Bentley Continental Flying Spur (05 on) - Review

Review by Simon Harris on
Last Updated: 16 October 2008
What's the fastest production saloon car in the world? An AMG Mercedes? BMW M5? Maybe a Maserati Quattroporte? Actually it's the rather frumpy looking Bentley Continental Flying Spur. Because while those cars might match or in some cases beat the Bentley from the traffic lights, none can match its incredible 195mph top speed. Far more relevant of course is its effortless real world performance, fabulous cabin and secure all weather handling. And the fact that while still horrendously expensive compared to everyday car, at upwards of £115,000 the Bentley has few real rivals. Bentley does make another saloon, the Arnage. Though much less sophisticated it’s largely built by hand, explaining the £50,000 extra it costs.
4 out of 5

Safety

No one expects to have an accident but the more pessimistic rich could do worse than equip themselves with a Flying Spur. Two front airbags, four side airbags protecting both front and rear passengers and curtain airbags are all included as standard. So are seatbelt pretensioners and an electronic stability system. But there is no official data available relating to crash worthiness because the flying Spur hasn't been put through Euro NCAP's testing procedure.

NCAP Test

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4 out of 5

Reliability

The new-era Bentleys built during Volkswagen’s watch have an excellent reputation for quality and the Flying Spur is no different. But Bentley dealers are seeing cars with engine damage resulting from badly designed aftermarket engine upgrades fitted by owners greedy for more power than the standard 552bhp.

Car check problem points

Body

No problems reported.

Engine/Gearbox

No problems reported.

Other

No problems reported.