2023 Bentley Flying Spur

If the Bentley Flying Spur were a ship, it would probably be 1906’s famous HMS Dreadnought. Armed with massive guns and powered by giant steam turbines, Dreadnought (“fear nothing”) was the fastest and meanest battleship of its era, as visually intimidating as it was capable. Today a new Dreadnought, a nuclear submarine, is under construction, but subs are silent and invisible, and the Flying Spur is only one of those things. It’s preternaturally quiet inside, but its muscular looks, tailored cabin and mighty motors make it the baddest and fastest of luxury sedans.

Like the Dreadnought, the Flying Spur name also has plenty of history, having been first used on a Mulliner-built sports sedan version of the 1950s Continental.  Bentley revived the model in 2005 and the third-generation modern Flying Spur debuted in 2019. First powered only by the automaker’s 6.0-liter W12, Bentley added a 4.0-liter V8 in 2021 and a 2.9-liter V6 plug-in hybrid (PHEV) in 2022. For 2023, PHEV and V8 models get a sportier S trim, while the W12 morphs into the even sportier Flying Spur Speed.

Sedans like this are a rarified breed, and even rarer as true driver’s cars like the Flying Spur. Yes, some buyers prefer to be driven, but this huge car is a genuine athlete while also being supremely luxurious. Rolls-Royce’s Ghost and Phantom may be bigger and pricier, but the Spur is faster and more fun. The Mercedes-Maybach S-Class is very posh, but not as exclusive or exciting. Mercedes-AMG’s 791-horsepower S 63 E Performance has yet to debut, and none of the new EV supersedans, even the Lucid Air, have Bentley’s luxury gravitas.

Based on the same platform as the Continental GT and a distant relative of Porsche’s Panamera, the Flying Spur’s capable dynamics were baked in from the start. It’s 209 inches long and weighs 5,300 pounds in W12 form, but the Spur handles like a smaller, lighter machine, especially when fitted with Bentley’s Dynamic Ride suspension. It recalls BMW’s new 7 Series, only even faster and quieter. The engines don’t disappoint either, with 536 horsepower (PHEV), 542 hp (V8) and 626 hp (W12). All three are capable of zero-to-60 runs of 4.1 seconds or less.

Step inside and the Flying Spur is a luxury liner, not a battleship. There are millions of color, trim and fabric combinations and Crewe will be only too happy to build one exactly to your liking (for a price). The various fine stitching and beautifully detailed surfaces vary by customer preference, but every Spur has seats so comfy they wouldn’t tire you out even if you reenacted The Cannonball Run in one. Rear seat room is similar to other big top-drawer sedans and there’s a surprisingly large trunk, with more room than many of this car’s rivals. 

The Spur’s dashboard features a big 12.3-inch infotainment display, complete with an option that can allow the display to rotate out of view for a more old-school experience. Bentley’s systems are easy to learn and use, and the screen is backed up by physical controls for all the really essential functions. The car can also be equipped with a bevy of active-safety features, but they’re not standard. Of course, load up the options and the price gets stratospheric, but the Flying Spur offers a blend of performance and luxury that’s hard to match.

Performance: 15/15

You can order your Flying Spur with one of three turbocharged powertrains, and all three are truly potent. There’s no Spur that doesn’t fly. A similar trio is available on the Bentayga SUV, but the Flying Spur PHEV is quite a bit faster than the Bentayga PHEV, and it can charge a little quicker too. Like the Bentayga, all-wheel drive (AWD) is standard, but unlike the SUV’s conventional automatic, the Flying Spur uses an eight-speed dual-clutch unit for even faster shifts.

Base model and S trim cars can be had as either the PHEV or the V8. The PHEV melds a 2.9-liter V6 with an electric motor juiced by an 18 kWh battery pack. Total system power is 536 hp and 553 pound-feet of torque. The PHEV will sprint to 60 mph in 4.1 seconds, although some testers have actually knocked it below the 4.0-second barrier. That’s faster than the 760i xDrive, the Maybach S 580 or any Rolls. 

The 4.0-liter V8 packs 542 hp and 568 lb-ft and officially needs 4.0 seconds to get to 60 mph, but it too can move a little faster if you try hard enough. At the top of the pecking order is the 6.0-liter W12 Flying Spur Speed, newly enhanced for 2023 with a torque-vectoring brake system or more precise control and carrying the optional Dynamic Ride electric anti-roll system and rear-wheel steering as standard equipment. The W12 makes 626 hp and 664 lb-ft of torque and dashes to 60 mph in 3.7 seconds. 

Like the PHEV, the V8 and W12 can accelerate a little faster than these quoted times, but all three have the strange quality of being lightning fast while also whisper quiet. There’s active noise cancellation and acres of sound deadening, but push the gas pedal and the car flies forward as the engine room turns up the turbines. The W12 is the smoothest and has the most top-end speed, but you can only fully exploit its 207-mph capability on the Autobahn or in Montana. 

For a sedan the size of a Ford Crown Victoria, the Spur behaves much like its Continental counterpart on twisty roads, and it doesn’t seem anywhere near as big and heavy as it actually is, and the rear-wheel steering also helps make it more agile on the road and more manageable in tight areas. You can enjoy this performance when you want to, and be coddled and relaxed when you don’t. 

Fuel Economy 8/15

Unsurprisingly, fuel economy is not this car’s strong suit. First the bad news: If you want the W12 Speed’s silky-smooth power and performance, it’ll only get 15 mpg in combined driving according to the EPA (12 mpg city, 19 mpg highway). That aligns with our real-world observation. The V8 does a little better at a combined 17 mpg (15 city, 22 highway). The PHEV will do 19 mpg combined, but is also rated for 21 miles of pure electric operation and 46 MPGe. Around town, it’s much more efficient than the other Spurs. On a Level 2 charger, the PHEV takes about 2.5 hours to charge.

The competition, however, does even worse in most cases. The two Rolls-Royce sedans average 14 mpg combined if you’re lucky, and so does the Mercedes-Maybach S 680. Maserati’s Quattroporte does better at 20 mpg combined in AWD Modena guise, while the Maybach S 580 gets 18 and the Porsche Panamera can do about 20 with its 2.9-liter V6. BMW’s 7 Series and the Lexus LS hybrid get the best gas mileage of any of these big cars, but they’re only tangentially comparable to the Flying Spur.

Safety and Driver Assistance Tech: 10/15

Like most ultra-luxury vehicles (and almost all of its competitors), the Flying Spur has not been tested by either the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) nor the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). This costs it some points in our evaluation, but this is a safe vehicle with an extremely robust body structure, loads of airbags and modern passive safety features.

Bentley also offers a large set of driver-assist gear, but only on the condition that you spring for the $8,815 Touring Spec, which seems sort of silly when some of this stuff comes standard on a Subaru Legacy. Nevertheless, most buyers opt for this package, it’s included on the higher trims and the gear it brings is fairly comprehensive. 

Automatic emergency braking with pedestrian detection and other collision mitigation features are standard, but adaptive cruise control with lane centering, traffic sign recognition, a head-up display and night vision are part of the Touring Spec. There aren’t any pretenses of “self-driving,” but adaptive cruise control with lane centering is part of the package. In practice, it’s not quite as good as systems from Genesis or Mercedes-Benz, but it isn’t bad either and will definitely help reduce fatigue on the long drives the Flying Spur is so good at.

Comfort and Room: 15/15

This car is as comfortable as it is fast, and it would make a great companion for lengthy road trips. It’s a big fast grand tourer like the Continental GT that just happens to have four doors. The Flying Spur’s long, low shape and lean sled roofline mean it gives up about an inch of headroom (front and rear) to most other big luxury barges, but it’s still plenty roomy even for fairly tall drivers (say, in the 6-foot-5 range). 

In the back, there’s slightly less legroom (42.3 inches) than in the Audi A8, BMW 7 Series or Rolls-Royce Phantom, but only by about an inch or so. This is still a cavernous space, and the confines couldn’t be more pleasing. Since Bentley allows buyers to customize their cars to an extreme degree, the materials used within are exactly as fine as you’d expect. The fine green carpets and leathers in the W12 Speed pictured in this review are only one choice of many. 

Both the front and rear seats have a wide range of power adjustments and the back seats can also recline. The setup isn’t quite as extreme as what you’ll find in the Bentayga EWB or some other sedans with nearly lie-flat arrangements, but it works. Nominally a five-seater, Bentley also offers a dedicated four-seat layout with a jumbo-sized console.

Infotainment: 14/15

One of the Flying Spur’s coolest party tricks is its optional hideaway infotainment screen. It costs an extra $6,620, but there’s an option that allows the big 12.3-inch infotainment screen to rotate into the dashboard, to be replaced with a panel that displays a second clock, an outside air temperature gauge and a compass. It looks rather nautical, but very old school, and the big screen is there when you want it.

The automaker’s infotainment system is easy to learn and use, and while not necessarily as comprehensive as some other systems and isn’t the fastest, there isn’t the absurd digital overkill that you might find in the new 7 Series or all of the new EV sedans. It’s also easier to use than Rolls’ BMW-derived software. Bentley retains physical controls for all the important functions, and they’re all operated by finely machined knobs and buttons. If you don’t like Bentley’s software, Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are included, as is a Wi-Fi hotspot.

Bentley builds the Flying Spur with a pretty nice 10-speaker stereo system, but it offers two choices of upgrades. There’s a 1,500-watt, 16-speaker Bang & Olufsen system ($7,355) and an incredible 2,200-watt, 19-speaker Naim setup ($9,150). Yes, the Naim costs as much as a cheap used car, but if you’re going to upgrade, that’s the one to go for. It’s the best factory audio system on the market. A $2,720 rear entertainment system is also available.

Cargo Space & Storage: 14/15

Surprisingly, most large luxury cars have pretty skimpy trunks. Not so the Flying Spur, with 14.8 cubic-feet of cargo hold. While that may not seem like much considering the Spur’s size, it’s actually more than most of the luxury car class. The BMW 7 Series has 13.7 cubic-feet, the A8 13, the S-Class 12.9 and the Maybach S 680 just 12.3. The two Rolls-Royce models, however, have more at 17.3 (Ghost) and 19 (Phantom) cubic-feet. Small item storage in the Flying Spur’s cabin is basically average for this class of car, but a little better than the 7 Series or the Maybach S680.

Style and Design: 10/10

Long, low and sleek, the Flying Spur builds on the same styling themes as the Continental GT and its predecessors (including the departed, much-loved Mulsanne limo) and mixes them into a muscular and impossible-to-ignore shape. Unapologetically opulent, the Flying Spur’s proportions are pretty much perfect, and actually an improvement on its two previous-generation predecessors. It looks exotic in the same way its Rolls-Royce rivals do, but its muscular haunches immediately telegraph its sporting intent.

Inside, the cabin is just as beautiful and well-detailed as the exterior. All of the materials and details are gorgeous, and the surfaces feel rich to the touch. Bentley offers millions of color, trim and upholstery permutations on the car, including 10 different trim veneers from engine-turned aluminum to Tamo Ash.

The sky is almost the limit here, and Mulliner (Bentley’s in-house bespoke products group, descended from the original H.J. Mulliner that built the 1950s Flying Spur) offers lavish possibilities. Some custom exterior colors can add as much as $31,860 to the bill, but you won’t find anything like this in the more mainstream large luxury cars.

Is The 2023 Bentley Flying Spur Worth It? Which Flying Spur Is The Best Value?

This is one of the most satisfying sedans money can buy, so in that sense, it’s worth it. But you’ll need rather a lot of money to get one because the 2023 Bentley Flying Spur V8 starts at a cool $211,325 (including a $2,725 destination fee). 

That’s a huge sum, but it’s worth noting that the Rolls-Royce Ghost starts out around $400,000 and the Phantom about $460,000. Those two offer their own brand of extreme luxury, but the Bentley is both more approachable and more fun to drive. On the flip side, cars like the Audi A8, Lucid Air and BMW 7 Series cost much less, but don’t offer the same exclusivity or style. The Porsche Panamera, with which the Flying Spur shares some DNA, offers similar performance but is similarly less exotic.

The Mercedes-Maybach S-Class is the same territory, starting at $194,550 for the Maybach S 580 and rising to $230,150 for the S 680 (and even more for special editions). It’s also similarly fast, if not as playful. As nice as the Maybach is, however, it’s closer to the regular S-Class than the Flying Spur is to anything else. 

Of course, speccing out your Flying Spur is a matter of taste. There’s no wrong way to go with the powertrains, though the Hybrid costs a little more in the base version (starting at $217,515), but there are some key differences between the various trims and some important option packages. 

The S trim models (from $243,225) have a sportier bent, with blackout trim, sports seats and the Dynamic Ride and rear-wheel steering standard. The Azure models (from $251,825) are intended to be a little more luxurious, come with more equipment and have frillier chrome details. These models come with the Touring Spec safety features and a variety of other extras. The W12 Speed ($261,425) offers the big engine, which will go out of production in 2024, plus much of the available performance bits. At the top of the heap are the Mulliner offerings, which in addition to all their custom bits get some slight visual changes.

Bentley buyers like to customize and have increasingly gravitated towards the higher-end models, but the base PHEV is the most accessible and probably the easiest to live with. No matter how you spec it, few onlookers will go away unimpressed.

How Much Does it Cost to Insure the Bentley Flying Spur? 

The 2023 Bentley Flying Spur is one of the most expensive vehicles to insure that isn’t a dedicated supercar. According to our data, a typical 30-year-old female driver with a clean record can expect an average annual premium of about $8,000 for a Flying Spur V8, though this averages all 50 states. That compares to $6,406 for a BMW 760i xDrive, $5,720 for a Porsche Panamera Turbo S Executive and $5,290 for a Mercedes-Maybach S 580. To get a more accurate picture of your potential insurance expenses, visit our car insurance calculator.