Topless Bentley Continental GTC is a breezy Bentley

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Bentley chose the Croatian peninsula of Istria for its Continental GTC media drive because the locale enjoys sun-kissed Mediterranean weather, without the maddening holiday crowds of Cote d’Azur or Costa del Sol. The climate, scenery and, most important of all, the empty roads make this part of Croatia an ideal place to experience a great British convertible.

The newcomer treads the same grand tourer path as its predecessor, and even looks similar at first glance. Closer inspection, however, reveals that all the body panels are different. This exterior redesign should be able to last another five years before it starts looking passe.

Likely to be sunny and windy all day in the Bentley Continental GTC, with a fair chance of fun when the road is clear.

There continues to be an outlandish choice of leather and veneer combinations inside the four-seater. At the launch event in Rovinj, Bentley showed off a light white example with a bright red interior, but thankfully, you can have a more tasteful combo such as cappuccino-and-cream. The cabin is beautifully finished (but not consistently so), and its latest features include new instrument meters and a large multi-function touch-screen.

Attaining good body rigidity in a big open-top car is very difficult, but the GTC engineers have done well –they even specified a carbon fibre undercarriage. And they managed to save 70kg along the way, taking the kerb weight to below 2.5 tonnes (but still 200kg more than the current Conti GT coupe).

In the Bentley boiler room, the famous 6-litre W12 has been reworked to generate 15bhp and 50Nm more than before. The vehicle’s horsepower is now 567bhp and torque is 700Nm, distributed to all four wheels.

At the same time, the ZF 6-speed automatic gearbox has received serious attention.Its fancy “Quickshift” tag is justified by 200-millisecond gearchanges – much faster than the previous transmission. The acceleration now matches the souped-up 600bhp Speed version of the superseded GTC.

More impressive than the bald performance figures is the handling. The chassis is remarkably shudder-free for such a sizeable structure, even on optional 21-inch alloys. Four different damper modes let the driver vary the suspension configuration between comfort and control, but even in the gentlest setting, there is no floaty sensation from behind the wheel.

For ultimate “cruiser cruising”, order the standard 20-inch footwear and stick the adjustable dampers in “soft”. The car’s ability to ignore tarmac irregularities is made possible by its P Zero tyres, specially tuned by Pirelli for the GTC.

The P Zeros also offer some feel through  the low-effort steering, which boosts confidence when driving the GTC hard in the Croatian countryside. Aiding (or perhaps abetting) the leviathan’s agility is a rear-biased 40:60 torque split, instead of the old car’s 50:50.

Halting in a hurry is no problem either, thanks to the cross-drilled carbon silicon carbide disc brakes. These dinner plate-sized ceramic stoppers also work perfectly at slow speeds, which is a pleasant surprise. Less surprising is the fact that they cost extra.

Obviously, the new Continental GTC is no roadster. It is a luxurious, prestigious convertible with a sporty slant, bred for equally epic expressways. Narrow town  streets and mellow country lanes aren’t this Bentley’s preferred playgrounds.

The Bentley Continental GTC has a twin-turbocharged 6-litre W12, an incredible engine that tries to take your breath away.

Compared to the earlier GTC, the new model’s technical and behavioural improvements might be marginal, but they are undoubtedly effective.

Unless you stretch to something like a Rolls-Royce Drophead Coupe, which costs a million bucks more  in Singapore, the new GTC is probably the best way in early 2012 for four well-dressed people looking to “shoot the breeze” in style.

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Bentley Continental GTC 6.0 (A)
ENGINE 5998cc, 48-valves, W12, turbocharged
MAX POWER 567bhp at 6000rpm
MAX TORQUE 700Nm at 1700rpm
POWER TO WEIGHT 80.3hp per tonne
GEARBOX 6-speed automatic with manual select
0-100KM/H 4.8 seconds
TOP SPEED 314km/h
CONSUMPTION 6.1km/L (combined)
PRICE INCL. COE To be announced (ETA Singapore Q1 2012)