Photos of Bentley's New 2019 Continental GT

Deception is far from the point of a grand tourer, but deceptive speed is the hallmark of a great one. A sports car thrills at high speeds. A luxury car will wallow and grow nervous. But a grand-touring automobile calms as the speedometer winds toward the big numbers. It finds its composure. A proper grand tourer is the sort of car in which the driver can sneak up on seriously extralegal speeds without disturbing his passengers, in which there's no tell to the extreme heading of the rate needle other than the grin on his face and the increasingly brief blur and whoosh of passed traffic.

There is no truer example of the grand tourer on sale today than the Bentley Continental GT. And "GT" is not just there in the name; the philosophy pervades every nut, bolt, and stitch in this opulent coupe. It's a continent-crossing meteor built for lavish comfort and outrageous speed in equal measure. A massage at 200-plus mph? That is what grand touring is all about.