Originally published at: https://www.pakwheels.com/blog/2020-bentley-flying-spur-revealed-see-costs-houses/
Being the sensible, roomier four-door cousin to the Continental GT, the Flying Spur is Bentley's bread and butter. Being luxury icons, these types of vehicles are seldom refreshed. The present generation had been around since 2013 and was in dire need for an upgrade, especially next to its rivals. Let's see how Bentley improved on its opulent yet sporty sedan in the 2020 model year refresh.
Exterior:
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If you have seen the Flying Spurs from yesteryear, then you will immediately recognize that Bentley has been evolutionary and not revolutionary with the Flying Spur's styling. To be honest, that one was not a big surprise considering Bentley's track record and the fact that lead car designer at Bentley, Stefan Sielaff had himself stated "As you know we are evolving our design" ahead of the big reveal. With that out of the way, it cannot be denied that Bentley's sedan is bold, muscular and imposing sedan and enjoys (almost) unrivaled dominance on and off the road; Largely owing to the fact that in the latest iteration, the designers have separated the two Bentley signature lines – the powerline and haunch, which were connected previously. Even though this is a subtle tweak, it helps make the proportions appear more dynamic. As a result, the car demands attention which I feel is in harmony with its ostentatious character.
While some may find Bentley's design ethos to be archaic and others will associate a timeless elegance to it, I personally agree with the latter. The Flying Spur's DNA bears more than a passing resemblance to its little cousin, the Continental GT, the Bentley exclusive front grille, the crystal embedded circular front headlights (again in typical Bentley fashion), appear identical to the Continental but these design elements are a touch more mature and conservative on the bigger Bentley. The proportions on the 2020 model have been refined to express this dual identity of chauffeured and driver’s car. Sielaff explains: “We moved the front wheel a few millimeters forward to allow for a shorter overhang and therefore better proportions. This Flying Spur is only 80mm longer than the previous car, but this small tweak has altered the perception. And what this does is that it visually makes this more a driver’s car than the chauffeur one it was.”
A choice of 17 exterior colors is available, while new 21-inch wheels are offered as standard, as well as the option of two unique 22-inch Mulliner specifications. Interestingly, this is the first appearance of Bentley's "Flying 'B'" mascot ever (pictured above). Made to commemorate Bentley's 100th anniversary, Sielaff says it has been a major highlight for him and took two years to develop with 15 of his designers participating in the project. It is retractable, and with the touch of a button will pop in or out when you lock or unlock the car. It is illuminated by LEDs, so people can know how expensive your car is, even in the dark. Though in all honesty, it seems like a blatant copy of Rolls Royce's "Spirit of Ecstasy" at this point in time.
Overall, I think Bentley's designers have achieved their goal. They have successfully made the Flying Spur look and feel like a contemporary luxobarge, while still being faithful to the Bentley design ethos and tradition.
Interior and Features:
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Inside the Bentley Flying Spur (or any Bentley for that matter), is a world in and of its own. Normally, in this part of the writing I would ramble about how the vehicle is equipped with advanced safety features; adaptive cruise control, land departure prevention, auto emergency braking, ABS, EBD and that the car can effectively drive itself. Or how it is equipped with the best in infotainment; including Qi wireless charging and an 12.3-inch infotainment display (that can be rotated around to either analogue dials or blank wood veneer) complete with 4G LTE, Android Auto and Apple Carplay. The instrument panel is also all LCD with no physical dials to be seen and can show navigation and infotainment in addition to the usual gamut of trip information and vehicle statistics. But all of that is relatively pedestrian in car of this day and age almost irrelevant in a car of the Flying Spur's status. Where the Flying Spur draws attention to its itself is in luxury, quality and craftsmanship. Lead designer, Stefan Sielaff had again, commented on this: “Performance and luxury are at the heart of our identity but so is craftsmanship. Craft is a big part of our DNA and we as designers want to show our customer the art of craft - the human touch.” Needless to say, Sielaff has delivered.
Bentley has been using leather and wood for longer than anyone else at this point and it shows. The two premium finishes have been put to good use in a three-tier dash design with leather enveloping the upper section followed by two wood veneers that run around the entire front section of the car, separated by a chrome strip that adds further visual appeal. There are real bronze details on the clock and some of the switches and the AC vents and a couple more components now have a diamond-knurled metallic finish. Also on the table are three different audio systems including a mega 19-speaker 2200W "Naim for Bentley" setup, configurable interior mood lighting, and a head-up display. Diamond studded LED lights with integrated fog lamps come as standard. While infrared night vision is an option.
Customers with even more cash to burn can use Bentley's Mulliner personalization service, which you can use to choose between 20+ exterior shades, several wood veneers (around 20 different ones) and 17 different leather finishes.
Engine and Performance:
Bentley has launched the Flying Spur with perhaps its most loved power plant, the 6.0L Twin Turbo W12 which made its first appearance way back in 2003 with the Continental GT W12. In its most recent guise, which is also seen in the current Continental GT and the Bentayga SUV, it produces 626 HP and 900 Nm of torque. Both of these are stout figures, but so is the curb weight. Weighing in at 2435 kilograms dry, the Flying Spur is no lightweight. However, the performance of the engine more than makes up for the weight of the behemoth, the fat man can do the 0-100 km/h sprint in 3.7 seconds, doing justice to its name "Flying Spur".
As with the Continental GT, the sedan's W-12 now sends its effort to an eight-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission rather than a torque-converter auto as the old car did. This is the same ZF unit fitted to the Porsche Panamera (which is platform buddies with the Spur), and it has been tuned to deliver refinement appropriate for a Bentley. The transmission sends torque to all four corners through a new all-wheel-drive system that uses an electronically controlled clutch pack to divert torque to the front axle as required; in standard driving, the car runs as a pure rear-driver. Torque split is varied according to different driving modes, sending up to 480 Nm to the front wheels normally but only 280 Nm in Sport mode, for a more sporty rear-biased feel. Rear-wheel steering is new and a first for Bentley, with the system being controlled electronically. The suspension uses air springs with 60 percent more volume than the previous model and has four sensors that constantly are controlling the dampers. Like the Bentayga and Continental, there is also an active anti-roll system using a 48-volt actuator to stiffen the sway bars under load. Bentley also claims the 16.5-inch front brake discs are the largest iron rotors ever fitted to a passenger car. A Plug-in Hybrid version is also expected to arrive later as it was spotted earlier this year, but little information is available on it as of now.
Pricing:
As you might have expected from reading up till now, the Bentley Flying Spur (or any Bentley for that matter, again) costs an arm and a leg and then some (if you did not then get real). The Flying Spur is expected to go on sale in early 2020 with a price tag of around 190 00 pounds in the UK. And that is for the base models, with none of the attractive options mentioned above. Prospective buyers are very likely to push the price lag beyond 250 000 pounds! That's a price tag of around 4 crores and 32.5 lacs before you even factor in taxes and duties! Some of you may recall that PakWheels covered a Bentley Mulsanne that was imported in 2016 for around 7 crores. It is undoubtedly out of reach for you and I but for the target audience that demands everything in their cars and has the money to pay for it, the Bentley only has a few competitors in the Mercedes-Maybach S600, the Rolls Royce Ghost and for the Japanese, the Toyota Century. All of which cost around the same ballpark.
