It will corner adroitly, but the weight of the engine means the nose always wants to run wide of the corner. The Speed modifications have taken a slight toll of refinement, but they have improved the car’s balance, turn-in and steering feedback immeasurably. Modifications to the air bellows in the suspension have improved if not totally cured the buzzing low-speed ride as well, which is something of a bétè noir of air suspension. The standard car, with its paltry 560bhp, rides over low-speed crinkles marginally better, but at higher velocities the Speed model is much the superior riding and handling car; Uli Eichhorn reckons that it will account for about 40 per cent of sales.
The engine is the same stalwart power plant derived from two narrow-angle VR6 units and still has that unburstable almost turbine-like quality of the other Continental derivatives.
