- Doors and Seats
4 doors, 5 seats
- Engine
2.9TT/100kW Hybrid, 6 cyl.
- Engine Power
500kW (comb), 400Nm
- Fuel
Hybrid (98) 3.3L/100KM
- Manufacturer
4WD
- Transmission
Auto (DCT)
- Warranty
3 Yr, Unltd KMs
- Ancap Safety
NA
2023 Bentley Flying Spur Hybrid review
Bentley's journey into electrification sees its flagship Flying Spur saloon gain a plug-in hybrid model in the range.
- Bespoke luxury at its finest
- Seamless petrol/hybrid drivetrain
- Cabin quality and materials are exceptional
- A bewildering choice of personalisation and options
- Some advanced safety technologies only available as options
- Nitpicking, yes, but no Android Auto? C'mon Bentley
2023 Bentley Flying Spur
Few car brands evoke such feelings of Britishness as Bentley. The modern iteration might be part of the Volkswagen Group, but Bentley, alongside Rolls-Royce (also German-owned) and maybe Jaguar (Indian-owned), is the very definition of British motoring.
But cast aside any stuffy notions of tweed jackets and royalty, today’s Bentley is a fresh, modern, forward-looking carmaker.
It’s with that eye on the future that we find ourselves in this, the 2023 Bentley Flying Spur Hybrid, part of the brand’s push towards a fully electrified fleet by 2026.
The brand’s first fully-electric vehicle is due in 2025, with a further commitment to only producing electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles by the following year. By 2030, the brand claims, it will build only electric cars.
It’s a seismic step for a brand whose reputation has been built on big cars powered by big engines with big horsepower.
But time stands still for no one, and Bentley, like the rest of the automotive world, is looking to a greener future. The first steps on that journey are a pair of plug-in hybrids, one the Bentley Bentayga SUV and the other, the car we have here, the brand’s flagship Flying Spur sedan.
How much does the Bentley Flying Spur cost in Australia?
It’s really a case of ‘if you have to ask’… but for the record, the Bentley Flying Spur Hybrid is priced at $479,100 before on-road costs and any personalisation options. Bentley is big on personal design touches, and the Flying Spur is not immune from the myriad options that take an ordinary – if there is such a thing – Flying Spur and turn it into something bespoke. For a price, of course.
Our test car, finished in that rich Viridian green paint, wears a lot of options, over $130,000 worth. We won’t detail all of them, but key highlights of the kind that only someone like Bentley could get away with asking for include the $10,443 Illuminated Flying B Radiator Mascot finished in black gloss, and the $13,664 being asked for the Bentley Rotating Display which, as the name suggests, rotates the 12.3-inch infotainment screen into the dash and behind a veneer of Crown Cut Walnut. In all, our test car with options ran to $612,741 before on-road costs.
It’s not the most affordable Flying Spur your money can buy. That distinction belongs to the regular V8-powered $467,700 Flying Spur. From there, the sky’s the limit, the nine-car range topping out at the $665,800 Flying Spur Mulliner.
In between, a choice of three hybrid models – Mulliner Hybrid, Flying Spur S Hybrid, and Azure Hybrid – while a single variant of the W12-powered Flying Spur Speed harks back to another era with its $573,900 list price.
Rivals? Rolls-Royce is an obvious candidate with the Ghost starting at $663,650. Then there’s the 2023 Mercedes-Maybach S-Class that starts at $571,662 before on-road costs and options. But, both of those rivals are powered by a V12 turbo-petrol without a sniff of hybridisation in sight. For now.
It’s rare air the Flying Spur plays in; air that the average person like you and like me rarely gets to breathe. Few cars on the road have such presence, demand such attention. It’s certainly unashamed in its styling, big, yes, long and wide, and elegantly aggressive. It looks like, well, money. As it should.
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Key details | 2023 Bentley Flying Spur Hybrid |
Price | $479,100 plus on-road costs |
Colour of test car | Viridian |
Options | $133,641 |
Price as tested | $612,741 plus on-road costs |
Rivals | Rolls-Royce Ghost | Mercedes-Maybach S-Class |
How much space does the Bentley Flying Spur have inside?
If you want to know what money, real money, smells like, then get yourself into the cabin of the Bentley Flying Spur. You’ll be overwhelmed by the sumptuousness of your surroundings, the vast swathes of ‘hide’ that have been painstakingly crafted by hand, every stitch, every seam a labour of carefully considered love.
It’s a special environment inside, knowing the selection process for the leather considers where inside the Flying Spur it will be used. The seats, for instance, require hide with better elasticity, while the steering wheel is wrapped in leather more resistant to the chemicals our hands produce.
Everywhere you look, there is evidence of Bentley’s renowned craftsmanship – from real timber veneers to beautifully knurled chrome dials, the highlight of which are undoubtedly the Organ Stops that open and close the Flying Spur’s air vents. They hark back to the earliest days of Bentley, a reminder this is a carmaker with over 100 years of tradition.
Sitting in the driver’s seat is a special experience. More a throne than a driver’s seat, the softness of the ‘Linen’ leather is never felt more than when you’re sitting on it. That lovely contrast stitching and seat piping is a $7673 option, though.
The seats are electrically adjustable, of course, with a menu of massage functions to keep you nice and supple on long drives.
Its steering wheel feels commanding, as does the view out of the windscreen and down that long, long bonnet to the Flying B bonnet emblem. The latter can be retracted if you choose to, but really, why would you?
The second row is the place to be, though. Here, you can recline in those plush rear seats, rest your head on the down-filled pillow-like headrests and relax.
The outboard seating positions feature powered adjustment as well as massaging functions. As they are in the front, the outboard seats are heated too.
As you’d expect, the vast areas of space available make for a comfortable time back there. You could seat three across, but in reality, the Flying Spur in this configuration is a 4+1 with the middle pew really only for occasional use.
Removable tablets on the backs of the front seats can be paired to devices for easy streaming, your very own Bentley in-flight entertainment system.
Boot space measures in at a claimed 351L, down on the 420L found in non-hybrid variants of the Flying Spur. That’s entirely down to the hybrid system’s battery array that is packaged under the boot floor. There is no spare tyre, the Flying Spur armed with only an inflation kit. We’d expect that most owners would simply call roadside assistance in the event of a flat tyre.
Whether you’re in the front or second row, the ambience inside the Flying Spur is one of muted opulence. Insulated and oh-so-quiet, it feels special and serene, as if closing the doors to the outside world creates its own leather-scented and timber atmosphere. This is what money smells like, a richness of materials and design only a handful of carmakers are able to match.
2023 Bentley Flying Spur Hybrid | |
Seats | Five |
Boot volume | 351L |
Length | 5316mm |
Width | 1988mm |
Height | 1483mm |
Wheelbase | 3194mm |
Does the Bentley Flying Spur have Apple CarPlay and Android Auto?
If the infotainment set-up looks familiar, then that’s because it is. Thanks to being part of the Volkswagen Group, Bentley has co-opted Porsche’s excellent PCM operating system. Housed inside a 12.3-inch touchscreen, it’s been re-skinned for Bentley, but if you’ve spent time in any hybrid Porsche, you’ll recognise the general layout and functionality.
The screen itself can be hidden away thanks to the optional Rotating Display function, creating a dash-width expanse of Walnut timber, a throwback to another era of coachbuilding.
Apple CarPlay is standard but Android Auto isn’t available, a hangover from the system’s Porsche origins that until very recently did not offer Android Auto smartphone integration.
Satellite navigation is fitted as standard, as is DAB+ digital radio, alongside a standard 10-speaker sound system. You can, of course, option a high-end Bang & Olufsen for Bentley set-up but expect to add $15,180 to the bottom line.
Accessing the infotainment set-up’s functions can be effected via a series of shortcut buttons and dials positioned just underneath the screen on the dash. It’s simple, it’s effective, it’s decidedly analogue in a digital world.
Similarly, the Flying Spur’s climate functions are handled via an array of buttons and dials located on the centre console just forward of the gear lever, about as intuitive a placement as you could want.
There are also switches for raising and lowering the rear blinds, as well as the various drive modes the Flying Spur offers.
The digital instrument cluster again mirrors that of the wider VW Group, but again with a decidedly Bentley skin. It’s configurable in myriad ways to display the information you want, from digital versions of old-school dials to mapping and route guidance, as well as energy consumption and driving data.
The second row scores its own climate controls with temperature and fan speed accessed via a digital screen integrated into the rear of the centre console.
An inductive (wireless) smartphone charging pad is a $796 option. It’s fitted to our test car.
Is the Bentley Flying Spur a safe car?
The Bentley Flying Spur has not been crash-tested by Australia’s safety body, ANCAP. Nor has ANCAP’s European counterpart, Euro NCAP, put the Flying Spur through its safety paces.
This is standard for high-end luxury cars.
2023 Bentley Flying Spur Hybrid | |
ANCAP rating | Untested |
What safety technology does the Bentley Flying Spur have?
For a car costing well north of half-a-million on the road, the Bentley Flying Spur is conspicuously barren in terms of today’s advanced driver assistance systems.
While low-speed autonomous braking is standard, as are rear cross-traffic alert and regular cruise control (non-adaptive), you’ll need to stump up an extra $17,830 for the optional Touring Specification, which adds lane-departure warning and lane-keeping assist, adaptive cruise control with stop-and-go function, collision mitigation with steering assist, night vision and a head-up display.
The Touring Specification also adds Bentley Safeguard Plus, which brings high-speed autonomous emergency braking and collision mitigation, the latter preparing the car and its occupants for an imminent collision by closing all windows, the sunroof, and pre-tensioning the seatbelts.
Airbags? There are eight of them across both rows of seating.
How much does the Bentley Flying Spur cost to maintain?
Bentley covers the Flying Spur Hybrid with its standard three-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty, which seems quaintly anachronistic in this day and age where five-year surety at a minimum is the new standard.
Servicing is required every 12 months or 16,000km, whichever comes first, and the first five years or 80,000km of visits to the Bentley garage are included in the purchase price.
At a glance | 2023 Bentley Flying Spur Hybrid |
Warranty | Five years, unlimited km |
Service intervals | 12 months or 16,000km |
Servicing costs | Complimentary (5 years) |
Energy cons. (claimed) | N/A |
Energy cons. (on test) | 9.2kWh/100km |
Battery size | 18.0kWh |
Driving range claim (WLTP) | 40km |
Charge time (7.2kW) | 2h 30min |
Is the Bentley Flying Spur fuel-efficient?
No one is buying a Bentley Flying Spur Hybrid because they reckon the cost of fuelling a V8- or W12-powered Flying Spur is a touch expensive.
Instead, the Hybrid variant of Bentley’s could be regarded as a tentative first step into electrification, not only for Bentley, but also for potential buyers.
That it uses less, much less, 98-octane unleaded than its purely petrol-driven siblings is just the icing on the environmental cake.
Bentley says the Flying Spur Hybrid will use just 3.3L of premium unleaded per 100km on the combined cycle. Our extended test drive saw an indicated 5.8L/100km while using 9.2kWh/100km of battery.
Bentley claims the 18kWh lithium-ion battery found under the boot floor is good for around 40km of pure-electric driving range. As we’ve said before, plug-in hybrids are at their best as long as the battery is topped up while the big Bentley is parked in the garage overnight and plugged in, and the daily commute is less than the claimed electric-only range.
That way, the Monday-to-Friday commute can be completed on electricity alone, leaving the V6 to do the heavy lifting on longer road trips and weekend adventures.
According to Bentley, charging the 18kWh battery from zero to 100 per cent via a home-installed single-phase wallbox, typically with 7.2kWh capacity, takes around 2.5 hours. A regular household socket will take longer.
Fuel Consumption - brought to you by bp
Fuel Useage | Fuel Stats |
Fuel cons. (claimed) | 3.3L/100km |
Fuel cons. (on test) | 5.8L/100km |
Fuel type | 98-octane premium unleaded |
Fuel tank size | 80L |
What is the Bentley Flying Spur like to drive?
If you think getting behind the wheel of a Bentley is like driving just another car, think again.
The first thing that hits your senses when you climb inside is the quiet. The everyday noise of the outside world simply melts away with that reassuring 'schumpf' as the door closes.
That quietude is only enhanced once you press the starter button, the Flying Spur Hybrid, naturally, starting in EV mode. The cabin remains shrouded in a cloak of leather-scented silence.
To the nuts and bolts of the Flying Spur Hybrid. Power comes from a petrol 2.9-litre V6 twin-turbo that is good for 306kW and 550Nm – decent outputs on their own.
But, the twin-turbo V6 is augmented by a 100kW/400Nm permanent magnet synchronous electric motor. Combined, the two sources of motivation working in tandem can muster 400kW and 750Nm and propel the 2.5-tonne (2505kg, kerb weight) luxury saloon from 0–100km/h in just 4.3 seconds.
An eight-speed dual-clutch automatic transmission (DCT) sends those numbers to all four wheels, and it’s as slick and refined as you’d expect from a Bentley. It’s a finely calibrated DCT, with seamless gear shifts that can barely be felt in the cabin. There’s no hint of lag or hesitation either, something some (but not all) DCTs are known for.
It certainly feels quick off the mark, almost comically so, both the Flying Spur’s physical dimensions and undeniable heft not usually associated with such performance numbers. That it does so in a serene manner is just icing on the cake and central to Bentley’s reputation.
A Bentley on the road does strange things to some people. Yes, it has an imposing presence, the 5.3-metre-long saloon immediately identifiable to even the most casual of observers who can’t help but look on appreciatively.
And it seemingly comes with its own force field. Never have I experienced such cautious behaviour from fellow road users. Gaps opened up miraculously when merging, while tailgating seemed to be something that only happens to other cars. I’d like to think that was down to respect, but my inner senses tell me it was more likely a case of no one wanting to get too close. Think of the insurance hassles.
The electric motor on its own is good for, according to Bentley, a top speed of 128km/h. That makes it perfectly suited to driving around town in pure-electric mode. It’s one of three drive modes in the Flying Spur Hybrid.
EV does what it says on the box, treating the Bentley as an electric car, meaning the V6 never fires up around town. Hybrid mode works as it does in any other hybrid, using the batteries and electric motor at slower speeds but calling upon the lusty V6 as speeds climb or as a surge of acceleration is required. And Hold mode maintains the battery’s state of charge by using only the petrol engine to propel the car, saving those valuable electrons for when you need them most.
I toggled through all three drive modes, and while I found EV mode the most satisfying, that blanket of silence inside unruffled by the sounds of combustion, Hybrid mode is where the Flying Spur excelled.
Here, low-speed situations, such as traffic, are conducted in effortless silence. There’s enough poke from the electric motor to keep the big saloon moving in traffic. But, as speeds climb, the twin-turbo V6 helps keep things moving. The transition between the two sources of power is so quiet, you don't hear the engine cutting in at all, the only clue that its cylinders are now pumping is the needle on the tachometer. It’s a feast for the senses if your senses crave serenity.
Hybrid mode is best out on the highway where the sum of electric and internal combustion adds up to an effortless and relaxed time behind the wheel. We’d wager long motorway cruises are its natural habitat, the Bentley gobbling up the kays with commendable ease.
That ease is only heightened by the superb ride underneath. Despite our test car sitting on 22-inch alloy wheels, the Flying Spur remained composed and unruffled inside, refined. The ride is, in a word, incredible.
It’s a hallmark of the Bentley brand, a comfortable and capacious luxury tourer that feels effortless to drive, composed on the road and quiet, oh-so-quiet inside.
Key details | 2023 Bentley Flying Spur Hybrid |
Engine | 2.9-litre V6 twin-turbo petrol Permanent magnet synchronous electric motor |
Power | 306kW @ 5500rpm petrol 100kW electric 400kW combined |
Torque | 550Nm @ 2000–5000rpm petrol 400Nm electric 750Nm combined |
Drive type | All-wheel drive |
Transmission | Eight-speed dual-clutch automatic |
Power-to-weight ratio | 159.7kW/t |
Weight (kerb) | 2505kg |
Spare tyre type | Tyre repair kit |
Turning circle | 11.46m |
Should I buy a Bentley Flying Spur?
Adding a hybrid drivetrain to the Bentley Flying Spur hasn’t detracted from the brand’s appeal.
As a tentative first step into electrification (alongside the Bentayga plug-in hybrid SUV), the Flying Spur Hybrid delivers.
Sure, we can lament the demise of the iconic W12 engine that underpinned some variants of the Flying Spur. And we can grieve at the phasing out of the lusty V8 that powers the bulk of the range. But the reduction in cylinders and capacity, and the addition of batteries and an electric motor, has done nothing to diminish what lies at the heart of the essential Bentley experience.
It’s big, it’s powerful, it’s refined, it’s comfortable. And it makes a statement on the road.
The Bentley Flying Spur Hybrid is a glimpse into the brand’s future. Full-battery electric Bentleys are waiting in the wings, and the British marque has shown with the Hybrid that the transition to the future won’t come at the cost of the brand’s unquestionable heritage.
Next steps
The first steps to Bentley ownership begin with configuration and personalisation. It's best to visit your local Bentley dealer to start the process. A short list of Australian Bentley dealers can be found here.
The next step on the purchase journey is to check the Bentley website for stock of your preferred Flying Spur configuration. You can also find Bentleys for sale at Drive.com.au/cars-for-sale.