For near on 20 years now, the Bentley Continental GT has been considered one of the linchpins of the luxury grand touring segment, having spent years locking horns with the likes of the Aston Martin DB9/DB11, Maserati GranTurismo, Mercedes-Benz SL and more recently, the BMW 8 Series.

The Continental GT has long been synonymous with the fabled twin-turbocharged 6.0-litre W12 engine, however for the last decade the big two-door has also been available with a lighter and more frugal 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 borrowed from the likes of Audi and Porsche.

While Bentley’s local arm initially claimed the V8 would not be coming to Australia when it was revealed in third-generation guise in 2019, the luxury brand changed its view and the bent-eight Coupe and Convertible pair arrived last year before COVID-19 took hold.

Priced from a lofty $400,900 plus on-road costs, we took the hard-top Coupe out on the road to see whether the V8 is the pick of the bunch.