2014 BENTLEY Flying Spur Review

Those who adored the Continental Flying Spur’s hefty mass shouldn’t be worried. At 5,451 lbs (2,475 kg), the weight has only gone down by 110 lbs (50 kg). Despite this, the body is now 4 percent stiffer. Moreover, the engineers added extra NVH insulation. While it’s difficult for us to tell the difference, once the massive door closes and you settle in, there’s a reassuring silence.

You need this relaxation to admire the sculpted cabin of the Flying Spur. Almost ten square meters of natural wood are used to cover the Flying Spur’s interior. Bentley’s dashboard, with its V-shaped center console, creates a feeling of intimacy for both the driver and the passenger.

This is accentuated through the patterns of the veneers. Bentley wasn’t kidding here - what you see on the dash is nicely continued onto the door cards. They’ve even manifested their wooden passion when it came to the interior light console, the one placed right next to the rear-view mirror.

The atmosphere in here has not changed all that much though. There are a few slight touches here and there, but that’s about it. Nonetheless, the greatest updates arrive for the rear seats.

The important, or very important persons occupying this space now have a new scepter of command. Called the Touch Screen Remote (TSR), this looks and feels like some sort of a smartphone that can be removed from its center console housing.

Apart from the functions concerning the driving part, the TSR can be used to control just about any feature of the Flying Spur. Our fingers are enjoying it right now and the calibration is beautiful.

As for the infotainment bits that submit to this remote control, we’ll start with the optional twin 10-inch screens for the rear passengers. Crewe has installed a Bentley Connectivity Unit (BCU) that allows mobile devices and laptops to use the car’s Wi-Fi hotspot, also coming with 64 GB of memory.

Alas, the front seat occupants are not as spoiled when it comes to the infotainment. The Flying Spur’s touchscreen interface is decent, but we would’ve expected a step forward here. You still have to use both the physical button and the display in order to adjust the suspension, for example and will have to deal with a slight lag at times.

We are by no means certified audiophiles and yet it is not difficult to notice that the standard audio system is a tad below the overall level of the car. The quality is respectable and yet we can’t help feel that they’ve toned things down a little in order to make room for the optional Naim hardware. Speaking of extra features, the sunroof is a no-cost option, albeit arriving in a non-panoramic form.