Bentley says the hand-built nature of the Batur gives refinement advantages. A craftsperson able to take their time to fit seals accurately can make Batur quieter even than the standard car, they reckon.
Inside, there’s some immediate familiarity to the Batur because it retains the dash-top, gently rotating tri-faced display panel and most switches from the regular GT.
Elsewhere, though, little is left unchanged – the instrument design, door cards, seats, some significant switches, which can be 3D-printed if you prefer. The rear +2 seats have become a storage shelf, while the body means the boot has a compact lid, although it’s quite deep and wide inside. Tailored luggage is available. Of course.
The Batur is absent from the Bentley’s online configurator, so you will either go to the factory for a chat about it, or they will send a designer to you. What’s unusual is how 3D printing allows you to tweak the interior switches. One of the two prototypes has gold ‘organ stop’ vent controls, the other an experiment in machined titanium – its edges are a little too sharp at the moment, as prickly as grabbing a gooseberry.
There’s more personalisation than ever for surface materials, too: ask nicely and they will go out the back to the veneer store, where the rare woods are kept. At times there won’t be enough for a full production run, but they can usually scrape off enough for one or two cars.
It’s tempting to think this level of detail, rather than the engineering programme, is where your money goes, but I suspect a few quid has been spent there too. The new engine calibration will have been durability tested somewhere hot and somewhere cold; leather surfaces need to be baked in sunlight and used to see how they age.
This sort of thing is happening in our test cars, one of which has done 20,000 miles already. It’s why I’m surprised by how together they feel, but also why in one there’s an emergency electrical cut-off switch in a cupholder.
