New car news

21 June 2007 - 10:00

Dictatorial elegance

Recently staged a coup on the government of a sizeable nation? Need a car to reflect your benevolent-yet-frighteningly-powerful status?

Well, El Presidente, may we recommend the Bentley Brooklands Coupe?

Based on the Arnage chassis, the Brooklands coupe is a luxury four-seater powered by Bentley's most powerful V8 ever.

A modified version of Bentley's 6.75-litre twin-turbo, the hand-built Brooklands engine develops 530bhp at just 4,000rpm and a terrifying 774lb ft of torque at 3,250rpm. That's the highest torque output of any V8. In the world.

All that power is put to the road through a semi-automatic six-speed box, with the Brooklands hitting 60mph in five seconds flat before topping out at 184mph. </p><p>As an option, you can also spec the biggest set of brakes of any production car on the road: the 420mm cross-drilled discs off the Conti GT Diamond series.

But make no mistake, the Brooklands is no lithe-and-low supercar. It's massive. See those delicate little five-spoke wheels? They're 20-inchers. Gives you an idea of the sheer size of the thing.

The over-the-top-theme continues in the cabin, with swathes of aluminium and carbon fibres complemented by that lurid, luminous leather - an option that Bentley calls 'Cashew' and we call deeply tasteless.

But at least it'll be exclusive tastelessness: only 550 Brooklands coupes will be built, with prices starting around £220,000, and the first deliveries should arrive in early 2008.

The only problem, El Presidente, is that this year's allocation has already sold out. We're sorry, we're sorry...