Bentley Flying Spur review

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Bentley has released a more modestly powerful Flying Spur with an only marginally more modest model name

If I told you there was a new Bentley Flying Spur with nearly 700 horsepower and sub-4.0sec 0-60mph potential, you probably wouldn’t expect it to be the soft-pedal, looking-after-the-pennies option.

That’s precisely the point. Crewe now has both ‘High Performance’ and ‘Ultra Performance’ versions of its latest V8 plug-in hybrid powertrains in showrooms; and you really wouldn’t feel short-changed in any way by the former.

The 'lesser one' powers all ‘core’ and Azure versions of the Flying Spur limousine, while the Ultra version powers Speed and Mulliner derivatives (this way for our full instrumented road test of the Flying Spur Speed). Go for a core model (that’s the one without any secondary Azure, Speed or Mulliner model billing) and you can - if you work really hard at it - buy a Flying Spur for less than £200,000. Well, you could; if you could convince a dealer to actually take your order without spending quite a lot more.

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DESIGN & STYLING

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Materially, there is now no significant mechanical difference between any one version of the Flying Spur and another.

The ‘High Performance’ hybrid system is tuned to produce a bit less power and torque than its only marginally less immodestly named 'Ultra Performance' sibling, but is composed of all the same V8-twin-turbo-petrol-electric hardware.

What I love most about Azure-spec Bentleys is the way they embrace the chrome brightwork that Crewe does so brilliantly, and reject oh-so-fashionable gloss black body trim. Some cars deserve to be shiny.
Matt Saunders
Road test editor

As regards drivetrain, suspension and steering, the ‘lesser’ Spurs use the same active air springs, active four-wheel steering-, active torque vectoring- and active anti-roll bar systems as their pokier cousins as well. What separates a Mulliner or Speed from an Azure or entry-grade car, then - besides that extra electronically conjured 100bhp - is simply clever calibration. And, funnily enough, you have to be using Sport mode in the more powerful versions to actually get the benefit of any of it anyway.

The car's motor is aided by at 25.9kWh battery 43% larger in capacity than that used for the old V6-hybrid Spur, but still found under the boot with an attached 48-volt loom to drive the active anti-roll bars, rear-steering and three-chamber air springs.

INTERIOR

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Bentley bills Azure versions of the Spur as cars tailored for the utmost comfort and ‘wellness’. That may sound like so much bourgeois cobblers - although, sure enough, this car is likely to leave you feeling pretty, well… well. 

A cobbler would certainly have found himself happily ensconced in the beautifully upholstered, cosseting Beluga leather cabin of our test car, with its mirror-finish burr walnut wood veneer and glistening knurled metal brightwork. Compared with anything else in the world, Crewe’s interiors remain a cut above for enticing tactile quality and resplendence of finish. They continue to integrate digital technology sparingly and discreetly, and retain lots of lovely, tactile physical switchgear, which isn’t only a joy to use, but makes the car easier to interact with while you’re driving.

Up front, seat comfort feels truly sumptuous; while, in the back, although outright space isn’t that vast (Bentley offers the Bentagya EWB to cover that) - the dizzying, glowing richness of your surroundings still makes you feel as if you’re living a very charmed life.

ENGINES & PERFORMANCE

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There are the usual Sport, Comfort, Custom and Bentley modes to chop and change between as you drive; the hybrid system’s V8 woofling into animation when you select Sport, and raising its voice in inviting fashion - while it tends to say shut down, and allow the car to run electrically as much as possible, in Bentley and Comfort. 

Whether the engine is running or not, mechanical refinement is excellent; and drivability mostly similar - although this tester still isn’t keen on the way the hybrid system automatically fades trailing throttle regen up and down as the car ebbs and flows in traffic, since it makes initial brake pedal feel unhelpfully changeable. 

In terms of outright performance; true, this may be a 2.5-tonne car, but 671bhp still feels like a lot under your right foot, mostly because the hybrid system always feels fully engorged with accessible torque. Even if you're in Comfort mode, you're only ever a flicked downshift and a plunged right foot away from going very quickly indeed. And the V8 engine arguably sounds better than Bentley's old W12 ever did when really knuckling down.

RIDE & HANDLING

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The Flying Spur rides and handles in a way that’s harder to fault than its drivability under braking. 

Bentley’s active suspension and steering tech makes the car nimbler at lower speeds than you expect. And although the 22in wheels conduct just a little bit of surface roar and secondary fidget into the cabin, the Spur ushers itself along most surfaces with a beguiling blend of supple isolation and genteel control. It never lets either wheels or body float or rebound unchecked; and yet the cabin feels calm, filtered and secluded from any serious disturbance.

The car rides slightly better than its coupe cousin, the Continental GT. It clearly feels a little bit softer and more settled on the road, with its longer wheelbase - but also a clearer tendency to breathe with the surface of the road in Comfort mode, and absorb bumps; while its four-wheel steering and Dynamic Ride active anti-roll bars seem more modestly tuned, to a more natural-feeling end result.

This is a big car that steers really enticingly, is always under control, and is much more accurate and engaging to thread along a country lane than you'd expect of a limousine. And it doesn't need the trappings and affectations of Speed specification to feel like that.

VERDICT

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Could the Bentley Flying Spur Azure be a better car for having a simpler, more traditional luxury agenda than a Speed or Mulliner? Could 'less' actually be more here?

Bentley Flying Spur news

New Bentley Flying Spur swaps W12 for 771bhp hybrid V8
New Bentley Flying Spur swaps W12 for 771bhp hybrid V8
626bhp Bentley Flying Spur Speed replaces standard W12
626bhp Bentley Flying Spur Speed replaces standard W12
Bentley’s CEO Adrian Hallmark on the five-in-five EV plan
Bentley’s CEO Adrian Hallmark on the five-in-five EV plan
New Bentley Flying Spur Mulliner is 'pinnacle' of GT range
New Bentley Flying Spur Mulliner is 'pinnacle' of GT range

There's no simple answer; because Crewe's modern four-door missle, the Flying Spur Speed, is a mighty car in its own right, albeit for slightly different reasons than the Azure. 

But what Bentley has achieved, by making the regular Spur and Azure appeal in their own way - and also giving them the power and dynamic lustre to feel like no second-string prospects - is allowed choice to be king.

For what it's worth, I'd pick a Spur Azure; because what it gains in terms of textbook traditional luxury appeal would be worth more to me than the marginal improvement in dynamism and attitude that a Speed would deliver. But you could take you pick. And I don’t think there’s really a bad choice you could make.

Matt Saunders

Matt Saunders Autocar
Title: Road test editor

As Autocar’s chief car tester and reviewer, it’s Matt’s job to ensure the quality, objectivity, relevance and rigour of the entirety of Autocar’s reviews output, as well contributing a great many detailed road tests, group tests and drive reviews himself.

Matt has been an Autocar staffer since the autumn of 2003, and has been lucky enough to work alongside some of the magazine’s best-known writers and contributors over that time. He served as staff writer, features editor, assistant editor and digital editor, before joining the road test desk in 2011.

Since then he’s driven, measured, lap-timed, figured, and reported on cars as varied as the Bugatti Veyron, Rolls-Royce Phantom, Tesla Roadster, Ariel Hipercar, Tata Nano, McLaren Senna, Renault Twizy and Toyota Mirai. Among his wider personal highlights of the job have been covering Sebastien Loeb’s record-breaking run at Pikes Peak in 2013; doing 190mph on derestricted German autobahn in a Brabus Rocket; and driving McLaren’s legendary ‘XP5’ F1 prototype. His own car is a trusty Mazda CX-5.