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WORLD’S FASTEST BUBBLE

Luxury touring just got racier thanks to Bentley’s 195mph 4-seater saloon, the Flying Spur. Fact is though, it’s such an involving drive, it will have your chauffeur out of a job.

A bubble is a strange simile you may say, being that we’re talking about a car that weighs around 2.5 tonnes. However it really does float over speed bumps as well as smoothing its way in to corners like Delia Smith with an icing pallet. Then at high speed the mass of this machine just falls in to oblivion and the sheer horse power takes its course; just short of two hundred miles per hour on the speedometer and this is still the fastest 4-seater saloon on the market.

Its grand touring heritage is of course prevalent and so long as you choose the cross-country routes to Henley, Ascot or Lords your other half will have her Jimmy Choos tossed aside in favour of those lambs wool rugs (one of the many optional extras she had ear marked at the show room). The kids meanwhile, having been suitably tamed at boarding school will be cultured enough to take in the scenery and eat their salmon and cream cheese bagels off the veneered picnic tables, dabbing their mouths with napkins in between mouthfuls.

Smooth and sedate though it may be for passengers, there’s plenty to keep your senses buzzing. Sure you could command the controls with your little finger at slow speeds, it’s that effortless but the Flying Spur will really live up to its name when you show it some enthusiasm. Looking at its squandering mass you’d expect it to dodge deers about as well as a tank but it’s beautifully direct to steer and manages to curtail any extra kilos due to its robust structure. Okay so you’d be foolish to get all rally-driver like with it but its four-wheel drive system will keep you upright despite the fact that it’s lashing down and your next manor house stop-over is unfavourably nestled on a hillside track.

With its new DVD-based Sat Nav, it’ll be no sweat when you veer off course and want to discover new places. One of the most important features you’ll use on it though is the petrol station icon as it will drink its rations like there’s no tomorrow. Don’t expect to get the same welcome at a Greenpeace convention as you would at Goodwood either; in a world where hand washing nappies and eating home grown vegetables by candlelight is the norm – you will be the devil with your toxic carbon footprints!
Of course you could argue that you are a naturist with all those trees and cows gracing your interior. You could also point out that it has four-seats instead of two and that those 19” alloys are always well inflated but you can expect your martyrdom to be lost on them. Well it may be extravagant but we can’t really un-do technology; what a waste it would be if that W12 twin turbo, 553bhp engine was just gathering dust in a museum somewhere.

Under the skin, the flying spur is pretty identical to the GT aside from it being an extra metre long. It has used this space wisely though with plenty of room in the back as well as generous boot space. Aside from the stretching effect, you can’t really tell them apart on the road, closer examination will reveal B-pillars which provide it with extra rigidity. Despite an additional 95kg over the GT however you really do get the best of all worlds as it dishes out performance by the bucket load as well as having that hand-tailored serenity you can sink back in to, closing away the world and being immersed in a bubble.

Verdict

FOR: Top end speed, surprising agility, four seats, bigger boot and new Mulliner Driving spec for 2007 adds to its street cred with its sporty accessories
AGAINST: They don’t come much thirstier or dirtier to the planet.
CONCLUSION: Bigger on style and luxury, long journeys are set to get even better!

Spec

ENGINE: 5998cc
POWER: 500bhp @ 4200rpm
TORQUE (lb/ft): 479 lb-ft @ 1600rpm
0-62mph (sec): 4.9
TOP SPEED: 195mph
PRICE: £115,000
RIVALS: Mercedes S Class, Audi A8, Lexus LS 460, BMW 7-series, Maserati Quattroporte