Bentley’s decadent motoring delicacy

This is Bentley's fastest-ever production car, the Bentley Continental GT Speed, says Matt Burt in Autocar. If you have a long, straight, derestricted road and nerves of steel at your disposal, you can plant your right foot and hit a top speed of 206mph.

The British-built, twin-turbocharged W12 engine, which has received a power increase for this 2014 upgrade, will now whisk the hefty car from rest to 60mph in just four seconds, and 100mph will come round in just nine.

"In this age of downsizing and hybridisation, there's something rather whimsical about installing a hugely powerful but wallet-crunchingly thirsty W12 engine into a motor vehicle," say Burt. "But it's not so much an anachronism as a decadent motoring delicacy to be savoured like fine art or wine."

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It is very fast, says Nick Jaynes on Digitaltrends.com, and yet it is a delight to drive. The car feels connected to the road without transferring its bumps into your spine. You can take a 50mph corner at 70 in the snow and feel completely in control.You hit a pothole and feel nothing.

And the interior is heaven. Drop the roof on the drop-top model, and "even in a snowstorm, all you need do is turn up the heated and massaging quilted leather seats and you're cocooned in relaxing warmth".

It can be at the same time the sports coup you've always dreamed of owning and the luxurious cruiser you need for daily use. It's the complete package.

Price: £156,700Engine: 5,998cc, W12, twin-turbo petrolPower: 626bhp at 6,000rpmTorque: 607lb ft at 2,000rpmTop speed: 206mph0-60mph: 4.0 secondsEconomy: 19.5mpgCarbon dioxide: 338g/km