Bentley Continental GT V8 Convertible review

And this Bentley knows precisely what it is for. Now, as it happens, somewhat visually ostentatious convertibles are some distance from being my kind of car, but that doesn’t really matter.

This Bentley is for people who want to be able to travel long distances in great comfort to some far-flung, sunny location and then drop the roof and strike exactly the right note when they get there. In this regard it is very hard to fault indeed.

Even with the roof up you are still somehow unaware there is fabric rather than metal above you; there is no structural shake and the whole car comes with a sense of quality that has been designed in, rather than applied as a veneer thereafter. It’s hugely heavy as a result, but that’s fine for this kind of car too, so long as you can afford the fuel.

And no, you absolutely do not need the 12-cylinder model. This V8 is plenty fast enough, sounds much better and costs much less. In short this Bentley knows not just what it is for, but whom it is for too.

Bentley Continental GT V8 Convertible statistics