Bentley Flying Spur Speed: Jeremy Clarkson’s review

The super-luxe plug-in hybrid Flying Spur Speed weighs more than 2.6 tonnes but can hit 100km/h in 3.5 seconds. Rivals? I can’t think of any.

Bentley’s PR department has ensured that everyone in every film and every TV show has one. And it’s working.

Iam not sure I understand what Aston Martin’s PR strategy is. Mostly it seems to involve giving Gordon Ramsay the latest model, in the hope he will get papped when he pulls up outside his restaurant in it. That’s about it, though. Aston Martin failed to feature much in the latest series of the hit F1 show Drive to Survive, where it could have talked about its cars and racing team. It should have been centrestage but was barely mentioned. It was as if it didn’t exist.

That seems odd to me. To give your road cars some track-based credibility you spend millions and millions on your racing program – so why hide in the lavatory when Netflix comes round the corner?

There’s more. I’ve rather lost count of which Aston Martin DB we are up to now, but I saw a picture of one the other day and it did look rather snazzy. So I thought I’d get one in for a test drive. But no. It seems that after I gave the DBX a firm but fair review a few years ago, Aston Martin is no longer willing to send me any demonstrators.

Which makes me wonder. What happens when Amazon, which now has creative control of the Bond franchise, finally gets the next 007 movie under way? What will happen when it calls Aston to ask for a DB34? “Sorry, Jeff who? Never heard of you, go away.”

That would mean putting Bond back in a Bentley – which, incidentally, is where he began. I can’t imagine Bentley would mind because, so far as I can tell, its PR department has ensured that everyone in every film and every TV show has one. And it’s working. Beth in Yellowstone drives a Continental. So does Angela in Landman. Reacher, meanwhile, featured a four-door Flying Spur. You get the impression Bentley would say yes if the BBC rang and said Noddy was after some new wheels.

Bentley PRs are so dynamic they even rang me and asked if I’d like to try the new plug-in hybrid. And as my diary didn’t have an Aston in it, I said yes. It’s a replacement for the old V8, the W12 and the previous hybrid, which was a bit terrible.

It’s one hell of a car. Let me give you the headline. The new 4.0-litre V8 engine and the electric motor together produce 575kW. Madness? Well, that was my first thought too, because when you’re being chauffeured around in a car like this you want soft and gentle, not G-forces so violent that your face is torn off. I own one of the old V8s and not once have I ever thought, “I wish this was a bit faster.”

From the front.

You might think the great weight of all that electric stuff blunts the performance, and I’m sure it does. But the fact is you go from 0 to 100km/h in 3.5 seconds. And four seconds later you pass 160km/h. And you’re grinning, because you can’t believe something this big (it weighs over 2.6 tonnes) can move so bloody fast.

Then you get to some corners, and here a combination of four-wheel drive, fancy new electronic trickery and four-wheel steering means that you are bending the rules of physics. And that’s great in the sportier, two-door version of this car, the Continental. But what’s the point in a four-door saloon? Ah well, that’s just the thing. I spent a couple of days hooning around the lanes of Oxfordshire, marvelling at the fighter jet G-forces and the deep, almost rude noises coming from the exhaust. And then I got in the back and was driven to London. And it was as though I was in a completely different car.

In comfort mode it’s so quiet and relaxing that it becomes a wheeled lullaby. It’s even engineered so that the top half of the throttle pedal’s travel will produce only gentle responses, even if you stab at it. In town it glides. And if you put it in electric mode it’s like being in a climate-controlled, leather-lined womb. Everything is squidgy. There are no sharp edges.

This is two cars, then. One lets you know how it might feel to be in an artillery shell. And the other reminds you what life was like when you were a foetus.

What’s interesting about all of this is when you dig into the details you find the engineering isn’t that complicated. By modern automotive standards, it’s quite straightforward. It doesn’t even have twin-scroll turbochargers. Or a starter motor. And the torque vectoring is achieved by electronic jiggery-pokery. I actually rather like that about it.

Inside the cabin.

What I like more is the interior. The beautifully damped trumpet knobs that provide you with ventilation are so lovely to use, you find yourself playing with them for no real reason. And then you have a satnav screen that can be revolved to reveal three old-fashioned dials and then revolved again to reveal nothing at all. It feels like a very special place, the inside of this car.

It looks good from the outside too. But the styling does create a few drawbacks: very small rear windows and an even smaller boot. You certainly won’t be travelling anywhere with a steamer trunk. Or even a Globe-Trotter. It’s a car for a dirty weekend away, mainly because the boot is only big enough for a wash bag.

Driving-wise I don’t have any real concerns. Yes, there are speed-related bonging noises, and occasionally you can feel the propulsion system deciding whether to charge the batteries or use them. But it’s only a faint thing, no more troubling than a moment of calm when you’re sailing.

And then there’s the price. It’s £226,500, but that’s not what you’ll actually pay, of course. You want your illuminated flying B emblem on the front of the car to be black? That’ll be £3,880. You want the stitching to not match the colour of the seats? That’s £2,110. And so on, until you’re up way past £300,000.

That’s a huge amount for a four-door saloon. But this is not a four-door saloon. It is two four-door saloons. It’s a gentleman and a brute. It’s a Vulcan bomber and a Pitts Special. It’s a spring day and a Louisiana thunderstorm.

Rivals? I can’t think of any. The Rolls is too footbally, the S-class Mercedes too minicabby. And what’s left? Nothing, frankly. Maybe Aston Martin will realise this one day and reintroduce the Lagonda. Or maybe it already has, and it hasn’t told anyone yet.

Bentley Flying Spur Speed

ENGINE: 4.0-litre V8, twin-turbo, plus electric motor

PERFORMANCE: 0-100km/h 3.5 seconds, top speed 285km/h

PRICE: From $598,700

JEREMY’S RATING: ★★★★★