2022 Bentley Flying Spur Hybrid First Drive Review

Bentley’s celebrated 8-and 12-cylinder machines will soon be a thing of the history, replaced in 2030. with an EV-only lineup. The first step in that march toward electrification is the 2022 Bentley Flying Spur Hybrid, a draw-in interpretation of the company’s big hydrofoil that wants to prove it’s possible. to maintain the brand’s incomparable sense of occasion, indeed without any noise coming from under. the hood. 

 While the Bentayga Hybrid was technically the first galvanized Bentley, the hydrofoil is the most. significant so far. Big four- doors have been a chief of the automaker’s lineup for well over half a century, offering slightly more performance and slightly lower flashiness than some rivals. If the Flying Spur Hybrid is going to succeed, it needs to follow that muscle-under-the-radar formula,. but it also should offer commodity special that rewards folks for choosing draw-in power over the fabulous, woofling W12 or the well-conditioned-mannered V8. 

That redundant commodity is an estimated EV range of 25 country miles, courtesy of an18.0-kilowatt-hour (of which14.1 kWh is usable) lithium-ion battery transferring power to a single electric motor. Mounted between the binary-turbocharged2.9-liter V6 and the eight- speed automatic transmission, the. motor makes 134 power and 295 pound- bases on its own, with a veritably Bentley-like combined. aggregate of 536 hp and 553 lb-ft. The Flying Spur Hybrid is one of the first six-cylinder Bentleys (alongside the Bentayga Mongrel) since 1959, and curiously, the hydrofoil’s gas machine is differen. from the single-turbo,3.0-liter V6 plant in the less important galvanized SUV. 

 Incontinently upon setting out from my starting point in Beverly Hills with the so- called E Mode chooser set to EV Drive, the Flying Spur Hybrid impressed me with its excellent low- speed. mores. Removing the white noise of an footling machine can complicate other noises a auto makes – suspense scratches, moaning thickets, and road face clatter – but the Flying Spur does a. estimable job of separating the cabin from all of that. There’s plenitude of necklace on hand to keep the vehicle moving with the inflow of business, indeed without the gas machine fired up, but if you. really push the accelerator down, the V6 will join the party rather seamlessly. 

Indeed when operating as a pure EV, the electric motor turns the transmission, with attendant. upshifts that make acceleration feel a little more natural (if lower flawless) than other buses’EV  modes. Unfortunately, decelerations from that gearbox conspire with regenerative retardation that’s. just a shade down from good, making it hard to navigate stop-and- go business easily – a. one-pedal driving mode that removes the boscage pedal from the equation would help. 

The Flying Goad features two fresh battery settings, Mongrel and Hold, letting possessors. customize the auto’s electricity use to suit their requirements. Mongrel, for illustration, prioritizes EV driving. wherever possible, but will fire up the machine more readily to give passing power or keep the. battery at a respectable state ofcharge.However, Mongrel mode also uses, If the navigation system is active. business and route data to maximize EV use where it’s most effective, like heavy business or. low- speed civic areas. Meanwhile, Hold mode is handy for when motorists want to arrive at their. destination with as important EV range as possible. 

The literacy wind for these functions is short – convenience is the topmost luxury, after all – . and it’s easy to get comfortable with the Flying Spur’s newfound electric drive. Helping the experience is a subtly altered hand cluster, with an EV drive/ regen cadence taking up some of the. tachometer’s designated space. The cadence helped me directly measure my accelerator use and made a game of keeping the machine off as much as possible. Else, the interior and. stoner experience are identical to that of other Flying Spurs. You and your motorist will love it. 

My first couple hours behind the wheel were on a smoothly traded Interstate 5 north to Santa Clarita, and the Flying Spur Hybrid was an excellent trip companion for the duration of the. voyage. As anticipated, the quiet cabin and probative seats kept me from feeling fatigued, and the. infotainment system – sourced from Audi but dressed in Bentley movables – was simple and intuitive to operate. Nearly every face of my tester’s cabin was carpeted in rich- feeling Imperial Blue leather, genuine aluminum, or seductive open- severance walnut trim, with Bentley- hand touches. like organ- stop reflections and knurled clods. 

With abundant space for four inhabitants, complaints on the in- cabin experience are many and far. between. While the Flying Spur Hybrid does a good job of disguising its Audi software on the12.3- inch center touchscreen display, the also sized digital instrument cluster’s menus and. chart display look too analogous to that of the important cheaper A8 hydrofoil. At least the analog- style hand readouts look applicable for the price, with intricate details that recall a fine watch. Eventually, high motorists’elbows will hit a funny little edge on the B- pillar, though its upholstered. face takes much of the sting off. 

 In all that highway driving, the mongrel E Mode setting switched the machine on and off . gradually, with no shiver on incipiency. For illustration, as the Grapevine mountain pass’ steep .uphill grade started to overwhelm the electric motor, the machine stepped in and got to work . incontinently, keeping the Flying Spur moving at prevailing pets with no detention or drama. By the time I turned off the open road and headed toward Ojai on the devilish Trace 150, our. Bentley was indicating a estimable28.5 country miles per gallon – great figures for a big luxury hydrofoil and a heady enhancement over the V8’s 15 megacity, 20 trace, and 17 combined EPA conditions. 

Also surprising, given the Flying Spur Hybrid’s size and estimated-pound check weight, is its . deftness and traction on a great driving road. Highway 150 thresholds and ends on either side of a small mountain range, and the2.9-liter V6 and electric motor combination give further than enough thrust to scramble out of uphill hairpin corners, with any trace of turbo pause canceled. thanks to immediate electric necklace. 

With the drive chooser ( distinct from the E Mode chooser, mind you) set to the establishment, aggressive. Sport mode, the adaptive mutes smother all hints of body roll – however at some expenditure to. lift smoothness. In that tone, I preferred the more balanced Bentley mode, which maintained a. nearly perfect lift while still tensing up body movements nicely. The Mongrel’s standard four- wheel steering improves project in tight corners and stability through fast sweepers. 

Pizza-sized16.5- inch front and15.0- inch hinder boscage discs are further than over to the task of decelerating the Flying Goad Mongrel on long upwardly stretches, with the transmission willing to hold lower. gears thanks to grade- seeing sense. The steering wheel itself is substantially numb to road feedback,. but that did n’t stop me from pushing the big hydrofoil harder than any of its possessors ever will. I also suspect that my driving did n’t come near to the Flying Spur Hybrid’s factual limits. That said, a. many cracks in the hydrofoil’s genteel facade began to form in hot driving. 

The first is minor. The Bentley features an elevated seating position, which improves. long- distance comfort and visibility, but it does complicate body movements in hard driving. The alternate is more worrisome, given the Flying Spur’sultra-premium positioning. The2.9-liter V6 emits some thrashy underhood sounds on full throttle, noises that might be masked by. buoyant exhaust notes in other products where it appears – thenon-hybrid Porsche Macan Turbo comes to mind. Similar sonic tailpipe emigrations would be unsuitable in a Bentley, but that. just leaves us with the underhood chatter (and a many cabin climate) rather. 

That minor annoyance away, the 2022 Bentley Flying Goad Mongrel does an excellent job of. integrating electrification into the brand’s high- speed grand touring image. The electric motor offers enough power on its own to quietly glide the big hydrofoil around city, and out on the. trace, the powertrain operation software seamlessly integrates the turbo V6 as demanded. Familiar driving dynamics – courtesy of that always- on eight- speed transmission – will assuage Bentley reactionaries, while everyone differently will appreciate the Flying Spur’s luxurious innards. and newfound green cred. 

Of course, it comes at a cost. Bentley does n’t have sanctioned US pricing or energy frugality estimates just yet, but a company representative said the Flying Spur Hybrid would bring about 3 percent. further than the V8, which starts at$ including a$ gas dieter duty and$ for. destination. With a heart- stopping$ in options, including an$ pack of Position II. motorist backing tech that should really be standard, my tester would probably bring around.$ from a dealer. Forgetting the bartered-out surface rudiments would save$ and. conduct some quaint faculty to the Flying Spur Hybrid, but this is still a precious vehicle. 

 Yet it still feels worth every penny of the cost. From the solid crash of the organ- stop reflections and the dainty knurled surfacing around the timepiece face to the immediate rush of necklace on hand from the galvanized powertrain, nearly every aspect of the 2022 Bentley Flying Goad Hybrid feels. knitter- made to keep the motorist and passengers happy. It’s nice knowing that Flying Bs will still be good indeed when internal combustion goes down. 

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