BUYING ADVICE BENTLEY CONTINENTAL R AND T BUYING ADVICE
The first Bentley since 1965 to feature a bodyshell not shared with a Rolls-Royce was tasked with reviving the company’s fortunes and sold very well, despite being the most expensive car in the world at the time. Choosing the right car for you, and understanding the wide spread of price points in the market, begins with understanding the many variants Bentley offered between 1992 and 2003.
MODEL HISTORY
This is a tale of number ones. Not pop songs, but firsts claimed by 1991’s Continental R. The most expensive Bentley to date. The most powerful, and the fastest. The first to have a gear selector on the transmission tunnel, and without doubt the most successful. Building on the success of the Mulsanne Turbo, 1991’s Continental R was revealed at that year’s Geneva show, which it took by storm, much to the annoyance of Mercedes, who fully expected its new W140 S-Class to be the star.
But although the bodywork was all new, the Continental’s underpinnings were similar to the Turbo R, and the 325bhp L-Series V8 remained at the heart of the matter. In common with the four-door siblings from the 1992 model year, the new car used a four-speed electronically-controlled gearbox from GM, used in, among others, the Jaguar XJ12, Aston Martin DB7 and Hummer H1.
With 450lb-ft of torque available between 2000 and 4000rpm, the Continental R could accelerate to 60mph in just 6.6 seconds, despite weighing in at a hefty 2420kg, and would
