Bentley’s Continental Supersports Convertible takes the flex-fuel, high-performance Supersports specification and applies it to that sun-loving celebrity’s favourite, the Continental GTC convertible.
Does the Bentley Continental Supersports Convertible retain the performance and dynamics gains of the coupe, or is this just a cosmetic exercise to attract fresh customers to the portly cabriolet? We sent Jethro Bovingdon to find out. Read on for our review of the Bentley Continental Supersports Convertible.
Bentley Continental Supersports Convertible: why should I care?
The Continental Supersports is, frankly, a stunning piece of kit. It’s absurdly heavy – especially for a ‘stripped-out’ lightweight – obscenely powerful, irresponsibly consumptive and yet somehow its magnificence washes away your scepticism without a trace. Even when somebody tells you it costs £182k. If someone hands you the keys to this car and you don’t let out a little whoop of joy on the inside then you are dead or so tired of life that you should do the decent thing and make yourself so. Obviously I planted a dozen sequoias in the back garden when I got home. Anyway, the Supersports really does look special, every crease and curve tightly defined, every carbon detail deliciously evocative. It’s fair to say I feel ashamedly smug.
Back down to earth, Jethro! How does the Supersports Convertible differ from the coupe?
The Supersports Convertible is a strange beast. The coupe version of this car is actually quite an extreme exercise in making the Conti GT a purer driving machine. It saves 110kg of weight over the standard car by fitting ceramics as standard, ditching the rear seats (a structural carbon brace sits back there instead) and a host of other detail changes. There’s a wider rear track, retuned suspension and a 40:60 front-to-rear split for the four-wheel drive system. Believe it or not, but the end result is astonishingly effective and hugely enjoyable.
Of course the Convertible is already at a disadvantage because the Supersports’ hard won rigidity is thrown out with the roof and rather than flog a dead horse Bentley has reverted to 2+2 configuration. It’s also heavier than the coupe at 2395kg and the aggressive suspension has been dialled back a notch or two – it’s still 10mm lower than the GTC Speed, fitted with 33% stiffer bushes and tighter damping, though.
However, the 50% faster shifting six-speed auto is pure SS, as are the 420mm ceramic brakes and, crucially, the more rear-biased four-wheel drive system. Not to mention the sledgehammer 6.0-litre W12, all 621bhp and 590lb ft of it. Bentley claims 0-60mph in 4-seconds and 202mph. This is the fastest four-seater convertible in the world. A trite little niche that hardly conveys quite how immense is the performance it offers: it’s off the scale.
Does the Continental Supersports Convertible still waft and cruise like a GTC?
At low speeds the Bentley feels terrific. The steering is surprisingly light, wonderfully precise and there’s no hint of that disconcerting steering column wobble that blights most open cars. The car rides with a firm control, connected but sophisticated enough to filter out unnecessary information, but it’s the way it responds to direction changes that is truly surprising. There’s little hint that this thing weighs 2.5 tonnes or more two-up, loaded with gear and brimmed with unleaded (it’ll also run on bio-ethanol) and the front and rear of the car are so in tune that the Supersports seems to do everything just as you ask it, no slack, all of a piece. And it’s so easy to drive.
With the hood down there’s just a pleasing ruffle of cool air swirling around, the big W12’s deep howl bleeds away leaving just a faint, deep hum almost imperceptibly underscoring the seamless progress. This is when any Bentley is at its best. They do effortless, refined potency like nobody else and the Supersports is no different.
