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Coupe,
Performance,
Audi,
Bentley,
Rumormill,
Luxury

Paris 2010: 2011 Bentley Continental GT - Click above for high-res image gallery
Bentley has provided its
Continental GT with a total
refresh for the 2011 model year. The styling has been updated and the luxury coupe is expected to gain a second engine option. The traditional 6.0-liter
W12 unit will still be available albeit with more power, but Bentley has also let slip that it will offer a new V8 engine. This eight-cylinder unit will apparently be a
twin-turbocharged Audi engine which is potentially capable of 550 horsepower. Now, word from
Autocar suggests that Bentley would like to pair that engine with
Audi's S tronic dual-clutch transmission.
The S tronic unit is currently employed throughout most of the Four-Ringed family lineup. Adding it to the Bentley will present an interesting challenge, however, due to the fact that the underbody of the Continental GT has a nice ZF six-speed automatic transmission-shaped hole. The ZF automatic is the gearbox used for the W12. Bentley's engineers are now doing feasibility studies to see if they can get the dual-clutch gearbox to fit.
If they do manage to cram the S tronic in there, we do hope it comes with some massive updates, as we've found the twin-clutch cogswapper to be a seriously disagreeable piece of equipment (particularly in terms of low-speed drivability) in the
Audi R8 test cars we've sampled.
Gallery: Paris 2010: 2011 Bentley Continental GT




Live photos by Zach Bowman/Copyright (C)2010 Weblogs, Inc.
[Source:
Autocar]
Audi's S Tronic dual-clutch gearbox headed for Bentley GT? originally appeared on
Autoblog on Wed, 13 Oct 2010 09:01:00 EST. Please see our
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