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Love, actually

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BOTH are four-door, six-figure super-sedans -- block-long saloon cars floating on computer-controlled air suspensions and rolling on the most aggressive wheel packages this side of a Roman chariot race. Both have more horses than the back lot of Republic Pictures, more valves than the Stanford marching band, more gears than a tourbillon watch, more lumber than the Dodgers dugout.

More, more, more, and faster. The new Bentley Continental Flying Spur -- a stretched-wheelbase sibling to the Continental GT coupe, this year’s “It” car in Beverly Hills -- has the distinction of being the fastest four-door on the market, with a Cessna-like top speed of 195 mph. The Jaguar XJ Super8 Portfolio, electronically limited to a max speed of 155 mph, doesn’t hold out the promise of quite so much jail time, but how much do you need? Both cars bolt from the astonished presence of valet attendants to reach 60 mph in about five seconds, the Jag emitting a spiraling, supercharged whine, the Bentley, a dark and fluttering, ripped-silk sonority.

Yet for all their similarities in size, performance and luxurious amplitude, these cars are very different, and it’s the differences I’m interested in. Specifically, why -- when the 551-hp, 12-cylinder, 5,500-pound, all-wheel-drive Bentley is unquestionably the superior piece of machinery -- would I prefer the Jaguar?

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Comparing these cars reminds me of just how eccentric and personal, even irrational, tastes in cars can be. Whether you have $20,000 or $200,000 to spend, there are a set of imperatives that go beyond price and function -- purely emotional, extra-textual concerns that make cars the expressive and interesting objects they are. After all, if car-buying were completely rational and deterministic -- an X-and-Y plot of price and features -- we’d all be driving Hyundai Sonatas. And do we really want that?

The Bentley and the Jag are both beautiful cars, and both reflect their companies’ narratives. This is the second Bentley to come out of the factory in Crewe, England, since VW Group took over the business in 2003. The Flying Spur is essentially the same car as the Continental GT with the addition of 1 foot more of wheelbase, which creates space for the car’s cosseting rear compartment. Under the steel skin of the Bentleys are many mechanical systems shared with the VW Phaeton. The Continental GT, with its broad, malevolent stance, short-coupled proportions and rakish fastback, is a sensation on four wheels. The four-door Spur, with its over-long second set of doors and more upright rear glass, is much less heated visually. The bowed up curvature of the coupe here is translated into a liquid longueur, accented by the flat shoulder line along the fuselage. Apropos for a company that was reconstituted out of thin air, Bentley’s styling is fresh and futuristic, a tradition at its beginning.

The Jaguar, meanwhile, reflects a tradition nearing its end. The styling of the XJ goes back to the first XJ6 saloon of 1968 and, while the design has been fussed over and tweaked, slicked down and plumped up over the decades, it’s still instantly a Jag. This generational exercise in car styling is proving to have its limits. Some Jag execs think the XJ -- redesigned as a spectacular aluminum monocoque for model year 2003 -- looks so similar to the older cars that luxury car shoppers have tended to pass it by as just more of the same. That’s a shame. It remains to be seen if the next generation XJ, due in a couple of years, will depart from its historic template.

Last year, Jaguar unveiled a long-wheelbase version of the XJ, as well as the Concept Eight show car. The Super8 Portfolio is essentially the show car brought to life, a car loaded to the gills with every comfort and convenience feature Jaguar could get its hands on, plus the gills themselves: The car’s most distinctive exterior feature is the aluminum power vents aft of the front wheels. The roofline of the car has been raised 20 millimeters above the regular LWB XJ, giving the Super8 Portfolio a steroidal, don’t-mess-with-me bulk.

Here is one of those junctures when sanity gives way to sentiment. I love older British cars, especially the Jaguar XJs of the early 1970s. Even if the Portfolio is a shamelessly tarted, bling-ified version of the sedate sedan, I just love the way it looks in my driveway. Look at those tailpipes! It’s like somebody chromed mortar launchers. I know there is something ever so slightly juvenile about the Jag’s “Black Cherry” metallic paint job, but when I caught a glimpse of it in bright sunlight, I practically fell into it, a velvety star field on a desert night.

Compared with that, the Bentley sat there in perfect pewter silence.

Bentley and Jag compete in very different corners of the luxury-car marketplace. The Bentley costs $171,285 and competes -- quite handily, I reckon -- with such cars as the BMW 750il and the Audi A8L W12. The Portfolio edition is essentially a bespoke custom version of the mass-market XJ. The price: $115,995. One hundred and fifty will be sold for the North American market, which makes them more exclusive, in their way, than Ferrari Enzos. The Bentley, with annual U.S. sales expected to be in the 1,500 range, is practically a commoner.

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Another reason I like the Portfolio: It has been elevated well beyond its status. Special glove-soft leather upholstery on the seats and Alcantara suede on the ceiling, roof pillars and visors; satin-finish black-cherry on the waist rails and dash; inch-deep lamb’s wool floor mats; power-adjustable rear seats; rear DVD video system with headrest-mounted twin LCD screens; Bluetooth phone connectivity; and polished aluminum trim inside and out, everywhere that could hold it.

All these items are standard, or can be easily ordered, for the Bentley, which has an elaborate personalization program for its customers. And there is no question that the Bentley’s interior ambience is finer than the Jag’s. The Bentley is immensely satisfying to the touch, from its knurled aluminum shifter and heavy chromed switches, to its Stradivarius-quality woodwork and flawless European leather. It might, in fact, be the best automotive interior on the planet. As gussied up as it is, the Portfolio can’t compete, particularly because so many plastic-y bits and pieces, from switchgear to dials and instruments, are shared with low-market products such as the X-type.

And yet, I’ve grown accustomed to the Jag’s clunky and confusing controls around the nav system, the horse-collar leather trim around the central console, the hearty mechanized clacking of the locks.

THE fact is, I bring a deep sympathy to Jaguar -- bias, bias! A charge I’ll happily cop to. This is a company on the brink. Ford has lost billions on Jaguar as it has taken the brand down market, with its S-types and somewhat ignominious X-types. Now the question is: Can the company survive long enough to realign itself as the low-volume, premium brand it once was?

In other words, I’m pulling for the underdog.

Sure, the Bentley is a magnificent car -- heavy, train-like, utterly authoritative. It feels like it’s carved from a billet of depleted uranium. The 16-inch disc brakes up front are nothing short of mind-boggling. The steering is fantastic. And it all comes with this intoxicating sense of security provided by the all-wheel-drive system.

Compared with the Bentley, the 4,065-pound, aluminum-bodied Jag feels downright willowy. The two cars constitute an object lesson in power-to-weight ratios. The Bentley is powered by a twin-turbocharged W12 monster motor putting out 479 pound-feet of torque at a mere 1,600 rpm, a vast, tidal surge of available power capable of hurling the car down a quarter-mile track in about 13 seconds, which is hot-rod territory.

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The Jaguar’s 4.2-liter supercharged V8 puts out 400 horsepower, and unlike the syrupy-smooth Bentley, it bucks and kicks a bit at part throttle. But the car is still nearly as fast. And it’s wonderfully lively at the wheel, thanks to its lightweight aluminum construction. You can keelhaul the Jag around a corner, practically roll the low-aspect tires off it, then whip the wheel back to center and the car recomposes itself with a little shiver.

In its essentially British way, the Jag handles like an enormous Lotus sedan. The Bentley handles like the massive piece of German field artillery it is.

This was never a fair fight. It was more of a thought experiment. The Bentley is twice the car for one-third-again the cost. But I still want the Jag, for reasons that seem to have little to do with four wheels and an engine.

It’s sentimental, a little ornery, a little old-fashioned, a lot gauche, ever so slightly over-dramatic. Is it any wonder it’s the car for me?

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

2006 Jaguar XJ Super8 Portfolio

Price, as tested: $115,995

Powertrain: 4.2-liter supercharged V8, four valves per cylinder, variable-valve timing; six-speed transmission; rear wheel drive.

Horsepower: 400 at 6,100 rpm

Torque: 413 pound-feet at 3,500 rpm

Curb weight: 4,065 pounds

0-60 mph: 5.0 seconds

Wheelbase: 124.4 inches

Overall length: 205.3 inches

EPA fuel economy: 17 miles per gallon city, 24 mpg highway

Final thoughts: Old Blighty joins the NBA

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

2006 Bentley Continental Flying Spur

Price, as tested: $171,285

Powertrain: 6.0-liter twin-turbo W12 engine, four valves per cylinder, variable-valve timing; six-speed automatic transmission; all-wheel drive

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Horsepower: 551 at 6,100 rpm

Torque: 479 pound-feet at 1,600 rpm

Curb weight: 5,500 pounds

0-60 mph: 4.9 seconds

Wheelbase: 120.67 inches

Overall length: 208.94 inches

EPA fuel economy: 10 miles per gallon city, 18 mpg highway

Final thoughts: Wings of desire

Contact automotive critic Dan Neil at dan.neil@latimes.com.

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