The Bentley Brooklands is a hardtop ultraluxury coupe introduced for 2008. It seats four people in decadent comfort. Standard specification includes 20-inch 16-spoke wheels, sport suspension, parking assist, copious amounts of premium veneer, leather-trimmed everything, 27 available hide colors, driver memory functions, heated and massaging front seats, twin electrically adjustable rear seats with heat and lumbar, two trunk-mounted umbrellas, Bluetooth and a pop-up navigation system. Options are limited to customization items like a stainless steel grille, match-to-anything paint and leather colors, 20-inch wheels, diamond quilted leather upholstery and different interior trim. Carbon ceramic brakes (with the biggest discs available on a road-going car in the world) are also optional.
Bentley buyers expect prodigious amounts of power and the Brooklands certainly delivers, dashing from zero to 60 mph in a scant 5 seconds. Considering it weighs slightly less than the H.M.S. Bedford, that’s incredibly impressive. What Bentley buyers really expect, however, is an interior fit for the queen. If a surface isn’t swathed in supple hides, it is decorated with chrome or adorned in one of the many rich veneers available. If wood doesn’t meet your fancy, carbon fiber, engine-turned aluminum and something called “Dark Stained Vavona veneer with Dark Stained Burr Walnut substrate” are available. Craftsmanship is also exemplary, although one would hope so at this Herculean price point.
The overall interior design is — like the exterior — classic to a T. The dash is upright and features very few modern cues. For instance, both the audio controls and navigation controls are hidden behind panels. Elsewhere in the sumptuous cabin, rear passengers are treated to space unparalleled in a two-door car. The Brooklands features as much backseat legroom as the Arnage sedan, while 6-footers will find plenty of noggin room. Exiting the aft quarters is made easier by a secondary door latch handle in each door.
If a stately British ultraluxury coupe is what you’re hankering for, there’s not much to recommend other than the Bentley Brooklands and the Rolls-Royce Phantom Coupe. The Roller is a newer model in every sense of the term and its epic size lends a presence that can’t be matched. Those reverse-opening doors are pretty nifty, too. But the Bentley Brooklands is unique in its own way, with a genuine old-school approach, from its gorgeous interior to the ancient engine. So if you’ve got $340,000 to spend, go for it.
