The Flying Spur V-8 Is a Real Bentley

“Your Bentley’s beauuuuuuuuutifulllllll.”

The woman’s voice trailed off as she drove past in her silver Range Rover.

We were gathered around the big Barnato green Bentley Flying Spur, parked on a backstreet in a tony suburb. We’d come here to photograph Bentley’s new entry-level model in its natural habitat. This is a place where people street-park their Lamborghinis and where Range Rovers outnumber Honda CR-Vs by a 3-to-1 margin.

So consider it mission accomplished for Bentley, then. Not only did the woman recognize the car as something special, something rarer and more expensive than a Mercedes or BMW; she recognized it as a Bentley. Okay, its big square front grille, even when finished in black, is a pretty big tip-off. As are the Spur’s headlights, which look like Waterford cut-crystal goblets.

But this has been the challenge for the lesser Bentley sedan since it launched in 2005. Frankly, the first-generation Spur didn’t look like a Bentley. At a glance it could only be identified as a Large European Luxury Sedan Of Some Sort. That Flying Spur looked as if it had come from the wrong direction; it was floated up to the top of the VW Group soup instead of down from the massive Mulsanne four-door.

This Spur looks like a Bentley. It is unapologetically large and imposing. It’s not just the more upright appearance, either; the new Spur rides on a wheelbase of 125.7 inches, five greater than the old Spur. Much of that additional space was grafted between the front wheel and the A-pillar. The new proportions make the Spur look more convincingly like a rear-wheel-drive car in the traditional luxury-car, and traditional Bentley, mode. It’s not, of course. Like its predecessor, it comes standard with all-wheel drive.

Unlike its predecessors, which split torque 50/50, front to rear, the new car is effectively a rear-wheel-drive car until it detects wheel slip. The aim is to make this 5000-pound-plus road hog feel a little more sporting. And the Spur, which is built from the same platform as the Porsche Panamera, actually does feel surprisingly sporty considering its size and its heavy load of jewelry. This test car’s optional four-wheel-steering system certainly made the Spur feel more agile.