Alan Judd

Seduced by Bentley

Seduced by Bentley

While Rover sank (it was warned, twice, in this column), another car was launched, in Venice. An amphibian? No, a Bentley.

Perhaps because it rarely advertises, Bentley’s car launches are like no other. Each is divided into three- to four-day segments designed for different audiences. The basis is driving and learning about the car, with an emphasis on culture and surroundings for the lifestyle journalists, on the business case for the financial press, on engineering for the hard-core motoring press and on who-knows-what? for the dealer network. It was Cape Town for the flagship Arnage T, Spain for the Continental GT coupe and, this month, the Grand Canal for the Continental Flying Spur, the four-door version of the GT.

We drove on the mainland, slummed it at night in the Gritti Palace, enjoyed exclusive guided tours, lunched in rural grandeur with a young count (who must be in need of a wife) and dined with a beautiful countess in her palazzo. Is it corrupting to be pampered so? Perish the thought. Merely seductive.

And seduced we were — but by the car. Designed alongside its coupe sibling, the Flying Spur shares with it 62 per cent of components, including 11 cows (which contributed their hides) and the compact, six-litre W12 cylinder engine. This powers it to 195mph and 0–60 in 4.9 seconds, making it the fastest four-door car in the world. The lines are similar to the GT, but the extra foot of length and subtle but telling differences — the horizontal extension of the mid-line, for example, smoothing out the haunches — make it a more elegant, less brutally powerful-looking beast. For crash-test reasons (the Flying Spur is 90kg heavier, therefore needs more front protection), the front bumper protrudes slightly, which further softens the line, while the rear bumper funnels air from the underbody diffuser.

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