We asked Mr. Wayne (Bruce) what’s the best car in the world

Please pardon the pun, but it was too tempting not to use it. Last week, Bentley Manila sent us “flying in a spur” of the moment trip to Singapore to attend the regional media unveiling of the third generation Flying Spur, and we met up with Wayne Bruce the Director of Communications (DC) of Bentley. This third generation Flying Spur begins a new chapter in the illustrious history of this four-door super steed. Unlike its previous generation model, the people at Crewe were not contented with just simply building on the two-door Continental GT to create the Flying Spur. So they redesigned the Flying Spur from the ground up to create its own identity as the ultimate embodiment of luxury, refinement and performance as Bentley puts it.

At the event, we finally got to meet Mr. Wayne who gave us a short narrative of the nameplate’s history. No, he’s not the billionaire playboy who moonlights as the Caped Crusader in DC Comics. Although he did immediately clarify that point during the introductions.

The Bentley Flying Spur unraveled back in 1952 when its then Chief Designer J.P. Blatchley and Bentley engineer Ivan Evernden unofficially collaborated on an unofficial project to restore Bentley to the pinnacle of Grand Touring. Using its 180bhp 4.9-liter straight 6-cylinder engine, and later on updating it in 1959 to a 6320cc V8 engine, they had bespoke coachbuilder H.J. Mulliner sculpt a sleek R-Type Continental and later on developed the S1 (series 1) Continental Flying Spur by adding two additional doors in 1957. With improved all-round ability of the car, and making it into a four-door sedan, it had a price tag of £8,034 which was considered a princely sum at the time.

The Flying Spur name originated from Mulliner’s Design Director, Arthur Talbot Johnstone, and took inspiration from the heraldic coat of arms of his family, the Clan Johnstone of the Scottish Borders. Later, other coachbuilders offered their own bespoke interpretations of a four-door Continental. A total of 432 units of S1 models were built, Mulliner created the coachwork for 217 cars.

In 1959, an S2 Continental Flying Spur was launched, using a larger and more powerful V8 engine. It was the fastest four-door car in the world at that time and featured an electrically-operated ride control, electric rear window demister and press button window lifts, all considered state-of-the-art during that time. Some 1,900 units were hand-built until 1962. And it ushered in a new era of luxurious high-performance motoring and was the marque’s ultimate Grand Tourer.

Bentley revived the Continental Flying Spur name again in 2005 as the four-door sedan version of the sexy Continental GT Coupé. It used a W12 engine for the first time and the all-wheel drive platform combined luxury and performance at a level never seen before. “It was toxically fast at 197 miles an hour (317 km/h),” said Wayne. “The second generation model was unveiled in 2013, now simply named the Flying Spur and had a V8 option. We delivered about 37,000 units of Flying Spurs around the world. To put it into perspective, it is about half the volume of the Continental GT,” Wayne added.

Here’s a quick look at the all-new Flying Spur. Wayne said that it has been the most technically challenging car Bentley has ever (hand)built. The development team has worked through some 2,000 detailed changes since the first design was specified— everything from the brackets and fixings, to the alignment of certain pieces of trim. Thanks to its aluminum sheet metal, it is 38 kilos lighter than its predecessor. And to achieve its sharp and detailed crease lines, the sheet metal panels are heated to as high as 500°C. The car uses the same W12 engine as the Continental GT and the engine is so clever it doesn’t use all its 12 cylinders at lower speeds, and just runs on 6 cylinders to reduce emissions and fuel consumption. Its all-wheel drive and all-wheel steering system allows faster driving on corners and is very nimble for the size of the car.

The all-new Flying Spur represents the future of extraordinary. With astounding attention to detail, powerful agility and intelligent and intuitive technology, it is the benchmark by which all other Grand Tourers should be judged. So to answer this question, Wayne puts it this way—“I’ve been asked this question that is the Flying Spur the best new car in the world? In this case, it is with the understanding that the best car in world has to be a 4-door sedan. Top Gear magazine in the UK apparently agrees. Just last week, I was in London and just collected the award for the Flying Spur as the best luxury car in the world. It’s a respectable place to start.”

We couldn’t agree more.

This writer was also given the keys to the new generation Continental GT a couple of months ago for a quick test drive review and we will hopefully come out with a comparative test review on the Flying Spur real soon.