Green Hotel : Bangkok Thailand | www.greenbkk.com reservation@greenbkk.com: GreenBkk.com Auto

SHORT DRIVE: One step back

Want the best Conti to drive? Forget the Mk2 model and revert to the Supersports.

WHAT'S NEW?

This is the fastest Bentley ever to be made so far: the Supersports based on the first-generation Continental GT. Although the second-generation Conti has already gone on sale in Thailand, Bentley Thailand has only started official imports of the Supersports.

Because of this, the marketing strategy at Bentley seems to be a little ill-timed. But on the other hand, it will certainly be years before a Supersports version of the second-gen GTi arrives on Thai shores.

There are some interesting relationships between the new GT and the Supersports, in which the latter has actually donated some know-how to its newer relative including the quicker-shifting six-speed automatic, rear-biased 40/60 all-wheel-drive system, four-step active suspension and carbon-ceramic disc brakes.

Supersport has lightweight seats; test car came with regular ones.

However, the Supersports' engine is still off-limits to the new GT. Sure, both share the same engine block, but the Supersports has more turbo boost to increase both power and torque outputs yet maintaining practically the same level of fuel consumption. As well, the Supersports can indulge E85 bio-fuel.

Bentley is boasting a 110kg reduction in overall weight when compared with the GT Speed Mk1. But if you put the GT Mk2 into perspective, the Supersports is only 80kg lighter.

One weight-saving measure in the Supersports is the use of lightweight seats claimed to offer a 30kg benefit. But our test car came with the optional, regular four-seat matrix, meaning that we are talking of only a 50kg advantage this Supersports has over the new GT.

❚ The 20-inch alloys house effect carbonceramic brakes.

❚ Supersports is asking for a cool 25.4 million baht.

❚ Rear spoiler automatically pops up at high speeds.

WHAT'S COOL?

Ignore those figures on paper pertaining to power, performance and weight _ like we did when we collected the Supersports test car. You can instantly feel how quicker and more responsive the ultimate Conti is to drive.

Press hard from standstill and the Supersports accelerates hard with your back firmly clutched to the seat. Go down a cog in the mid-ranges and you swiftly pass others on the road.

Provoke the 'box into double kickdown and it blasts away with an engine shriek enough to tell the world that this is Bentley's fastest car. And the V8 burble it makes upon throttle lift-off is simply intoxicating, just like the car's appetite for that ethanol-based cocktail.

Yes, the Supersports is a fast car. And it's got the brakes to match, a neat chassis setup that doesn't seem to really make any compromises in terms of handling and ride balance and grippy Pirellis rimming the 20-inch alloys.

WHAT'S NOT?

Despite the some small visual tweaks inside and out of the car, the Supersports is every inch a Conti. This means you could feel a little short-changed for the 5 million baht premium it asks for over the 20 million GT. In other words, you don't feel that special in the Supersports.

And, of course, let's not forget that the Supersports is based on the first-gen Conti, meaning that it's more of a swansong rather than a fresh new product on the shelf.

BUY OR BYE?

The Supersports is the Conti it should have always been in the first place, you could say. The optimum performance (and economy, if it mattered to you) it yields makes the new GT look quite redundant.

Even if you're after a comfy and easy to drive luxurious GT, the Supersports can play along that tune. And since the new GT is hardly any different in appearance over the previous model, you might as well just go for the Supersports and enjoy the additional thrills it offers.

For Bentley fans, we'd give it a buy _ if you don't mind that 5 million baht premium.