Used test: Aston Martin DB11 vs Bentley Continental GT

What will they cost?

New, the Bentley Continental GT would have set you back around £14,000 more than the DB11. Now, at two years old, it’s the cheaper of the two: roughly £100,000, against the £106,000 the Aston Martin DB11 would now cost. This is a two-edged sword, of course, because while it makes the Continental GT look the more attractive on the forecourt now, it’s also evidence that its residual values aren’t as strong as the DB11's.

This means that your Bentley will depreciate at a greater rate than the Aston Martin over the next few years and will, therefore, cost you a lot more to run. For illustration, the buyer who bought this Continental GT new will have lost £20,000 more in just two years than the buyer of the DB11.

The day-to-day running costs for a car with 12 cylinders are always going to be financially demanding. Despite the DB11’s lower CO2 emissions, both cars are in the top road tax (VED) band, meaning they’ll cost you £515 a year. However, that figure is dwarfed by the cost of servicing and annual insurance premiums.

Whichever you choose, you do at least get an extremely long list of equipment in return for your cash. Heated, electrically adjustable leather seats, climate control, keyless entry and start, front and rear parking sensors, a DAB radio, sat-nav and a USB connection are standard on both. On top of this, Aston adds cruise control and fits LED headlights in place of the Bentley Continental GT xenon units; the Aston Martin DB11 also gets a 360-degree parking camera, as opposed to its rival’s rear-facing one.

Both get seven standard airbags, tyre-pressure monitoring, an engine immobiliser and alarm. It’s disappointing that neither is available with any modern safety aids, such as automatic emergency braking (AEB), blind-spot monitoring and lane-departure warning, though.

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