E85 Boondoggle of the Day: "Extreme Bentley"

by Robert Farago

January 28th, 2009 10:31 PM

e85 boondoggle of the day extreme bentley

Bentley is hanging out the greenwashing. Yes, Bentley. Volkswagen-owned uber-luxury marque tasked with somehow meeting new European and now Californian emissions laws, without shovelling 34,746 lithium-ion batteries under bonnet. Or perhaps that is the plan, eventually. Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of pol-pleasing auto execs? Meanwhile, Bentley’s asking the autoblogosphere to marvel— marvel I tell you!— at a highly-horsed E85-compatible Bentley Continental GT headed for the Geneva Auto Show. Honestly chaps, I can’t think of a more pathetic attempt to appease your European overlords. I also can’t imagine that a single Bentley customer could or would give a shit that their 600hp Bentley can run on corn juice– especially when they find out that filling-up with E85 gives them fewer mpgs in a vehicle with not a single mpg to spare (especially in 600hp trim). And how exactly does E85-compatibility cut a Bentley’s CO2 emissions on a “well-to-wheel basis?” Apparently, this such an important development for environmentalists that Autobloggreen doesn’t even mention it. Instead… “In any case, a new Bentley’s coming, and it’s fixin’ to open up a plus-sized can of whoop-ass.” So much for trees, then.

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Sutures on Jan 28, 2009
"no_slushbox : Gasoline carbon content per gallon: 2,421 grams Diesel carbon content per gallon: 2,778 grams" That is both accurate and misleading. Factor in the miles per gallon a vehicle would get with either motor and diesel motors come out cleaner than gas... edit to add some numbers: Let's look at the VW Jetta... Best gas milage: Jetta S (the base model) = 21 mgp city / 30 mgp highway ==> carbon per mile = 115.3g/m city / 80.7 g/m highway Diesel Jetta TDI (that has all of the options of the Jetta SEL) = 30 mgp city / 41 mgp highway ==> carbon per mile = 92.6 g/m city / 67.8 g/m highway The diesel "looks" cleaner to me...

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Ricky Spanish on Jan 28, 2009

Actually I'd imagine this thing will pack way more than 600 hp. Remember, Ethanol is higher octane. More knock resistance = more boost. More boost = MORE POWER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Magoo on Jan 28, 2009

Exactly. If you are into extreme horsepower on the street, E85 is a godsend. Its RON is 105 so you can run boost and compression levels that are just not attainable with ordinary pump gasoline (94 AKI max). The only way you can get comparable octane is with race gas at six bucks a gallon -- and it's not road legal. E85 is cheaper than regular (87 AKI) and makes more power than anything you can buy at the pump.

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No_slushbox on Jan 28, 2009
Sutures: Your comparison, on the other hand, is misleading because the base Jetta comes with an outdated inline-5 tractor engine. Compare the Jetta TDI with the unfortunately Euro only Jetta 1.4 TSI to get a more accurate comparison of how a modern petrol engine can compare to a diesel. I am quite certain the TSI has lower carbon output. Also, the TSI, while much more advanced than the I5, is still less expensive than the TDI.

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