2014 Bentley Continenta GT Speed Convertible

2014 Bentley Continental GT speed convertible just slap a snowplow on the front, and you're good to go.

Ettore Bugatti once called Bentleys the world's fastest trucks. We can just imagine the Twitter war it might have inspired had Ettore's life not ended 59 years before tweeting began. But trundling though a Sierra Nevada snowstorm in the 2-014 Continental GT Speed convertible, it seems a particularly apt description.

Over dozens of miles of sloppy stuff, the 5600 pound, four wheel-drive Speed convertible didn't place a single winter tire wrong. We could have fixed a plow to the front of this open-air quasi-SUV to clear the way for all the pickup drivers inching along at a snail's speed. Of course, driving a Bentley in a California blizzard happens about as often here as prudent fiscal management. As for the car's $238,700 base price, there's nothing to say about it except that for typical Bent- ley buyers, money presents as much of a problem as snow.

Ettore Bugatti once called Bentleys the world's fastest trucks.

The Speed convertible's appeal starts with the bragging rights conveyed by its claimed 202-mph top speed, the byproduct of its now-familiar Volkswagen Group's W-12 engine. Displacing 6.0 liters and fed by a pair of turbochargers, this version makes crazy horsepower, 616, and 590 pound-feet of torque, up from the merely stupid-silly output in the Continental GTC W-12 by 49 and 74, respectively. Does it matter how much more, really, or is it enough that the Speed is the superlative? Will you ever actually go Zoo? These are rhetorical questions.

Popping the hood to gaze upon such a unique machine as the W-12 reveals little beyond black intake runners and strategically placed slabs of obstructing plastic. Ah, if only the mechanicals were as much to look at as the car's flawless skin.

The Bentley design staff focused on clean, clear lines when it penned the 2003 Continental GT, and the new Conti limns the original. Speed models get only a few subtle changes to their exterior, like black-chrome mesh over the front air intakes below the grille and 21-inch wheels with a somewhat generic pattern.

Ah, if only the mechanicals were as much to look at as the car's flawless skin.

Though slight, these visual enhancements are plenty, lest the Speed become indelibly extroverted. We maintain this belief after perusing the order sheet, which shows that all Continental GTs can be fitted with an optional package adding carbon fiber accents for that boy-racer, body-kit look. For those who want to go full Liberace, Bentley offers standard colors such as "Citric" yellow and "Sunburst Gold" among its loo-plus shades of available paint. And absolutely, you may spec your interior in clashing (or, indeed, global thermonuclear warring) leather hues. More-sensible choices yield a stunning car, and darker colors help the 189.2-inch-long convertible appear smaller than a mid-size sedan, even though it's not.

Darting in and around freeway traffic, the Speed convertible's quick turn-in and exemplary suspension tuning make it almost nimble. Does a ride height lowered by 0.4 inch help here? Surely, but it's the brakes that inspire the confidence to drive like you own the road-or, at least, the cement company that built it. The long pedal travel is commensurate with the depth of stopping power.

Good brakes are essential, because punching the throttle at any speed will push you into triple digits in mere seconds. Even at 120 mph, the Bentley's ZF eight-speed automatic transmission will drop three gears as you're pushed back in your seat. The only way most people can accelerate like this is by jumping out a window.

But exit the freeway and it's there, in the twisting roads, that you realize the Speed convertible is not a sports car. It can be hustled around switchbacks, though without the same enjoyment and control you might find in something smaller and lighter. The traction is plentiful, the steering is accurate, and the body doesn't wallow, but there's no shaking that nervous feeling that you're about to flunk a physics exam with mortal consequences.

Even with the adjustable air suspension on the firmest of its four settings, the Continental GT Speed convertible is, above all, comfortable, at least in the wide, deep, and supportive front seats. The two cramped rear seats are tiny, as is the nine-cubic-foot trunk. Utility is a low priority here. Predict- ably, the car is quiet with its fabric top up, and the serenity persists when you put it down. With the windows up and the rear-seat- covering wind blocker in place, turbulence only happens at illegal speeds.

Predict- ably, the car is quiet with its fabric top up, and the serenity persists when you put it down.

The interior appointments are as first-rate as might be expected. Fitted standard to Speed models is Bentley's "Mulliner Driving Specification," which is, chiefly, aluminum pedals and quilted- leather upholstery. It's a shame that Mulliner as a separate company didn't make it out of the vacuum-tube era, as what the Speed convertible really needs is a better infotainment system, such as the one found in any $40,000 sedan sold by corporate-cousin Audi.

Indeed, you can be very happy in an auto- mobile for a fraction of what the Speed convertible costs, but a Bentley's particular blend of contradictory attributes is unique at any price. Which is the point. Expensive, high-performance luxury vehicles excite us for what they do differently, above and beyond what they do day in and day out. Nobody else builds trucks as speedy as these Bentleys.

Indeed, you can be very happy in an auto- mobile for a fraction of what the Speed convertible costs, but a Bentley's particular blend of contradictory attributes is unique at any price.