On this episode of Head 2 Head presented by Tire Rack
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MotorTranscript
00:00 (birds chirping)
00:28 - Are you kidding me with that thing?
00:30 - Not even a little bit.
00:31 - I thought for once we were gonna do
00:32 a nice, quiet, dignified episode.
00:34 - All I heard was 600 horsepower, 12 cylinder convertible.
00:37 - What did you do to that poor Bentley?
00:39 - Actually nothing, it left the factory that way
00:41 because it is the 2017 Bentley Continental GT
00:46 Speed Convertible Black Edition.
00:49 - Nice short name.
00:50 - I know.
00:51 - I brought the Mercedes AMG S65 Cabriolet
00:53 'cause for the first time in 45 years,
00:55 Mercedes has made an S-Class convertible.
00:57 - That one's got a V12.
00:58 - Well, that one's got a wee 12.
01:00 - Hmm, so they're evenly matched.
01:02 I wonder how we're gonna figure out which one's better.
01:04 - Why don't we make a 22 minute comprehensive video
01:07 where we take both cars to the city
01:09 and to a winding country road,
01:10 at the end of which we can determine
01:11 which automobile we like better.
01:13 We can call it something like car versus car.
01:18 - Don't be ridiculous.
01:20 (upbeat music)
01:25 - Boom.
01:26 Waking the dead.
01:29 Yes, please.
01:31 Yeah, buddy.
01:33 Going off the range, give me all you got.
01:39 (upbeat music)
01:44 - So this is what half a million bucks worth
01:51 of convertibles looks like.
01:52 And now it's time to play expensive car,
01:55 option price, guessing game.
01:57 - Yay.
01:58 - Yay.
01:58 - My favorite game show.
01:59 - Okay, we'll start with the Bentley.
02:01 How much does the optional name audio system cost?
02:04 - Well, it almost broke the teacup from 50 feet away
02:07 and name is spelled wrong, which means it's expensive.
02:09 So like three grand.
02:11 - No, a tick under $7,000 for a stereo in a convertible.
02:16 Okay, have you seen the red plinth
02:19 that kind of runs around the bottom of the car?
02:21 - I can't unsee it.
02:22 - Okay, how much is that?
02:24 - A lot, there's a lot of it, like six, seven grand.
02:27 - No, actually it's just a tick under $13,000.
02:30 - Come on, you could have a certified pre-owned red Honda Fit
02:33 or you can make your Bentley look like it ran
02:35 over a certified pre-owned Honda Fit.
02:37 - The very definition of slightly used.
02:38 But the $13,000 red on the bottom
02:41 makes the $670 mirrors seem like a bargain.
02:44 - Practically free.
02:45 - Okay, my turn, Mercedes.
02:47 - Okay, so it has one big, huge option, which is the V12.
02:51 - Yes.
02:52 - So how much do you think the V12 costs over the V8?
02:55 And not just the base V8, the AMG 63 V8.
02:59 - Well, you wouldn't want poor people driving your V12,
03:02 so I'm gonna say $50,000.
03:04 - That's an absurd amount of money, but it's not enough.
03:06 $71,500.
03:08 - What?
03:09 You can have a used Continental GT convertible for $71,000
03:12 and it has a 12-cylinder.
03:13 - Yes, then there's more options.
03:15 There's like $5,000 worth of interior options.
03:18 - And I bet you it's mostly that carbon fiber
03:20 that's like half a yard of carbon fiber.
03:21 - Yeah, a little piece.
03:22 It's really expensive,
03:23 because it's very expensive and time-consuming
03:25 to make gorgeous wood interior,
03:27 install it in the car, polish it, make it all nice,
03:29 and then rip it out, throw it in the garbage,
03:31 and replace it with cheap plastic.
03:32 - Ugh, and baked plastic violates my rule of car interiors,
03:36 which is it has to be leather, metal, and wood.
03:38 Interestingly, the Bentley also has carbon fiber
03:41 on the interior, but for the first time ever in a car,
03:44 it doesn't bug me.
03:46 Take a look at it.
03:47 Check it out, come here.
03:48 - I think it has to do with the two-tone interior.
03:50 Somehow it kind of works.
03:51 - Really?
03:52 - Yeah.
03:53 - Hop in.
03:54 The other thing is my OCD's going off a little bit,
03:56 because like the red of the mirror
03:57 is different than the red of the leather.
03:59 Did you just dukes of hazard your way
04:02 into a $300,000 Bentley?
04:04 - Yep.
04:05 Did you forget to unlock my door,
04:06 or the power lock's another $7,000 option?
04:09 - Fair point.
04:10 To your point, carbon fiber looks pretty good.
04:12 - Yeah, right?
04:13 It works.
04:14 - Yep, except that Bentley does the best wood
04:16 in the business.
04:17 So why is it that every Bentley we get in has no wood?
04:19 - Because that's a very different of a trend, right?
04:22 So carbon fiber interiors are popular now.
04:24 They'll be gone, hopefully, in a couple years.
04:25 But anyways, look at this interior.
04:27 In fact, I'm gonna take my gloves off.
04:28 - So you can touch the knurling.
04:30 - Knurling, everything is knurled.
04:32 I love it.
04:33 And look, you have actual metal vents,
04:34 metal organ pulls, a Breitling timepiece.
04:37 - A shifter surround from a B5 Passat from 1999.
04:40 - That's true.
04:40 And when I first saw that in 2003,
04:42 I said, "Hey, that's a Volkswagen part."
04:44 But now I've forgotten totally about the Passat,
04:45 and to me it looks pretty good.
04:47 - It's been long enough, it's cool again.
04:48 - Yeah, and the doors are gorgeous.
04:49 This is gorgeous.
04:50 The seats are incredible.
04:51 Every material is what it looks like it is.
04:54 So if it looks like leather, it is leather.
04:55 If it looks like aluminum, it is aluminum.
04:57 That's really nice.
04:58 - Look, my only complaint with this thing
04:59 is that the electronics are old.
05:01 I mean, this nav system is ancient.
05:04 You have to pair your phone with the buttons here
05:06 instead of on the touchscreen.
05:07 But you're not buying a car like this Bentley
05:10 for the electronics.
05:11 You're buying it for stuff like the stitching.
05:13 This is actually artisanal,
05:15 not in the Brooklyn soap factory sense of the word,
05:17 but in the sense that there are people
05:19 in the factory and crew who will be sewing
05:21 this steering wheel for the next 40 years.
05:23 However, the most important thing in any 12-cylinder car,
05:27 my foot is on the brake, the honor is yours, sir.
05:29 All right, let's drive.
05:33 (upbeat music)
05:36 I think this car is really starting to seduce me.
05:46 - It sure is sexy.
05:47 - No, it's blowing hot air on my neck.
05:50 I didn't know that Bentley had stolen Mercedes' air scarf.
05:54 I love this.
05:55 - Hey, it's good technology.
05:56 Hey, you know what else?
05:57 It's finally got radar cruise control.
06:00 - Oh yeah, air scarf and radar cruise control.
06:02 Welcome to the early 2000s.
06:03 - Well, it's funny you say that because as you know,
06:06 this car is based on the Volkswagen Phaeton,
06:08 which came out in the early 2000s
06:09 and blew all of our minds.
06:11 - Yeah, that was when PX sort of rose
06:13 to the top of Volkswagen.
06:14 He's like, "Ah, Volkswagen will now make cars
06:16 "that are better than Mercedes-Benz."
06:18 And we laughed, I laughed, but you know, joke's on us.
06:21 15 years later, we're in a Volkswagen
06:24 with a Bentley badge on it and we're going,
06:25 "Eh, 277 grand, yeah, worth it."
06:28 - Totally, I mean, look, you know,
06:29 Mr. PX, don't you feel that it's a bad idea?
06:32 I don't feel!
06:33 It will be better than Mercedes or else.
06:35 Also, we're going to buy a Lamborghini.
06:37 Also, we're going to build a Veyron
06:39 that can go 250 miles an hour and it's street legal.
06:42 And they did it all.
06:43 And they did it, and this is what I like most
06:45 about this whole story,
06:45 they did it with fundamentally good engineering.
06:47 - Yes.
06:48 - This is a 15-year-old platform.
06:49 - Yes.
06:50 - You just hit a pothole the size of New Jersey.
06:51 - Yes.
06:52 - And no shake, nothing shook.
06:54 I shook a little bit.
06:55 - No, this is a very well-made car.
06:57 And here's the other thing with the skin off too,
06:59 you marvel, the drive shaft that goes to the front axle
07:03 is like this thick, it's incredible.
07:05 - Right.
07:06 - I gotta tell you something though,
07:07 I did fiv a little bit.
07:09 - You lie, let me, shock her face, wait.
07:12 - I'm very surprised that Johnny Lee Roman has lied to me.
07:14 What'd you lie about?
07:15 - Do you remember when, a second ago, back at the house,
07:17 I was telling you that it was just under 13 grand
07:19 for the red stripe around the bottom of the car?
07:22 You get a little bit more than the red stripe for the money.
07:24 - Oh!
07:25 - Yeah, it's actually the black edition package.
07:27 So you actually, you get the blacked out grill.
07:29 - Okay.
07:29 - And you get the beautiful black wheels.
07:31 - Okay.
07:32 - And you get this awesome two-tone interior.
07:34 - All right.
07:35 - And if red ain't your thing,
07:36 there's a couple other colors available.
07:39 There's white and there's black.
07:40 And there's this eye-searing yellow.
07:42 (laughs)
07:43 - Look, I gotta say, when you sent me the picture
07:45 of this car when you picked it up from the airport,
07:47 I saw the red and I went, "Yeah!"
07:49 It was just so, wow!
07:51 And then, yet, the more I look at the car,
07:53 the better it gets.
07:54 I love it.
07:55 - You know, it's one of those things,
07:56 do you remember, they refreshed this car,
07:57 I think it was five years ago, something like that.
07:59 And it was one of those 9/11 type refreshes
08:02 where it's like--
08:02 - Did they do anything?
08:03 - Yeah, they did.
08:04 But, man, you look at this thing,
08:05 'cause the old, the original Continental GT
08:07 was kind of like jelly bean,
08:08 kind of a lozenge, soft.
08:11 And this is just strong lines,
08:13 that character line coming off the front wheel
08:16 to let you know, "Yeah, I'm all-wheel drive."
08:18 - Yeah.
08:19 Now, they took a potato sack
08:20 and tailored it into a suit.
08:22 Really did a great job.
08:23 This car is stunning still.
08:24 And I gotta say, it's even better looking with the top up.
08:27 That is so tough to do.
08:28 It's got this 1920 Speedster roofline on it.
08:31 They just absolutely nailed it, red and all.
08:34 - And in a city like this, right, New York City,
08:36 people are loving this car.
08:38 And this is one of the places
08:39 where a car like this really works.
08:40 You know, Manhattan, people can afford
08:43 and do buy things like this.
08:44 And everybody we're running into,
08:45 they're loving the car.
08:47 So, I think it's safe to say
08:49 that this big, beautiful convertible
08:51 works on the island of Manhattan.
08:53 - Yeah, it does.
08:54 Sort of in the same way that you work
08:55 on the island of Manhattan.
08:56 I've been working in Manhattan for like 20 years.
08:58 - Yeah, and that's not what I mean.
08:59 Look, you're definitely an LA kind of guy.
09:02 I'm a New York kind of guy.
09:03 And this is an LA, Beverly Hills kind of car.
09:06 I think the Mercedes, really?
09:08 Come on, this doesn't get any more Beverly Hills than this.
09:11 The Mercedes is a little bit more appropriate
09:13 for Manhattan, I feel.
09:14 So, I think we should go back to the house,
09:16 maybe have a coffee, and then come back
09:17 and see if it can survive that pothole,
09:19 because you could actually fit a Volkswagen in that thing.
09:21 And I don't mean Golf.
09:23 - No, Phaeton.
09:24 (laughing)
09:26 Okay, cool.
09:27 Let's do it.
09:28 (upbeat music)
09:30 - I think I could start this S65 bit off
09:35 by just saying this interior of the W222 is almost perfect.
09:39 I mean, it's gorgeous.
09:40 Look, you've got the string of pearls, air vents,
09:43 which by the way, are metal.
09:44 You've got the Ames chair-looking seat controllers.
09:46 You've got the laser-drilled speaker vents
09:49 that everybody's copying.
09:50 I just love this interior.
09:52 - Yeah, it really does look like the interior
09:54 from a concept car, because the whole thing
09:56 is one cohesive design where every piece
09:59 is detailed gorgeously, except those two screens
10:02 that look like they were plasma televisions
10:04 ripped off of the wall in someone's cheap living room.
10:07 It's awful.
10:08 - Tell me how you really feel about it.
10:09 - I'm going to.
10:10 Hold on.
10:11 Throughout history, the interiors and the gauges
10:13 of Mercedes have been gimmick-free, clear,
10:15 and easy to read.
10:16 This is a cluttered mess.
10:17 I think the screens look terrible now,
10:19 and they're gonna look really bad in 20 years.
10:21 For me, what doesn't work is this cheapo carbon fiber.
10:25 Like, we had a beautiful green coupe,
10:28 and it had this gorgeous inlaid wood
10:29 that looked like a comet's tail.
10:31 Phenomenal.
10:32 This is just tacky.
10:34 However, most important thing, starter noise.
10:37 - Do it, do it, do it.
10:39 (engine revving)
10:40 Oh, that's so good.
10:41 It had the zzzz explosion, which the Bentley was lacking.
10:44 - Yeah, it's a little delicate.
10:46 - Wee, woo!
10:47 - Oh, I love it, I love it.
10:48 All right, Manhattan, let's go.
10:50 (upbeat music)
10:52 We get in this car, and that's when I start to realize
11:01 all the things that are missing from the Bentley.
11:03 Like, for example, air caps.
11:04 It's got this spoiler over here, and that pop-up screen.
11:07 The windshield wipers.
11:08 I can wash the windows.
11:09 Look at this, look at this.
11:10 Boom, boom.
11:11 - And you know what they call that?
11:12 - Magic vision control. - Magic vision control.
11:14 Really one of the worst names.
11:16 Like, I thought it was like peyote or something.
11:18 - But what a great thing.
11:19 I can wash the windshield on a convertible
11:21 with the top down.
11:22 - At 80 miles an hour, without getting wet.
11:24 - But that's just the beginning of it.
11:25 There's so much other little stuff.
11:26 Like, for example, a complete suite
11:28 of autonomous driving stuff.
11:30 - Yeah. - The works well.
11:31 - Yeah, I love driving, and I love being in control.
11:33 But, after you get out of a Mercedes with Pre-Safe Plus,
11:37 you feel naked in anything else.
11:39 - 'Cause not only is it like active, it's passive too.
11:41 So like, meaning that if you have to open a bottle of water,
11:44 you're not gonna smash into the Suburban over there.
11:46 But it also means if somebody jumps off a curb
11:47 and walks in front of you, you don't stop the car.
11:49 - There's so many different technologies in this car.
11:52 - And you notice that the Bentley is really lacking
11:54 a lot of the high-tech stuff.
11:55 - Right.
11:56 - But the one place I think the Bentley crushes the S65
12:00 is in aesthetics.
12:01 It looks so much better.
12:03 And, you know, not that this is an ugly car or anything,
12:05 but it's kinda dull.
12:07 - It looks dull with Swarovski crystals in the headlights.
12:11 - Yeah, and you don't want, for that kind of money,
12:12 you don't want dull.
12:13 And the other thing is, I don't think it works
12:15 as a convertible all that well.
12:16 It's better as a coupe.
12:17 - Right. - Statistically.
12:18 Yeah, yeah, no, I remember last year at Pebble Beach,
12:21 they had a little room at the Mercedes booth,
12:22 and if you gave 'em your phone, you could walk in there
12:25 and not take a picture of it.
12:26 But, you know, I walked in, there's this convertible S550,
12:29 I think, and I'm looking at it, and I'm going,
12:31 they cut the good part off, which is like the opposite
12:34 of say, like the Rolls Royce Dawn,
12:35 where you look at the Wraith and then the Dawn,
12:37 you're like, oh, they cut off that ugly part, you know?
12:40 And so this is like, it's just, it's okay, it's not great.
12:43 - This works better as a convertible than the Bentley does
12:46 because of all the air scarfs and air caps
12:47 and all the other stuff built in.
12:49 But that looks so much better as a convertible.
12:52 - So then it becomes a question of what do you value, right?
12:55 Aesthetics or functionality?
12:57 And at this price point, it's probably a good mixture of two
13:00 with a heavy leaning towards aesthetics, right?
13:02 People, this isn't transportation, it's jewelry.
13:05 - Yeah, but it depends on the buyer.
13:07 Here's the other thing, by the way, buy both.
13:11 (laughing)
13:11 Right?
13:12 Everybody I know who owns a car this expensive owns 12 cars.
13:16 - The winner of this head-to-head is everybody.
13:18 - You're a pocketbook.
13:20 All right, but look, functionality versus aesthetics,
13:23 that is important.
13:25 But this is a car.
13:26 What really matters is how it drives.
13:28 And as much as I love the 12 million residents
13:31 of New York City, let's get the hell out of here
13:33 and go drive these things.
13:34 - Yeah, it's an AMG and a Speed.
13:36 Let's go Speed and an AMG.
13:38 - On the lay, on the lay.
13:39 (upbeat music)
13:41 Jason, there's nature falling on me.
13:50 - Water dropping from the sky.
13:52 - Don't rains and leaves make you sick?
13:54 - Yeah.
13:55 - Better put that top top up.
13:56 - Oh wait, gotta slow down.
13:56 - Gotta be under 20.
13:57 - So this car does zero to 16 in three seconds,
13:59 but puts its top up in three minutes?
14:02 - Yeah, they're claiming it's under four seconds
14:04 for this Speed convertible,
14:05 but I think it's way quicker than that
14:06 'cause we've tested these for years
14:08 and they've always been under three seconds.
14:09 - It certainly feels faster than that.
14:11 My God, it just pulls and pulls and pulls and pulls.
14:13 But I mean, that's what we expected, right?
14:15 Bentley's dominate back road.
14:17 Every time I get behind the wheel of one of these cars
14:19 on some crazy back road,
14:21 I'm mortified every time I look at the speedometer.
14:23 Like, oh my God, I'm not going that fast.
14:25 And then two minutes later,
14:26 oh my God, I'm not going that fast.
14:27 Although, you know, it's pretty funny.
14:28 They went from like, you know,
14:29 620 to 633 horsepower and the torque is up
14:33 from, I don't know, 605 to 620, something like that.
14:35 - Percentage wise, not exactly.
14:37 - You know, but the guy from Bentley was like,
14:39 oh, you'll certainly notice the extra torque.
14:41 (laughing)
14:42 - Oh really?
14:43 - It'd be about equivalent to removing
14:44 that box of tissues out of the back seat.
14:46 Oh, do you feel my weight reduction?
14:48 No, but it's still brutally fast and quiet.
14:52 - Except when you're in sport mode.
14:54 - Yeah, you know, I like this transmission.
14:56 It's a ZF 8HP, which is, as we agree,
14:59 the best transmission in the world.
15:00 - Standard of the industry.
15:01 However, I think this is an older one
15:03 or it's using older software.
15:04 - Something.
15:05 It's slow, it's slow to respond.
15:07 And I like that in sport mode,
15:08 it revs the piss out of the motor.
15:10 But this is not a V12, it's a W12,
15:13 which means it's two VR6s fighting each other
15:16 at the crank for dominance.
15:17 And it doesn't sound good, it's coarse.
15:20 And coarseness is antithetical to a 12 cylinder engine,
15:23 right, you buy a V12.
15:24 - Because it's so smooth.
15:25 - Right, so what's the advantage of a W12?
15:27 It's packaging, right?
15:28 It's this big, what, you got 12 cylinders,
15:30 a V12, but it doesn't sound gigantic.
15:32 But it's smooth and this definitely isn't.
15:35 What bugs me though about this motor is
15:37 I've driven a Bentley with a better W12.
15:39 - Oh yeah?
15:40 - The Bentayga.
15:41 Brand new, modern, direct injection, more efficient,
15:43 and they can make it more powerful.
15:45 And so why is Bentley selling me a 2017 car
15:49 with a 2013 motor?
15:51 - 1813 motor.
15:52 (laughing)
15:53 - It's massive.
15:54 - How's the steering?
15:55 - The steering is, I think, one of those reasons
15:57 why this car shrinks around you
15:58 and makes you cover ground so quickly.
16:00 A lot of big, heavy cars have a huge dead spot on center.
16:02 And the engineers put it there
16:04 to make the car feel more stable.
16:05 And Bentley doesn't do that.
16:07 They have a very direct steering at the center.
16:09 And it makes the car feel nimble.
16:11 And you feel connected to it.
16:13 - It's a dartier experience.
16:14 Yeah, so I think with this Bentley,
16:16 we were kind of getting what we expected, right?
16:18 We thought it would be this kind of, you know,
16:21 brutalist monster that totally dominates the back road.
16:24 And it does.
16:25 - It delivers.
16:26 - Yeah.
16:27 - Always, you know, these things are great.
16:27 - I almost wish there was other cars around
16:29 because the playing field becomes so unlevel.
16:32 It's like this big cat just swiping mice out of the way.
16:35 - I can't help but think that Mercedes
16:37 is gonna feel like a big, sloppy, wet noodle
16:39 after this Bentley.
16:41 - Well, I suggest we pull over,
16:43 jump in it, and see how it does.
16:44 - And the rain let up, so we can just put the top down.
16:46 - Top down motoring.
16:47 (upbeat music)
16:51 - Jason, this is why we never leave California.
16:53 Why is this waterfall?
16:55 - Just go faster.
16:56 - No, top up.
16:57 - Ugh, okay.
16:59 - I may have to slow down.
17:01 - No.
17:01 - You don't.
17:02 - I am going 35.
17:03 - Okay, that's cool.
17:04 - That's a big advantage.
17:06 - Top's a lot faster than the Bentleys, too.
17:08 - Faster, not a lot faster, but definitely faster.
17:11 I've driven a lot of V12 Mercedeses,
17:13 and this is the first one where the 12-cylinder
17:16 really fits with the character of the vehicle.
17:18 It doesn't overwhelm the car quite to the same extent
17:21 that most of the other V12s do.
17:23 - Yeah, I'm digging this.
17:24 - I mean, it's still a little dopey in town,
17:26 like, "Rar!" all over.
17:28 - A little bit, but it works on this back road.
17:30 - And I'm sure that the V8, with all the drive,
17:32 is actually quicker to 60 and all the rest of that.
17:34 But this transmission, which I didn't expect,
17:36 it blips downshifts even when you're slowing down normally.
17:40 So just, as you're coming down to any of these curves,
17:43 I hear, "Whump, whump, whump."
17:45 There's one.
17:46 - Yeah, you hear the little snap, crackle, pop
17:47 out of the exhaust.
17:48 - And the engine's always on the boil,
17:49 which is really important with this laggy old thing.
17:51 (both laughing)
17:52 So it's good, it works.
17:54 - Yeah, plus 621 horsepower, 738 pound-feet of torque.
17:58 What's not to love?
18:00 - Fuel economy, probably, but who cares?
18:02 - No, this thing is good.
18:03 And look, I think the Bentley's a little quicker,
18:05 but I'm very confident in this thing.
18:08 The suspension travels better.
18:10 - I thought with that boat anchor of a V12 up front,
18:12 this was gonna be heavy.
18:14 You know how the other big V12 Mercedes
18:17 are always just heavy up front?
18:18 You can tell that the chassis is overwhelmed
18:21 with the weight of the engine.
18:22 Not the case here.
18:23 And I gotta say, this transmission,
18:25 I mean, it's a little annoying that you can't package
18:28 all-wheel drive with the 12.
18:29 - Right.
18:30 - But rainy, wet, leafy conditions,
18:32 and I'm not wanting for grip.
18:34 - And you were moving at quite a speed.
18:36 - Yeah, this thing ain't slow.
18:38 - Bentley speed.
18:39 And unlike the Bentley, it's not coarse.
18:41 This engine is very smooth.
18:43 It actually sounds pretty good in here.
18:44 It's mostly exhaust,
18:45 but still, it's got that relaxed thing.
18:48 And then, oh yeah, that downshift is good.
18:49 (imitates engine revving)
18:51 - I love the way AMG tunes their exhaust.
18:53 And this thing has a bit of a lope,
18:55 which V12s shouldn't have.
18:57 At like 1500 RPM, you got a blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,
19:00 thing.
19:01 It's just the greatest engine note.
19:02 - I wouldn't say the steering is nice.
19:04 You know, the steering feel could be a little bit better,
19:05 but--
19:06 - I like the Bentley steering a little bit better
19:07 because it's a little bit more direct on center.
19:09 - Yeah, yeah, yeah.
19:10 This has that Mercedes steering feel.
19:12 - And the structure is a little bit stiffer,
19:13 I think, on this car.
19:14 You feel a little bit less vibration and chatter
19:16 coming through the pedals,
19:17 and you don't see the dashboard moving quite as much.
19:20 But these are both ridiculously rigid, quiet convertibles.
19:23 I mean, both are luxury cars,
19:25 while also with these monster engines,
19:27 sort of emulating performance cars pretty well.
19:29 But no, I mean, this is shockingly fun.
19:32 And you don't think an S65 would be fun.
19:34 You think you just put the top down
19:36 and roll around South Beach or something.
19:38 But this is great, and it's smooth, it's relaxed.
19:42 This is a seriously good driver's car.
19:44 - Yeah, I never would have expected this in a million years.
19:48 - So here's my dilemma.
19:49 How do we pick a winner?
19:50 - It doesn't really matter what I like or what you like.
19:52 We have to be objective about this
19:54 and judge the cars as cars.
19:56 Which is the better vehicle?
19:59 - Throwing subjectivity out the window means
20:01 that all we have left is objectivity.
20:03 Objectively, then, the biggest difference
20:06 between these two fancy pants convertibles
20:08 comes down to the fact that the Bentley
20:10 is based on the best car in the world, circa 2004,
20:13 while the AMG is based on the best car in the world,
20:16 circa 2014.
20:19 Driving the two cars back to back,
20:21 that decade of difference and development is quite apparent.
20:25 - That said, it isn't one or two small differences.
20:27 It's only clear when you add them all up.
20:30 When you do, it's clear that the winner of this head-to-head
20:32 needs to be the Mercedes AMG S65 Cabriolet.
20:37 Disappointed Bentley fans, fear not.
20:39 New Continental's on the horizon.
20:41 This time, the platform's been engineered by Porsche.
20:44 We should see it sometime in 2018,
20:46 and you can be sure there'll be a rematch.
20:49 - Are you (beep) kidding me with that thing?
20:51 - It's top of the morning to you, too.
20:52 This thing is beautiful.
20:53 - It is not beautiful.
20:54 - It is.
20:55 - I came all the way to Long Island
20:57 to have a nice, peaceful weekend,
20:58 and you pull up in that thing?
20:59 - It's like a postcard.
21:00 First of all, the Bentley's got more power,
21:02 it's got more luxury, it's got more comfort,
21:05 it's got more power.
21:07 - Yeah, it's real classy, low is class, too.
21:09 And by the way, where's my bagel?
21:11 - I didn't bring no bagels.
21:12 - I told you, bring a New York bagel, it's in the water.
21:14 - Anyways, I just can't believe how serene it is out here.
21:18 - (beep) gorgeous.