Licence to Thrill. My 24 Hours with Bentley’s Very Own Bond Car

Test driving the Bentley Continental GTC Speed convertible

Licence to Thrill. My 24 Hours with Bentley’s Very Own Bond Car

By Kylie Keogh

“You know James Bond’s first car was a Bentley, not an Aston Martin.”

I am told this while sitting in the driver’s seat of an azure-green Bentley Continental GTC Speed convertible, the dash of which lights up with so many buttons and panels I wonder if, like a Bond car, it can deploy some sort of weaponry.

Instead, what I discover touching myriad buttons is that there many ways to warm the seat, in addition to activating a hot blast of air centred at my neck which is used when the top is down in winter – all components of the car’s “wellness seat technology”.

And that’s just the beginning.

Ben from Bentley shares this tidbit of Bond information while taking me through the essentials of test-driving this $800,000 piece of automobile engineering brilliance, which, unlike previous Bond vehicles, is a Hybrid.

I baulk at the price, knowing it is in my hands for 24 hours, and make clear I am not a motoring expert in case the good people from Bentley want to change their mind.

Everything about the Bentley Brand is cool

But they are cool, like everything about the Bentley brand. Founded in 1919 by W.O Bentley in North London, it has come to personify English luxury and performance in cars.

In this stratospheric price range, one would expect the type of unique features that this Bentley has; upon opening the doors, a light beams a glittering Bentley logo onto the floor, a fork from the original Bentley kitchen is used to pierce the holes into the smooth leather steering wheel to allow for hand stitching and, my favourite, the silver Bentley winged insignia on the bonnet has eight wings on the left, and nine on the right.

Ben explains the reason for this idiosyncrasy. When W.O. Bentley started making his eponymous cars, he was subjected to copyright infringements and made the slight adjustment (you wouldn’t notice otherwise) to prevent counterfeit versions of the logo.

And if you have been lucky enough to drive a Bentley, you will understand why others have wanted to copy it.

The top speed of the Bentley is 335 km per hour

While sitting in the driver’s seat, I get the quick download of the Continental GTC Speed’s vitals – top speed 335 km/h, 0-100 km/h in 3.2 secs and horsepower 771, close to a Formula 1 race car.

Then, we have to talk about torque. The simple explanation is this – torque is the force that propels the car, or how the engine feels when you accelerate. Measured in newton-metres, this Bentley has a torque of 1000, an average SUV about 500.

This means the torque will push your head back and eyes open like the Doc and Marty in Back to the Future’s Delorian once pedal hits the metal. If only it would transport me back in time, particularly to the 1980s to do something about my eyebrows and hairstyles.

Despite having driven for more than three decades, I hide my trepidation at literally being given the keys to this car. I am assured it is a dream to drive, and despite its considerable heft, will feel light and smooth especially on the country roads I will be traversing in the Yarra Valley.

When I sink into the driver’s seat, there are 20 adjustments I can make to ensure the perfect setting – forward, higher (it’s a big car and I am a small person), an elevated support under my knees, a straighter head rest, and more I didn’t even try.

Seat being set and warm, it’s time to hit the road.

Taking the Bentley to Yarra Glen

As it’s a beautiful sunshiny Autumn afternoon in Melbourne, I flick a switch and the top elegantly folds down for the drive to Yarra Glen, approximately an hour’s drive north-east of the city. Due to afternoon traffic, it’s a bit of a slow crawl through the suburbs and not much of an opportunity to see how it performs.

What I did notice however were the admiring looks from other motorists – a green Bentley convertible is hard to ignore and given what I drive at home, not something I am used to!

Ben was right, the Bentley is a dream to drive. It feels light yet spacious, steers with barely a touch of my hands on the wheel and stops and starts gracefully with a gentle tap on the brake or accelerator.

Hilariously, what troubles me the most is finding the volume for the radio. The dashboard is intimidating – so much choice of dials and buttons in dazzling chrome on polished black leather that I don’t know where to start.

I carefully pull over and quickly discover the volume button isn’t secreted at all, it’s a me problem – I’m simply not used to a car this technologically advanced.

Jason Bourne mode

Once out of the city, I decide to open the Bentley up a bit, and make the switch from Comfort to Sport mode and pressed the accelerator. If comfort purred with bossiness, then sport unapologetically grunted with controlled anger, therefore I called this the “Jason Bourne” mode.

With the top down, I could hear the V8 engine gurgling as I hurtled down country roads at 100km/h, the orange and yellow hues of trees a blurred palette under the softening afternoon light. Blaring from the Bang and Olufsen speakers was Bob Dylan’s Highway 61 Revisited, and all felt good with the world.

Quarter’s, at Hubert’s Estate

I stopped for a late lunch at Quarter’s, at Hubert’s Estate, which adjoins St Hubert’s cellar door and winery in Coldstream. With the Bentley, wine tasting wasn’t an option, instead I tucked into a woodfired Margarita pizza and strolled the beautiful grounds which include stylish modern architecture housing an event centre and indigenous art gallery.

Parking the Bentley for photos attracted some admirers. Three young men who were able to recite the many and varied attributes, circled the car at a respectable distance, taking photos and asking questions, such as “have you put it in sports mode?”, “do you like how the seatbelt holder extends to fit your height?”, “have you turned around the vintage clocks on the dashboard?”. All were a resounding yes.

A night at Balgownie Estate

Not keen to drive on country roads in the dark, I stayed at the nearby Balgownie Estate which is set against the backdrop of Yarra Valley’s sweeping vineyards and gentle hills.

Exhausted from the driving (or “touring”) I was pleased to see there was a steam room which I relaxed in before dinner at the busy 1309 restaurant and bar for a well-earned margarita and two courses from a set menu. The estate is utterly silent, and my sleep was deep and restful.

The next day, the Victorian weather had turned, well, Victorian, and was cold and foggy with a constant drizzle of rain, meaning it would be a top-up drive.

After a delicious buffet breakfast, I headed out in the wet for a longer drive up through the mountain as guided by the TourBoss app, which was not only my navigation tool, but kept me connected to Bentley, in case I got lost or tried to abscond (it is tempting in this car).

It was also a chance to put the Bentley through her paces on winding, narrow, slippery dual carriageways through stunning local scenery. She handled tight corners with aplomb and was as magnificent on wet surfaces as dry ones.

The trip took me through the townships of Murrindindi Shire, at the foothills of the Great Dividing Range which experienced devastation in the Black Saturday bushfires in 2009 when 173 people perished. The terrain now is a mosaic of green, and in the misty mountain air, the size of the trees and foliage is reminiscent of a rainforest.

My final stop with the Bentley

My final stop is on flatter ground, a charming little town called Gembrook. It’s a Saturday, and busy with day-trippers like me. The café I am recommended is Spencers Store which has an array of baked goods that makes choice a challenge.

I go with a lemon curd crumble, a cross between an apple crumble and a lemon curd tart and if it wasn’t one of the most delightful cakes I’ve ever had, then I don’t know what is. The coffee was pretty good too.

Still raining, I was warm as toast in my perfectly heated seat with the stereo blaring, the navigation app working, my phone charging (without needing to plug in) on the hour drive back to Collingwood to (reluctantly) drop her back.

But hand on heart I felt relief handing the keys back to Ben with nary a scratch on this azure beauty.

“How was it?” he asked.

I only had one sentence – “what a car”.

The Bentley Continental GTC Speed is an exquisite piece of machinery I doubt I will ever drive again, and the only thing it didn’t do was make a Bond martini – shaken not stirred.