New vs Used: Bentley Continental GT vs Rolls Phantom Coupe

Waft, silence, the faint smell of buttery leather and the slick tactility of expertly executed veneer... which is quite hard to say after lunch at one’s club. But what if a brand-new gentleman’s carriage could offer a more ‘curated’ take on a personal motor? The best upper-echelon express out there at the moment is the new Bentley Continental GT. But there are other classy options.

Good: It’s fast, comfortable, brilliantly made and super-charismatic. Now with added technology

Bad: Eats fuel if you push on, it isn’t even remotely subtle, costs a lot

A brand-new Continental GT will set you back a not-insignificant £159,100, and that’s even before you’ve delved into the Bentley personalisation programme or fiddled with your granite veneers. For that basic price, you get an old-school British handcrafted vibe, backed up by decidedly new-school technology, making a genuinely exciting and fun car to tool about in, and probably one of the best moneyed dailies out there. There’s all-wheel-drive security and subtle tech married to handmade deliciousness. You just can’t argue with it.

Good: Monster presence, monster engine, actually quite startling to drive for a full-fat R-R – more like a Wraith

Bad: Some people won’t like or understand it, it will cost the GDP of Wales to run monthly

A brand-new ‘athletic’ Rolls-Royce Phantom Coupe lists at well north of £315k. But if you’re in the market for a British crusher of continents with only two doors, how about a black two-door R-R Phantom Coupe we found at Dick Lovett Ferrari in Swindon for £169k? Just 13,000 miles in eight years, 453bhp from that monster 6.7-litre V12. No, Phantom Coupes don’t pop up every five minutes (though you can buy them in Russia more regularly, according to our research), but that’s one hell of a mark down for a paltry 1,600 miles a year. And let’s face it, the Rolls is just that little bit more outré́.