THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS?

The idea of a sports limousine seems like an oxymoron, but a few minutes with a Bentley Flying Spur like this 2012 example shows that Bentley achieved something we’d once have thought impossible.

The concept of a fast, powerful limousine capable of whisking its occupants across continents at high speed is nothing new. Indeed, Bentley themselves were doing just that almost 100 years ago with the 6½-litre and then the 8-litre model, as discussed on page 26 of this issue. But going quickly in a straight line is not difficult; you just pile on the power and hang the expense. Getting a car with limousine-esque accommodation to behave like a sports car, or at least like a wieldy grand tourer, just wasn’t on the cards until quite recently. Mercedes got close with successive S-class models, but it took AMG or

Brabus to make them stop, steer and go really well. Ditto BMW’s 7-series and the rare Alpina versions. Maserati’s more recent Quattroportes, the QP V and QP VI are wonderful to drive fast thanks to the Ferrari V8 and the lively chassis, but the rear seat accommodation is no different to most mid-sized saloons, albeit in nice soft Italian hide. Perhaps the recent Jaguar XJ got closest in long wheelbase ‘L’ form, with toys galore and legroom aplenty for lucky passengers, though you’d need to choose the five-litre V8 version to compete. So how did Bentley, freshly reorganised in Volkswagen’s ownership, come up with something

as impressive as the Flying Spur?

By starting with a fantastic two-door GT car. The Continental GT and GTC with their 4WD system and W12 engines reset what could be expected from a grand tourer in terms of effortlessly potent performance, practicality and comfort. The two cars – GT and Flying Spur – were developed side by side, though the GT was first to market by two years. The Continental Flying Spur, to give it its full name, was actually the more aerodynamic of the two and weighed only 100kg more than the GT – and 10kg less than the GTC. Perhaps it’s no surprise that the Flying Spur was indeed the fastest four-seater production car in the world when it was launched in 2005, touching 195mph.

SPEED – THWARTED

It seems unlikely we’ll reach 195mph in West London this afternoon. We nose the car out of Hanwells’ showroom and into the city traffic, seeking a quiet spot for a few photos and some more open stretches to give the Bentley free reign. It seems to have a more subdued profile than either the GT / GTC model or the contemporary RollsRoyce Phantom VII, which is so tall and imposing where this Bentley is low and sleek. You seem to sit a good deal lower than in an Arnage, which overlapped with this model by four years, and anyone choosing between them when new would soon notice the differences. Here we have sculpted, firm, sportsGT seats rather than armchairs, and a dash that curves around the driver like the cockpit of a fast jet. Controls are tipped with knurled stainless steel and there is a pair of gearshift paddles above the column stalks. Despite being the Arnage’s stablemate, it’s a different bloodline and different generation.

The ride over potholed city streets is impressive for a car with huge alloy wheels, low profile tyres and relatively short suspension travel. But we’re firmly in compromise territory, where the demands of body control and neat handling placed upon a two-anda-half ton car mean that this is not quite a magic carpet. Nonetheless, the air springs and adaptive electronic dampers do an amazing job in their attempt to cope with all conditions. This is a Mulliner version, with diamond stitching galore and comical touches like drilled pedals…a nod to the motorsport practice of drilling everything for lightness, but unlikely to make a measurable difference in this car. It has a cocooned feel, rather than a cosseting one; there is just enough headroom but no more. The car’s waistline feels high, which offers an agreeably protected sensation to occupants. Time to pull over and explore the space for those who are not at the helm.

The difference between this and the room available in the back of the Continental GT is staggering. It would have been easy for Bentley’s stylist Dirk van Braeckel to concentrate on sporting proportions and leave us with a snug, close-coupled saloon, but he and Bentley’s product planners took the opposite route. They created very nearly as much legroom in the Flying Spur as you would find in the LWB version of previous Arnages and SZ-generation cars. It’s more than just the luxury of space, too – rear seat occupants get their own overhead console for the control of various lighting options, their own bank of climate control knobs in the rear of the centre console and their own electrically sliding, tilting and memory-setting seats. Privacy glass »