2006 Bentley Continental Flying Spur Interior Features & Options

Our car is fitted with the optional accommodation package, which means the walnut-covered center console extends right through between two bucket seats. In it are the rear-seat air-conditioning controls, cupholders, and, hidden under a roll-top lid, the controls for the power adjustable seats, including a "chauffer" button that'll move the front-passenger seat all the way forward for executive stretch room. The relatively formal backlight means there's plenty of headroom (there's metal over the heads of the rear seat passengers rather than glass), but long-legged occupants will find there's not a lot of room for their feet under the front seats.

It's on the speed-unlimited autobahns in southern Germany that the Flying Spur truly comes into its own. Quite simply, there's no faster, more comfortable way of crossing a continent this side of a private jet. While German automakers rigidly stick to the gentleman's agreement that limits their cars to 155 mph, the German-owned (but assembled in Britain) Flying Spur is free to run as fast as it can. And, man, is it fast. Nail the gas, allow the W-12 to run all the way to the redline through the gears, and the Flying Spur just surges toward the horizon like a jet airliner on takeoff. Bentley officially claims a top speed of 195 mph, making this easily the fastest four-door production car in the world, though engineering chief Ulrich Eichhorn says this is a conservative figure.

But it's not just the sheer speed that's impressive: it's how coolly the big Bentley manages it. The W-12 is not as silky as other 12-cylinder engines, buzzing back through the steering wheel rim above 5000 rpm, but, other than that, the loudest noise you hear above 150 mph is a distant wind roar, like you hear in a Boeing cruising at 36,000 feet. The stability is unbelievable; most cars start to feel flighty and nervous, dancing on the balls of their feet above 170 mph, but the Flying Spur feels nailed to the road and tracks with the certainty of a bullet train, even through 180-mph sweepers.

The very best Bentleys have always been big, heavy, and surprisingly quick: Back in the 1920s, Ettore Bugatti once contemptuously dismissed them as "the fastest trucks in Europe." The Bentley Continental Flying Spur sure is fast. But it's no truck.