2014 BENTLEY Flying Spur Review

For one thing, the ride and handling are pretty much magic. The obvious focus here was comfort. To start with, they reduced the air spring rates (10 percent up front and 13 percent at the back). Nevertheless, the springs become stiffer than before during high-speed cornering. The anti-roll bars have also been toned down and so have the bushes. In addition, the adaptive dampers have been tweaked.

The engineers even went against the current wheel size increase trends, fitting with Flying Spur with dedicated 19-inch wheels to keep road inaccuracies in check. The list of optional rims goes up to 21 inches. We had these hefty rollers on our tester. While you can live with them, the thicker sidewall does make the ride partially vulnerable to the larger caprices of the driving surface. We wouldn’t climb past the 20-inch option.

The suspension has four settings and right now... ah, who are we kidding? The difference between them is small. Regardless of the setting, you’ll always feel you are in a default setting called “Bentley”, which seems to be just right.

The steering is also on the list of revisions. The setup is surprisingly engaging for such a car that comes with foam padding under every hand-crafted leather surface.

Bentley's Flying Spur treated us with a respectable handling. The all-wheel drive system has kept its rear biased 60:40 torque distribution and you can enjoy the car through the bends up to eight tenths.

The Bentley Flying Spur proves superior to the Rolls-Royce Ghost when it comes to concealing its mass. You can feel a certain degree of body roll, but things are better sorted out than in the Rolls. Moreover, the VW Group roots are more discreet here when compared to the BMW elements in the Rolls-Royce.

Still, if asked to choose we’d take the Ghost, albeit with the Flying Spur, which is also a tad more affordable, following pretty close. Not necessarily because we prefer the simplicity of its interior to the Bentley cabin opulence, but for the overall feel of the car. The Rolls-Royce does manage to offer you the sensation of the ultimate performer.

Presently we are digging deep into the luxurious carpet, having just completed the relaxed part of our drive. The aural experience is also less present than before. They’ve enlarged the rear muffler in order to keep things quieter. When you step on it, the resulting soundtrack is a mix between the expected growl and the sound of the exhaust gasses flowing out of the car.