Bentley Flying Spur Review 2024

With the Bentley Mulsanne retired in 2020, the Bentley Flying Spur is now the firm’s only traditional four-door limousine. Moreover, with full halo limo status now bestowed on the extended-wheelbase Bentley Bentayga, the path is clear for the Bentley Flying Spur to re-assert itself as a car which owners may prove happier to drive than be driven in. The best Bentleys have always been captivating driver’s cars; in this Bentley Flying Spur review we’ll see if it fits the bill.

It certainly looks the part; longer and lower than before, with sharp body surfacing courtesy of superformed aluminium body panels, there’s visual drama aplenty and the undeniable promise of power.

The Bentley Flying Spur is presented as a far more sporting proposition than rivals such as the Rolls-Royce Ghost and Mercedes S-Class, whilst the Maserati Quattroporte can’t hold a candle to the opulent Crewe interior.

Meanwhile, the likes of a BMW 7 Series, or its German counterpart the Audi A8, can’t offer you a tenth of its mobile majesty. 

We drove the Mulliner-branded variant, created by Bentley’s personal commissioning division. Mulliner offers a range of products and services, stretching from premium options that can be fitted to Bentley production cars as they are built, to truly unique bespoke luxury cars. 

The Bentley Flying Spur Mulliner is tastefully appointed with artful touches, inside and out. Bespoke detailing includes Mulliner 22-inch wheels with self-levelling wheel caps that remain upright as the wheels rotate.

A ‘Double Diamond’ front grille and chrome front lower grille are matched by bespoke Mulliner-branded wing vents and Silver painted mirror caps.

On the bows, the Bentley Flying B is electronically deployed and illuminated, which looks wonderful after dark. Trouble is, though, if you’re properly hunkered down at the steering wheel, you can’t see it from inside the car. 

Stepping aboard over illuminated Mulliner treadplates on to deep-pile overmats and clicking the soft-close door home, you’re rewarded with an interior that’s very similar to that of the Bentley Continental GT.

The main difference is a redesigned lower centre console which sheds two of the lovely, trademark howitzer nozzle air vents in favour of rectangular replacements and phone storage.

The Mulliner variant offers a choice of eight bespoke three-colour combinations, 13 cows’-worth of hand-stitched leather, bottomless piano black, perfect chrome, occasional plastic disguised as perfect chrome, and, of course, a fabulous smell.

Second row comfort is sublime, as you’d expect, but doesn’t go the whole hog of extending footrests or the incredible ‘airline’ seating you’ll find in the back of the EWB Bentley Bentayga.

What rear passengers do get is a demountable five-inch touch pad with which they can control infotainment, as well as window blinds and massaging seats. A pair of fully networked 10.2-inch touchscreens, which work like tablet PCs, are an option.

Our test car was equipped with £6680 worth of Naim sound system, which combines superlative clarity and exceptional power.

Three powertrains are on offer: a plug-in hybrid which marries a 3.0-litre petrol V6 to a 15kWh battery and a 136PS electric motor; a 4.0 litre, twin-turbo V8; and a glorious 6.0 litre, twin-turbo W12, which unfortunately is not long for this world.

The chassis features four-wheel steering for the first time on a Bentley, four-wheel drive with a rear bias, adaptive dampers at all four corners and Bentley’s Dynamic Ride 48V active roll cancellation system.

Because we may never get the chance again, we drove the W12 version, and loved it to bits. 62mph comes up in just 3.8 seconds, 30 to 70mph in fourth gear is despatched in just 5.4 seconds, and two-and-a-half tonnes of quietly snarling car will thump on to 207mph.

The beauty of this car is that it boasts the handling to match the pace. Granted, given that it’ll live with two wheels in the potholes and the other two over the central white lines, this is not a favourite B-road machine; it’s just too big.

But on a sweeping A-road it displays a sure-footedness that utterly belies that size, carving through corners with astounding precision and composure.

There is, however, a price to pay for such poise. The amount of road surface information making its way into the cabin just takes the edge off the ultimate waft in terms of ride quality. So, ultimately it can’t match the Rolls-Royce Ghost’s superb comfort. 

Then again, that’s a small price to pay for driving the most sporting four-door super-luxury saloon in the world.

Ever since it developed the Bentley Bentayga, the Crewe firm has been working with a new array of active suspension and chassis systems designed to make its big, luxury cars feel smaller, more lithe and more agile.

Now, with the bonus of four-wheel steering lobbed in, that effort pays proper dividends in the Bentley Flying Spur.

All-wheel drive, rear-wheel steering and active anti-roll technology keep the car honest through corners, the latter in particular allowing for softer springing without the penalty of excessive body roll.

This massive car simply hunkers down and gets on with it, with a level of precision and composure that entirely belies is weight.

This is no B=road car but, abetted by a smooth shifting dual-clutch gearbox, it can be pushed effortlessly down an A-road at outrageous pace.

Moreover, although the cabin ambience might suggest otherwise, this isn’t a laid-back drive, it’s relentlessly engaging and genuinely entertaining. 

As to the choice of driving modes, we’re happy for ‘Bentley’ mode to take charge of balancing power delivery with agility.

The only real advantage of ‘Sport’ mode is that it’s notably rear-biased in its power delivery, with the front wheels only getting a maximum of 31% of available torque. Indeed, unless the system detects slip, it’s fully rear-wheel drive

Lashings of torque on tap are a given, and the W12 engine sounds great too. It whirs away discreetly most of the time, but is happy to break into a lovely muted, yet intoxicating, snarl when pressed. 

The only fly in the ointment, then, is the occasional breakdown in ride composure. At one level, the Bentley Flying Spur delivers precisely the suppleness of ride you’d expect from a luxury limousine.

But the price to be paid for the car’s agility is the intrusion of some surface noise and a tendency not to smother shorter, sharper lumps and bumps to the extent you might wish for.

Larger imperfections and expansion joints can sometimes send an undignified slap into the cabin via the suspension when hit at speed.

And that’s a pity, because on good surfaces at pace, the car remains unerringly level and unflustered. 

Three powertrains are on offer: a plug-in hybrid which marries a 3.0-litre petrol V6 to a 15kWh battery and a 136PS electric motor; a 4.0-litre, twin-turbo V8; and a glorious 6.0-litre, twin-turbo W12. 

The W12 sees 635PS and 900Nm of torque gang up to deliver devastating acceleration. 62mph comes up in just 3.8 seconds, 30 to 70mph in fourth gear is despatched in just 5.4 seconds, and top speed is 207mph.  

Less appealing is average fuel consumption of 19.1mpg, plus CO2 emissions of 344g/km, but for those who can afford it, this engine is a fabulous playmate for the best chassis yet installed in a Bentley.

The lighter weight of the smaller 550PS 4.0 litre, twin-turbo V8 adds extra agility. It delivers 0-62 mph in 4.1 seconds and a top speed of 198 mph, and it both drinks and pollutes a tad less with figures of 22.2mpg and 288g/km respectively.

While the V8 rumbles enthusiastically in propelling the car with more than adequate urgency, the 543PS V6 hybrid unit seems to have to work a deal harder to produce appropriate oomph, which is somewhat unseemly in a Bentley.

Nevertheless, the hybrid accelerates from 0-62 mph in 4.3 seconds and has a top speed of 177 mph. But 30 miles of electric-only range (rechargeable in two hours) and claims of 85mpg and CO2 emissions of 75g/km may well appeal to some.

The Bentley Flying Spur hasn’t been tested by Euro NCAP, but is built around a very strong aluminium body and platform that’s related to the Audi A8 and as such, it comes with the very latest driver assistance technology. So you need not worry should the worst happen.

There’s plenty of good news in terms of active safety systems – including the grip of four-wheel drive. As we found during testing in some genuinely rotten weather, it feels imperious on the road.

There’s a multitude of airbags plus two standard and one optional Isofix child seat mount in the rear. Bentley will happily sell you one of its own matching child seats.

Driver assistance systems include a head-up display, parking system with front and rear sensors, rear-view camera, camera-based traffic-sign recognition and a tyre-pressure warning light.

No information is available regarding the Bentley Flying Spur’s towing capacity, which is probably an indication that few, if any, owners are expected to use it in this way.

At more than 5.3 metres long (almost 17-and-a-half feet), this is a massive car.

Happily, four-wheel steering makes it remarkably easy to manoeuvre round town, but the idea of squeezing it into a UK standard municipal parking bay is risible.

Overhanging at both ends like a baguette on a bread board, the car might just squeeze in, but opening the doors to get out? Forget it.

Not that you’ll want to get out. The rear seats may lack the ultimate in luxury now afforded by the Bentley Bentayga EWB’s ‘airline’ seating, but there’s no shortage of space or comfort.

There is also plenty of desirable equipment. Some of it – such as the fridge, mood lighting, rear seat entertainment and superlative Naim stereo – is optional.

However, 14-way electric, heated and cooled massage chairs, and a detachable touchscreen remote control, are standard.

Plus it is worth mentioning the electrically-operated, self-levelling picnic tables. Where once the ruthlessly polished surface offered little grip and a corner would send your Bollinger hurtling into the door trim, today’s table top is leather trimmed and modestly excavated in an attempt to prevent such mishaps.

The front seats are sumptuous, the driving position’s first class, and, despite the timeless feel to the cabin, so are the ergonomics. No wonder so many owners prefer to drive themselves.

In addition, a 420-litre boot is more than large enough for most.

Where to start? The Mulliner Driving Specification is fitted as standard to the Bentley Flying Spur Mulliner, bringing ‘diamond in diamond’ quilting to the seats and three dimensional leather to the doors.

This quilting involves an embroidery process that took 18 months to perfect: each diamond contains exactly 712 individual stitches, each one aligned to the exact centre of the diamond it creates. 

The consoles are trimmed in a matching-diamond milled finish, which is replicated on the faux analogue dials in the driver’s instrument binnacle (although, in truth, we’d happily settle for classic, white-on-black, real alternatives).

An eye-boggling range of wood veneers may be embellished with pinstripes or impeccable bespoke marquetry, should you feel the need. 

And Bentley now also offers stone veneer finishes in laser-cut panels, just one-tenth of a millimetre thick to avoid adding any meaningful weight to this two-and-a-half tonne car.

Lovely touches throughout add to the ambience and sheer class of the interior: a brushed silver Mulliner clock; a brace of leather-bound keys trimmed to match the interior colour scheme; and pillowy rear headrests.

Plus, there is the natty rotating Toblerone in the middle of the dashboard, which allows you to replace the infotainment tech with either three matching analogue dials or merely an extension of your chosen veneers.

That Toblerone houses a 12.3-inch touchscreen for the Bentley Flying Spur’s infotainment system. Unless you find the modern LCD intrusion in your mirror-finish veneer a little unseemly, there’s very little not to like.

The system is readily navigable through a choice of short-cut buttons beneath the screen, a line of short-cut ’zones’ to the far right of the screen itself or a small rotary knob on the transmission tunnel for those who prefer to keep sticky fingers off the display.

Rear passengers share a demountable five-inch, tablet-style touchscreen with which they can fight front-seat occupants for control of the in-car entertainment, navigation and on-board lighting settings, as well as window blinds and seat massage options.

A pair of front seatback-mounted, fully networked 10.2-inch touchscreens, which effectively work like tablet PCs, are an option.

Our Mulliner car was fitted with a Naim for Bentley premium audio system which, coming in at nearly seven grand, was truly wonderful.

Quite why, then, Bentley should feel the need to offer a similarly extravagant package from Bang & Olufsen is something of a mystery.

In fact, in terms of power and clarity, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with Bentley’s 10-speaker, 650 watt entry-level system.

If you wish to pay under £200,000 for your Bentley Flying Spur, you’ll have to choose from two ‘lesser’ powertrains than the mighty W12 we drove: a 550PS twin-turbo V8, or a plug-in hybrid which weds a 3.0-litre V6 to a 136PS electric motor to pretty much match both the power and price of the V8. 

Most of the Bentley Flying Spur’s rivals can match some of its achievements, but not all.

Priced from £92,425, the Mercedes S-Class does rear-seat luxury pretty well, as do the BMW 7 Series, from £125,865, and Audi’s A8, from £80,820.

If you’re after a more sporting drive, there’s the Porsche Panamera, priced from £79,500, and the Maserati Quattroporte, from £110,630.

Given a £200,000-plus asking price or £2000 per month of finance, if ever the old expression ‘If you need to ask, you can’t afford it’ was applicable, it’s here. 

However, taking their 200mph credentials into account, the V8 and W12 variants of the Bentley Flying Spur might actually be deemed pretty efficient.

The former returns an average 22.2mpg and 288g/km of CO2. The latter records 19.1mpg and 344g/km.

Thanks entirely to its 30 miles of electric-only range (rechargeable in two hours), the hybrid, meanwhile, claims an unfeasible 85mpg and CO2 emissions of just 75g/km.

Although there’s a shed load of bespoke parts, the Bentley Flying Spur is based on the Audi A8, so it’s reliant on Volkswagen Group hardware that’s produced across a number of brands.

The previous-generation Bentley Continental Flying Spur quietly gained a reputation for savage W12 servicing costs and engine issues, but the post-2013 model hasn’t suffered from the same problems, and it will be interesting to see if similar strides are made with this one.

Build quality is excellent, as are the materials used, but depreciation will be a larger factor.

The outgoing Bentley Flying Spur has fallen significantly in value, especially once out of the warranty period, and it will be interesting to see whether history repeats itself here.

Given the more elegant styling and contemporary technology in this one, the early signs are that values are holding up better than before.

The Bentley Flying Spur doesn’t have trim levels, as such, although it is available with optional ‘Specification’ packs that bundle together related equipment.

These include Mulliner Driving Specification, Touring Specification, Blackline Specification and Diamond Knurling Specification.

We drove the Bentley Flying Spur Mulliner, which the company describes as “the flagship of the Bentley range”.

The basic price of the car is £242,100, and key options are a £6680 Naim for Bentley sound system, Mulliner range paint for £5855 and £2285 worth of Diamond Knurling.

Perhaps in order to try and curb the taste excesses of Premier League footballers, the cabin is offered with a Mulliner curation of eight custom-made, three-colour combinations.

The sumptuously trimmed cockpit is complemented by accent colour piping and unique Mulliner embroidery to the hand-stitched seats.

That being said, Bentley will tailor your car in pretty much any way you wish.