BENTLEY Mulsanne Review

Almost a half of the production process goes into crafting the cabin of the Mulsanne. The steering wheel stitching alone requires fifteen hours of work. If you want to feed the economy, ask for cross-stitching, this triples the time. The steering wheel itself doesn't have a particularly inspiring form though.

As you look around, there's a fine balance between etiquette and a cozy atmosphere. The mixture sits in the veneers, leather and metals covering the cabin. Once the doors are closed, you get that feeling of inner peace, all with a rather relaxed atmosphere.

Entering a Bentley Mulsanne, you'll feel a special aroma. This is the leather working its olfactory effect on you. Bentley has re-introduced its traditional leather tanning in order to bring this exact smell that made so many customers proud in the past.

There must be a fundamental difference in the way Bentley and Rolls Royce use the leather hides - whereas a Phantom needs twelve hides, the Mulsanne requires eighteen of them.

As for the glossy veneers, these are unbleached to keep their natural look. While in a Bentley Continental each front seat occupant gets his dedicated area, the Mulsanne's dashboard is gifted with an uninterrupted wood panel. Even the infotainment screen, an 8-inch unit, is hidden underneath a veneer panel.

It's like somebody took your favorite electronics, placed them inside the car and the meticulously covered them in the finest of materials. For instance, right underneath the central display, you find an "mp3 storage drawer", nicely finished in leather that's just as smooth as that on the seats. And yes, this means you'll make awkward gestures just to be able to touch this with the back of your arm, for example.

And if that's not enough for you, pay attention to the bulls-eye air vents, which can now also be found in the back. Each is fitted with a stainless steel knob which allows you to block the airflow. This has always been the way with Bentleys. At first, we were preoccupied with the literal meaning of the stainless steel brightware. Well, this is the result of a 10-hour polishing process.

Well, we've let the air flow in freely, but it wasn't our fingers that did the job. We just thought we handled this, but the mechanical connection is actually simulated, with motors handling the job. Got us here Bentley.