The subterranean showroom at Jack Barclay Bentley in Mayfair, London, has seen a great variety of people and cars, good prosperity and ill-fortune come and go during 60 turbulent years for the marque.
Flying Spur looks at home in a posh London mews
John Donald 'Jack' Barclay moved his thriving Rolls Royce and Bentley sales business to Berkeley Square in 1953. The underground space, a few tennis courts in size, was for a long while used to display vintage models and until recently the lift that provides vehicular access was powered by the river Thames. A modern hydraulic system was installed three years ago, but the Thames, apparently, was more reliable.
The black and white photographs along the back wall of the showroom, depicting those aristocratic Bentley Boys of the 1920s and their Le Mans-winning motor cars, serve to remind us that the Bentley story is one of privilege, pioneering spirit, mechanical excellence, adventure and - for want of a less vacuous phrase - Britishness.
New money, old money
Today, Bentley thrives. Sales rose by 22 per cent last year, operating profits totalled 100m euros and the recently confirmed SUV model will help drive sales even further in emerging markets. Business, then, is good. Under German ownership, though, and with the UK market only the third largest for the brand - now barely a sixth of the size of the combined Chinese and US markets - have our own requirements and preferences become a minor priority?
Send the chauffeur home - time to drive
The second-generation Flying Spur is the model that best embodies the ambitious new VW-owned Bentley and it may be the biggest challenge the engineers in Crewe have recently undertaken. While the Mulsanne shamelessly targets traditional Bentley buyers, the Flying Spur is equally concerned with the emerging markets and a younger age group. It also makes heavy use of VW group componentry and is pitched to appeal to both keen drivers and the chauffeur driven - much more so the latter in emerging markets - occupying a position between the Continental GT and Mulsanne. This, Bentley hopes, is its world car. It is all things to all rich men.
Back seat driver
The way this car performs in the UK, then, will say a lot about the importance of the home market for Bentley. Editor Dan experienced the new Flying Spur earlier in the year in China as most local owners will - from the back seat while delegating the driving impressions to 'Caruthers' up front. Here, though, we get to try it on our own unique brand of blacktop.
Target audience won't do this - their loss
As central London rushes feverously around us, all is quiet and calm in the Flying Spur's cabin. It really is a very soothing and cossetting place to sit, while the long and weighty travel of the two pedals and the light steering make it instinctively easy to slip smoothly through town. At a constant 30mph the ride is only unsettled by larger road imperfections and undulations are dealt with in a single stroke.
Once onto the motorway that ride quality does remain for the most part, but lumps and bumps aren't smothered completely and larger deflections do require a second, shorter stroke from the damper to get all the mass back under control. Although the sound of the city is excluded from the cabin at standstill, there is some wind noise from the header rail at speed and a degree of tyre noise, too, particularly in the rear. You'd barely know the engine was there at all, though, which is impressive given its potency.
W12 is as mighty as ever; 625hp 'adequate'
Great British institution
Knocking the suspension and gearbox - the brilliant ZF eight-speeder, calibrated here for less urgent shifts - into their sport modes does taughten the Flying Spur a little. Through sheer grunt and grip it can be hustled along a lumpy British B-road at quite alarming speeds. Composure over bumps and body control are just about adequate in such conditions, while the steering - still hydraulically assisted - is ideally weighted and actually feels accurate and direct.
In refinement terms, luxury cars have a very definite point of diminishing returns. The Flying Spur does ride comfortably and it is quiet inside, but it certainly doesn't deliver twice the refinement of a Jaguar XJ or three times that of a Mercedes E-class. It does feel well suited to our roads and driving conditions, though, and the balance between the experience from the driver's seat and one of the rear chairs is ideally pitched for UK buyers who, according to Stephen Davis, Flying Spur Project Leader, "might be chauffeured during the week, but drive during the weekend."
Purple leather is a bit noveau riche; nice otherwise
On the evidence of the Flying Spur, then, and despite the distraction of much larger emerging markets with paradoxical preferences, Bentley is just as concerned about the home market as it's ever been. "At the end of the day," continues Davis, "Bentley is a British company. This car has got to work in its home market like any other Bentley. Yes, the UK is third behind China and the US, but if we can't sell cars in our own market we're doing something wrong. It's got to be a big priority for us."
BENTLEY FLYING SPUR
Engine: 5,998cc W12, twin-turbo
Transmission: 8-speed auto, four-wheel drive
Power (hp): 625@6,000rpm
Torque (lb ft): 590@2,000rpm
0-62mph: 4.6sec
Top speed: 200mph
Weight: 2,499kg
MPG: 19.2mpg (NEDC combined)
CO2: 343g/km
Price: £140,900 (£172,855 as tested)