Autocar writers' cars of 2021: Bentley Bacalar

Piers Ward casts his vote for Crewe's limited-run speedster being his best driving experience of the past 12 months

Writing an ode to a roofless car, as the rain lashes against the window and it’s brass monkey weather outside, might seem a bit strange, but the Bentley Bacalar doesn’t really ‘do’ normal. It’s a £1.5 million, 12-run barchetta that’s been designed to showcase exactly what Bentley's Mulliner division can do in terms of personalisation and with inclement weather very much off menu.

It’s certainly quite the mission statement. Even driving it on a windswept Bedford autodrome, with a thick coat on for warmth, couldn’t detract from the specialness of it. The detail changes inside are predictably gorgeous - the 5000-year old river wood veneer is deliciously tactile even by Bentley’s standards, with its open-pore finish - but the real drama is reserved for outside. 

Every panel is unique to the Bacalar, with unique lights, ally rear clamshell and top deck, and carbonfibre panels elsewhere. In fact, the only parts that are common to both the standard Continental GT and this are the door handles and badge. Just imagine the tooling costs of gearing up for this, for a run of only 12 cars. No wonder the car costs upwards of £1.5 million (apparently, a “significant proportion” will end up costing near £2m by the time all the extra personalisation is added in).

Hardware tweaks aren’t as dramatic. Power from the W12 engine is up slightly (650bhp versus 626bhp), but torque remains the same at 664lb ft and the chassis is identical to a regular GT’s, save for a 20mm-wider rear track. Handily, this saves on expensive crash tests because the hard points are unchanged for homologation purposes. 

It’s a struggle to tell any difference over the normal car from behind the wheel, as impressive as both remain, although the Bacalar does sound a bit fruitier. Thanks to the lack of a roof, and some tweaking, the turbo whistle is more pronounced.

But that similarity doesn’t really matter. The Bentley Continental GT is hardly shabby when it comes to cruising around Nice or LA, so why bother messing with a proven formula. The cockpit has a real wraparound feel to it so the wind is pushed well over the top of your head and Bentley has even gone to the bother of making sure you’re not disturbed by the kids when you’re out wafting: there are no back seats. Instead, that’s where your special order, personalised luggage can sit.

Of course, all this is a bit niche. But if Mulliner can make a success of projects like these - and its history would suggest it’s well set up to do so - then it means more money for Bentley. And if that means a healthier factory in Crewe, then it seems pretty sensible to me.