The 12-cylinder engine has long been the ultimate in luxury car powertrains. It provides an abundance of power, smoothly, quietly, and seemingly without end.
Unfortunately for the classic 12, emissions standards are tightening around its throttle bores like a noose, and its conspicuous fuel consumption is rapidly falling out of vogue. Its demise is being sped along by the happy circumstance that many of the things 12 cylinders can do, electric motors can do better.
So it is that Bentley announced the end of the W-12, which has been the centerpiece of its cars since 2003. But rather than let the big W slip quietly into oblivion, the marque is giving this monumental engine the hero’s send-off it so rightly deserves. Bentley invited us for one last W-12-powered blowout, a celebratory drive around Los Angeles in the Continental GT coupe and convertible, Flying Spur, and Bentayga—every 12-cylinder model Bentley still makes, save the $2.1 million Batur. This might be our final chance to experience what this engine is like before future generations forget.
Bentley’s W-12 traces its ancestry back to the early
