A passenger rearranging their hair and trying to catch their breath after experiencing a bout of full-on acceleration in the Bentley Continental GT V8 S Convertible might take some persuading that it's fitted with what could reasonably be called the junior engine in the range.But such is indeed the case. At first, all Continentals had a six-litre W12 engine, and some of them still do. In 2012 Bentley introduced a four-litre V8 in a bid to enhance what were already sharply increasing global sales, and early this year a more powerful version was launched in the new S models.If it weren't for the still higher output of the W12, the V8 S engine's 521bhp would seem very impressive, and in real life it's undoubtedly effective. For me, though, its character is more important. In gentle running you can hardly hear it, which is right and proper for a luxury car, but as soon as you start to push it the soundscape becomes dominated by a what seems like the war-cry of eight very angry, but nevertheless well-disciplined, pneumatic drills - perhaps (I hope) a deliberate recalling of what company founder W O Bentley fondly described many decades ago as "that bloody thump".At full throttle, a condition which allows this two and a half ton car to accelerate from rest to 62mph in under five seconds and to 100 in only a little over ten, the noise becomes either ridiculous or glorious, depending on your mood and preferences. I'll go with "glorious" - it's like having your own pedal-operated thunderstorm, and who wouldn't want that?Continentals can look very elegant, but it depends on the colour scheme. The test car is painted in solid St James Red and has 21" Black Limited Edition wheels, a frightful combination which could appeal to no one but some ghastly yob whose only redeeming feature would be an understanding of what to do if ushered into the library and left alone there with a loaded revolver.I like to think that the car is embarrassed by its ridiculous costume, which it does not deserve. The interior is much more dignified, with beautiful leather upholstery (including on the rear seats, which are quite useless thanks to the lack of legroom, and completely inaccessible if you fit the £405 wind deflector) and traditional but effective minor controls and instrumentation.An understandable exception to that last point is the central touchscreen, whose graphics are suitably modern. You can use the latter to choose one of four damper settings, the inner ones unnamed and the outer called Sport and Comfort. They are noticeably different, but the chassis can still cope with the power of the engine on Comfort and rides smoothly on Sport, at least to the extent that the low-profile tyres on those huge wheels allow.This offering of luxury and performance at the same time puts the GT V8 S squarely in traditional Bentley territory, and it is compromised hardly at all by the removal of the Coupe's roof. Without extremely careful engineering the effect should be devastating, but I've driven the Continental hard, and I've driven it on bad roads, and I may even have done both, and I can tell you that it isn't.It's a much better car than it looks in red and black, to the point where the £152,900 list price appears almost sensible. Opportunities to spend very much more than that are, however, plentiful - carbon ceramic brakes add £10,495 to the price, the admittedly superb Naim premium audio system raises it by a further £5475, and if you're prepared to continue along those lines it won't take you long to reach the test car's total of £196,750. Engine 3993cc, 8 cylinders Power 521bhp Transmission 7-speed automatic Fuel/CO2 25.9mpg / 254g/km Acceleration 0-62mph: 4.7 seconds Top speed 191mph Price £152,900 Details correct at publication date
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