UNALLOYED LUXURY
Bentley never fails to make an impression, and their new Flying Spur’s unparalleled performance just about knocked Neil Lyndon’s socks off
The new Bentley just about knocked Neil Lyndon's socks off
‘ Wow. What a drive,’ I exhaled , switching off the engine of the new Flying Spur outside the Bentley showroom at Fort Kinnaird, near Edinburgh. Then I got out to look around, took a peek inside the boot (long enough for a sea trunk but surprisingly shallow) and climbed into a back seat. Stretching back my head, it pillowed into the head restraint as if I was resting my bonce in the bosom of Abraham. ‘Wow. What bliss,’ I sighed.
That duality fully expresses the character of this car. At one and the same time, it gives you performance which can only be rivalled by the most refined, leading-edge supercars and also lays on luxuries that only the super-rich might experience in their daily lives. No other car on earth can match this combination to the same elevated degree. When people ask, ‘Which is the best car you’ve ever driven?’, the Flying Spur has always, ever since it first appeared in 2005, been among the cars I mention. But this new Spur is the best yet. It is in a class of its own.
That first Flying Spur was a revelation for its agility. For a 2.5-ton car extending almost 20ft in length to handle corners with the nimbleness of a hot hatchback was an almost comedic miracle. The second version that came out in 2013 muted and blurred the sharpness of those driving dynamics in favour of even more resplendent luxuries for the passengers in the back. Now, with the third version, Bentley have fully amalgamated all the car’s extraordinary qualities.
Intensive customer research in America and China (the leading markets for this car) has proved that purchasers of the Flying Spur like to drive the car themselves as much as they choose to be driven by a chauffeur. The latest car is intended to satisfy all their senses whichever seat they choose to occupy.
The model I borrowed for a hurtle round East Lothian was the top-of-the-line First Edition version with an all-in price of £218,000. With quilted leather upholstery (off-white in my car) and almost as much knurled metal bling as Kanye West might sport on stage, this feels like the one aimed at sheikhs and Premiership footballers. However, the Flying Spur’s interior is fully bespokeable and you could, if you chose, make it as ascetic as a monk’s cell.
You wouldn’t, however, want to miss out on the jaw-dropping powers of the specially-commissioned 2200kw Naim sound system which produces studioquality reproduction; nor should any customer deprive themselves of the pleasures of playing with the retractable Flying B mascot on the bonnet which can be bidden to hide away with a touch of a button on the digital control panel. Silly; but irresistible.
That 12.3” HD instrument screen is hidden behind a panel in the veneer fascia on which are mounted three large analogue dials, like the instrument panel of a vintage Bentley. At the touch of button, however, the panel revolves and the master controls appear from which all major functions in the car can be manipulated, including the massage functions in the seats, the blinds and the mood ambient lighting.
If that sounds like a bordello, there is no sense of softness when the six-litre, twin turbocharged W12 engine fires up. With eight-speed transmission, allwheel steering and all-wheel drive, the Flying Spur is a Grand Tourer to match the greatest of all creations in that genre. When the driving mode is switched to Sport and the throttle pedal floored, this huge living-room of a car seems to bunch itself up like a weightlifter squatting for a mighty lift; and then it hurls itself at the horizon like a missile. Acceleration from 0-60mph in 3.7 seconds and top speed of 207mph are simply flabbergasting.
Wow. What a car. That just about covers it.
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The head restraint felt as if I was resting my bonce in the bosom of Abraham