Spur of the moment

They say that love is a many splendoured thing. Gordon Torbet isn't sure who 'they' are, but had they driven the Bentley Continental Flying Spur, they'd definitely have found many splendoured things to fall in love with.

To call this mode of transport a 'car' is like calling the Kohinoor diamond a shiny rock. There is so much more to the Flying Spur than just getting from A to B in sublime comfort.

It oozes sophistication and heritage, from the 16-way electrically adjustable front seats (only 14-way in the rear!) all with built-in variable back massager, to the push/pull chromed 'organ stop' air vent openers and the classic Breitling timepiece located
centre dash.

These two qualities go hand-in-hand throughout the Flying Spur. It would be unheard of that one of your occupants or guests would receive less luxury than the others, so whether you are the driver or it's your trusty chauffeur behind the wheel, everyone is satiated on their journey with comfort that wouldn't be out of place in the world's most prestigious hotels.

It is a credit to VW that the Phaeton (and Audi A8) frame works so well as the underpinnings for the Flying Spur, which is quite visibly a much heavier vehicle. It also shares this chassis with the coupe, but Bentley's engineers – ever sticklers for detail – recalibrated it when they extended the wheelbase to allow for more leg room in the Flying Spur.

Soft furnishings

So let's climb back inside the Bentley. After all, that is where you'll be spending most of your time. And what a jolly time you'll have. A dozen or so hides were sacrificed to adorn each interior of the Flying Spur.

Which means, as a guest in either the front or rear seats, you are cosseted in the smoothest of leather upholstery covering the seating, door panels, waistrails, dashboard, rear parcel shelf, and roof headlining. It's all accented with a range of wood veneers – of which the Burr Walnut is possibly a little too sanguine for my personal taste, but even I can't deny that there is a place for the traditional in a marque with such gravitas.

And that gravitas is palpable everywhere you drive the Flying Spur: cars in front of you on the highway move out of your way without protest, colleagues all of a sudden become friends, valets rush to open your door and snatch your keyless entry fob from you. And you can't help but let the gravitas rub off a little: your bearing changes, you become taller, you smile a lot more, life has a few less troubles – although, if you have the money to buy a Flying Spur at around Dh800,000 or more, then it's likely that life will already have fewer troubles.

But, in general, things just go more smoothly in a Bentley. You could say that it's because of the computer controlled suspension which maintains a static ride height and absorbs bumps and divots instantaneously to give the serene kind of drive one would expect of a super-yacht. Or it could be near perfect soundproofing which seems to filter out wind and road noise but allows the thunderous rasp of the exhaust to permeate the cabin when you floor the gas pedal.

Or it could be the orchestral grandeur of the music system which wafts you along on a deep pile carpet of sound. It is almost as if a hundred years of regal Bentley genes have created an innate anti-fluster filter. The cabin becomes
your sanctuary.

Orchestral performance

To get the Flying Spur to a 100 km/h gallop will take just over five seconds – that's 2.5 metric tonnes, we're talking. And the world will eventually glide past your window at 312 km/h. You half expect to see a vapour trail in your rear-view mirror, and all this while you are receiving a delightful lower back massage.

The reason for this class of performance is a 552bhp 6-litre, Borg-Warner twin-turbocharged, 12-cylinder engine coupled to a 6-speed automatic gearbox and Bentley's full-time all wheel drive system, which not only results in effortless pulling power but astounding road-holding for such a weighty carriage.

The gearbox features Tiptronic manual and paddle shift, although it is a bit redundant as the shifters are mounted on the column so you can only use them in a straight line, although with that amount of power, it's probably for the best. That and the fact that the Auto mode is so slick and efficient you don't really gain from being in Manual.

Fortunately, that 2.5 tonnes of thundering bliss can be brought to a pretty abrupt halt thanks to the humungous 405 mm ventilated front brake disks visible behind the 19-inch multi-spoke single piece sports alloy wheels – the largest on any production passenger car available today and taken from the Continental GT coupe.

Also, surprisingly, the drag co-efficient of the Flying Spur is better than that of the GT – 0.31Cd compared to the coupé's 0.32Cd. This is thanks to the overall smoothness of its curves as well as the underbody diffuser and the rear spoiler styled into the bootlid.

Bespoken like a gentleman

But while no car is perfect, the Flying Spur's faults are truly few and generally not restricted to this vehicle alone: some of the interior colours are impractical (the light Magnolia invites scuffs around the lower door and seating); the ratcheted split armrests, once raised slightly, need to be lifted all the way up to drop them all the way down again, so they can become irritating when all you want to get at is your wallet.

But the positives far outweigh the negatives. In fact, if you stood on top of the pile of positives and looked down, you wouldn't even be able to see the negatives. There is the beautifully trimmed hide interior (the steering wheel alone takes five hours to hand stitch), the perfectly symmetrical veneers, the efficient multi-zone climate control, the capacious trunk which is larger than most studio apartments, the 12-channel audio, computerised suspension control, keyless entry and centre console-mounted start/stop button, the full infra-red laminated glazing… the list really is endless, especially as Bentley will tailor make your Flying Spur to the most intricate specification detail of your request.

The Flying Spur is not everyone's cup of Earl Grey. If you don't like the consummate luxury of a Chesterfield armchair, or an engine that sounds as distinctive as a Spitfire, or the performance of a Grand National winner, or the majesty of the QE2, or the sophisticated savoir faire of David Niven, then you probably will find little to your taste in the Flying Spur.

If, on the other hand, you can tick the 'Yes' box for the above (preferably using a Mont Blanc pen) and you have the bank balance to boot, then this carriage will enhance your every journey. If this sounds a little over the top, then you simply haven't driven it.

Gordon Torbet is a Dubai-based freelance writer