Bentley Flying Spur: Review

The all-new 625hp, 200mph Bentley Flying Spur, tested exactly how most owners will experience it

The gentle pitter patter of laptop keyboards is a more usual soundtrack to the flight home from a car launch than the chink of ice into another G&T and the gentle hum of a business class throne gliding into recline, such is the typical rush for stories to hit deadline before anyone else. But writing it in the car before the test drive has even finished is a new one.

Flying Spur on unusually quiet Beijing streets

Circumstances dictate and reviewing the new Bentley Flying Spur live from the back seat is, as far as many customers go, the right place to be doing it. Especially in China, where Bentley is launching the car to the press, PH included. Chatting with Raymond Leung, manager of Bentley's Beijing dealership, and asking him how many of his Flying Spur buyers will ever venture into the driver's seat simply confirms it.

"Probably 95 per cent will be driven," he says. "Actually, probably more like 99 per cent. During the week our customers will have a driver, and at the weekend when they drive themselves they will have an SUV." A hint there at why Bentley is pressing ahead with that particular project, claiming it could ultimately account for a quarter of overall sales. Which would be appealing to Leung, given a number of his customers already have one of each existing Bentley model on their personal fleets.

Much more plush than the real PH office

Back-seat driver
But to business and, yes, this is a review of the fastest four-door Bentley ever made (for now), a 625hp twin-turbo V12 powered mega barge capable of a bona fide 200mph, by a back-seat driver. And, uncharacteristic squeak from the rear parcel shelf aside, it makes a most excellent mobile office for conducting PH affairs, one with an odd sense of familiarity given that What Car? editor in chief and nominated driver for the day Chas Hallett normally sits a few desks away in the real one back home.

Other than being even further away from PH towers than Crewe, Beijing is a most appropriate place to be launching the new Flying Spur. And not because the old one looked disturbingly like a Far Eastern knock-off of what a big Bentley four-door should be.

Not that this seemed to trouble it, Bentley shifting just shy of 20,000 of the things since launch in 2005 and it underpinning the brand's success in markets like this where four doors and a driver are more culturally desirable than luxurious GTs, even ones with a Bentley badge on the front.

Better than before but still no beauty

Expensive tastes
Even with a 150 per cent tax rate, subsequent price tag in the £450K region and the impending arrival of this new one local demand for the Spur hasn't dulled, 1,164 of the 2,100-plus sold last year ending up here and accounting for almost exactly half of total Chinese Bentley sales. In contrast just 164 were sold in the UK over the same period, earlier examples of those cars now to be found in the PH classifieds from just £35K upwards.

The new Spur is slightly less anonymously slab-like, gets a whiff of Mulsanne-like muscle around the haunches and a more distinct face over its Continental GT cousin by virtue of swapping the lights around so the bigger ones are now outboard. The greater distance between the two is reinforced by the removal of the Continental prefix, Flying Spur now a standalone model rather than a Conti with extra doors and a boot. There's also just one model for now rather than the standard and Speed versions of old; a full fat 625hp engine using a variant of the Continental GT Speed's remapped for a slightly mellower power delivery (all things relative), befitting a luxury saloon. Albeit a 200mph one. Logic? The 610hp old-shape Speed dominated later sales of the outgoing car and encouraging owners to 'upgrade' to a new model with less power wasn't going to work. It also leaves room for a V8 version to follow.

Most buyers aren't interested in this bit

Powerfully built
So it's faster and around 50kg lighter than the previous one, thanks to similar technology to the second-gen Conti like superformed aluminium front wings and bonnet. It's also a lot softer, this new confidence in the Flying Spur's identity as a proper limo rather than a four-door Conti GT off the back of feedback from those back-seat dwelling owners. There's an optional 19-inch wheel for maximum comfort, the 20-inch on one of our test cars acceptable and even the 21-inch on another liveable with in the softest of the four damper settings. If not up to dealing with Chinese potholes, going by the experiences of another pair of UK hacks.

That feedback from customers sees sound deadening further improved and exhaust boom reduced, 18-litre rear silencers muffling the W12's rumble to a discreet murmur so as not to drown out conversations between rear-seat passengers.

Remote control
Neat features relevant to this reviewer's perspective include a touchscreen remote that enables adjustment of the climate control, blinds, navigation and in-car entertainment via a neatly integrated interface. You can even check on Caruthers' progress by scrolling through the speedo and trip computer readouts, should you so wish. This will also be available via a smartphone app, sparing you even the irksome task of leaning forwards to grasp said remote from the centre console.

Touchscreen remote for back-seat drivers

And, wouldn't you just know it, assuming said chauffeur isn't too lead-footed in his enjoyment of that trademark W12 - the eight-speed ZF gearbox ably smoothing off any lurches - the back seat of the Spur is an immensely pleasurable place to be. It's got the punch of anything the competition can offer, up to and including the likes of the S65 AMG we recently rode to the Sunday Service at Mercedes-Benz World in, but in terms of comfort, ambience and character the Bentley is in a different league. Only a Ghost can rival it and that's knocking on Mulsanne territory and wouldn't see which way the Flying Spur went if it tried to match it on the twisting mountain roads around The Great Wall.

Leading to a slightly wobbly conclusion* that the Brits, with a little help from VW, have managed a far better job of conquering Beijing than any Mongol horde. Meanwhile if you're wondering what the new Flying Spur is actually like to drive word from Caruthers will reach us shortly, once he's brought the luggage round and stabled the Bentley.

*OK, that was a white lie about the G&T. But there have to be some benefits to not driving...

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)

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louismchuge

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