It didn't seem like a dangerous maneuver at first: a simple pass on a two-lane road in a car with an engine putting out 752 pound-feet of torque. Piece of cake, right? Yeah, well, even with its aluminum body panels this new 2011 Bentley Mulsanne still weighs 5,700 pounds, which is only slightly less than the sizable truck bearing down on us from the opposite direction.
No backing off, though; this isn't a Rolls-Royce. We keep our foot in it and the eight-speed transmission drops another gear or two. The Mulsanne doesn't exactly leap forward and doesn't make much noise either, but according to the speedometer we are indeed moving quite a bit faster.
We clear the little penalty box that was slowing us up and snap the Mulsanne back into our own lane before the opposing truck gets a new, $285,000 hood ornament. The Bentley tucks back in nicely before settling down onto its air-spring suspension as if it just rounded a gentle curve.
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