The 2020 Bentley CGTs finally showed up, as of now only in V8 form. I test drove one today and thought I'd share my impressions as a mini-review since it the major competitor of the S63 Coupe/Cabriolet.

• Exterior design - It is a beautiful car. It is much more muscular in appearance and looks larger than the S63, although it is not. The 22" wheels/tires seem huge compared to the 20" on the S63.
• Interior styling - It is an extremely luxurious cabin - nothing sporty about it whatsoever. Diamond quilted leather and stitching looks phenomenal. Some nice available interior jewelry is available too including Cote de Geneve console; knurled metal knobs, dials, and vents; a rotating dash section that contains the infotainment screen, some gauges, and a plain panel on its three sides; and a Breitling clock. On the other hand there was more plastic than I wanted to see in such an expensive car, including cheap looking buttons on the console. There is strangely no glass roof option, at least on the V8 model. There is a design flaw with the small storage compartment on the console - if you rest your phone on it and it is opened, intentionally or accidentally, the phone will slide through a crevice into the guts of the drive tunnel, requiring hours of disassembly labor to retrieve it.
• Tech - It is very extensively updated from the previous model and now competitive with Mercedes. Things like HUD, night vision, 360 camera, parking aids, driving aids, adaptive cruise control, etc are all available although almost all these things are in expensive option packages; there is surprisingly little standard equipment in such an expensive vehicle - just like Porsche. There are two expensive high end audio systems available, B&O and Naim. I much prefer the Mercedes screens and COMAND software, although the Bentley system is more responsive.
• Powertrain/Performance - The V8 engine is definitely not as powerful as the AMG (M157 or M177). From a performance standpoint I'd consider the V8 more comparable to the S560 than the S63, while the W12 is probable a closer match to the S63. It is certainly fast enough and acceleration was adequate for anything other than racing or circus ride thrills. Transmission is a dual clutch, which are unbeatable from a performance standpoint but a surprising choice for a luxury car. It shifted more smoothly than I expected at low speeds. Exhaust sound in sport mode was surprisingly good, louder than I would have expected for such a luxurious car and with quite noticeable ignition cut sounds too. There are basically only comfort and sport modes, like the 2015-2017 S63. The much more sporty S+ and Race modes of the 2018+ S63 are not present.
• Handling - It has moderate body roll and understeers as you would expect in a 2-1/2 ton car. AMG cars always feel lighter than they are, not so with the Bentley. Steering was typical for a luxury car, there was not much feedback. There is no carbon ceramic brake option. Not a car to take to the race track.
• Comfort - It has the typical damped air suspension ride with little feel of the road. When in the car, the seat controls are not visible which makes them much hard to use, although probably takes little time to learn them. The rear seats, while not exactly spacious, are quite usable - it is a true coupe like the S63, not a 2+2 like the Aston DB11, Porsche 911, and Lexus LC500.
• Value - Base car costs as much as a loaded S63. Less standard equipment is included and options are more expensive. Usually a highly optioned Mercedes is about 20% above base price, for the Bentley it is more like 30% even with basic paint . You can likely purchase a brand new, built-to-order S63 at or very close to invoice price. Discounts on the CGT will be minimal at least for a while since they are just now showing up. Both cars will depreciate badly, if buying them new it's just reality... both will offer great value pre-owned in a few years.

In the end I think it is too far towards the luxury end of the spectrum for me, and honestly the value is just not there particularly once options are added without any significant discount for the short term. The S63 particularly the refresh, is faster, far more sporty, and offers a larger breadth of experience yet still offers a high level of comfort and luxury. The Bentley may win on styling and certainly will attract more attention, which could be good or bad depending on the owner. For me, I prefer to have my daily driver more 'under the radar'.

 

Agree with most points, have not driven the V8 though, only W12 GT.
Found this car to be on a significantly higher level of luxury, ambiance and "feel good factor" then the S63.
Some of the points above are very personal preferences, I myself prefer not to have the panorama roof (I don't need it and adds a lot of weight in the worst part of the car possibly), I also am more of a traditionalist and really dislike haptic controls and all these television screens instead of proper instrumentation.
Found the performance and handling equal to 63 in daily driving/environment but with a bit higher level of luxury (IMO) a much more pleasant place to be for those 2-3 hours I spend in a car daily.
I will have a better "test drive" (had the car only for an hour) 2 weeks from now, going to Zurich, drive to Maranello and also visit Pagani (that one I am even more excited then the Ferrari dealer arranged tour of the factory, since we are to be shown around by the Big Man himself!), all in all, about 2 weeks of driving the car in Switzerland and Italy.
I have a Black/Black Coupe going to be delivered to Kloten Airport when we arrive.
Sorry for bragging.....

 

That black on black CGT is very nice! And wow I'm so jealous that you are visiting the Pagani factory with a personal tour from Horatio - Huayra would be my grail car, it is true automotive art!

So the W12 CGT are held up in USA because of idiotic California regulations, so I cannot comment on them - Mulliner specification is significantly cheaper on the W12 than V8, and it may be a better value.

The 2020 CGT V8 base price in USA is about $200,000 compared to $170,000 for the S63 Coupe. But there is a much larger price gap when considering standard equipment and options. To get a CGT spec to the level of a typical S63 (equipped with designo interior, DA2, night vision, trim upgrade, wheel upgrade totaling about $10,000) requires about $34,000 in optional packages from Bentley:

• Mulliner specification $18,020 (adds interior upgrade, wheel upgrade, comfort seats w/ ventilation, sport pedals); $13,395 on the W12
• City specification $5,360 (adds 360 camera, hands free boot openers, traffic and pedestrian warnings)
• Touring specification $8,385 (adds HUD along with Driver Assistance Package & Nightvision)
• Mood lighting specification $2,020 (adds ambient lighting, illuminated door sills)

I'll be the first to admit the custom Bentley interior is amazing and beyond the designo Exclusive offerings, plus there are available options contrast stitching, piping, embroidery, etc. And Bentley offers a far greater choice of interior color options and pattern splits, as well as a huge selection of exterior paints (although the non-standard paints are prohibitively expensive, for instance Mercedes magno $3,950 = Bentley satin $30,620!) And Bentley offers more available eye candy / auto jewelry options, essentially limited to the $1,750 Swarovski headlamps on the S63. Examples are:

• Diamond knurling $1,990
• Cote de Genève console $1,890
• Dual wood trim with chrome pinstripe $4,060
• Rotating display $6,365

Also worth mentioning that anyone who would want to customize their S63 beyond the rather limited factory paint and interior color options, Bentley is likely a better choice as Mercedes charges an absolute fortune for such requests, negating much of their price advantage... you can highly customize the Bentley using available options.

 

Good comparison. Test drove both the CGT as well as the GTC (Convertible), both with W12 engine, and indeed performance wise it is very comparable with the S63. The S63 is more involving however, in steering, engine and exhaust note. Maybe the CGT(C) V8 is better than the W12 in this respect (less weight)? For stealth use, the S63 (in decent color combo) is the better choice, the BGT(C) gets more attention. For now it made me go for the S63 (again), but when I drive the BGT(C) with V8 it might change.

 

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"The 2020 Bentley CGTs finally showed up, as of now only in V8 form. I test drove one today and thought I'd share my impressions as a mini-review since it is the major competitor of the S63 Coupe/Cabriolet."


When searching for your current C217 Coupe

the "Parking Lot at Work Factor" was mentioned

when comparing the S63 Coupe vs. the Bentley Coupe -

In addition to the factor as mention back then - you have

people parking where they should not be parking and

parking next to you...


The Bentley is much more visually distracting especially

when parking next to one -


Thank-You
D.B.


.

 

For sure that is important to consider... I expect to transition to working from home in the next five years, maybe I'll look for a pre-owned W12 CGT at that time

There is surprisingly little price difference between the CGT V8 & W12 models - difference in MSRP is only about $16k; and the Mulliner specification (a must-have option, totally makes the car special) costs about $5k less with the W12 than V8, so the net difference is really like $11k. This is a dramatic difference than how Mercedes priced the S63 vs S65, where the V12 carried about a $70k premium. On a performance level, the CGT V8 is basically on par with the S560, and price difference between the Bentley and Mercedes is massive, approximately $100,000 on similarly optioned cars. Both the CGT V8 & W12 are much more expensive than AMG S63, but I can see why some would prefer the CGT and pay the $50-75K extra, as it does offer a higher level of luxury, and of course the attention that comes with driving a Bentley for those who desire it.

Now I do think the S65 would have had a very tough time competing with the CGT W12, and wonder if this contributed to its early demise. Despite V12 being inherently superior to W12 and having hydraulic rather than air suspension, I doubt many shopping a car in the $250-275k range would have opted for the S65 over CGT W12.

 

Last time I had a Bentley I chose it over S65 because of AWD.
I used to own S65 before and the car was impossible to drive in Winter, lack of traction was a constant frustration.
In this climate, AWD is simply a must for a daily driver.

 

I drove both my S63 and the GT V8 back to back and was confused as hell, especially after what I went through with my S6, But after reading your opinion, the S63 is a WIN-WIN.
Thank you for the details, you really nailed it down.

Look at the DOG and my build.

 

@efathalla that S63 is gorgeous! What paint is that, magno alanite (matte iridium) ? Looks like that paint code is gone for MY2020.

CGT spec is very nice, without tabulating everything up looks to be in the mid-upper 200k range.

 

The designo design studio in Sindelfingen had a custom S560 on display with some lime green leather trim. The price wasn’t outrageous:

One can order a custom S63 paint using any RAL color code.

6,900 Euro to customize the paint on an S class, includes color. 17K for leather.

 

Forgive me but that Bentley pictured above really makes the S coupe look like a lesser car. Just my thought.

 

Thank you @Heisenberg it's fully wrapped in Xpel Stealth, the original color is Selenite Gray Metallic but after the stealth, it shows the metallic flakes that make look better than the Selenite Gray Magno.
Still, like the GT but too much money with higher depreciation and almost no discount.
The build was close to $270K and no moon roof ;(
6 Months to build.

 

Don't get me wrong the GT is smoking hot, but if we don't have different taste these varieties wouldn't exist.

 

Need the W12 to get the pano roof. Surprisingly the W12 isn't much more expensive than the V8, unlike the S65 vs S63.

Now you have me wondering about XPEL Stealth on Magnetite Black... sounds like satin film works well with metallic paint. I had the magno cashmere paint on my CLS63S and loved it, and went with a satin pearl white vinyl wrap on my 2015 S63. Satin top layer does wonders for concealing any swirls, holograms, scratches, etc in the clear coat and also looks amazing at night.

 

It will look even better on the Magnetite Black with the Metallic flakes, its super easy to clean especially if you put a ceramic coating on too. kiss goodbye to the swirls.
I believe it will be too close to the graphite magno like the GT63S ED1 but with added flakes into it.

 

My S550 Coupe is Magnetite Black with Xperts Stealth wrap. It’s very nice indeed.

 

Please post some pics! Going to talk to detailer soon about full Stealth wrap. I think Suntek has a similar product now too.

 

 

That looks like the regular (gloss) XPEL... The Stealth is has a satin top layer so turns the glossy paint 'magno'.

Been looking for any pictures of a magno/satin/matte magnetite car but no luck yet. Magno designo graphite is probably the closest factory paint.

 

Ah OK. Sorry can’t help you there buddy.

 

Here is a friend's McLaren 720S which has a paint somewhat resembling magnetite black (called Saros, grey with blue/green metallic but a bit lighter than magnetite) with the XPEL Stealth applied. I think the magnetite would look good as satin... n my satin pearl white wrap comes off my magnetite 2015 S63 in a couple weeks so might ask them to test wrap an easy body panel so I can see how it looks.

Other photo (in sun) shows the factory paint. The matte films generally seem to darken the color.

 

They installed it on the finder 1st to check it then did the entire car, believe me, you will not regret it, it's a WIN-WIN, for both the way it looks and the protection it provides.

 

Had the W12 for 2 weeks, put 2400 km between Italy and Switzerland.
Feels much lighter then previous model, handling is on a totally different level, gone is the front heaviness that even my recent Supersports suffered from.
Gorgeous interior, great finishes and materials, everything you touch is high quality and expected at that level, no disappointment here.
Seats are easily adjustable for a comfortable position, all manual buttons and switches, old school but very refreshing when you don't have to scroll through menus and then sub-menus to fine tune your butt placement.
Longest trip was from Solomeo in Umbria back to Zurich, a bit over 500 miles, long drive especially after crossing the Chiasso border with very restrictive and aggressively enforced Swiss speed limits (in Italy had a steady 120-130mph with no trouble from cops, only limit was occasional rain, slow pokes slow to yield and very twisty Autostrada), we were both less tired then we expected, seats are better on a long trip then in my own S63.
Very, very stable and confidence inspiring on less then smooth Italian roads while maintaining a high speed but no better in this regard then the MB.
Best thing about this car is the interior, dashboard in particular, no haptic controls (monitor that flips (cool feature) is touch screen) and physical switches and buttons for everything are logical, easy to make adjustments (with haptic I had trouble making precise adjustments in Panamera while driving, car always shakes a bit and your finger may slip to wrong control unlike physical button that is felt to touch).
I expected a bit better acceleration though, the car is very, very quick and seems like it has no end to your speed (got it briefly to 320km/hr and no where near the limiter) but by the seat of my pants, I think the S63 punches much harder when flooring(my car has Renntech ECU).
Another disappointment was the transmission, they decided to give this car a dual clutch and I don't think it suits the car that is a luxury GT as it's brief, getting confused sometimes, occasional hesitation, unexpected hard and jerky shift, all in all the weakest part of this car, IMO.
Now the final, would I spend my own money on that car?
As equipped (Edition One) it would cost almost $280k in US, almost a 100G more then a loaded S63, at even price I would consider it, although still not sure 100% about it, since I like the easy ability to mod my car.
Comparing it to S63 I just don't see enough advantage over it, better in some, inferior in other things, all in all a wash.
I would keep the $100k in my pocket......

 

I sometimes wish to pamperedness like this. Some of us are just too dumb to enjoy life this way, I include myself in the too dumb group.

 

How do you arrange a test drive like this? Was this a friend's car or something? Dealer demo?