Bentley Flying Spur review

It’s a limo, so let’s begin in the rear quarters. While not being Bentley’s halo limo – a role now unexpectedly bestowed upon the Bentayga EWB and its incredible ‘airline’ seating – there’s still lots of legroom. And quite a few toys to play with, too. Some of them (mood lighting, fridge, rear-seat entertainment, massive Naim stereo) are optional, others (14-way electric, heated and cooled, massage chairs all round, detachable touchscreen remote control) are standard.

It all depends how much access to media and tech you want. You can make it a business environment, or an escape from all that. Given how utterly convincingly the BMW i7 and 7 Series have reinvented rear seating – and more specifically the tech and screens surrounding it – perhaps it’s better to think of the Spur as the final throes of a simpler time and keep things serene back here.

The detachable remote is good, though. It allows those in the back to have as much input into and influence over the in-car entertainment and navigation as those up front. Putting your kids in the back? Maybe that’s not such a great thing. Confiscate it before you get going.

The view out the side windows is slim but pleasing, the atmosphere, especially with the new 3D quilting on the doors (a world first), is luxurious. It can all feel pretty contemporary, too, if you’ve specced it all with discretion.

And up front?

The driving environment has a lot in common with the Continental GT, although the two bulls-eye vents on the centre console have been replaced with a more modern design. There’s a lot of switchgear to manage, but mostly it’s self-explanatory and doesn’t require too much eyes-off-road time (certainly less than wholly screen-controlled rivals). Nothing looks like it’s come from the VW parts bin, even though some has. That’s not only because Bentley has applied its own decoration, but because the wood and leather is so distracting.

As ever, it’s all beautifully done, a tribute to Crewe’s craftsmanship. And that natty ‘rotating Toblerone’ in the middle of the dashboard allows you to hide all the tech and enjoy some old-fashioned dials with just a sliver of nav directions cocooned inside the digital instrument cluster.

This is a cabin you sit in and admire. The tech is no more advanced or comprehensive than you’ll find in a BMW or Merc costing tens of thousands less, but that’s not what sets the Flying Spur apart. It’s the ambience and sheer air of class (again, spec dependant…) that does that.