Bentley Continental GT running costs and reliability

• Large petrol engines only – no diesel or hybrid
• W12 features some fuel saving tech
• No numbers for V8 yet, but will be the most economical

Unsurprisingly, given that the smallest engine in the Bentley Continental GT is a 4.0-litre V8, this is not a car to pick if affordable running costs are a priority.

That said, the W12 motor is stop-start equipped (despite displacing 6.0-litres) and is able to coast at low speeds too. It also has the ability to shut down six of its cylinders when not needed – and both measures should help fuel economy.

Bentley promises 23.2mpg (an improvement over the old car’s 19.9mpg) which is bound to drop if you plan to regularly stretch the W12’s performance.

There are no figures as of yet for the V8 model, but given its smaller size and that Bentley is promising a better range with the same fuel tank, it’d be safe to assume the eight-cylinder car has a better claimed mpg.

Green credentials

Probably best to just get this out there – the W12 Continental GT produces 278g/km of CO2 (again, no figures yet for the V8) which is a 16% improvement over the last car. It’s still not great, obviously, but given the performance and size of this car, it could be a lot worse.

Reliability

• Potential pitfalls with large engines
• Backed by VW’s engineering
• Aftersales team likely to be accommodating

As with all things it’s hard to say how reliable a car will be based purely on its badge, but given the huge list price of even the cheaper V8 model, we think it’s unlikely Bentley will cut you loose if you experience any problems in a Continental GT.

A dozen cylinders does multiple the number of things that can potentially go wrong, likewise the sophisticated anti-roll system and adaptively damped air suspension.

Still, this is all VW tech at heart so in theory it’s been tested to within an inch of its life.