Ask any car guy in Miami, Los Angeles, or any other affluent big city what he’d consider the most common of all supercars, and the answer will likely be the Bentley Continental. That’s great news for Bentley’s accountants, but what about those customers who love the cars but long for a return to exclusivity? Anything’s possible for enough money, so say hello to the 2010 Continental Supersports — at 620 hp, it’s the most powerful Bentley ever produced, and with a base price of $270,000 and a missing rear seat, it should stay out of the driveways of casual millionaires and tabloid cover-page starlets.

The Supersports starts its life as innocently as any other Continental GT. It uses the same steel unibody as the standard coupe, shares its platform with the Volkswagen Phaeton, and its unorthodox twin-turbo W12 engine is basically the same as well, though it’s more powerful and can run on ethanol (eventually, all Bentleys will.) But as a Supersports makes its way down the production line, it receives some special treatment its more pedestrian (can we say that about a Bentley?) stablemates are denied. Stuff is left out, like the rear seat. In its place, a rear parcel shelf is set in and lined with leather and diamond-stitched Alcantara. What appears to be a hearty carbon fiber brace is bolted behind the front seats, but we’re told it has little to do with chassis rigidity and more to do with holding luggage securely in place. And that bar is just the first indicator of the Supersports’ beautiful over-engineering.

Elsewhere during production, parts are added that are simply lighter than they would be otherwise. Heavy wood trim throughout the cabin is replaced with satin-finish carbon fiber. The seats, borrowed from the Bugatti Veyron (isn’t it nice the Volkswagen Group has such a great parts bin to pull from?) weigh a combined 100 pounds less than normal Continental seats. Part of this comes from the thin, carbon fiber shells, while more comes from the lack of motors. Yes, this $273,000 car has manual seats, and we love it. Carbon-ceramic brake rotors drop an additional 11 pounds at each corner, and another 20 pounds is saved with lighter wheels. In all, the substitutions represent a 243-pound weight-shedding versus the Continental GT Speed, resulting in the first Continental to fall below the 5000-pound mark, though just barely at 4939 pounds.

From there, Bentley’s computer geeks get involved, and yes, while it seems odd that a traditional company like Bentley even has those, we’re pretty sure they’re all German. The all-wheel drive system is modified to split torque 40/60 percent favoring the rear wheels, which sit on a two-inch wider track beneath wider rear fenders. The 6.0-liter, twin-turbocharged W12 is tweaked to 621 hp, an increase of 20 horses over the GT Speed, which itself brought a dramatic improvement over the original Conti’s 552 hp. In addition to being Bentley’s most powerful creation, the Supersports is also the fastest, with a 204-mph top speed and a 0-60 mph time of just 3.7 seconds. Finally, the six-speed automatic transmission’s control unit has been revised to deliver 50 percent quicker shift times, and is now capable of dropping gears two at a time. What this means is that the Supersports moves to a different class. From DB9 competitor to DBS fighter. From Ferrari 612 to Ferrari 599. From luxury GT to exotic sports coupe. Is that class ready for a car that weighs almost 5000 pounds?

Fortunately, the Super Bentley hides the weight well under a giant wall of torque, which peaks at 590 lb-ft at 1700 rpm and holds strong through the whole power range. That allows it to simply crush many lighter vehicles (literally, in the case of the modified R/C car we were using to capture some rolling video footage). However, for as fast as the Supersports is, that speed is deceiving. Launches feel more graceful than the way a LP640 or a 911 Turbo punts its passengers; the W12 is soft and fluid and doesn’t vibrate your neck hairs like a Ferrari engine. In the blink of an eye, speed just happens. You’re not quite sure where it came from, but there you are, at 80, 90 or 100 mph. It won’t satisfy the more emotional types, but the Supersports is a fantastic tool for anyone with a wife who’s unsupportive of a speed habit. From the passenger seat, with the elegant-looking speedometer sunken deep into the dash, your secret is safe with the car.

Those massive brakes hide no secrets. Just look at them. With discs measuring 16.5 inches across at the front and huge eight-piston calipers hanging on for dear life, they completely fill out the inside of the 20-inch front wheels. The rear rotors, at 14.0 inches, are still larger than most front brakes. In addition to being carbon ceramic composite, which lasts longer and stops stronger, those brakes are the largest fitted to any production car, out-measuring both the Corvette ZR1 and the Bugatti Veyron rotors. Unlike other ceramics we’ve experienced, the Continental’s brakes don’t exhibit any grabbiness when cold. They feel like most conventional brakes, other than the horrible scratching noises they make when used gently. In the car’s defense, we drove it on a cold, wet day, and that’s not an ideal environment for such high-performance components. The stopping power, even in the cold, is worth any noises the friction might make. They belong on a freight train.

Ride and handling in the Supersports straddle a fine line between harshness and Bentley solidity. You’re going to notice bumps, both massive and minute, but the car never gets fidgety. The car is predicable and isolated all at once. Employing an air suspension system, the Supersports allows for limited adjustment between sport and comfort. The choice of four different settings can be changed via a button on the console and a dial below the infotainment screen. But honestly, we found it hard to judge any difference between the two extremes. On our roads, they all felt firm.

For racing buckets with limited adjustability, the car’s seats are surprisingly comfortable over extensive periods of time, even for those of us carrying a few extra calorie reserves in our midsections. The only tricky part is reaching the seatbelt, which sits far back behind the long door. The cabin appointments are as beautiful as one might expect, and we especially love the low-nap Alcantara lining the steering wheel. Someone in Crewe needs to make a call to Wolfsburg to order their navigation systems, however. A basic Volkswagen Golf, a car that costs less than some Bentley option packages, is offers a far superior nav setup.

At a recent event, Bentley Sales and Marketing head Stuart McCullough told us that the brand’s cars, unlike some of its competitors, are “about the journey, not the destination.” That comment was meant to describe the upcoming Mulsanne, but it applies more to the Supersports than any other model. It is the ultimate driver’s Bentley. Still an incredibly luxurious vehicle, to be sure, the Supersports delivers the most excitement of any Bentley we’ve driven.

Still, it’s hard to call it a challenger to an Aston Martin DBS or a Ferrari 599 GTB, because it’s more like an alternative to those vehicles. The Bentley is an under-the-radar exotic; to the commoner, it’s just another Continental — a luxury car, not a track machine. But the visual changes made to the Supersports are all functional, not superficial. The more aggressive front end has more vents to provide 10 percent more cooling to the intercoolers, while the hood vents really release engine heat. The car needs 20-inch wheels, because anything smaller won’t fit over the brakes. The back fenders need flares because of the wider track. Other visual changes focus on subtlety. The car’s chrome bits are all redone in a dark, smoky metal finish. The wheels are painted black. Two new SS-specfic colors, Ice and Quartzite, (off-white and dark gray, respectively) are a far cry from Lamborghini’s Verde Ithaca.

Don’t get us wrong, the Supersports gets looks, but not like a bright, low-slung Italian. It’s a car that rewards its driver, not its onlookers, like an exotic for mature gentlemen. In a way, that’s perfect for our more reserved, post-recession era. The number of Continentals out roaming the streets has desensitized us to their price tags, so what’s better than a driver-focused version that looks very much the same? The lucky few who park one in the garage will rest assured knowing they’re in a very exclusive club. They just won’t have to tell the whole world.

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