The 2022 Flying Spur Hybrid is Bentley’s first electrified saloon. Does it cut the mustard as a true Bentley? Richard Ingram takes the wheel to find out.
By 2024 every single bentley will be offered with a plug the journey started with the bentayga 12 months ago and now we have this the uber luxurious bentley flying spur hybrid it sits between the entry-level v8 and the flagship w12 but the question is does a v6 hybrid work in a bentley watch this video to find out and subscribe to the auto express channel for brand
New car videos every single week so if the w12 is considered the chauffeurs bentley and the v8 is the driver’s bentley what do we make of this one then is this the best of both worlds or a bit of a confusing mix of the two but first things first if there’s one thing that you can associate with a bentley its luxury and its refinement and nothing does luxury and
Refinement like a silent electric powertrain bentley has yet to have the hybrid officially homologated for sale in the uk so some numbers have yet to be determined it says you’ll be able to charge the flying spur in around two and a half hours aiming for a pure electric range of at least 25 miles from the 14.1 kilowatt hour battery on a full charge however our trip
Readout was showing an impressive 32 miles that might not sound very good but if you compare that to a v8 or worse still a w12 well the cost savings are going to be significant we’ve been doing a mixture of mileage and we’ve actually done around 110 miles now and overall efficiency it’s running at about 28 miles per gallon that’s us figure so around 33 miles per
Gallon if you convert it to uk outright fuel economy is one thing but let’s not forget the benefits of picking the hybrid as a company car while the numbers need to be confirmed using the bentayga as a benchmark shows that running the plug-in flying spur could as much as halve your annual benefit in kind tax bill but going back to what this thing is likely to drive
It’s just so quiet and effortless especially when you’re running purely on electric you can’t notice when the engine kicks in certainly when you’re at motorway speeds this hybrid is running a newer 2.9 liter twin turbo v6 the one you find in the panamera rather than the one you’ll find in the bentayga hybrid and it’s certainly got a decent turn of pace when you put
Your foot down it’s just not the most tuned for motor that’s our biggest issue but again that’s not likely to matter if you’re going to spend most your time in the back or poodling to and from the office around town it’s just perfectly refined and quiet so it can do the town stuff and it can do the motorway stuff when you find yourself on a twisting country road
You can definitely feel the weight of that hybrid battery it feels heavier than the v8 it’s not as agile as the v8 but it’s certainly not sloppy the steering is good enough there’s not all that much roll but when you push it into a corner you can really feel the weight transfer the v8 then remains the driver’s car how about things in the back then well it may not
Feel quite as big as you might imagine but you can adjust the seats if you get into a really nice recline position there is plenty of space and those headrests my god those headrests they’re like actual pillows so all things considered then it’s probably a little bit closer to a w12 than it is a v8 in terms of being a decent chauffeur’s car it wafts along nicely
Suspension tunes good it’s not that much fun to drive if we’re being brutally honest so then all things considered what’s the point in the w12 you’ve got the v8 if you want to be in the front seat and you’ve got the hybrid now if you want to be in the back think about the running cost you’re going to save an absolute packet so yeah it begs the question how long
Is the w12 for this world visually there are just two telltale signs that this is the electrified flying spur the hybrid badges just ahead of the front doors and the extra filler cap on the rear wing housing the car’s charge port otherwise it’s business as usual it’s the same story inside where say for a few sub-menus buried within the tactile infotainment system
And some hybrid specific pop-ups on the digital dials this plug-in model is almost indistinguishable from the existing petrol versions one complaint that i do have is that on some of the rougher freeway roads out here in california there’s possibly a little bit more road noise than i would have liked and actually around town the brakes are a little bit grubby
You don’t get that super smooth sensation that you do in a mercedes s-class where you can come to a stop without it lurching forward it’s very difficult to modulate it enough to have a completely smooth stop but it’s not a deal breaker so that’s what it’s like to drive how about the general cabin well if you’ve ever sat in a v8 or a w12 very very familiar it’s
Completely identical say from a few drive modes and some menus in the infotainment system of course that’s no bad thing the cabin is exquisite especially this open pore wood which isn’t like a normal veneer which you get with a lacquer on the front it feels like a piano everything else looks great as well you get the rotating screen in the middle fully digital
Dials behind the steering wheel but just everything you touch feels beautifully built this hand-stitched steering wheel you’ve got lovely leather on the top here and there’s just metal and gloss plastic wherever you look and while this particular model may not be to your taste bentley says there are 56 billion ways that you can spec a flying spur so if you can’t
Find one that you like well you’re not easily pleased are you there will always be a certain majesty surrounding bentley’s silky smooth w12 engine but ultimately the brand’s future is electric and nothing is more luxurious than the sound and feel of running around on battery power alone it’s set to cost around three percent more than the v8 with prices starting
From around a hundred and seventy thousand pounds but plug it in or run one as a company car and you’ll recoup that three percent in no time if of course that kind of thing matters to you the v8 remains the drivers bentley but dare we say it if you spend most your time in the back then the hybrid should be at the top of your list
Transcribed from video
NEW Bentley Flying Spur Hybrid review: INCREDIBLE luxury | Auto Express By Auto Express
