Bentley Flying Spur: The Car for People a Few Steps Up From the Big Three Germans
Launched in 2005, this wasn't quite a Rolls-Royce rival and wasn't quite a Mercedes S-Class alternative either — it carved out a genuinely new space in between, years before Porsche or Aston Martin thought to try the same thing.
Illustration for editorial purposes
Opening a Market That Didn't Quite Exist Yet
Before this car arrived, the choice at the very top of the luxury saloon market was fairly binary: German executive cars, or the full-blown extravagance of Rolls-Royce. This one found genuine room in between, and the market it opened up is now crowded with imitators.
History & Development
Launched in 2005 as the Continental Flying Spur, hot on the heels of the two-door Continental GT that had relaunched Bentley under Volkswagen ownership, the four-door saloon offered the same turbocharged 6.0-litre W12 and genuine family-friendly space in the back, at a time when rivals like Porsche and Aston Martin were still years away from building their own saloons. A second generation arrived in 2013 with sharper styling and, for the first time, a V8 option alongside the W12, dropping "Continental" from the name to distinguish it more clearly from its two-door sibling. The third generation followed in 2019, growing larger and more luxurious specifically to capture buyers who might otherwise have wanted the discontinued Bentley Mulsanne flagship.
Design & Engineering
The original Flying Spur paired a 6.0-litre twin-turbo W12 producing 552 horsepower with all-wheel drive and a six-speed automatic gearbox, with a 600bhp Speed variant following in 2008 for buyers wanting more urgency to their luxury. The current third-generation car, built on an all-new steel-and-aluminium monocoque with a 130mm longer wheelbase than its predecessor, is available with a plug-in hybrid powertrain alongside its traditional W12 and V8 options — a genuine step toward electrification for a car whose core mission has always been effortless, silent power.
Cultural Significance
The Flying Spur has quietly become the car that made a four-door super-saloon a legitimate category rather than a curiosity, with the Continental GT covering two-door buyers and the Flying Spur covering everyone who needed space for family and luggage without sacrificing genuine performance or presence. Two decades in, reviewers testing the original alongside its current successor have found the core formula remarkably consistent — smooth power, immense comfort, and unmistakably Bentley detailing throughout.
Value Today
Early W12 examples from the 2005-2013 first generation are increasingly appreciated as accessible entry points into genuine Bentley ownership, while later, more powerful Speed variants command a premium. As with most modern luxury cars still in production, the current generation isn't yet a collector's piece, but the model's track record of relatively strong value retention against rivals like the Rolls-Royce Phantom makes it a genuinely sound long-term proposition.
Watch & Explore
More Bentley Icons
- Bentley R-Type Continental Overview — Classic Icon
- Bentley Continental GT Overview — Modern Icon
Sources: Motor1, CarExpert, iSeeCars.