The History and Evolution of the Bentley Azure

The Bentley Azure is easily one of the most unique automobiles that’s ever been produced, not to mention one of the most luxurious. It has a very distinct appearance, so once you find out what it looks like, you know immediately upon spotting one that you’re looking at something special. At first glance, it looks like a high-end automobile, like something you would expect to see a top official riding around in, or maybe even a celebrity with particularly good taste. At the same time, some people think that it looks something like a limousine, only shorter. It’s also a convertible and this gives it a distinct appearance that sets it apart from any other car of its type. Of course, anything that’s made by Bentley is going to be in a class all by itself, as you have probably already come to expect. That is certainly the case here, even for the earliest versions of the car.

1995-2003 Bentley Azure

The car first debuted for the 1995 model year and while there were certain changes that were made between then and 2003, the car remained largely unchanged. This particular group is often referred to as the first generation of the Bentley Azure. As is the case with most specialty cars, this one debuted at a major auto show, in this particular case, Geneva. The first thing that struck many people was how big the car was. This is largely because Bentley wanted to create a convertible that could comfortably seat four people. Therefore, you’re dealing with a full-size luxury sedan that just happens to have a convertible top. This makes the car much longer and heavier than virtually any other convertible that’s out there. It’s also rather uncommon to see a convertible top on a car that isn’t a sports car, but in this particular case, it works.

Despite the car’s rather massive size, it was definitely capable of performing. That’s largely because the engine was almost as big as the car itself, existing in the form of a 6.75 liter V8. When it was all said and done, the engine was capable of producing 360 horsepower and propelling the car from 0 to 60 miles per hour in about 6.5 seconds. While that’s not nearly as fast as some of the sports cars that can get to the same speed in less than half that time, it’s still fairly impressive considering that this is not a sports car, especially when you consider the fact that it’s easily one of the largest and heaviest full-size sedans of its type.

2006-2009 Bentley Azure

As you might have noticed, there is a three-year gap between the first-generation and second-generation of the Azure. That’s because the company was purchased by Volkswagen and they then decided to take a break on the production of this particular automobile in order to bring an updated version along later on. There are several notable updates, with the most obvious one being the way the car looks. It’s still resembles the original, but in a more aerodynamic form. The engine is also different, this time producing 450 horsepower, allowing the car to hit 60 miles per hour in less than six seconds. It also provided the car with a top speed of 168 miles per hour.

2009 Bentley Azure T

For all intents and purposes, the biggest changes for the Azure T involved its performance. Although the performance for this particular car had always been fairly good considering its size, some people wanted a car that could perform better still. This car utilized a slightly upgraded engine and was able to shave a few tenths of a second off of its time to get from 0 to 60, as well as increasing its top speed by about 11 miles per hour.

Even though the Bentley Azure hasn’t been produced since 2009, it is still considered one of the top luxury automobiles in the world. It’s important to note that the car was never really mass-produced, at least not in the sense that most people consider cars from Ford and Chevrolet being produced. While there were several hundred of them that were made, it’s not like you’re going to see one of these cars on a daily basis. That being said, most of them are still on the road today so if you have deep pockets and you’re in the mood to pick one up, you might find one from a collector that’s available for sale.

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