2017 Bentley Continental Supersports Quick Review

British marque Bentley has declared its new Continental Supersports the world’s fastest and most powerful luxury four-seater.

The stunning coupe’s top speed of 336 km/h and a 0-100 km/h time of 3.5 seconds snatches the fastest four-seater title from the Ferrari GTC4Lusso by a mere one kilometre per hour. There’s nothing in it really, but up here in the supercar stratosphere, a win is a win is a win.

For fans of open-air motoring, the car’s soft-top sibling, the Bentley Continental Supersports Convertible, is likewise reckoned to be the fastest four-seat convertible in the world, accelerating to 100km/h in 3.9 seconds on its way to a 330 km/h top speed. That’s enough to remove toupees and detach hair extensions, so best keep your head down.

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Strengths

• Performance, of course. You wouldn’t buy the world’s fastest four-seater if getting from A to B in double quick time weren’t important to you. Right on cue, the Supersports delivers thrilling levels of acceleration and speed, taking you from 0 to 100km/h in a breathtaking 3.5 seconds, and on to a top speed of 336 km/h.
  
  
• Beautifully trimmed interiors are a Bentley hallmark and the Continental Supersports is no exception. Bentley’s interior stylists and materials people have spared no expense (or cows) in creating a truly peerless interior, featuring acres of gorgeous leather and real chrome atop the classically styled switchgear. Lux diamond-quilted patterns on the perforated Alcantara-clad seats and door side panels give this the look and feel of a gorgeous Chesterfield lounge on wheels.
  
  
• If you can’t find something in the showroom you like, then never fear as Bentley prides itself on offering the widest range of personalisation options to allow customers to create a car that is truly “theirs”. Get busy choosing from more than 90 exterior paint colours, 17 hide colours and 10 different fascia finishes. Or, step up to the “X Specification” pack, with eight more unique duo-tone paint treatments. Then again, you could just chillax and leave it to the folks at Mulliner, Bentley’s bespoke coachbuilding department, to come up with a little something for you.
  
  
• It looks great… if you’re into that kind of thing. Compared with its cooking model stablemates the Supersports’ sharpened athletic appearance means it's one tuff-looking lounge suite. Sitting low and wide and looking mean on 21-inch forged alloy wheels, this Bentley features more carbonfibre accents than you’ll find in an F1 garage.

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Weaknesses

• Its estimated half-million-dollar price tag is the gross national product of some small countries, so it’s clearly an ostentatious display of your fabulous wealth. Best keep a weathered eye out for car-jackers.
  
  
• Despite having dropped around 30kg over its nearest sibling, the Supersports is still a hefty beast, tipping the scales at an SUV-like 2280kg. All that weight and horsepower means fuel bills will be astronomical, as will the speeding fines if you do decide to put its performance claims to the test.
  
  
• Even with a $500K price tag, there are still options! At this price you’d think that cool stuff such as a titanium exhaust system to enhance the sound of its unusual W12 engine would be part of the deal, but no such luck.

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Anything else I should consider?

The Ferrari GTC4 Lusso may have a terrible name but it’s a brilliant bit of kit with all the visual and aural drama of a genuine Italian supercar. Its 6.3-litre V12 pumps out a highly competitive 507kW/697Nm which, as we now know ain’t quite enough to peg back the Bentley. The Fazza’s $578,888 price tag does, however, top the big Brit brute, so there’s a win!

The Mercedes-AMG S65 Coupe is about as luxe as you can get from the three-pointed star brand, with a $502K price tag and a features list that will give the Bentley a run for its money, and then some. The Benz is also no slouch, thanks to its thumping twin-turbocharged V12 that serves up a mighty 463kW and nice round 1000Nm. It also comes stacked with all the latest cutting-edge driver assist and safety technologies.