Driven: Bentley Continental GTC (2006-)

Our 12,000ft altitude is at the summit of the Independence Pass in Colorado, US, the country that will form the major habitat for the GTC. The roads up to it and back down are fast but tight and twisty, and surely a challenge for a hefty, 2,495kg car with the compromised body stiffness that goes with roof removal. Except it isn't.

Strategic beefing-up of the Bentley body has given it a torsional stiffness of 22,000Nm per degree. That's half as stiff again as a Mercedes SL and as stiff as plenty of saloons, all achieved with a modest 110kg weight gain over the GT. The result is a structure that shudders hardly at all over bumps - you're only really aware of it at speed over lumpy roads with the air suspension on its firmest setting - and which is second only to the remarkable Jaguar XKR convertible as a large open car which feels all of a piece.

One way Bentley has achieved this rigidity is by bolting the engine and suspension subframes directly to the body, instead of via rubber mountings, and adding triangulated bracing to link the subframes positively to the side sills. This would normally wreck refinement and road-noise suppression, but revised rubber bushes for the suspension arms have fixed that.

So not only is the structure super-stiff, it also makes it possible for the steering to be more precise than it is in the other Continentals. The way you can point the proud Bentley prow at a corner, and accelerate through right on your line, is extraordinary. You can feel properly through the steering what's going on under those hefty front wheels; you can pile on more lock if the bend suddenly tightens; and you can power out with perfect poise. The combination of this precision and the traction of the four-wheel drive system, as it shrugs off the 479lb ft of torque on tap from just 1,600rpm, is extraordinary.

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