Bentley’s Magnificent Brooklands
Bentley has long been known as a maker of supreme luxury cars, and few cars can command more prestige and awed whispers than theirs. Classed below Rolls-Royce but higher than everybody else, Bentley certainly has a long history of luxurious, exclusive, and oh so expensive cars. The new Brooklands, however, might just top them all.
Introduced as a 2009 model with sales beginning in late 2008, the Brooklands has a price tag of more than $340,000. It is in the upper end of the Bentley spectrum, and it is the most exclusive of them all, with a lifetime production of just 550 units.
While the Bentley may be a super luxurious, high class automobile, that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have power. The Brooklands uses a 6.75 liter V-8 engine, Bentley’s most powerful ever. It has 530 horses, is twin-turbocharged, and it produces 774 pound-feet torque. Combined with a smooth six speed transmission, it delivers a real nice ride.
The Brooklands, in the spirit of Bentley, is also big. It’s about 17 ft long, or 213 inches to be exact, and it weighs a monstrous 5,853 pounds. For those who can’t do math, that’s almost two and a half tons of beautiful machinery. Despite it’s weight, it’s also astonishingly fast. This hand-built beauty has got an engine that hurls it from 0 to 60 in 5 seconds. Bentley claims the top speed is 184 mph. The only downside is it’s poor 11/20 mpg, but when you got over $300,000 to blow on a car, who cares about the price of gas. Hell, this thing could get 5 mpg and I’d still drive it.
But while it certainly looks powerful, prestigious, and expensive, it’s the interior that truly makes this car a Bentley.
The interior is fabulous, so fabulous that it seems more at home in a high class, luxurious lounge than in a mere car. This, however, is a Bentley, and it’s not just any car. Leather, polished wood, and bright steel make up the inside, with leather predominating. In fact, there is so much of the fabulously opulent stuff that it requires the donations of 16 cows to furnish just one Brooklands. It’s also very comfortable, as is expected from a Bentley. There is an amazing amount of rear seat room as well, since the seats are set about four inches further back than in the Azure.
The Brooklands looks majestic, and is a true, classic, “grand tourer”. It’s a British car, with British engineering, British design, and it really doesn’t get much better than that. It’s not built to look fast and sporty like the Continental GT, and it doesn’t have old, slow look of the Arnage or Azure. This car, ultimately, is better, because it embodies the very spirit of Bentley, the very representation of Bentley ideals and principles. It’s a Brooklands, and it stands on its own.
Specs
Price: $340,000
Engine: 6.75 liter V-8
Top Speed: 184 mph
Horsepower: 530
Torque: 774 lb-ft.
0-60 mph: 5 seconds
Mileage: 11/20 mpg
Filed Under: Bentley