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Behold my hideous Bentley!

Do you all just love my hideous Bentley? It's so insane and tacky. I'm sure if I were to actually order this a British lord somewhere would dispatch his valet to slap me.  Who knows where I'll figuratively be in two weeks' time, but today turns out to be the day I turned to see just how tacky certain car configurators will let you get. Admittedly, they're almost all high-dollar, extra-low-volume cars. If you try to play around on a Honda configurator, you'll have wrapped things up in about 30 seconds.  But Bentley, now that's a company that'll let you get tacky on its configurator. I chose the new Continental GT Convertible because the lowered roof would make it easy to demonstrate in pictures the level of my tackiness. From there, it was this eye-searing Apple Green, though I was certainly tempted by Azure Purple and Magenta. Roof choice? I was expecting there to be more, nevertheless, Claret red seemed like a suitably awful pairing.  Inside, well, let's crack those knuckles and get to work. Luckily, Bentley lets you choose two different leather colors: Main and Secondary "hides" with five choices of how to split those colors. Sorry, colours. I chose Colour Split B cause it seemed to have the most of each colour. For the Main Hide, I went with Hotspur, an extremely red shade of red that would be home in an early 2000s BMW. Cumbrian Green and Damson purple were tempting, but they just weren't bright enough, and I thought they wouldn't pair poorly enough with the Secondary Hide: Newmarket Tan, which is pretty damn orange. You can't see it, but the interior of the roof is Blue. For the veneer, I went with Tamo Ash, 'cause yuck. Finally, throw on some black wheels, and voila, my tacky Bentley. I must say, this is most definitely tackier than the real Bentley Flying Spur I once tested that looked like South Beach threw up inside. So much white and teal. Oh, and that ash wood. A Bentley rep told me they ordered it by mistake.  Now, Bentley isn't the only high-dollar outfit that lets you indulge in such tacky fantasies. Most other British brands do, including Mini, and the Germans offer plenty of color choices as well, usually through some special custom program like Audi Exclusive. Porsche makes it especially easy, though, which you can see in my other craptacular creation below.

Bentley celebrates its founder with the Mulsanne W.O. Edition by Mulliner

July 10, 2018, marked the beginning of Bentley's centenary celebration. We can look forward to a year of commemorations, starting with the Mulsanne W.O. Edition by Mulliner, limited to 100 units. The sedan, available in standard, long-wheelbase, and Speed versions, celebrates founder Walter Owen Bentley and his 1930 8 Litre. The founder's personal car, the last vehicle he designed for his company and the second example off the production line, wore a coachbuilt body from Henry Jervis Mulliner & Co. That's the same Mulliner firm that personalizes Bentleys to this day. Walter Owen didn't get to enjoy his "ultimate expression of automotive engineering" for long; financial troubles forced him to sell it in 1931. Bentley bought the 8-Litre in 2006, and part of the "sympathetic" restoration meant replacing the crankshaft. That crank is the central feature of the W.O. Edition Mulsanne: Bentley cut the crankshaft into 100 pieces, and will place each piece inside a custom, illuminated cocktail cabinet in the rear quarters of the 100 special Mulsannes. Four different woods and aluminum create a marquetry scene that frames a glass display with the emblematic crankshaft. Around that, the show vehicle gets Heritage Hides in Fireglow, with Beluga details and stitching, Dark Stain Burr Walnute veneers, and Fireglow lambswool carpets. The exterior's drenched in Onyx, with Beluga Black wheels, accessorized by a chrome hood strip, optional chrome grille and surround, and discrete special edition badging. Customers can, naturally, option their own W.O. Edition Mulsannes any way they wish. Bentley's chosen to skip Goodwood as the reveal of this particular treat. The public unveiling comes on our shores, at next month's Monterey Car Week, on Aug. 24. Related Video:

Porsche says next Cayenne will be faster than Bentley Bentayga

Bentley and Porsche are both high-end marques under the same umbrella, and may even be collaborating on development of new models – but while they tend to take different approaches and go after different customers, that doesn't mean they can't share a bit of sibling rivalry. And that spirit of competition – even within the Volkswagen Group – looks to be coming to a head in the form of their upcoming luxury performance crossovers. For his part, Bentley CEO Wolfgang Durheimer promises that the brand's upcoming Bentayga sport-ute will (in its top spec with the W12 engine) be the fastest SUV on the market. But in speaking with Car and Driver, Wolfgang Hatz – who holds the Porsche R&D head office that Durheimer used to occupy – says the Bentley won't be king for long. Porsche just released the new Cayenne Turbo S in Detroit, touting it as the first SUV to crack the eight-minute barrier at the Nurburgring. And Hatz says that the next version will be even faster. "Our Cayenne is always very very quick. It is doing 300 km/h [186 mph]. I think if [Durheimer] is doing 2 to 3 km/h more, then why not? He's doing that with a 12-cylinder. Our car will be much quicker on the road." The next Cayenne is slated to use a new generation of engines, and according to Hatz, will benefit from the same (if not more) weight loss as the new Audi Q7 with which it will share its platform. That sounds like a winning combination to us. That is, at least, for fans of performance crossovers. For those who aren't, Porsche promises it won't be bolstering its lineup with any new ones. Apparently the Cayenne and the smaller Macan are enough. Nor will Zuffenhausen slot anything bigger than a V6 into the Macan, according to the report. While Porsche's baby crossover will surely continue to get faster with new iterations, the Cayenne will always remain the performance flagship of its SUV range. Featured Gallery 2015 Porsche Cayenne Turbo S News Source: Car and Driver Bentley Porsche Crossover SUV Performance bentley bentayga porsche cayenne turbo s