In this episode of Ignition
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00:00 This week on Ignition, we test the 2012 Bentley Continental GTC on two continents.
00:26 As you can see, I drew the short straw this week. We're here in Fontana, California at
00:31 Motor Trend's testing facility to check out this new 2012 Bentley Continental GTC. For
00:38 this year, Bentley has upped the ante on this car. More power and torque, bigger wheels,
00:44 better suspension, a new transmission, but maybe most importantly to Bentley drivers,
00:50 it looks better. They've really cleaned up the lines on this car. All the creases are
00:55 sharper, it has less part lines on it, it really looks a lot more handsome, and they've
01:01 made it look more like a coach-built automobile. We need to find out just how fast this thing
01:08 is. Let's see what it can do. We have 6 liters of W12 engine under the hood, plus 2 turbo
01:15 chargers. The Bentley is really easy to launch. I have the transmission in sport mode, I have
01:25 the traction control system in dynamic, left foot hard on the brake, right down on the
01:32 throttle, let go. The thing pulls like a locomotive, it's unbelievable, this thing is nearly as
01:39 fast as a 911, and it's a 5,500 pound car. We're at the top of the quarter mile here,
01:51 over 100 miles per hour, and it's still pulling, it just goes and goes and goes, it doesn't
01:58 run out of steam. This thing is definitely fast in a straight line, but it stops just
02:05 as well as it goes. Giant brakes, giant tires, when you land on the brakes, it stops, and
02:20 it's really stable doing it. So we've done the Accel, we've done the braking, we know
02:27 the big Bentley is good at both of those. Let's see how it does on the figure 8. It'll
02:37 definitely come around, but we can't defeat the stability control completely, so it'll
02:48 always catch it, you can't really get this thing in a drift going all the way around
02:52 the turn. I just feel like it should be faster coming out of the turns. The computer is just
02:59 working against you, it won't let you feed all that power in. So this is pretty much
03:09 a wrap for the test track. We know it accelerates, we know it stops, it handles really well,
03:17 especially for this size of car. What we need to do now is find out what this thing is like
03:23 in the real world. Most people that own Bentleys aren't going to take them to the racetrack,
03:28 they're going to take them touring. Where would somebody that can buy a $250,000 car
03:35 go on vacation? What about Croatia?
03:43 To most Americans, Croatia is in the part of the world Ronald Reagan didn't like. It
03:50 was the kind of place James Bond would sneak into to blow up a rocket and then float out
03:58 on a buxom double agent. In reality, it is part of former Yugoslavia. With its presidential
04:05 democracy and the proliferation of pizza with exotic toppings, it has become a major tourist
04:10 destination for the young and fashionable. This is exactly the sort of thing that convertibles
04:16 are meant for. Touring on a country road, the forest is around you, you can smell it,
04:21 you can hear the engine. This is just ideal. The Continental GT excels at this sort of
04:35 not too tight of canyon, but kind of the big sweepers. It's where it's really good. Anything
04:42 between 50 and 100 miles per hour, it just puts down power so well.
04:50 What makes this car worth its almost quarter of a million dollar price tag? In a word,
05:01 it's a six-figure car. Most six-figure cars are still built almost entirely by machines.
05:07 The Bentley is still very much built in the old world sense. Interior wood is cut, shaped
05:13 and polished by the hands of actual craftsmen. Interior hides are matched to each car. Each
05:20 steering wheel is stitched one at a time by an individual. Like the interior, Bentley
05:28 doesn't forget any details. The exterior is contoured and creased, but still very minimalist.
05:35 The GTC now comes standard with 20-inch wheels. With the wider track width, they fill out
05:41 the fenders and establish a muscular stance. Bentley has somehow managed to make an absolutely
05:47 ridiculous car seem elegant. The Bentley is remarkably at home in the old
05:55 world cobblestone streets and the small villages in the Croatian countryside. Coalescence of
06:00 old and new. While the heavyweight GTC is far from a sports car, its attitude is still
06:07 there. The 2012 Continental GTC is a refinement of an already amazing car. The retooled body
06:19 is eye-catching from every angle. Like Croatia, it manages to hold on to old ideals while
06:26 also being thoroughly modern. It reminds us, value is not determined by price.
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06:59 (gentle music)
07:02 you