autoevolution
 

Bentley Calls 2020 Flying Spur "World's Best Luxury Sedan"

Priced at £168,300 in the United Kingdom, the all-new Flying Spur has started to arrive at owners. The press release for the first customer deliveries, however, describes the Porsche Panamera-related model as the “world’s best luxury sedan,” and that’s certainly up for debate.
2020 Bentley Flying Spur 14 photos
Photo: Bentley
2020 Bentley Flying Spur2020 Bentley Flying Spur2020 Bentley Flying Spur2020 Bentley Flying Spur2020 Bentley Flying Spur2020 Bentley Flying Spur2020 Bentley Flying Spur2020 Bentley Flying Spur2020 Bentley Flying Spur2020 Bentley Flying Spur2020 Bentley Flying Spur2020 Bentley Flying Spur2020 Bentley Flying Spur
The eighth-generation Phantom could be considered better – even stretching it to best. Rolls-Royce charges £368,910 for the entry-level model, which is more than double the price of the Flying Spur.

Bentley also borrows the Modularer Standardantriebsbaukasten platform – shortened to MSB – from the Volkswagen Group. The Continental GT features the same underpinnings, and although it may be a rather complete grand tourer, there are plusher and costlier alternatives out there. Rolls-Royce, for example, has the Wraith convertible and Dawn coupe.

Now that this rant is finally over, there’s no denying the all-new Flying Spur is seriously better than the previous generation. The indirect replacement of the Mulsanne is handcrafted in a carbon-neutral facility with utmost attention to detail, and the list of features beggars belief.

All-wheel drive, rear-wheel steering, an anti-roll system running 48 volts, three-chamber air springs, a head-up display, infrared camera for night vision, there’s a lot to like about the Flying Spur. The exterior design is also sufficiently different from the Continental GT while the interior is luxurious in every respect, down to the leather upholstery and wood veneer.

The Flying Spur differs from the Panamera in terms of suck-squeeze-bang-blow as well. Instead of a twin-turbo V8 with 4.0 liters of displacement, Bentley chose the W12 for propulsion. From 6.0 liters and a twin-turbocharged arrangement, this engine is much obliged to shoot to 60 miles per hour in 3.7 seconds and top at 207 miles per hour. Yup, that’s blistering fast!

Priced at 180,400 euros in Germany and $214,600 in the United States, the Flying Spur is best specified with Mulliner goodies. More than 80 percent of customers choose this option, which adds Mulliner’s 22-inch wheels, leather for the headliner, diamond quilting, special oil and fuel filler caps, the whole nine yards.
If you liked the article, please follow us:  Google News icon Google News Youtube Instagram X (Twitter)
press release
About the author: Mircea Panait
Mircea Panait profile photo

After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
Full profile

 

Would you like AUTOEVOLUTION to send you notifications?

You will only receive our top stories