The 2009 Bentley Brooklands is a coupe of titanic proportions: a 213-inch two-door that's almost as long as a Lincoln Town Car, and, at 5853 pounds, weighs about as much as a Chevy Suburban. It has an engine that could power the Titanic, too. The ageless 6.75-liter V-8 under the hood (its basic architecture dates back almost half a century) develops 530 horsepower and an axle-twisting 774 lb-ft of torque at 3250 rpm. It's the most powerful V8 ever from Crewe, and the world's torquiest automotive engine.
Bentley claims the 2009 Brooklands zooms to 60 mph in 5.0 seconds and hits the 100-mph mark just 6.7 seconds later. On the tight Tuscan back roads here in Italy, where even the shortest straight sees 70 mph, the big coupe feels every bit that fast. Claimed top speed is 184 mph, stupendous for a car that looks like an apartment block next to a 911.