See The New 2019 Bentley Continental GT - Photos

Just as the saying says, the comeback of a lion is always deadly but in the case of Bentley, it is more beautiful, unique and far better.

Deception is far from the point of a grand tourer, but deceptive speed is the hallmark of a great one. A sports car thrills at high speeds. A luxury car will wallow and grow nervous. But a grand-touring automobile calms as the speedometer winds toward the big numbers. It finds its composure. A proper grand tourer is the sort of car in which the driver can sneak up on seriously extralegal speeds without disturbing his passengers, in which there's no tell to the extreme heading of the rate needle other than the grin on his face and the increasingly brief blur and whoosh of passed traffic.

There is no truer example of the grand tourer on sale today than the Bentley Continental GT. And "GT" is not just there in the name; the philosophy pervades every nut, bolt, and stitch in this opulent coupe. It's a continent-crossing meteor built for lavish comfort and outrageous speed in equal measure. A massage at 200-plus mph? That is what grand touring is all about.

Bentley simply refers to it as a dual-clutch. The abuse it can take suggests this new gearbox is ready for the big-rig leagues, but while the transmission doesn't flinch, the world rapidly warps around the big Bentley. The Conti hits 60 mph in just 3.3 seconds, and you're clear of the quarter-mile in 11.5 at 123 mph. That it manages to cram two shifts into that 3.3-second sprint to 60 mph is testimony to the transmission's shift speed.

The natural torque of a 6.0-liter 12-cylinder is plenty adequate most any other time; it's only in comparison with the torque of a 6.0-liter 12 when it's choking down 12.9 psi of boost that it feels low.