Bentley Continental GTC (2018 – 2024) Review

Bentley’s storied Continental nameplate has been applied to series of exclusive, elegant and expeditious grand tourers over the years, hallmarked by enormous engines and sumptuous interiors. Is that blend of desirability remain intrinsic to this modern era third-generation model in convertible guise? Find out with our full Bentley Continental GTC review.

When Bentley was reborn in the early 2000s, the original Continental GT was the first product to come from the manufacturer in decades that didn’t owe its underpinnings to a car that was drawn up when black and white television was still a thing. Instead it borrowed a good deal from its Volkswagen Group parent company but that meant plenty of much-needed modern technology. It proved a commercial success, bringing new buyers to the brand.

Subtly evolving into its third generation, the facets Bentley got right from the start have been amplified here, while other areas have witnessed careful honing. The exterior design is sleeker and less bloated, without sacrificing any of the road presence that instantly intimidates lane-three hoggers out of the way.

Taking the obvious step of turning the Continental GT Coupe into a soft-top opened it up both literally and to an even broader audience. Over the years the resultant car’s name varied between Bentley Continental GTC and Continental GT Convertible but the essence of both — aided by the lack of either moniker on the model’s expensive looking badgework — ensures they’re effectively one and the same thing.

Bentley chose the more traditional route of a folding fabric roof rather than a metal one for the Continental GTC, largely to retain what it could of the coupe’s already modest boot space. For this third-generation model its double-lined hood aimed to deliver the same high level of refinement as the coupe, while its electrically folding mechanism can raise or lower it in 19 seconds at speeds of up to 30mph in case of sudden downpours.

This generation of Bentley Continental GTC was available with two core engine choices. Launched initially solely with the impressive 6.0-litre twin-turbocharged W12 producing 635PS in 2018, the revised Continental GTC Speed from 2021 upped this to 659PS, while the 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 alternative managed a very healthy 550PS. All versions were fitted with a dual-clutch eight-speed automatic gearbox and four-wheel-drive. Performance is either very rapid or even faster than that — despite the heavy folding roof mechanism, W12 versions can still reach 200mph, while the V8’s only a whisker short at 198mph.

Despite the eye-widening speed for a car of this size, the Continental GTC still offered a mix of refinement and comfort that was truly remarkable. With adaptive suspension that can be adjusted for the smoothest possible ride and very little compromise in terms of noise levels even with the fabric roof, the GTC is just as capable as its coupe sibling of wafting away the miles in a way that makes crossing countries in a single hit a breeze.

As you would expect the Bentley Continental GTC shared a great deal with its coupe counterpart, not least the highly impressive interior. Even excluding the huge scope for personalisation in terms of colour and materials, the fit and finish was exceptional and contributes to the feel-good factor which you won’t find anywhere else this side of a Rolls-Royce Dawn.

Notably, the Royce was even more expensive than the Continental GTC, which otherwise had very few direct alternatives. The Porsche 911 Cabriolet is more of a sports car while the Mercedes-AMG SL feels too soft to be one yet too compromised to be a grand tourer. What of the BMW 8 Series Convertible? It has potential but it’s downmarket compared with the Bentley.

Others? The Aston Martin DB11 Volante is a fine shout while the Maserati GranCabrio also deserves an honourable mention.

The Bentley Continental GTC had few compromises compared with its coupe equivalent, so it is genuinely a matter of whether having the folding roof is a deal-breaker. Either way it remains a remarkably capable machine even if it requires a very healthy bank balance in order to afford one.

While prospective Bentley Continental GTC owners would no doubt want their car to be capable of despatching a challenging country road — or a pesky hot hatchback — with ease, there’s no doubt that comfort takes priority. Indeed the GTC’s remarkable adaptability means it remains comfortable even in its more athletic driving modes.

With the suspension in its most comfortable setting the Continental GTC shows a highly impressive ability to soak up imperfections and smooth out surfaces, allowing you to float along with minimal disturbance, providing a degree of isolation that genuinely takes the strain out of covering long distances.

Turn the suspension to a more aggressive setting and it’s still way short of being firm, although you do become a little more aware of the qualities of the road surface. Whatever the suspension setting, the Bentley Continental GTC is composed and displays impressive agility for a car of this size and weight.

This generation of Bentley Continental GTC was available with a choice of two fundamental engine types over the course of its production run.

From launch the only choice was a 6.0-litre twin-turbocharged 12-cylinder petrol, its cylinders arranged in a W-configuration — imagine two V6s sat side-by-side and you’re somewhere close. It offered 635PS and 900Nm of torque resulting in a 207mph top speed and a 3.8-second 0-62mph time.

Shortly afterwards the line-up was expanded to include a 4.0-litre twin turbocharged V8 petrol with 550PS and 770Nm of torque — still substantial numbers as reflected in the GTC V8’s 198mph top speed and 4.1-second 0-62mph sprint.

The Continental GTC Speed’s 2021 introduction increased the output from the W12 engine to 659PS, with torque remaining unchanged at 900Nm. The change increased the Bentley’s top speed by 1mph and shaved a tenth of a second from its 0-62mph benchmark.

Both engines deliver incredible performance and despite its extra horsepower, the W12’s greater heft means only it’s slightly faster than the V8 version. For its typical customer, the cylinder count is of greater importance.

Regardless of which engine option you choose, the Continental GTC impresses with its remarkably effortless acceleration, with torque in abundance making light work of hauling this heavy car up to speed, with the slick automatic gearbox offering wonderfully smooth and fast shifts.

Little surprise to learn that the V8 version is the more fun of the two, being more eager in terms of responding to the driver’s inputs, its lower nose weight making it sharper to turn into corners. Plus with the sports exhaust mode at its loudest, it offers a wonderful soundtrack that wouldn’t be out of place in a smaller, even sportier car.

Euro NCAP did not crash-test the Bentley Continental GTC to give it an independently assessed safety score but given the impressive solidity of its construction and the high standard specification in terms of safety equipment, it would like score very highly.

Towing capacity figures for the Bentley Continental GTC aren’t provided by its manufacturer. How uncouth a notion.

It seems unlikely that many Bentley Continental GTC buyers will be too concerned with practicality given they will likely have at least one other car in their garage, so understandably the focus is on the front seat occupants.

Here there is all the space you could need despite the very wide transmission tunnel. It’s cosy, not cramped, while the sumptuous seats offer a huge range of adjustment to ensure a fine driving position for anyone.

In the rear there are a pair of seats which fully grown adults will find is tight in the legroom stakes if the front chairs are occupied by taller folk. With the roof up, headroom is reasonable but nothing more. Folding it down solves that issue but creates another as protection from turbulence, which increases as the car goes faster, is more limited than for those up front.

The boot offers just 235 litres of space, disappointingly small for an ostensibly four-seater grand tourer. Pack light using squishy bags is our advice. It’s so small because the folding roof mechanism is housed above it, which explains why it’s 123 litres shy of the Continental GT coupe’s capacity.

One area where the Bentley Continental GTC is essentially untouchable — this side of a Rolls-Royce, at least — is quality. Rightly so for a car so expensive.

Every surface is finished to a high standard, every touchpoint is satisfying to interact with, whether it’s a soft leather, a mirror-finished wooden veneer or a knurled metal. All the components act with precision when you use them, fittingly weighted to embellish the feel-good factor that makes up a huge part of the Bentley experience that most rivals struggle to match.

As standard the Bentley Continental GTC came with a 12.3-inch touchscreen infotainment system which included DAB radio, integral navigation, Bluetooth connectivity, a 60GB solid-state hard drive, Apple CarPlay and a 10-speaker 650W audio system.

Above this there was also the option to add premium audio from B&O or Naim as well as a TV tuner.

For those who consider such technology to be at odds with traditional luxury, the whole display can be rotated away and replaced with a trio of analogue dials — we suspect most will leave it screen-side-up all the time.

The touchscreen itself well, with attractive graphics and quick response times, although the lack of a physical control input seems a shame. However, there are a number of quick shortcuts down one side of the screen which makes navigating the menus straightforward, plus the fact that the climate controls are separate physical buttons is a bonus.

The standard audio system is good and the B&O system better, but for the full audio experience the Naim system is the best option.

As this generation of Bentley Continental GTC has been discontinued it is no longer available to buy new, but by the end of production new prices started at over £200,000 for the least costly V8 rising to over £270,000 for the most exclusive W12-engined version. This was comparable to the Aston Martin DB11 Volante but considerably more than most versions of the Porsche 911 Cabriolet.

As for used examples, despite being one of Bentley’s best-selling cars there are a relatively limited number available on the market. Prices start at around £90,000 for an earlier model with higher mileages, but expect to pay £110,000 upwards for younger versions with less than 50,000 miles.

Expect running costs for the Bentley Continental GTC to be exceptionally high. WLTP Combined cycle fuel consumption figures for the W12 version ranged from 19.1-20.0mpg, with the V8s only marginally better at 22.6-23.3mpg. Either way, you can expect to be refilling the 90-litre fuel tank on a regular basis.

Insurance is group 50 for all versions, while servicing costs will also be very high. Attempting to run a Continental GTC — or any luxurious high performance car for that matter — on a shoestring will result in it being compromised, harming its residual value and potentially invalidating any remaining warranty balance.

For the most part of its production run this third-generation Bentley Continental GTC was only available in plain V8 and W12 guises, together with a Speed version of the latter. Yet as time marched on, that changed to the point when sales ended in 2024 it was available in unnamed entry-level form, with A, Azure, S, Speed and Mulliner all sitting above. It’s those later models we’ve described here:

Entry point for the Bentley Continental GTC range was a nameless trim level, yet this was no hair-shirt special as its equipment included:

• 21-inch tri-spoke alloy wheels
• Air suspension with Continuous Damping Control (CDC) and dynamic ride height control
• Black Gloss matrix pattern front grille and front wing vents with chrome surround
• Polished brightwork on bodywork around the windows
• Electrically adjustable, folding and heated door mirrors with tilt function in reverse and body-coloured housings
• LED Matrix headlights with automatic main beam and LED tail lights
• Automatic wipers
• Acoustic windscreen and side windows
• Keyless entry and starting
• Electrically operated boot lid
• Front and rear parking sensors
• Crown Cut Walnut veneer for the dashboard and door panels
• Monotone Nappa leather upholstery with straight-fluting style pattern
• 12-way electrically adjustable and heated front seats with two memory positions
• Deep pile carpets
• Heated, leather three-spoke steering wheel with gearshift paddles
• Electrically adjustable steering column with memory function
• Leather-trimmed gear lever
• Multi-zone climate control and with air ioniser
• Metal bullseye air vents with organ stop controls
• Bentley analogue clock with plain bezel
• 3-inch infotainment HD touchscreen with access to DAB radio, integral HDD navigation, single-slot CD and DVD player, two SD card slots, plus Bluetooth and WiFi connectivity
• Apple CarPlay
• Bentley Signature Audio system
• Wireless smartphone charging pad, a 12-volt socket and two USB-C sockets in the front centre console
• 12-volt socket and one USB-C socket in the rear centre console
• Cruise control
• Auto-dimming rear-view mirror
• Footwell illumination and interior ambient lighting

Upgrading to the Bentley Continental GTC A introduces:

• 21-inch 10-spoke alloy wheels with a painted grey and machined metal finish
• Black Gloss matrix pattern front grille with chrome surround and vertical vanes
• ‘A’ front wing badges
• Open-pore Crown Cut Walnut veneer for the dashboard and door panels
• Monotone or two-tone Nappa leather upholstery with straight-fluting style pattern and contrast colour stitching
• 24-way electrically adjustable heated, ventilated and massaging front seats with two memory positions
• Dinamica faux suede trimming of the windscreen pillars
• ‘A’ emblem on the dashboard, sill treadplates and embroidered onto the seats
• Illuminated sill treadplates
• Deep pile front overmats

Opt for the Bentley Continental GTC Azure for additional or alternative equipment that includes:

• 22-inch 10-spoke alloy wheels with a painted black and machined metal finish
• Azure front wing badges
• Jewel-finish fuel and oil filler caps
• Harmony Diamond Quilt pattern to seats, door panels and rear quarter panels
• Azure emblem on the dashboard, sill treadplates and embroidered onto the seats
• Sports pedals

A sportier look features on the Bentley Continental GTC S with its additional or alternative features including:

• 21-inch 5-tri-spoke alloy wheels with a painted black and machined metal finish
• Black Gloss matrix pattern front grille and front wing vents with black surround
• Black exterior trims, door handles and door mirror housings
• Dark-tint front and rear lights
• ‘S’ front wing badges
• Sports exhaust with black tailpipe finishers
• Piano Black veneer for the dashboard and door panels
• 12-way electrically adjustable and heated front seats with two memory positions
• ‘S’-specific Nappa leather and Dinamica upholstery combination with a unique fluting pattern and contrast colour stitching
• Dinamica-trimmed gear lever
• ‘S’ emblem on the dashboard, sill treadplates and embroidered onto the seats

Additional and alternative features found on the Bentley Continental GTC Speed include:

• 22-inch Speed-specific alloy wheels with a painted silver finish
• All-wheel steering
• Launch Control
• Dark tint matrix pattern front grille and front wing vents, the latter with ‘12’ in black
• Dark tint exterior trims
• Speed front wing badges
• Precision Diamond Quilt pattern to seats, door panels and rear quarter panels
• Speed-specific Nappa leather and Dinamica upholstery combination with a unique fluting pattern and contrast colour stitching
• Heated, leather and Dinamica three-spoke steering wheel with gearshift paddles
• Speed emblem on the dashboard, sill treadplates and embroidered onto the seats

Building on the Azure’s specification, the flagship Bentley Continental GTC Mulliner also features:

• 22-inch Mulliner-specific alloy wheels with a painted and machined metal finish and self-levelling centre caps
• Bright Mulliner double diamond pattern front grille with chrome surround
• Satin silver door mirror housings
• All-wheel steering
• Launch Control
• Grand Black veneer with Mulliner overlays for the dashboard and door panels
• Diamond-milled technical finish for the centre console
• Precision Diamond Quilt pattern to seats, door panels and rear quarter panels with contrast stitching
• Tri-colour Nappa leather upholstery
• Mulliner emblem on the dashboard, sill treadplates and embroidered onto the seats
• Mulliner-specific clock
• Mulliner overmats with accent micro-piping
• Quilted tonneau cover with contrast and accent stitching