This Bentley costs $ 2 million, roof not included

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By Peter Valdes-Dapena, CNN Business

There was a light drizzle as I got ready for a short drive in the new Bentley Bacalar. Normally that wouldn’t be a big deal. The rain was barely enough to warrant an umbrella. Except that the Bentley Bacalar has no roof.

The Bacalar is not a convertible. It really doesn’t have a roof, not even a folding roof.

If owners can’t drive their Bacalar in the rain, that’s a small business. You can rest assured that the people who can afford to buy that $ 2 million car have others that they can get wet.

The lack of a roof has given Bentley designers a kind of freedom they rarely have when faced with finding where to hide a folded roof and put unsightly locking mechanisms.

“When you don’t have a roof, you can have the flow of the cabin follow the outline of the exterior. So this car is very focused on the language of design, ”said Bentley spokesperson Tim Hannig, who accompanied me on the ride. “And we wanted to create something of extraordinary beauty. So no roof.

Only a dozen Bacalars will be built. With so few products and at this kind of price, the Bacalar is essentially a private concept car. Although, unlike most concept cars, it is road legal.

No one could give an exact price for the Bacalar I was driving because it was literally, priceless. “Car Zero”, as it was written rather garishly on the side, is the Bacalar prototype, and Bentley does not intend to sell it. It had been painted white for testing so that any cracks or potential defects in the body could show up more easily, and had only recently been repainted in deep ocean green.

The all-wheel-drive Bacalar has a 650-horsepower turbocharged 12-cylinder engine, but it’s not meant to be a high-performance sports car to shred the streets. Customers who want that sort of thing can shop at Lamborghini, Bentley’s sister brand. (Both belong to the Volkswagen Group.)

With its smooth ride, comfortable seats and ample trunk space, the Bacalar is designed to be the kind of car you can drive. all day, although we probably won’t.

The performance wasn’t entirely overlooked by engineering considerations, of course. Even though its body is totally different, the Bacalar shares much of its core parts with a Bentley Continental GT, in particular the high performance GTC Speed model. But the Bacalar is a few hundred pounds lighter, thanks to a body made mostly of expensive carbon fiber. Removing the roof and rear seats also saved weight. All of this also helped lower the car’s center of gravity, which improves handling in the corners. At around 5,300 pounds, it’s not really flexible, however, weighing more than a full-size Mercedes luxury sedan.

Hannig told me about the car like he led us to a roadside overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Fortunately, while large clouds remained, the rain had stopped. And, for good measure, he depressed the gas pedal several times, causing the huge engine to accelerate suddenly and roar loudly.

While waiting for my chance to drive, I familiarized myself with the unique interior of the Bacalar. The wood trim comes from a tree that fell 5,000 years ago in a wetland and was preserved there in a process that also colored it almost black. Bentley left the color alone. The analog clock in the center of the instrument panel is light blue, the hue of Lake Bacalar in Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula. Its water is famous for its shimmering color.

The Bacalar has a three-sided rotating panel in the dashboard, a feature also available in other Bentley models, including the Continental GT. One side is “blank”, resembling the rest of the dashboard. But at the push of a button, the panel can flip to show three old fashioned dials including a compass. Flip the panel over again and it shows a digital display screen the type of almost every car these days. There you can see a navigation map, select a song to play, and do all kinds of things drivers do with the screens.

About the only other interior room the Bacalar shares with the Bentley Continental GT is a switch panel near the gear selector. It is largely thanks to this panel that the Bacalar, open to the world as it is, has air conditioning. According to Hannig, it just seemed better to keep the futile function than to redesign the switch panel and remove the buttons.

The emphasis on design also means that the Bacalar does not have a rear view camera, although there is a screen in the dashboard. Adding this feature would require a camera lens which the designers said would put an unsightly glass button on the car’s beautifully designed rear. Fortunately, thanks to its four-wheel steering, the Bacalar was able to easily turn around so I could get out of the little belvedere parking lot.

The Bacalar is not immediately eye-catching from the outside. For most people, it would probably be registered as “a nice Bentley”. Watch for a moment longer and you’ll notice how the headlights are stretched out in the front corners. You may also notice how the hood is peeling or the overall proportions of the car. The Bacalar is low and muscular, with bulges rising up behind each seat. As it passes you will definitely notice the back parting into layers like an opening flower bud.

From the driver’s seat, the Bacalar looks like a quintessential Bentley. Strong and fast, but comfortable. The steering has a pleasant feel and feedback and the motor provides ample and pleasant sound power.

But Bacalar customers don’t pay for performance. They pay for the unique design of the car, which gives them something they can make their own. The 12 Bacalar production cars have now been designed for each customer’s particular tastes, Hannig told me.

“Each car has its own personality,” he said.

Despite its steep price, a car like this can be a reasonable investment due to its extreme rarity, said Donald Osborne, collector, car appraiser and director of Rhode Island’s Audrain Auto Museum. The fact that it doesn’t have a roof at all could limit its long-term appeal, however, he said.

There are other cars that you could spend that kind of money on and get absurd levels of speed and power that the vast majority of owners will never be able to appreciate. The Bacalar just offers its beauty and uniqueness. It is also very pleasant to drive on a pleasant day by the sea. It may be a little impractical, but it is good when a very expensive car offers such accessible pleasures.

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