Bentley Continental GT
Why 4.5: Three generations across twenty years: the Continental GT turned Bentley from a near-extinct brand into a volume GT maker. The W12 version established the formula; the V8 is the one serious drivers occasionally take to the track.
Layout
Natural habitat
Ride comfort
Sound
The 6.0-litre W12 makes a distant, turbine-like woofle on a large throttle opening, which suits the car well. But Bentley engineered it to be felt rather than heard, and twin turbos plus 6,000 rpm leave almost nothing to listen to — deliberately, and it costs it here.
12-cylinder · turbocharged · 6,000 rpm redline · rated 5.0 / 10 for engine sound
Market value
Median asking price, good condition · €138k (2004) → €87k (2026), trending down · illustrative data
Child seats · ISOFIX
A Bentley PR manager confirmed on the record that every Continental GT, across all three generations, is fitted with ISOFIX clips on the rear seats as standard.
No front ISOFIX documented for the Continental GT's front seats.
Bentley PR statement via PistonHeads owners' forum; genuine Bentley child-seat parts cross-listed for 2003-2010 and 2011-2018 GT (owner-community sourced, not manufacturer documentation)
The long version
Volkswagen’s money resurrected Bentley by giving it a car normal rich people could buy and park without a team of specialists, and the Continental GT delivered: a W12 grand tourer with Bentley drama and Volkswagen Group reliability at roughly half what a real Bentley used to cost. That democratisation created a predictable ownership pattern — purchased for status, driven moderately on regular roads, traded before the depreciation cliff becomes too painful. The W12 version earns Valet Royalty territory; the V8 variants are the ones that occasionally make it to a circuit. Values collapse steeply in the first five years before plateauing at a number that attracts buyers who genuinely want to use them.