Monday, May 17, 2004

250kph Club

Ahhh.. Finally drove a car over 250kph. And in a Bentley Continental GT no less!

When I was asked if I wanted to test drive the new Continental GT, I almost drooled at the prospect even though I think I managed to hide my excitement well enough not to change his mind. What's the big deal you might say.. well.. The thing is, the Continental GT is one of those cars which is just a little special. Not just loads of money special. It stands apart from the usual mercedes and bimmer or even jaguar and belongs to a special class of car joining the likes of ferrari and rolls royce. It is practically still hand made in the age of mass production, and you can tell. Sheer class.

3 tonnes of metal, leather and wood pushed along by a W12, 6 litre, twin turboed engine making over 500 hp.. swoon.

The car is fast but then that is a given, considering the power the engine generates. The car has a 320kph topspeed, so we barely reached its full potential. But what surprised me was that the car was totally unintimidating to drive. All that power, the sheer weight (the car weighs twice my alfa!) and sheer size, shrinks once you are in the drivers seat. It was quite easy to drive, more accord than ferrari, and everything was quite effortless. Its even easy to carve traffic in this car. The brakes are colossal, its front brake discs are 16inches in diameter and when called into action, brings all 3 tonnes to a very quick halt.

What was not surprising however, was the fuel consumption. Actually I was surprised, I expected it to be better. The car has a 90 litre fuel tank. If you drive it like a granny in a pinto, you get just under 400kms before having to fill her up. Driving the way we did, expect only 180kms! Aiks!

Oh.. for the pleasure of owning one of these beauties.. ante up RM1.5million! And wait in line as there are already 15 orders!