Bentley Continental GT
Why 3.8: Three generations across twenty years: the Continental GT turned Bentley from a near-extinct brand into a volume GT maker. The W12 version established the formula; the V8 is the one serious drivers occasionally take to the track.
Layout
Natural habitat
Ride comfort
Market value
Median asking price, good condition · €138k (2004) → €87k (2026), trending down · illustrative data
The long version
Volkswagen’s money resurrected Bentley by giving it a car normal rich people could buy and park without a team of specialists, and the Continental GT delivered: a W12 grand tourer with Bentley drama and Volkswagen Group reliability at roughly half what a real Bentley used to cost. That democratisation created a predictable ownership pattern — purchased for status, driven moderately on regular roads, traded before the depreciation cliff becomes too painful. The W12 version earns Valet Royalty territory; the V8 variants are the ones that occasionally make it to a circuit. Values collapse steeply in the first five years before plateauing at a number that attracts buyers who genuinely want to use them.