Bentley Flying Spur review

From £190,2558

Continental’s four-door sibling suddenly has some imposing boots to fill. Is it up to it?

Zuffenhausen old-boy and recently installed CEO at Bentley Motors, the estimable Frank-Steffen Walliser, recently spoke to us about making “something more extreme”.

Settling into his new role after 29 years with Porsche, the German was hinting at future models that could bring added excitement to the traditional Bentley way of doing things (911 GT3 RS treatment for the Conti GT, anyone?), but he could just as well have been talking about the super-saloon the company has recently launched.

You’re looking at the latest Bentley Flying Spur, which now comes exclusively in V8-hybrid flavour and with no shortage of horsepower in any form, but especially in top-billing Speed guise, as we have here. This car puts out near-as-dammit 800bhp and thus comfortably outguns its 6.0-litre W12 precedessor. The old Speed had to make do with 626bhp, a figure that hardly needed a bump of nearly 25%, but when electrically generated power comes relatively easily, why wouldn’t you? It’s a thought-provoking level of shove for a car that, despite its quietly driver-orientated bent, will serve most owners purely as a luxury conveyance, shuttling them about the world’s more salubrious postcodes in comfort and style. And, more than ever, silence.

Launched more or less in tandem with the new Continental GT – also PHEV – the revised Flying Spur has an official electric range of 47 miles, which is almost double that of the previou, V6-fired Spur hybrid. This ought to play to the Spur’s strengths in a way that perhaps alludes its more sporting coupe silbing, though as ever does come with a considerable weight penalty. At 2571kg the PHEV Flying Spur Speed is heaviest Spur to date, and it’s this, along with the fact that the W12 is now off the menu on legislative grounds, that may explain why Bentley has chosen to launch its ‘four-door grand tourer’ in Speed specification and with headline-grabbing figures of 771bhp and 738lb ft.

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There is, of course, rather more to this car than epic power and torque, so let’s find out if the fastest, more advanced Spur yet is also the best.

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DESIGN & STYLING

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The Flying Spur hasn’t adopted the new bladed headlights seen on the revamped Continental GT and so it isn’t quite as simple to identify a facelifted car from the original Mk3 launched in 2019.

Indeed, in terms of exterior design, it’s 95% unchanged from before, with the classic quad-headlights kept on. The big news is the Speed’s adoption of Bentley’s ‘Ultra Performance Hybrid’ powertrain, which sees a 188bhp, 332lb ft permanent magnet synchronous motor sit between an eight-speed dual-clutch gearbox from ZF and a 592bhp, 590lb ft 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8. Though similar on paper, this isn’t the quite same V8 that has appeared in the Flying Spur in the past, not least because it no longer features cylinder deactivation and switches to mono-scroll turbochargers rather than the twin-scroll blowers used previously. That newfound electrical assistance negates the need for either tech, providing both all-electric running capability and so-called torque-fill that provides response while the turbochargers are spooling up.

You could cut yourself on those rear swage lines (probably). According to Bentley, the rear body side panel is the largest superformed panel in the automotive industry
Richard Lane
Deputy road test editor

The motor is fed 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. If you think all that sounds heavy, you’d be right. The V6-hybrid Spur we tested in 2022 weighed 2596kg with its 80-litre tank full, and the new car – with its extra cylinders and battery capacity – sees that figure grow to 2750kg, though the neat 48:52 front to rear distribution hasn’t gone anywhere. The Bentley comes in nearly 100kg heavier than the similarly conceived, similarly lavish, and similarly V8-hybrid Mercedes-AMG S63 E Performance.

The new Speed’s contact patch is commensurately epic, especially in the context of a fast saloon. The combination of 315-section rear Pirellis and 275-section fronts is identical to that of the Continental GT (the new BMW M5, for reference is booted with 295-sections at the back), ensuring that the AWD system has plenty to work with. The Flying Spur also gets a version of the new twin-chamber air springs already seen on the Conti GT (the old cars used a triple-chamber spring), which are said to offer even greater control over rebound and compression movements. There’s also a new calibration for the ESC, which works alongside the car’s electronically controlled limitedslip differential and brake-based torque-vectoring across the axle.

INTERIOR

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Bentley has resisted the temptation to maximise digital real-estate for this facelifted Spur, and the cockpit is as fabulous to be in as ever, managing to come across as both sporting and opulent in a manner no other carmaker quite achieves.

Naturally it’s very similar to that of the new Conti GT, and as with that car, the Speed gets darker brightware and black matt plastic that feels impressively expensive (non-Speed variants are on the way, though we haven't driven the, yet). Our test car’s turned-aluminium trim certainly caught the eye as well, and it’s also possible to have the Spur with a Cotes de Geneve finish, which looks spectacular.

Take it as read that the Spur ticks every box for ergonomics comfort and oddment storage, and there are also plenty of USB-C ports. In the back, by our tape measure the Spur’s legroom isn’t quite as generous as that of the Rolls-Royce Ghost, but this is academic because both cars are supremely capacious. If you opt for the fourseat configuration, the Spur has the sweeter-sculpted rear berths. They come with ‘Auto Climate’, which monitors the humidity and temperature of the surface and adjust the heating and ventilation to maintain comfort. ‘Postural Adjust’ then uses a number of air cushions to subtely vary the pressure on your legs and back throughout the journey. It is, in short, a wonderful place to let the miles go by.

Elsewhere, one thing to note about the PHEV Spur is that boot space is compromised, on account of the battery back. It’s fall from 420 litres in the regular V8 car of old to just 346 litres, some of which is then taken up by the charge-cable case.

ENGINES & PERFORMANCE

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In mechanical terms the Bentley’s most direct rival is Mercedes-AMG’s formidable 791bhp, V8-hybrid S63 E Performance. Though less powerful, if only by a whisker, and heavier, the Brit is still the quicker car off the mark, needing just 3.2sec to surge to 60mph versus 3.5sec for the Merc. Indeed, the four-door Bentley only trails its coupe sibling by a tenth, though the gap does grow as speed piles on, and by 150mph the Speed-flavoured Spur is a good few car lengths behind the Conti GT Speed. All three are monstrously quick.

In terms of character, electric assistance gives the Spur rather a profound duality. On one side there’s all-electric running, and that certainly suits this lavish limousine, even if the performance on offer is modest, and best deployed mainly in urban environments. Then, of course, there are those moments of full-throttle attack, when the bassy V8 makes itself fully known, and the meat of its torque delivery is faintly heralded by some electric torque-fill, which does, as you’d expect, give the Spur cleaner accelerator response that it has ever before known.

You’re aware of this car’s width on some UK roads but it handles in a manner that belies its mass and length, with impressive stability, precision, control and composure
Matt Saunders
Road test editor

This is true whether you’re asking for everything this powertrain has or you just want to indugle in gentle roll-on shove. Certainly, the calibration of two power sources is more neatly managed here than in the AMG. At least, it is for acceleration. The renegerative element of the braking system gives the pedal a softer, less precise action that you’d expect from a performance brand like Bentley, and its predictive actions – slowing the car down automatically for traffic and roundabouts, etc – don’t chime with the thickset, linear, intuitive sense of control we’d expect from Crewe’s cars.

RIDE & HANDLING

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The Flying Spur Speed doesn’t have the incisive handling of its cousin, Porsche’s Panamera Turbo E-Hybrid, and neither, frankly, would you want it to.

It’s cornering balance is steady and uneventful, majoring more on insoucience than engagment, with plenty of stability on offer, aided by that vast wheelbase and enormous contact patch. There’s accuracy, too. The ease with which the Spur can be placed can be confounding at times, especially when the suspension control is at its tightest, when body roll is neatly managed but never locked down needlessly tightly.

We can’t help but feel there’s more to come here, though. The steering – sweetly speed, nicely weighted – wants for more of a sense of mechancial connection. And while it sounds fatuous to say it of 2.7-tonne, 5.3m-long limousine, a little more intent in the handling balance wouldn’t go amiss. After all, we know what Bentley is capable of, and while the Spur is broadly speaking the most engaging car in the super-luxury saloon segment, there are times when an S63 E Performance scythes through bends with just a little more poise. 

And what about luxury? There’s no shortage of it, especially at higher speeds, when the Spur is quite simply majestic. A noise recording of 61dBA at 70mph also beats that of the even the pure-electric Mercedes EQS 450+ ‘Business Class’. The Bentley is exceptionally quiet, and supremely cossetting. Its only slight failing concerns lower-speed ride quality on more threadbare surfaces. Perhaps the Speed’s 22in wheels are to blame, but on occasion the Spur just wasn’t as unruffled as expected.

MPG & RUNNING COSTS

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The Flying Spur Speed starts at £226,500, making it around 10% more expensive than the preupdate, W12-engined Speed, and things can escalate from there – this car has £60k of optional extras.

Even so, the car seems reasonably priced, splitting AMG’s S63, which it trouces for materials quality, and the Rolls-Royce Ghost above it (opt for a £244k-plus Mulliner-grade car to have the Spur at its most lavish). Chauffeurs driving in and around cities can expect to return around 2.0mpkWh, for an EV range of 44 miles. For touring duties, expect 470 miles or so from the 80-litre tank.

VERDICT

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In the past, if you wanted your Bentley limousine with EV capability, you needed to settle for a V6 under the long bonnet. With this update, the Flying Spur loses the option of W12 power but gains a considerable amount of real-world electric range and pairs that with a charismatic V8 guaranteed to put a smile on your face.

All said, we consider that a good deal for customer – the Spur is now a quicker, more versatile car than ever, and an expanded range of interesting, wonderfully tactile interior trim certainly doesn’t hurt its case. Only a couple of slight dynamic foibles blot its copybook.

Richard Lane

Richard Lane, Autocar
Title: Deputy road test editor

Richard joined Autocar in 2017 and like all road testers is typically found either behind a keyboard or steering wheel (or, these days, a yoke).

As deputy road test editor he delivers in-depth road tests and performance benchmarking, plus feature-length comparison stories between rival cars. He can also be found presenting on Autocar's YouTube channel.

Mostly interested in how cars feel on the road – the sensations and emotions they can evoke – Richard drives around 150 newly launched makes and models every year. His job is then to put the reader firmly in the driver's seat.