How to make cars
Bentley hasn’t always been the most forward-looking of car makers, but it’s now a very different prospect in that regard from how it once it was.
Those who have long enough memories may not forget when, 20 years ago and after a confusing asset from the corporate Volkswagen and BMW, the corporate has actually supplanted the much more 4. 4-liter BMW V8 at the Bentley Arnage saloon for its Old 6. 75-liter two-valve V8 V8, making the car marginally more temporarily more temporary but significantly less fuel-efficient, and gaining approval and business return from a giant component of their consumers in the process. Continental engines of various types, since then, in general and despite the advice of this magazine, W12 engines massively liked V8. As for engines, bigger invariably meant bigger for the Bentley customer.
I am not sure that a large Bentley hall becomes naturally lending to Phev’s treatment. This is not the type of car that you have a “pinch” in the supermarket, in the gym
But, knowing that the recovery of these tastes would not serve it well, the company has now decisively replaced electrification. His Crewe factory described independently not qualified in Carbon in 2019 and his first PHEV production, Bentley Bentayga Hybrid, arrived here the same year.
By the time Bentley’s first electric car arrives in 2026, there will be a plug -in hybrid edition of each and every Bentley style for a long time. And the topic of this week’s verification unit, the Bentley Flying Spur Hybrid, is here to show, Bentley states that opting for one does not want to settle for a significant not married commitment to any of the dynamic qualities that he would expect from any of his cars
Bentley’s petrol limousine slots between the existing V8 and W12 versions above the price. It has a slightly less maximum force than the V8, it is slightly acceleration and has a more sensible decrease in speed, its possible possible emission. For those interested in modern transportation and luxury guilt.
The diversity of Bentley Mulliner is the highest level of de facto equipment in the car, there are also optional tour packages, convenience and management specifications that buyers can configure their cars on grouped issues.
* Proven model
Bentley’s existing spur flying absolutely represented a technological leap when it gave the impression on British roads in 2020, even as a natural combustion car. An architecture of the platform evolved together with the spouse of the Volkswagen Group, Porsche, delivered a decrease frame profile, a thinner sidewalk weight, a more backward position of the engine and a more uniform weight distribution than the spur outgoing, as well as influential innovations, suspension and control innovations.
It’s highly commendable of Bentley, then, to have successfully packaged the Bentley Flying Spur Hybrid with so few compromises. In place of a W12 or V8 engine, this hybrid uses a 2.9-litre twin-turbocharged V6 petrol engine mated in line with a 134bhp permanent magnet synchronous electric drive motor sitting upstream of an eight-speed dual-clutch gearbox. Underneath the boot floor, where it doesn’t affect cabin packaging at all, is a lithium ion drive battery of 18kWh total installed capacity.
The oval quad tail pipes are suitable for those of the V8, so there is no simple way to detect a hybrid in the back. The W12 uses larger dual escapes. The “hybrid” badge in the front wing is one of the few identity characteristics. Obviously, Bentley does not expect Spur Phev owners to need to inform their distinctive feature too clearly.
The PHEV package in its entirety makes for a car that’s less than 70kg heavier than the W12 Flying Spur (the weight of one adult passenger, in other words), which, in a 2.5-tonne luxury saloon, you might very well not notice at all. The drawback? That 18kWh drive battery capacity (15kWh of which is usable) isn’t much next to what the likes of the new Range Rover P510e and Mercedes-Benz S580e are offering, so electric-only driving range is a claimed 25 miles, where those rivals tout well in excess of 50 in some cases.
Rather than the 2995cc TFSI V6 of the Bentley Bentayga Hybrid, the car has a shorter-stroke, lower-compression, bigger-boosted 2894cc V6, effectively swapping the VW Group engine of Audi’s mid-sized petrol-powered S models for the equivalent RS engine.
In other places, the active four -wheel drive formula based on crack -based bias and the active suspension of three cameras seem in the hybrid, as they do in other variants. The four -wheel guide formula of the other spurs does not, such as the location of the transmission battery location in the rear axle packaging area.
That drive battery also inverts the bias of the car’s near-perfect front-to-rear weight distribution: while the W12 Spur we tested in 2020 had 53% of its weight over the front wheels, the Hybrid carries 52% of it over the rear.
The Spur Flying Bentley hybrid can be asked as a traditional five -class or with individual and adjustable living room -shaped rooms in the form of a living room and a prolonged central console between them, as with our control car. This 4 -point provision adds an additional exclusivity note and a sumptuous convenience to a very complicated inmate to locate an equal. His objective wealth of curtains and his beloved tactile sensation are heaven, but more subjectively, our ladies have agreed that it is also an excellently cozy atmosphere, enveloping and relaxing, instead of looking or feeling in some way steep, formal or too great.
The entrance is through a fairly low turn of the hips and a careful neighborhood of its head to avoid what is a low ceiling line for a full size limousine. Once it is there, the space for the head is rarely so beneficial in any of the occupants may like it. It is stricter at the back than the front, of course, the rear seats in Bentley’s convenience specification do not allow him to recline his back 6 feet 2 inches, it is unlikely to complain about the available area.
The carpentry of 3 dimensions on the theme of diamond on the doors, padded in a skin, are catchy because it catches the soft when you open the door. Richard LaNedEdputy road test editor
With the 4-point cockpit arrangement, the other vital people in the back also get a wireless charging pad and several cable plugs; a heated center armrest with masses of garage area underneath; Circle, radiators, radiators and coolers, non-public air conditioning regions and vents that have their own; an infotainment touchscreen; and electrically opposed folding boards. Our Car Checks did not have demo screens in the rear, however, they may have been added at an additional cost.
Opt for special wood supply supplies, main points design and embroidered characteristics; Other leather color combinations; And some special characteristics of “humor light” that unfold discreetly as an emotion when notes after dusk. The brilliant interior feels uniformly touch and dear to touch, even when it is not in diamond. The main rotation infotainment screen is easy to use, but it is also glorious to simply “store it” when you do not want. And virtual instruments, with its new indicators and hybrid characteristics, juggling intelligently clarity and visual attractiveness.
In the boot, there’s a little less space than a regular Bentley Flying Spur offers: 420 litres is cut to 351. That’s compact-hatchback-level boot space really, and when you have several big flight cases to carry or bigger cargo boxes, it might conceivably leave you disappointed and embarrassed. It would be unlikely to dim the considerable appeal of ownership much on a daily basis, though.
Bentley seems to be regarding the touchscreen-dominated interior design revolution going on elsewhere in the automotive world with a dubious eye. The Flying Spur’s 12.3in rotating system hasn’t changed much since 2020 and is still easy to navigate, thanks to its column of shortcut menu buttons. It’s slower to respond than some luxury-market systems but not disappointingly so. It also has new connected features for the Hybrid, thanks to a fully embedded data connection, so you can remotely access the car from a smartphone app to check particular information and features.
The audio formula has 60GB of built-in music storage, 650W of power, and 10 speakers as standard. There is an optional premium formula of 1,500 W of Bang
The sat-nav system’s voice recognition doesn’t yet recognise natural speech as well as some, though. Destinations have to be spoken somewhat unintuitively (town, road, house number) in order to be recognised.
This may on paper be the slowest-accelerating version of the current Bentley Flying Spur, but it’s not so by much. It certainly doesn’t feel like any kind of poor relation when it’s launching from standing, which Bentley Flying Spur Hybrid does very keenly indeed for a 2.5-tonne car. And anyone minded to quibble that it ‘isn’t enough Bentley’ for them should probably first consider that, in cracking 60mph in 4.4sec, 100mph in 10.2sec and the standing quarter mile in 12.8sec, this new Hybrid is quicker in every respect than the previous-generation Bentley Flying Spur (2013-2019) with the W12 was when we figured it in 2013.
Flat-out performance isn’t all this car can do, though – nor even what it’s best at doing. It’s certainly commandingly brisk in full flight. Big on accessible torque, it’s well capable of picking off single-carriageway overtakes without downshifting, sweeping up to motorway speed on a sizeable swell of torque, and covering ground across country at real pace when you need it to.
The “painted and polished” alloy wheels “are seen are with mulliner specifications. Standard hybrids have 20s, with 21s optional. Brake tweezers can be painted as a sporty touch. Take into account the country of origin stamped in the centers.
But with the petrol engine closed in electric mode, it also reports even greater refinement, mechanical insulation and calm on board than a traditional spur. The V6 is further away from the pressures when you’re running while streaming, but that’s about achievable realization enough to realize when it’s on. And when you’re not there, whether it’s in and out of town, there’s an added luxury appeal to this car and that little bit less background for your post-dinner verbal exchange or music selection to race.
The car has modes of electric, hybrid and loading operation, the last of which are automatically decided when transfers to the game mode, the start button again to the driving mode.
In electric mode, functionality is quite soft, since there are only 134 HP to move the car. There are no haptic comments to the accelerator pedal to help you keep the piston engine, if you wish or wish; And since regularly they do not want more than 50 % of awakening the engine (which inadvertently when gradients are rising out of the city or accelerating with traffic), it would probably be an improvement in any circular conduction if intelligent comments had been used haptic pedal.
However, the braking force is as hard as you probably want it to be. (On the 22-inch wheels, it actually stopped faster than the 12-inch W12 flying spur we tested in 2020. )Stability is also smart, despite some great hard-braking diving. The brake pedal progression is also clever depending on the criteria of hybrid cars, with a bit of feel blur when it goes deep, but with a well-tuned initial response, making the car easy to drive smoothly, whatever the mode of operation. .
The elimination of the 4 -wheel guide formula may have caused low -speed maneuver disorders for a car for so long, but should pay attention when I do not suffer much. Bentley’s specific adjustment means that the car feels a little more focused on the convenience than the Bentley Flying Spur W12 that we tested two years ago, so the hybrid advances slightly slower than its low -speed comrade too, but far from be problematic.
Outside the city and at higher speeds, take the car of sharpness, precision, balance and control. Punta turns can be taken with a lot of speed and birth when it is humorous. The car would not be excessively shot in the hard corners, even in its softer driving modes, and will adhere to a tight line and hold a sharp posture in the curves, suddenly you can make you feel much larger and heavier if you find A blow or compression in the corner.
I once led a couple to their honeymoon moon moon in a flying spur W12 on abandoned roads. It is surely very better for work. The hybrid would have even more controlled the adventure, however, I am not sure that he had his luggage in the Matt Saundersroad test editor
That there’s plenty of meat, just a hint of feedback and some directness to the car’s steering are constant, welcome reminders that what you’re driving is an enthusiast’s car and far from a typical chauffeuring conveyance. Moreover, when the car’s tendency to waft and float a little as it rides becomes any kind of encumbrance at all on certain roads and above particular speeds, Bentley’s Sport mode reins in those tendencies with subtle effectiveness.
Hustle the car to its limits on a track and you will find it can cling on to a cornering line surprisingly tenaciously and it retains good balance and stability under power. Like other Bentleys at the less overtly sporting end of the model spectrum, it works its brakes hard and certainly couldn’t lap at the full potential of its powertrain without ultimately overheating them, but fade certainly wouldn’t be a problem for it during typical road driving.
The 22in alloy wheels of our test car (standard fit if you splash out on Mulliner specification) are ultimately what cost the Flying Spur Hybrid a perfect score in this section. If you avoid them (20in rims are standard on entry-level cars and plenty of 21in designs are available), we can well imagine that it might have all but unbeatable refinement and isolation, but, as ever, we can only report on the car in the state in which we find it – and, as such, there’s certainly room for improvement on its ride.
The seats are wide; Sweet Pilound on Smart Puts and, yet, supported by other places; largely adjustable; Equipped with masseuses, radiators and coolers; and supremely confusing long distance.
As already described, the car’s mechanical isolation is first class. You simply don’t hear or feel any noise or vibration at all from the powertrain much of the time; the gearbox is ever smooth with its shifts (Bentley’s dual-clutch teething problems evidently now successfully behind it); and when the combustion engine is running, it sounds appealing enough, has to be working hard to really be markedly audible and is never intrusive.
However, on the 22 wheels, the spur does not turn as softly as some of its luxury rivals. There is a buzzing of the rear surface of the automobile axes, which becomes stronger in thicker asphalt and an anger and anger and got into secondary driving in more clear intrusions, such as expansion joints and damaged asphalt edges.
Over certain kinds of bump, then, the car’s otherwise pervasive aura of calm is momentarily punctured where it might not be in a Rolls-Royce Ghost or even a Range Rover, although it’s ever quick to return.
If you buy a Flying Spur Hybrid in standard trim, Bentley’s Touring Specification (which adds a head-up display, a night vision camera system, Bentley’s Safeguard Plus active safety features, adaptive cruise control and lane assist) is a cost option – but it’s standard fit on a Mulliner-spec model like our test car. You can option adaptive cruise control individually if you prefer.
Safeguard Plus includes emergency lane change assist and junction monitoring, as well as crash avoidance and mitigation. Its sensitivity is adjustable and it can be deactivated, but it didn’t seem over-sensitive or intrusive during our test.
The adaptive cruise control can adapt the car’s speed to a posted limit, but it’s given to misreading limits in temporary motorway roadworks so needs some supervision. The cruise control also has no guard against undertaking slower traffic on the motorway.
At the price, the Bentley Flying Spur hybrid has been located between the existing V8 and W12 models, closer to the V8 than the W12; And contemplating the qualities he showed in this test, it is quite reasonable.
The car is deftly more beloved than the full-size limousine equivalents of Audi, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz, just as it deserves to be, but it won’t be for success in many of those who lately are wealthy in the range of the Rover catalog. Also, the way Cap expects the car to stay the price it deserves makes it more resistant to damping than many regular luxury car customers.
Specification tips? The Mulliner specification has as much of the optional kit as you want, however, the 22-inch wheels and features for a regular hybrid with the Naim audio and ambient lighting and stimulation spec packages. refinement.
Use the car as we did, a week of testing that included an extensive day of road figures, plenty of touring and urban driving and several full battery fees and you might see an overall 32, nine mpg from it. It’s also a 2. 5-ton Bentley and for homeowners who aren’t used to worrying about power they deserve to be lovely performance, though the Rivaux Phev’s conductive batteries may bring one or two to wish better.
A Bentley Wallbox charger for your garage is an optional option and a full range of charging cables are included as standard.
The electrified Bentayga arguably wouldn’t have gained universal admiration as a first Bentley tilt into a rechargeable hybrid in 2019, but its timing is a much clearer statement of intent. It has the dominant functionality we’ve come to expect from every Bentley; Comfort, refinement and remarkable opulent luxury; And a lot of attraction from the driver.
In many ways, the Bentley Flying Spur Hybrid is the complete and convincing flying maximum you can buy: a faster car opposed to the clock than the V12 Rolls-Royce Ghost we gave the impression of in 2021, but also capable of covering a very significant distance calmly and without burning a drop of fuel. As a luxury car, it has a wider, more adaptable motif character than the W12 Bentley Flying Spur we tested two years ago, and certainly more sympathetic. And if through burning fewer hydroautomobiles, it allows owners to make a more culpable resolution regarding their shipment and feel older in their skin accordingly, it calls it even more in 2022.
A five-star recommendation stays on the shelf because this car isn’t isolated and packaged entirely ideally and it doesn’t offer quite as much electric running as key rivals. But it is an impressive compromise of weight, space and functionality and a significant achievement.
As Autocar’s chief car tester and reviewer, it’s Matt’s job to ensure the quality, objectivity, relevance and rigour of the entirety of Autocar’s reviews output, as well contributing a great many detailed road tests, group tests and drive reviews himself.
Matt has been a member of the coach’s staff since the fall of 2003 and has been lucky enough to paint some of the best known writers and participants in the magazine. Join the test counter in 2011.
Since then, it has been driven, measured, in the fabric, figuratively and returned to cars as different as the Bugatti Veyron, Rolls-Royce Phantom, Tesla Roadster, Ariel Hipperautomobile, Tata Nano, McLaren Senna, Twizy and Renai Mirai. among. His most prominent aspects of non -public work covered Sebastien Loeb’s record career in Pikes Peak in 2013; Making 190 mph on the German road derailed in a rocket of Brabus; and boost the mythical F1 “XP5” prototype of McLaren. His own car is a faithful Mazda CX-5.