternity to recalculate routes? Maybe you have to wait for the valves to warm up.