Price:
£153 400 (about R2.04-million).
Top speed:
320km/h; 0-100km/h in 4.5sec.
Consumption:
16.6 litres/100km.
CO2 emissions:
396g/km.
Best for:
Footballers on their summer break.
Also worth considering:
Aston Martin DB9 Volante, Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder, Mercedes SL600.
Timing is everything. The world's economy is going through its roughest patch in 15 years and the motor industry has been hit harder than almost any other sector. At the same time, all those environmental problems we worried about before the slump haven't really gone away.
Enter the Bentley GTC Speed, a new and go-faster version of an extravagantly trimmed open-top car that was already capable of 314km/h in standard form. This one can crack 320 but only gets 16.6 litres/100km to the gallon on official government tests and pumps out a staggering 396g of CO2/km.
It's completely indefensible - except on the grounds that it is utterly wonderful in nearly every way.
But Bentley has a better sense of timing than the inauspicious scheduling of the GTC Speed's launch might suggest and prospects for this latest model are better than you might think. After the company was taken over by VW in 1998 it identified a yawning gap in the luxury market between hand-made cars and high-end models built by normal production line processes from Mercedes, BMW and Porsche.
The result was the Bentley Continental range, which shares much of its technology with the most expensive VW and Audi models.
These cars - the GT coupe, the Flying Spur sedan and the GTC convertible - hit that sweet spot in the market a little to the north of £100 000 just as the economy was really motoring, propelling Bentley sales to a heady 10 000 units in 2007.
Things have inevitably slipped a bit since then but the GTC Speed still seems likely to be popular; Speed versions of the GT and the Flying Spur have been on sale for some time and have high take-up rates.
MOSTLY SUBTLE STUFF
What else - besides more speed - does the GTC Speed offer over a standard GTC? Well, there's a host of under-the-skin engineering modifications aimed at sharpening the GTC's cornering without spoiling its excellent ride comfort.
It's mostly subtle stuff, with the exception of the improved steering set-up, which represents quite a leap forward in terms of accuracy and feel.
One more interesting fact about the GTC Speed: its 320km/h top speed is reached with the roof up but it's also capable of almost that with it down.
Perhaps it's just as well that the stereotypical Bentley owner is no longer a middle-aged, toupéed entertainer but a young, follically fit footballer. - The Independent, London