Night follows day, tick follows tock, Bentley Flying Spur follows Continental. Ever since Bentley underwent its big reinvention with the original Continental GT in 2003, the two-door coupe and convertible have been swiftly followed up by a four-door version – and here’s the latest one.
Like the Continental, Bentley has chosen to launch the new Flying Spur in Speed specification so it can show off its new flagship powertrain: a plug-in hybrid setup consisting of a 592bhp 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 and a 187bhp electric motor, for a total system output of 771bhp and 738 lb ft of torque. Oof.
Bentley Flying Spur Speed – side
Driving all four wheels through an eight-speed dual-clutch box, that’ll send this turbocharged stately home off to 62mph in 3.5 seconds – a full half-second quicker than the old W12 Flying Spur. While there’s no word on top speed, we’d imagine it’ll be the right side of 200mph.
It may be a saloon the size of the average British village, but Bentley has thrown a lot at making the Flying Spur something that a chauffeur can enjoy as much as their rear passengers. It has adaptive two-valve damping, all-wheel steering, torque vectoring, and a near-perfect (and oddly precise) weight distribution of 48.3 to 51.7 in favour of the rear.
Bentley Flying Spur Speed – interior
The interior offers little in the way of surprises, in that it’s both pretty much identical to the Continental up front and that it’s a total masterpiece. There’s acres of leather, a choice of eight wood veneers or three ‘technical’ finishes for the dash, three different audio system options that go as high as 2,200W and 19 speakers, and Bentley’s trick rotating display in the centre of the dash.
To emphasise the Flying Spur’s salooniness? Saloonicity…? To emphasise the fact that the Flying Spur is a saloon, all four occupants can enjoy Bentley’s ‘Wellness Seating’ which uses zoned heating and ventilation to maintain an ideal temperature and also includes some nifty massage tech.
Bentley Flying Spur Speed – rear
As with the Continental, we’d expect some lesser variants to join the lineup further down the line, including a likely non-hybrid V8. The Speed, though, gets a specific front grille, so connoisseurs will know you’ve got the really fast one.
As for when you’ll be able to get your (presumably very wealthy) hands on it, well, Bentley doesn’t say, but it’ll likely head into production soon, given that its two-door counterpart is already trickling into dealers. Still missing that W12?
