According to some, this is the very last real Bentley. Bentley has been bought by VW, and this car has been developed with the help of VW. However, its basis is much older. The car’s character is way different from a Continental GT’s. It looks like a Bentley Mulsanne, but more ridiculous. The Mulsanne is a 4-door limousine with a lot of room. It also takes up a lot of space in this world. It also emits associated amounts of CO2. The same goes for this Bentley Brooklands. It needs a lot of space and emits a lot of CO2. In the city that’s liter for every 100 km. That’s 7 mpg in a test cycle. When you go full throttle, it’ll be much worse. This car has the gas mileage of a warship from World War II. It also handles like a warship. No, like a yacht. It heaves and bobs. You can set its course by turning the steering wheel, but the tide, wind, currant, and power on the wheels may steer you into a different direction.
There’s one difference with the Mulsanne. This car isn’t all that spacious. I have power seats. I’d like to slide it backwards to be more comfortable, but I can’t. The trunk isn’t very big. It is a 4-seater coupe with a lot of pretty details inside. We could fill a video about it. A coupe makes it difficult to get in and out. Especially the getting out. When I get out, but there’s someone sitting behind me, I can’t reach the door handle. So, what did Bentley do? Two door handles.
One over here, and on behind me for the passenger. A pretty thing about the Brooklands is the engine. This is the engine for Bentley and Rolls-Royce. The 6.75-liter V8 finds its roots in the ’50s. It’s based on a Packard engine, so it doesn’t have a great heritage, but because they kept it up for so long, it became widely loved. It’s nearly 7 liters, but the Brooklands was introduced in 2008.
Even then, a naturally aspirated V8 wasn’t good enough for a Bentley. Two turbos were installed. This means it has plenty of power. That’s OK, because this car weighs 6,349 lb. That’s a lot. Almost 3,000 kg, which sounds more spectacular. It has maximum power (530 hp) at 4,000 rpm, so it’s like a diesel, and max torque at 3,250 rpm. It’s a high-revving engine. 774 lb ft. That’s why it needed a stronger gearbox, a 6-speed automatic. That’s pretty advanced for an old-school Bentley such as this one. The performance doesn’t really matter. You don’t want to speed in this car. When I want to overtake someone… It does that easily. That’s nice. You don’t want to hoon it. It handles kind of badly. When I’m talking about a boat, I’m not saying it handles well. It does 184 mph and 0-62 mph in about 5 seconds. It feels different.
I think that’s the best recap. It doesn’t feel like a fast car, but you’re going faster than you’d like to. Fortunately, it has large ceramic brakes hidden behind 20 inch rims. You don’t see them. The fun thing is, it feels very spongy. It doesn’t handle well and it doesn’t brake well. In a straight line on dry asphalt, which is a bit rough and doesn’t have too much bumps and leafs, it accelerates nicely. If there are leafs, bumps, sand, rain sometime in the past six months, and you go full throttle, you see an orange bulb light up. ESP says it sees a bit of wheelspin. It doesn’t go with this car’s character. You don’t want to hoon it, but float over the bumps and have everything filtered away. That’s what the Brooklands does best. When talking about British craftsmanship and details characteristic for Bentley, such as leather… It’s everywhere, including the roof. This is lined with leather. There’s a pillow on the inside of the C-pillars. If the passenger falls asleep or the driver corners fast, you can rest your head there. The vents…
I think it’s solid metal. The organ pulls to open and close the vents, the wood for which a full week of work has gone into… Though the steering wheel doesn’t look very special, the stitching took 19 hours. At Hyundai they build 20 i10s in 19 hours. Other things which add to the weight and show Bentley works on the details, are four lights for the rear license plate. Four. I don’t know why. On the other hand, the CD changer looks like it has been installed by a handyman. Cut the carpet so it fits, good enough. That’s how I do it at home. It seems nice and it was a nice idea, but the result isn’t as good. This was the last of the Mohicans, a typically British car with a lot of disadvantages. It has its advantages as well. Some things have a great finish, other things don’t. It’s an icon like that. Only 600 have been built. If you wanted to buy a new one in the Netherlands back then, it cost 500,000 euros. For the base model. If you wanted the stitching in a contrasting color or something, the price went up.
I think it’s a monument of a car. When talking about cultural car heritage, this is one of them. There should be a subsidy for this, a trust to promote British historical heritage. They should give subsidy for people to drive cars like this.
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