2007 Bentley Continental GTC Interior & Exterior

Bentley took no shortcuts in designing the soft-top. Accommodating the folded fabric beneath the sleek rear deck required a rear suspension redesign. The basic rear layout--multiple links, air springs, computer-controlled shocks--mirrors the GT's, but on the GTC the air spring at each corner has been lowered by more than eight inches; it's now mounted to a newly added trapezoidal link. The extra room up top allows for a flush-fitting hard boot that's all but invisible when the roof is packed away.

The canvas top itself is a beauty. It's constructed in three thick layers and stretched tight over seven strong bows, the better to avoid what Bentley calls "the starving-cow effect." The rear window is heated glass, of course; the GTC also boasts only the second rear-seat reading light to appear in a convertible (the other is on Bentley's own Azure). The entire roof raises or folds completely away in 25 seconds at the touch of one button. Despite the top's parachute potential, you can raise or lower it while moving at speeds up to 20 mph. Lest onlookers become agitated at the sight of whirring motors or moving struts, Bentley even went to the extent of ensuring that the entire top mechanism is hidden while in motion. For enhanced safety, behind the rear headrests lie two pop-up steel roll hoops that, if the computer senses a rollover is imminent, deploy in a quarter of a second.

The GTC's cabin is pure Continental. Which is to say, it's as rich and refined as an English club. The hand-finished wood veneers glow. The leather hides seem to have come from cows fed a steady diet of Guerlain skin cream. The aluminum vent pulls jut from the dash like the stops on a cathedral's pipe organ. If a chimpanzee were to climb inside this cockpit, in a few minutes he'd start speaking like Ralph Fiennes. And that's without even knowing the skill and effort required to make the interior look this elegant--without knowing, for instance, that the leather steering wheel is stitched entirely by one man using a single thread. And that it takes him eight hours to complete the job.

The GTC will seduce more than hedonists. Even with the couple-hundred- extra pounds to tow around, the 552-horse, twin-turbo W-12 rockets the GTC from 0 to 60 mph in a claimed 4.8 seconds. You read that right: This Herculean Brit can blow off a Shelby GT-H. The rippling 479 pound-feet torque peak arrives at just 1600 rpm and flows to all four wheels, so the GTC is never caught napping, never mars the view of its fetching flanks with unsightly wisps of tire smoke. The ZF six-speed automatic can be stirred with paddle shifters, but mostly you don't need them. Just press on the right pedal and hang on. And on. And on. Remember: This brute won't run out of breath until you're booming across the tarmac like a Nextel Cup stocker.