2025 Bentley Flying Spur Mulliner | PH Review

The Ultra Performance version of the Continental GT has already made a name for itself - what about the saloon?

It seems a long time ago that the Flying Spur was introduced as a slightly ungainly offshoot of the Continental GT - and that’s because it was. The original version was first shown 20 years ago last month and didn’t change a great deal for the next 14 years. For nine of them, it existed in the shadow of the Mulsanne, the L-series-powered saloon that was as opulent as Blenheim Palace and very nearly as sprawling. But in 2020 Bentley discontinued the latter, confident that the new Flying Spur it had launched the year before would fulfil the requirements of any customer not already persuaded by the all-conquering Bentayga.

This made sense. The Flying Spur that shared its platform (and much else besides) with the Porsche Panamera was very pleasant - and got even better when Bentley finally got around to installing the lighter 4.0-litre V8. In fact, when we drove one back in 2021, we called it ‘arguably the best luxury saloon in the world’. The intervening years have not diminished that opinion; on the contrary, it loomed large in the memory when we came to the business of trying out the new one.

Happily, much about the car is the same. Bentley didn’t exactly burn the midnight oil when it came to overhauling the exterior and interior styling of the new GT, and it has apparently devoted even less time and effort to freshening up the saloon - but little matter, the previous Flying Spur could always part murmuring British crowds like a Royal Carriage, and so can the latest one. Granted, the Mulliner spec car we drove featured Damson over White Sand duo-tone paintwork and ten-spoke 22-inch wheels (not pictured, sadly), but no variant of the Spur ought to seem underdressed when it exits the Crewe gates.

Nor will it fail to indulge your taste for the finer things. At some point in the not-too-distant future, Bentley will doubtless feel obliged to properly modernise its button-heavy cabin - but thank heavens that time is not yet upon us. Sure, there are moments when glancing down at the centre console can seem like sneaking a peek at the control panel of an A380, but rummaging around for a specific bit of switchgear these days is almost a pleasure; the chore comes when you need to resort to using Bentley’s ageing infotainment system.

At any rate, it’s all pretty familiar - and, in Mulliner Bespoke configuration, exactly as swanky as you’d expect. Bentley’s genius is not just to make the interior seem lavishly well-appointed, but also in possession of a unique and carefully stage-managed ambience. You sink into a Flying Spur physically, and then mentally. As a cushion for your wellbeing, in the broadest sense possible, there is none finer. And nor are there many larger - Bentley’s saloon may still share its MSB platform with other VW Group derivatives, yet in scale it feels more like a QE2 stateroom than a close relative of the Panamera.

This impression of grand scale is amplified by the fact that the new Flying Spur - now equipped with the same ‘Ultra Performance’ hybridised V8 as the Continental GT we drove last year - wafts about noiselessly much of the time and doesn’t overly concern itself with concealing the additional 300 or so kilograms that have turned up with the 25.9kWh battery and 190hp electric motor. Now well beyond 2.6 tonnes with you in it, and yet with 782hp and 738lb ft of torque to ultimately call upon, the sense of irresistible force meeting immovable object is palpable. Imagine driving a neutron star or something else similarly energy-dense, but with lovely quilting. That’s what a Flying Spur is like.

Generally speaking, this makes the car very good at its job. Who wouldn’t want the reverential hush or the space or the end result of so much painstaking craftsmanship? It makes high-end German luxury cars seem gloomy and soulless, which is some trick when you consider that its EV mode is virtually indistinguishable from any number of rivals. Bentley has astutely tuned the Spur’s throttle for softness and easy modulation - no tedious neck-snapping here - but it does also help to mask the fact that with only 332lb ft of torque available, the car is not especially quick if the V8 remains entirely dormant.

While you can technically make this happen (for up to 47 miles, at any rate) it is unlikely that Bentley intended its saloon to be driven so modestly. You can tell as much by soft, come-hither growl that signals the V8’s arrival and its enlivening effect on proceedings. As you might expect, the electric motor does all the initial heavy lifting in the Spur’s Hybrid setting, but it’s always the V8’s delivery that surges into the furrow, widening and deepening it as it goes, the acceleration suddenly unchecked by the mass of the thing. Only when you need to slow it down will you remember - the Spur has sufficient goods train-like momentum to cause a worried grimace to cross your face if the traffic stops unexpectedly.

Accordingly, if there are grumbles, they surface in the moments when you nudge the Spur beyond its ocean-wide comfort zone. Many of them resemble the GT’s shortcomings: this too is a hugely sophisticated, beautifully engineered car, yet its sophistication and engineering are not cost-free. For the most part, the saloon muscles its way through the weight penalty and the fundamental need to transition from one power source to another - but neither is as seamless or as satisfying as the way the old V8, unencumbered with either requirement, got up a road. And while it’s true that in Sport mode (as distinct from the default ‘Bentley’ running order) the newer Spur will make 7.4 seconds to 100mph seem astonishingly credible, there is never quite the same inclination to hustle it along, regardless of the possibilities the active anti-roll and all-wheel steer afford. Or not to quite the same carefree extent.

If your response to that is ‘so what’, it’s a fair point. Bentley’s saloon is a rare bird to encounter in any circumstance, let alone one being driven with an M3 owner’s level of intent. Without wishing to pigeonhole its buyers, one suspects their needs are very well catered for here. The ride - underwritten by new twin-valve dampers - is largely fabulous, the steering glossy and encouraging, and despite its size, there’s nothing unwieldy or ungainly about the new Spur. Silence quite often suits its impeccable manners, more so than in the pointier GT. It’s easy to imagine the slightly less powerful (and moderately cheaper) High Performance variant being equally persuasive.

And while there wasn’t an opportunity to charge the car this time around (it’ll reportedly get you 515 miles before tank and battery are both exhausted) there was no indication that this would ever be required if you felt terminally disinclined to fuss about with the supplied cables - another tick. In fact, there is much to be said for the Spur’s charge setting: not only does it swiftly top up the battery in the course of normal driving, it keeps the engine almost permanently front and centre without the associated ballyhoo of sport mode. Spared the bells and whistles, it’s easier to commune with the very fine V8-powered saloon underneath them. Funny that.

Specification | 2025 Bentley Flying Spur Mulliner

Engine: 3,996cc twin-turbocharged V8, electric motor, 25.9kWh battery
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch, all-wheel drive
Power (hp): 782 combined (600@6,000rpm)
Torque (lb ft): 738 combined (590@2,000-4,500rpm)
0-62mph: 3.5sec
Top speed: TBC
Weight: 2,646kg
MPG: 202 (WLTP)
CO2: 33g/km
Price: from £244,100

OP Posts Only

Prev 2 3 Next

OP Posts Only

Author

Discussion

sidesauce

Original Poster

2,883 posts

230 months