The Bentley W12 Lineup: Saying Goodbye to All That
Bentley Bentaya, Continental Gt, Continental GTC, and Flying Spur W12’s Swan song
Driving Bentleys is decadent business. It’s an occasion, and one that ought to feel like a splurge. And so of course I accepted an invitation to bid farewell to an era of modern nostalgia, the last of the Bentley W12s, which claimed the title as the fastest model lineup in the world.
Whipping along roads painted autumnal by fall foliage in North Jersey in a bronze Bentley Flying Spur, I realized the odd sentimentality I have for this ostentatious engine that powered the over-the-top sedan. The W12 defines what it feels like to drive a modern Bentley. Give the pedal a blip and before you know it you are flying at a smooth clip. It’s a heady sensation— and pretty much one that’s on another level of conscious consumption. The feeling of being stared at by fellow motorists. The tactile finery of the sumptuous interiors. It all came back as the surroundings blurred in the background. In the real world, this sensation comes at a steep price. That Flying Spur had a sticker price of $327,585, including a $9000 Naim custom audio system.
As Bentley day driving continued and I cycled through the lineup, memories kicked in. Behind the wheel of the kingfisher blue Continental GTC Speed, I recalled the bizarre feeling of exposure in this convertible, as I cruised along Park Avenue in Manhattan, and counted six separate families snapping iPhone photos of my ride and me. (Because price is part of Bentley’s allure, I’ll disclose that the sticker on this convertible is $384,095.)
My very first Bentley ride coincided with the W12’s debut in the 2003 Bentley Continental GT. At that time, over twenty years ago, I found Bentleys intimidating. Unapproachable. But a curiosity. I wanted to face my feelings of trepidation. What first drew me to tussle with car journalism was the notion of squaring up with power. I was taken by the idea that I could reckon with sculpted, formidable objects that cost many thousands of dollars, and had the propensity for recklessness. That intrigue drove me to see how far I could take this direction in my writing. I didn’t have specific goals. I took it one car at a time. In 2003, the GT was the most powerful car I’d driven at that point in time.
Back then, I had heard of a V8 engine, a name thrown around my muscle car heads that I knew, and vaguely I knew of the V12, but the W12 forced me to study up under the hood. The original W12 engine — like so many instruments of power — was a tool of the first World War used in airplanes. As engine technology developed over the 20th century, the Volkswagen group began to experiment with what it could do with the W12 as a starting point. What makes the W12 unique is its shorter and wider shape, three cylinders arranged in four banks that form the shape of two Vs — a double W — connected via crankshaft.
Volkswagen showed its new technology in a 2002 W12 concept car and installed it in models such as the Phaeton and Touareg. The turbo-charged version of the W12 was reserved for the Bentley Continental GT, and took the engine’s power to new heights. It produced 560 horsepower, which was a grand leap for the time. The W12 was Bentley’s statement that their cars were meant to driven, not to be chauffeured.
The first time I drove a Bentley was in the Swiss countryside. I had just gotten a ride up a steep hill with the famous race car driver Derek Bell in the GT powered by the W12. My stomach dropped as he floored it on the descent. Then it was my turn to drive, and he encouraged me to go full throttle. It was a moment steeped in adrenaline.
That W12 engine gave Bentley the character it needed to break out of its stodgy confines, and become coveted as a popular culture status symbol, which boosted its sales. The rest is history as the brand has gone on to introduce several new models and found ways to further refine its engine technology. Back then Bentleys weren’t all that sophisticated when it came to in-car experiences, and over the last decade or two has created a much more sophisticated UX experience.
What goes unspoken about the first W12 is that vehicle’s abysmal footprint was about 12 miles per gallon. As the engine evolved and got faster over the years, it became more fuel efficient, silkier, smoother, and better equipped at handling those hefty cars, the ultimate shapewear. It’s increased powered by 30 percent and dropped fuel consumption by a quarter due to tech tweaks such as twin-scroll turbochargers and cylinder deactivation. But still Bentley has shifted much of it current business to the V8,s and will soon dial down on gas car options favoring all EVs and plug-in hybrids.
No one needs a Bentley, much less the spirited, thirsty W12. No one needs petroleum or fossil fuels. But these are the etchings of our era, and a marking of desire, the best of the best that modern companies could do, and that’s something to acknowledge before Bentley says goodbye to all that.