Optional extras
As well as letting Johnny catch up on the latest news headlines, the touchscreen controls the optional Naim Premium audio system. The rotating panel (bottom) is part of the £37,300 First Edition Specification pack
smooth and effortless; it’s unbelievable to think there’s a 6.0-litre W12 engine nestling under that enormous bonnet. Over the course of the journey to my girlfriend’s workplace we rarely reach 30mph, but the Flying Spur never really encourages you to drive in such a way.
Of course, if it wasn’t for my passenger (if she’s reading) the Bentley comes fitted with the perfect companion for a road trip: a Naim Premium audio system. It has no fewer than 18 speakers, and as a £6,595 option, it’s quite an extravagant extra, but quite simply, it’s the best stereo you can get in any car today and transforms the Bentley into a mobile music hall. It sounds truly exceptional.
Once parked up back outside my flat, I swap the driver’s seat for one in the back. There’s less space in the rear of the Flying Spur than the majority of people’s front rooms, but I live in a flat in West London, so to me it feels suitably spacious. There isn’t a surface that isn’t trimmed in soft leather, brushed aluminium or polished wood veneer.
The attention to detail is astounding; here are a few facts and figures to put it into context. Each Flying Spur takes 130 hours to build, the cabin comprises over 1.73 miles of stitching, it takes 30 people 13 and a half hours to build one W12 engine, around 13 bull hides go into every cabin and every sheet of wood within a complete car comes from the same tree. Come to think of it, this is far more pleasant than my front room.
There’s even a pair of TVs in the back. Well, perhaps that’s overdoing it slightly; they are in fact two Androidpowered tablets that come bolted to the headrests of the front seats. And, yes, you have to pay extra for those as well: £5,775 to be exact. The pair can be connected to the car’s on-board WiFi system so you can check E-mails, dial into meetings at work, or watch reruns of Newcastle United beating Manchester United 5-0 in the 1996/7 Premier League season on YouTube. We were great at football once.
But if we’re talking about optional extras, a mention has to go to the First Edition Specification. It’s a pack that comprises 15 items and costs a whopping £37,300. The highlight is the three-sided rotating central display; sure, it’s a gimmick, switching between the digital display, analogue dials, and flush wood veneer finish, but even after two months it never gets old.
The Flying Spur has even got you covered when it comes to lunchtime. Tucked away behind the middle seat is a fridge that is big enough to house a couple of pork pies and a bottle or two of Newcastle Brown Ale. Or a bottle
It’s the best stereo you can get in a car today and transforms the Bentley into a mobile music hall. It sounds truly exceptional
of Bollinger and a couple of champagne flutes. That’s a bit more Bentley than pies and beers, right?
Getting comfortable in the Bentley isn’t a problem, either; in fact, such are the parameters you can change from the back seat, getting comfortable has never been so complex. A remote controller nestles between the two front seats and can be used by those in the back to adjust the climate control, operate the sun blinds, activate the massage seats, control the media, adjust the lighting inside and even ‘reveal’ or ‘conceal’ the Flying B on the nose of the car.
Unsurprisingly, the working day slips away between piles of YouTube videos, several massages and copious amounts of snacks. If my editor reads this, it was all necessary in the name of research, and if Bentley reads this, all of the crumbs were cleaned up. Promise.
Of course, cocooned in the Bentley it’s easy to look beyond the ‘real world’ and the impact the coronavirus is having, and will have, on the automotive industry. Factories temporarily closing, job losses and torn-up product plans will have caused havoc across every car manufacturer in the country. Nobody will have been immune to it. But cars like the Flying Spur demonstrate the brilliance and ingenuity of British engineering.