Bentley Continental GT: Which trim depreciates fastest?
The exotic car market is not as straightforward as the realms where basic transport is a key requirement. In terms of deciding which Bentley Continental GT model retains its value best on the pre-owned market, it is not as straightforward as you may suppose.
Bentley’s Continental GT is considered by many to be the archetypal example of this honoured British marque. Bentley celebrated a century of car production last year, and it has a luxury and sporting heritage that includes a string of victories at Le Mans in the 1920s,
Earlier this year Bentley celebrated yet another great motorsport triumph with a victory in the 12-Hour world championship GT race at Bathurst, Australia. And one of the drivers in the winning car was South African Jordan Pepper!
The latest range of Bentley Continental GTs is the third-generation of the modern rendition. In the 1950s a very famous version, in coupe form, was the most sporting version of a Bentley available in that era, and today it is an extremely sought-after car.
The current range
The latest range of the Bentley Continental GT consists of both a closed coupebody type, as well as a convertible. And engine choices run to a 4,0-litre turbocharged V8, producing 404 kW, and a 6,0-litre W12 engine, offering 467 kW.
These sorts of power figures enable the Bentley Continental to be very rapid indeed. The current V8 model (the V8 Continental GT was introduced just a few years back) has a top speed of 318 km/h and a 0-100 km/h time of 4,0 seconds. The top-dog W12 model has a maximum velocity of 333 km/h and does the 0-100 km/h time in 3,7 seconds. The convertibles in both V8 anf W12 form are just a tad slower on acceleration. But interestingly, their top speeds are rated as identical to the closed coupe versions.
Which Continental GT trim depreciates fastest?
Speaking to Bentley personnel in South Africa, we are informed that, as with other cars in this stratospheric price league, it is impossible to single out any particular model as the best bet when it comes to value retention. This is because Bentley’s are bespoke machines with each car ordered with a host of options specified by the buyer, which affects not only the new-car price, but can affect the re-sale value to a great degree. For this reason Bentley sales staff caution their customers not to specify some of the extreme colour and upholstery choices that are on offer, if value-retention is a high priority.
Further on this topic it should be noted that AutoTrader currently lists 44 examples of New and Used Bentley Continental GT models for sale. And a glance at the asking prices will reveal that many late model examples for sale have asking prices greater than the current new-car list prices, reflecting the host of extra-cost options fitted to these cars!
It should be noted that cars in the this league can drop quite markedly in value. Currently the new-car prices of the Bentley Continental GT range sell for between R3 450 000 for the V8 coupe and R4 095 000 for the W12 Convertible.
Our choice: Go for the W12!
While Bentley won’t be committed as to which model or trim derivative holds its value best, we would suggest that the W12 models will retain their value better than the V8 models. In this league of car the top-of-the-range model is always the most prized. And in the case of the Continental GT, the price differences between the V8 and the W12 models is not that huge. A V8 engine may make a lot of sense, but that W12 cylinder-configuration has a special cache, and this can only bode well in terms of asking price, when the time comes to pass the car on to another lucky owner.
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