I am of the firm belief that the last Bentley Azure was the finest car of the 1990s.
Sergio Pininfarina, the Italian designer that can lay claim to some of the most beautiful cars ever built, designed the original Azure.
The new Azure represents the Bentley Motors' wise choice to continue to carry on production of the Arnage platform, while maintianing many of Pininfarina's classic lines.
As I mentioned previously herein, such a move can only continue to bolster support from the loyal, traditionalist, “old guard” clientele.
Plus, if it were in reality anything like the last generation, it would be the finest Grand-Tourer on the road, bar none.
Three years ago, I had the exciting opportunity to tail a Monte-Carlo yellow Azure across the Florida-Georgia border. Needless to say, we both flew.
Clearly he had someplace to go in a hurry and I just happened to be going in the same direction up I95.
I recall the sheer mass of the car; the high stance; the sheer force of moving more than 6,000 pounds of car at a rate that I struggled to match. It was a spirited run.
This new Bentley doubtless manages an even greater performance. Though, the performance specification figures from the company suggest a close resemblance to the old. Both generations of Azures are powered by 6.75 liter V-8s (doubtless the reworked versions of the same engines used in the Continentals of 1950s). Both manage to arrive at 60 mph in under six seconds and both top out at nearly 170 mph.
The new car carries many of the same beautiful lines as the old, but does so with more concern for aerodynamics. The car’s proportions, still large on the whole, seem cropped a little from the length of the predecessor. The result is a taut, smoother body that carries those same perfect genes of the old Azure.
In summation, this latest Azure is an elegantly restyled, more streamlined version of what was already a sublime automobile. A conservative step for Bentley by any measure. But a measure that this conservative just happens to appreciate.
For more information on the new Bentley Azure Convertible, click on the following link: Bentley Motors
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