The 2020 Bentley Flying Spur Is $215,000 Worth of Little Details.
The British automaker’s new flagship car has big power and presence, but its grace notes come from small improvements in design.
Another familiar bit is the engine. The 6.0-liter, twin-turbocharged W12 delivers 626 horsepower and 664 pound-feet of torque, which is certainly necessary considering the Flying Spur's not-insignificant 5,373 pounds of mass. From a standing start the Flying Spur can accelerate to 60 mph in 3.7 seconds, and it will keep on going all the way up to 207 mph.
The new Flying Spur, however, not only makes better use of Bentley's new design language, first launched on the Continental GT, but takes the liberty of really applying the company's latest signatures to a shape more recognizable as sedan, and a handsome one at that. The power lines down the side draw your eye to muscular haunches at the rear, finishing off an unapologetically robust silhouette. Spec the optional 22-inch wheels and the car has an imposing presence, whether curbside or creeping up in your rearview mirror.
The Flying Spur keeps its external badging subtle, with a neatly hidden W12 emblem along the side, and the company's logo accompanied by elegantly lettered "Bentley" in script on the rear. Up front there's a restyled Flying B hood ornament that now, for the first time, can retract into the hood the same way the Spirit of Ecstasy can retreat into a Rolls-Royce. Although far from a sleeper car, the styling is subtle enough to pass under the radar of the casual observer.
Step inside the luxury land yacht and leather, wood, fluffy carpet, and metal dominate your view. There’s enough legroom to accommodate the average NBA player, and the extra-pillowed headrests are nothing short of blissful. It’s the kind of plush you expect from the Ritz Carlton or the Four Seasons, and it’s why it’s so easy to pitch the Flying Spur as a predominantly chauffeur-driven vehicle.
The Flying Spur is fairly serious in the tech department, too. A 12.3-inch center touchscreen display is standard, which for $6,365 can play hide and seek, just like in the Continental GT. Interacting with the screen is a mostly easygoing process, with quick response times and intuitive menu layouts. However, the screen, like so many others, collects fingerprints faster than a kid collects candy on Halloween. Our advice: keep a cloth handy.
A removable touchscreen remote serves as the main interface for rear passengers. It retracts automatically from the center console with a tap of the screen and allows users to adjust a vast range of items in the vehicle, including the seats’ massage, ventilation, and heating functions, as well as the climate controls, media, and navigation settings. Hell, you can even retract the Flying B ornament into the bodywork at the touch of a button. Our tester also features the rear-seat entertainment package, which includes two Android tablets affixed to the back of the front headrests. At $7,700, this is a pricey option, with technology that will surely be replaced by newer kit sooner rather than later. Skip it on the options sheet, and put the money somewhere more useful, like the 19-speaker Naim audio system, which has earned a reputation as one of the best in the industry.
With a starting price of $216,400, the new Flying Spur competes with cars like the Mercedes-Maybach S-Class and Rolls-Royce Ghost, though both of those cars are due to be replaced in the not too distant future. This Bentley offers the traditional elegance expected of the brand, with a more vibrant design scheme and a user-friendly tech suite, giving it a clear edge over its older competitors.
As a driver’s car, the Flying Spur impresses with its near-psychotic ability to gather speed and surprisingly engaging steering feel. Excuse the Spur for its inability to hide its size in the corners (perhaps the all-but-confirmed Speed variant will fix that), and what’s left is an undeniably great car to experience from behind the wheel and behind the driver.
Subscribe: [ Ссылка ]
