Bentley Brooklands review

When it was new, the Brooklands cost not far shy of a quarter of a million pounds. But you’d easily vault over that milestone with the options. Carbon-ceramic brakes were over £14,000. The flying B emblem up front was a couple of grand. These aero-faced wheels were a very rare extra. And so on, with the upholstery, the veneer, the grille finish, the sound system… and the built in phone. Bless it.

This was not a car built in any way to succeed at the official industry fuel consumption test. If you’re gentle with the throttle (and pay to have your car winched to the top of a hill before coasting down it to work) you’ll exceed the claimed 14mpg. The CO2 output is somewhere north of 465g/km. That puts it in the same bracket as a Bugatti Veyron, with twice as many cylinders and turbos, and one tier below a burning oil refinery.

Servicing will set you back over £1,000 unless it’s a very minor filter and fluids checkover. So this is not a cheap car to run, and given how much of the bodywork is bespoke, if you’re even mildly budget conscious a Conti GT, which shares its underpinnings with the VW Phaeton (Mk1) and Porsche Panamera (Mk2) is much more sensible. But the whole point of the Brooklands is that it’s the opposite of sensible.

Prices as of 2025, 15 years after the Brooklands left this mortal coil, start at around £120,000. That’s ten times as much as a Mercedes CL from 2008. But which feels more special? Which could apply for protection by the National Trust? Yes, it’s the brilliant Brooklands.