BLOWN AWAY

BENTLEY CONTINENTAL FLYING SPUR
PRICE Rs 1.65 crore
(ex-showroom, Mumbai)
ON SALE now

It’s raining again. The wipers go faster, but the rain intensifies. They can't keep up and visibility on the expressway is fast becoming a problem. Rats. I pad the brake smootly and drop speed, the speedometer needle cruises past 170, 160, 150. It’s been a good run despite the wet surface. The Bentley Continental Flying Spur, on its 275 Pirelli P Zero Rosso tyres and air suspension, has put on an exemplary display, its four- wheel-drive chassis revealing a depth of talent I, at the time, don't fully appreciate due to the totally effortless manner in which these speeds have been achieved. Oh, and before I forget, the speedometer is calibrated in miles per hour and we have five passengers in the car. At speed, even very high speeds, on a wet road, the Flying Spur is so well mannered, so composed and so in control when cornered hard, I am lost for words. It shrinks around you to Mercedes C-class size, the well weighted steering and brakes throw buckets of information at you and body control is so unflustered you are always supremely confident. Driving the car up through city traffic in Mumbai was equally impressive. For all its turbocharged 552bhp, the car is a real pussycat to drive, even during on/off throttle situations. Responses from the engine are linear, the six-speed auto is unobtrusive and the scenery only leaps out at you if you boot the throttle — but doing that here is silly. Ride qlity, even on the softest setting of the car’s air suspension is the only area where the Bentley is less than perfect, a regular pitter patter filtering through to the cabin.
The five-metre-long body is familiar. The heavily sculpted nose comes from its stable-mate the Continental GT coupe, complete with the heavy wire mesh look grille and gaping chin. Classic fluid lines that stretch from headlight to tail counter the butch face with elegance. The car is built on the VW Phaeton platform, Volkswagen's 'bridge too far' luxury car that is currently floundering somewhere at the bottom of the luxury car sales charts. But that doesn't matter.
This does. Two-and-a-half tons of steel normally take an age to get going. So how is it so devastatingly quick? Simple; it uses two massive pump size turbos shoveling air into a 6000cc W12 engine ( a pair of VW V6 motors on a common crank), or simply 552 bhp. 100 kilometres an hour can be achieved in five seconds and if you keep your right foot pinned on the right kind of road you'll get 212 more !
Open the door and your assaulted by cowhide and wood of the finest quality. And chrome too; solid big indestructible looking hunks of it. Climb into the back seat and your whole body goes 'aaahhh', the tension in your muscles deflated. The seats are well supported, soft and creamy at the same time. The headrest must have more padding than a Maruti 800's seats! And of course it has every feature you can think of, and then fifteen. A car that sits at the core of Bentley philosophy, this car executes its dual objective of being the fastest as well as the most comfortable saloon car in the world through hand-crafted sumptuous elegance on one hand and brute force on the other, with no compromise in either. But at Rs 1.65 crore, is it better than two, almost three, Mercedes-Benz S350Ls ? If you already have one , it is.

Factfile
Engine
Layout 5998cc, W12 cylinder
Max power 552bhp @ 6100rpm
Max torque 66.28kgm@1600rpm

How big
Length 5307mm
Width 1916mm
Height 1479mm
Kerb weight 2475kg
0-100 5.2sec
Max Speed 312kph

WHAT TO EXPECT
Unbridled automotive excess at its shocking best.