WINNING YOUR SPUR

If you want luxury on the (relatively) cheap, there’s are perhaps few things more tempting than the Flying Spur, which made its debut at the 2005 Geneva Motor Show. Styled by Belgian designer, Dirk van Braeckel, some observers found the looks a little awkward, although such views have softened over the years. This four-door Bentley now seems refreshingly understated compared with today’s more ostentatious offerings.

Subjective matters aside, what really grabbed the attention was the way in which the Flying Spur blended opulence with a sledgehammer punch, courtesy of Bentley’s W12 engine. A complex twin-turbocharged 6.0-litre unit, it made 552bhp and 480lb.ft of torque, which shoved the 2.5-tonne behemoth to 60mph in 4.9 seconds and on to 195mph, with power sent to all four wheels via a six-speed ZF automatic transmission. For despatching continents