Like the members of your local Lions Club in their private moments, the car business is obsessed with stiffness. It appears that each version redesign brings boasts of augmented bending stiffness, increased torsional rigidity, and firmer suspensions. Not now. It goes to say the new version's front and rear anti roll bars are 13 and 15% less starchy. (Rest assured, Rotary Club members, the body shell's torsional rigidity is believed to enhance by four percent.)

The entrepreneurs in Crewe did this in pursuit of the much more luxurious ride---and, likely, in pursuit of greater acceptance in emerging markets with sometimes lumpy roads for example China, where we drove the new Flying Spur. Name dropping may become a routine action for folks who know Bentley owners---and desire you to know it---but this marks the first-time the business has gotten in on the game.

A more familiar script is followed by other aspects of this redesign. As opposed to last year's six speed automatic, the 12-holer now spins cogs in ZF's 8-ratio autobox. Happy with the impact of the little rearward bias in the all wheel-drive system of its own extreme Continental GT Supersports, Bentley has employed that version's token 40/60 front to-rear torque split to the Flying Spur too. When needed, the vehicle can punt 65 percent forward or 85 percent aft.

The Spur's new sheetmetal takes cues from Bentley's main Mulsanne. In photographs, it is hard to appreciate how distinct the new car's shape is in the old. If one has to have fender vents (and they are normal, so you need to), the stylized "Flying B" symbols in them are a pleasant touch. The entire width is unchanged, but the front path is 0.8 inch wider, and the back grows by 1.4 inches.

When Spurs Fly

We matched that time in a previous gen Speed model, so we think we may have the ability to overcome it. Bentley quotes as the very best rate an even 200 miles per hour. That is just like its claim for last year's Speed model, and we do not expect to conquer it.

A brand new exhaust system and full length acoustical shielding make the car 40 percent quieter than its predecessor, but we choose to hear as a lot of the engine as potential. Even though the cottage is muted most of the time, the motor gets a little rowdy under full throttle, and not in-the most pleasant manner. Accelerator tip in is slow, but placing the shifter into Athletics or Manual mode alters the mapping for a foreseeable and more competitive takeoff. Bentley's steering column-mounted shift paddles stay, and although we enjoy their positioning and long reach, their bare blackplastic finish appears cheap.

2014 Bentley Flying Spur in Depth Look - 2013 Geneva Motor Show