THE CURATED EDITION.
Reportage / La Jolla
Driven on the Southern California coast, the Continental GTC S pairs a twin-turbo V8 with an electric motor for 680 PS, covers up to 80 km on electricity and borrows its chassis from the Speed.
MOTORING · BENTLEY
The Bentley Continental GTC S is an exercise in restraint. It is elegant without display, fast without announcing it, and silent until the accelerator wakes 680 PS of hybrid power. That duality is the whole argument: a convertible that moves between comfort and sporting intent without asking its driver to choose.
The S comes in two bodies: the GT, a grand touring coupé with the stiffer structure, and the GTC, with its fabric roof. Personalisation runs deep, and the tone of the statement is left to the owner, beginning with a palette that runs from Barnato green to Moroccan blue.
The small S on the front wings and on the passenger fascia does not mean special. It means sport. Bentley has taken the Performance Active Chassis from the Continental Speed, the 782 PS flagship, and fitted it to this entry point of the sporting line: active all-wheel drive with torque vectoring, twin-valve dampers, a 48-volt anti-roll system, an electronic limited-slip differential and all-wheel steering, the last two new to a Continental S.
I drove the GTC S along the California coast, in Moroccan blue with a two-tone interior of Brunel grey and Newmarket tan. One switch lowers the roof on the move at low speed; another raises it and seals the cabin when the sea fog rolls in.
In 2024 Bentley ended production of the W12, the twelve-cylinder engine that had been its emblem of power. Purists mourned the sound. The company faced a simple question: with twelve cylinders already at their limit, where next?
The answer was electrification. The GTC S combines the 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 with an electric motor for 680 PS and 930 Nm, 130 PS more than the V8-only S it replaces. The default mode is B, a middle ground between comfort and sport. The car pulls away in silence on electricity; press harder and the V8 arrives with a note felt as much as heard. In Sport, the V8 takes charge and the motor supports it.
The 25.9 kWh battery allows up to 80 km on electricity alone, according to Bentley. The system keeps a reserve of charge and replenishes it from the engine while driving, so the car works perfectly well without ever being plugged in. Over a week at the wheel, a charger was never missed.
The S sits beneath the Speed in price while delivering much of its character, and Bentley’s options list does the rest. The rotating centre display and the self-levelling wheel badges, whose winged B always stays upright, are the kind of details that make a specification climb quickly.
The car I drove carried heated, ventilated and massaging front seats, the Touring pack with head-up display, night vision and adaptive cruise control, and diamond-quilted door panels. As tested, it was priced at $394,500 including delivery.
On the congested freeways of Southern California, the head-up display and adaptive cruise made traffic bearable, and the massage seats shortened the waits at the lights. When the road opened, the response was immediate: power without delay.
On the coast road, roof down, I turned the selector to comfort and the engine fell silent. The point was to hear the wind, the surf and the gulls, not the V8. Through the residential streets of Del Mar and La Jolla, running on electricity, the Continental GTC S slipped into the landscape almost unnoticed.
Restraint, once again. The GTC S has 680 PS at its disposal and spends much of its time not using them, roof open, listening to the sea, waiting for the moment the accelerator wakes it.
Details: Bentley Continental GTC S. 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 plug-in hybrid, 680 PS, 930 Nm, 25.9 kWh battery, up to 80 km electric range (manufacturer figure), all-wheel drive, eight-speed dual-clutch gearbox, 306 km/h. Car as tested: $394,500 including delivery (United States).
GABRIEL SILVEIRADO, FOR WAYFARER. SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.
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