Bentley Continental GT Finance in 2026: Four Generations, Four Funding Questions
Park a 2003 Continental GT beside a 2026 car and the family likeness is obvious. The finance on the two has almost nothing in common. The new one, a 771 bhp V8 hybrid, lists at £200,000, and a lender can work from that price to the pound. The old one has a 6.0 litre W12, more than twenty years of history and a value that rests almost entirely on how it has been looked after. Between them sit two more generations, each with its own used market and its own lender habits. Because a Bentley ages slowly, all four are still on the road in numbers, so a buyer really can choose the generation that fits the budget. What changes from one to the next is how the price is set, which agreements a lender will offer and how much evidence it wants before it commits. This article takes each generation in turn, with indicative payments at 8.9 per cent over 48 months.
Bentley Finance is part of Hypercar Finance, a trading name of Lenzie Consulting Ltd (company number 08174104). We arrange finance: we are not a lender or a dealer, and we do not sell cars. The business is not authorised or regulated by the FCA. Agreements entered into wholly or predominantly for business purposes are not regulated consumer credit, and we arrange those directly; where an agreement is regulated consumer credit, we introduce it to an FCA authorised broker partner, which carries the regulated activity and any advice. There is no minimum advance. Every figure below is indicative, not an offer.
Not affiliated with Bentley Motors Limited. Vehicle marques named here are the trade marks of their respective owners.
In the episode below, Georgina walks through financing each Continental GT generation, from the current hybrid back to the first W12 cars.
Four generations of Continental GT at a glance
According to manufacturer data, the Continental GT has run to four generations since 2003. The table shows what a lender works from on each one.
| Generation | Built | Engine | What the finance is based on |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mk I | 2003 to 2011 | 6.0 litre twin-turbo W12 | What it is worth now, led by condition and history |
| Mk II | 2011 to 2017 | 6.0 litre W12, later 4.0 litre V8 | What it is worth now |
| Mk III | 2018 to 2024 | 6.0 litre W12, later 4.0 litre V8 | What it is worth now, against the deepest used market |
| Mk IV | 2024 on | 4.0 litre twin-turbo V8 hybrid | List price, £200,000 |
Mark numbers are how owners and the trade tend to refer to the cars, and we use them the same way below. Every car in that table can be financed. What differs is how much work goes into agreeing the figure the finance is built on.
Mk IV: financing the current car from its list price
The current car is the only Continental GT with a list price, which is why its finance can be worked out before anyone speaks to a lender. It is the most powerful road-going Bentley built so far, with 771 bhp and 1,000 Nm from a twin-turbo V8 paired with an electric motor, and enough electric-only range to use it as a short-range EV.
Here is a hypothetical, indicative example. At a list price of £200,000 with a 20 per cent deposit, £40,000 goes down and £160,000 is financed over 48 months at 8.9 per cent nominal. On hire purchase that is £3,974 a month. Now defer 45 per cent of the price, £90,000, to a final payment:
- The monthly rate i is 0.089 / 12 = 0.0074167, and (1 + i) to the power of 48 is 1.42573.
- The present value of the £90,000 final payment is £90,000 / 1.42573 = £63,125.
- The sum repaid through the monthly payments is £160,000 minus £63,125 = £96,875.
- The payment is £96,875 x 0.0074167 / (1 minus 0.70139) = £718.49 / 0.29861 = £2,406 a month.
Deferring £90,000 takes £1,568 off the monthly payment and leaves a £90,000 decision at the end: pay it, sell the car and settle, or refinance it. The current Speed, built from 2025, is financed against the supplying dealer’s price in the same way. The working for each current car sits on the current Continental GT model page.
One recent car sits apart. The Continental GT Speed Edition 12 was a 120-car run in 2024, according to manufacturer data, marking the end of twenty years of W12 production at Crewe, at a list price of £250,000. On the same assumptions it costs £4,968 a month on hire purchase, or £3,008 with £112,500 deferred. A run that short can behave more like a collector car over time, so expect a lender to be careful about the size of any final payment.
Mk III: the car the used market is built around
The third generation, built from 2018 to 2024, dominates the used Continental GT market that lenders price against today. Both the W12 and the V8 were offered through the run, so there are plenty of comparable sales at most ages and mileages, and that evidence is what a lender needs.
Because the evidence is deep, the Mk III is the older Continental where lease purchase and PCP remain realistic, since a lender can form a view of the car’s value in four years without guessing. Take a hypothetical Mk III valued at £120,000. A 20 per cent deposit is £24,000, leaving £96,000, which costs £2,384 a month on hire purchase over 48 months at 8.9 per cent. That valuation is an illustrative round number, not a market price. The real figure comes from the car in front of the lender: its engine, mileage and specification.
Buying a Continental GT is really choosing a generation, and each generation brings its own finance conversation.
Mk II: where the V8 became the volume choice
The second generation, built from 2011 to 2017, is where the 4.0 litre V8 arrived beside the W12 and became the car most buyers picked. It is now firmly in used market territory. Lenders are comfortable with it, but they tend to be wary of a large deferred payment on a car that will be well over ten years old when the agreement ends, so hire purchase is the usual answer.
Take an illustrative Mk II valued at £60,000. The deposit is £12,000, £48,000 is financed, and the payment is £1,192 a month over 48 months at 8.9 per cent. The special versions of this generation need more care. The Continental Supersports of 2017 to 2018 was a short, low-volume run, which puts it closer to an agreed valuation than a book figure. The GT3-R of 2015 to 2018, a road car built from the racing programme in small numbers, is valued on collector interest rather than ordinary used demand.
Mk I: the cheapest way into a Continental GT
The first generation, built from 2003 to 2011, is the car that rebuilt Bentley as a volume marque and the first to use the W12. It is by some distance the least expensive way into a Continental GT, and the one where condition and service history decide everything.
An illustrative Mk I valued at £30,000 needs a £6,000 deposit, leaving £24,000 to finance, which is £596 a month over 48 months at 8.9 per cent. The finance is the cheap part. A W12 of this age can produce large bills, and a lender underwriting a Mk I will look hard at the service record, because a car with gaps in its history is worth noticeably less. Hire purchase is nearly always the agreement, since nobody can say with confidence what a twenty-year-old car will fetch four years from now.
Two Mk I variants are special cases. The Continental GT Speed of 2007 to 2011 was the first car to wear the Speed badge in the modern era. The Zagato-bodied Continental GTZ was built in single figures between 2008 and 2010, and with no trade guide for a car like that, each one is valued on its own.
What does it cost to tax a Continental GT?
Road tax is a running cost a lender expects a borrower to have allowed for, and it varies sharply by generation. Under DVLA rules, a Mk I, or a Mk II first registered before 1 April 2017, is taxed on its CO2 emissions band, and the W12 cars sit in the upper bands. A car first registered from 1 April 2017, which covers every Mk III and Mk IV, pays a first-year rate based on emissions, then the standard annual rate plus the expensive car supplement for cars with a list price over £40,000, charged for five years from the second year of registration. At £200,000 the current car is far above that threshold. Check the exact figure for a specific registration on the DVLA vehicle tax service before you budget.
Outlook for Continental GT finance in 2026
The Bank of England held Bank Rate at 3.75 per cent at its 30 July 2026 decision, with the next decision on 17 September 2026. That is background to lender funding costs, not the rate on any Continental GT agreement. The bigger shift is mechanical. With the W12 retired in 2024 and the Mk IV built as a V8 hybrid, lenders are pricing two quite different used markets side by side: W12 cars with two decades of trading history, and hybrid cars with very little. The Mk III looks set to remain the workhorse of the used finance market for some time, and lenders are likely to set final payments on the Mk IV with care until its used values settle.
FAQ
Why is the Bentley Continental GT so cheap to buy used? Because the biggest drop in value comes in the first few years, on a car with a high list price and a limited pool of buyers. Four generations and more than twenty years of production also mean there are a great many used cars to choose from, stretching from the £200,000 new car down to Mk I cars at a small fraction of that. The cheaper the car, the more its price depends on its history.
How much is a monthly payment on a Bentley Continental GT? On the current car at £200,000, with a 20 per cent deposit over 48 months at an indicative 8.9 per cent, it is £3,974 a month on hire purchase, or £2,406 with 45 per cent deferred. On older generations the payment follows the valuation: an illustrative £60,000 Mk II works out at £1,192 a month on hire purchase.
Why do Bentleys depreciate so fast? The early loss is steep because a new Bentley is priced for a small number of buyers, and the second owner will not pay the first owner’s premium for being first. After those early years the curve flattens, which is why a well kept older Continental GT can hold its value for a long time. The four-door Flying Spur tends to lose value faster than the coupe in its first few years.
How much does it cost to tax a Bentley Continental GT? It depends on the generation. A Mk I, or a Mk II registered before 1 April 2017, is taxed on its CO2 band. Later cars pay the standard rate plus the expensive car supplement from the second year to the sixth, because their list price is over £40,000. The DVLA vehicle tax service gives the exact figure for a registration.
Talk to us
Tell us which Continental GT you are looking at, its year and, for an older car, what you expect to pay, and we will come back with indicative numbers for the agreements that suit it. The current car’s figures are on our Bentley Continental GT finance page, and for a Mk I or Mk II, hire purchase on an older Continental is usually where the conversation starts. See also lease purchase and the final payment if you are weighing up a Mk III or a new car.
All figures in this article are indicative, not an offer, a quote or a financial promotion, and any agreement is subject to lender terms, valuation and full underwriting. This article was written by Matt Lenzie.