Bentley: Sail like A Royal

It is assumed that on a bucket list filled with items from A to Z, B would be something by British motor company Bentley. But, with a price tag that equates to a two-bedroom apartment in a swanky neighbourhood, it would seem that flipping coins into wishing wells or blowing out candles at birthdays might be good ways to hopefully land one. We, on the other hand, were quite fortunate to drive around in one recently; and not just any ordinary Bentley - this was the Speed edition of Bentley's flagship Mulsanne.
So how much of a prized possession is the car that shares valet spots with the likes of Phantoms and Aston Martins? Let's find out!

DESIGN & AESTHETICS
The modern day Bentley Mulsanne Speed is a marriage of W O Bentley's vision of a racing car with Rolls-Royce's grand piano on wheels. The name, of course, is inspired by a turn and straight on the Le Mans racecourse.
The Mulsanne is a vast sea of metal measuring an enormous 5,575mm in length, and at 1,521mm tall, it lets drivers and passengers hover at a level close to those driving crossovers and SUVs. And it's wide enough to keep squabbling kids far apart from each other.
Keeping with tradition, the Mulsanne borrows elements from older models, like the large round headlights. Inside these are deep-set xenon projector lamps and an LED encrusted detailing that looks like a halo setting for diamonds.

The 'Flying B' atop the bonnet is, like Rolls-Royce's hood ornament, machined and not a mere badge. It also helps with depth perception, giving you a sense of where the lengthy front end begins. Again, following its predecessors that used to bear pronounced wheel arches, the Mulsanne too has subtle creases that run from the front fender, up and over the front wheel and rear wheels, before finally terminating at the rear bumper. That sort of continuity of lines gives a feeling of space and size. And there's plenty of detailing, too - if you look closely, you can see that the vent on the front side fender is shaped like a Bentley 'B'.
The differences between the Speed and the lesser Mulsanne are very subtle. Things like a dark tint finish - not painted, but chemically stained - that has been applied to the exterior stainless steel matrix radiator grilles, lower bumper grilles, wing vents, headlights and taillights.
The Speed abandons the regular Mulsanne's chrome laden rims for a set of beefy 5-spoke alloys that befit a muscle car. perhaps that was the intention. These alloys are 21" and come painted, polished or with a dark tint. Each wheel is apparently forged from a single piece of metal.
Ovals are strange shapes on a car, but they hit home on the Mulsanne, like with the rear lamps and the twin rifled exhaust tailpipes finished in polished stainless steel. The exterior styling and sizing are sufficiently emphatic. The "standard" paint range covers 25 shades, but if you offer more money, Bentley will let you choose from a palette of over 100 colours. Also, bespoke livery is also available on request.
This is actually a limousine masquerading as a car, and like a limo, it's built around the rear seats. There is plenty of space up front and in the rear - especially in the rear - and Bentley has used materials like real hide, real polished steel, and real lamb's wool carpets, etc. You should know that some 17 cows sacrificed their thick skins for your luxury.
And, of course, there is plenty of technology concealed under motorised contraptions. A word of caution though: older folks may have difficulty finding stuff after they put them away. On the centre-stack behind the veneer curtain is an infotainment screen with a wide variety of buttons below it. The controller to the menu could have been a little less fussy. The leather that wraps the 4-spoke steering smells different from that on the seats; further pitching this car's sporty intentions are drilled alloy foot pedals.
The Mulsanne Speed gets the Mull-iner's Styling Specification (a special variant), which, we assume, is a favourite across their customer demographic here. Who wouldn't want two-tone diamond quilted leather on the door panels and seats? The Speed is also treated to embroidered Bentley emblems on all seats, coined finish on interior door handles, knurling on the sports gear lever and "organ stop" ventilation controls. This is the kind of stuff that makes cars feel special. And when you have as many as 24 different hide colours, in six different colour splits, and ten different veneers, it is hard to pick a favourite combination.
Our favourite part of the rear cabin, though, was the concealed fridge, accessible via the centre seat's backrest. Open the frosted door and you will find three crystal champagne flutes that have a base in the shape of a Mulsanne Speed wheel with a 'B' in the centre. What we didn't like, which is us really nitpicking, was that you need to double press the window button - one to drop the privacy shade and the other for the window itself. There is no one touch option to open up this fortress of solitude to the outside world.
POWERTRAIN & PERFORMANCE
In the Speed, motivation comes from a traditional twin-turbo 6.75L V8, which produces 530bhp at 4,200rpm; ie, roughly as much as the mighty Porsche 911 Turbo. But the turning point, quite literally, is the massive torque figure - in fact, they should have called it the Mulsanne Torque. The engine churns out as much as 1,100Nm, placing it in the same league as the original hypercar, the Bugatti Veyron and the Mercedes-Benz 65 AMG. The motor is hooked to a conventional, but silky smooth 8-speed automatic that lets you shift via the steering-mounted paddle shifters.
They say that gentlemen never run and when you're cosseted in the Speed, you never feel like allowing the speedo to rise above the 80km/h mark. Of course, if taken to task, the Mulsanne Speed likes to sprint - 0-100km/h comes in 4.9 seconds, and, if given the freedom, it will easily top 305km/h.
Some of you may find it unnerving that the less-expensive Continental and Flying Spur models that are equipped with the W12 motor makes more horsepower and is quicker off the line. But the Mulsanne is about preservation - preservation of the tradition of running a six and three-quarter displacement engine. And tradition is not something you can ever put a value to, unless
you're Bentley, in which case you charge someone upwards of Dh1,250,000.
Also, this is not the first time a flag-ship seems underpowered compared to their lesser siblings. The Rolls-Royce Phantom is underpowered compared to the Ghost.
The newly equipped "S" mode keeps the engine engaged for thrust by maintaining the engine revs above 2,000rpm so that the turbochargers are always worked. This means that there is a seamless, uninterrupted supply of power at your disposal at all times. A custom setting also allows you to tailor-fit the powertrain, so you can have a softer ride instead of more reactive power, if you so desire.
Bentley engineers have also given the steering a bit of heft to help it feel more accurate and connected to the road. But while there is a predictable transition when you change directions, this is by no means a driver's car from a conventional point of view. Bentley would like you to believe so, but this car is more about cruising the autobahn than hustling around a racetrack.
Fortunately, for the sake of pollution and fuel economy, you have a cylinder deactivation system, like we see on so many cars today. It allows the engine to run as a V4 during part throttle.
Even so, the CO2 footprint is 342g/km, which is pretty large, but the claimed 14.6L/100km fuel economy figures is
a 13 per cent improvement on the current Mulsanne, extending its range by 80km.
FEATURES & FUNCTIONALITY
A 2,200W Naim audio system expands on the standard 14-speaker system and is a pure delight to listen to. Entertainment on the move can be provided through the Rear Seat Entertainment system, including two 8" screens and Bluetooth headphones. A 60GB onboard hard drive is also available that can store a selection of music and movies.
Electronically operated tables, with recesses and connections for iPads and matching keyboards, can be fitted to the rear of the front seats, while onboard WiFi through a dedicated router keeps the isolated cabin connected to the world outside. For a car as long as the Mulsanne, you get some pretty substantial cargo space at 443L. And when your signatory duties are over, and you find TV a bore, you can sink into climate controlled seats that have multi-level massage functions.
VERDICT
The 2016 Mulsanne Speed is Bentley's way of providing a more wholesome driving experience in what is essentially the ultimate grand touring limousine. It may evidently lack the racing prowess that W O envisioned, but if you want a car that resonates with the company's 20th century racing heritage and enjoy being spoilt on a royal cushion, this may be it.