When W.O. and Horace Bentley put pen to paper and created the Bentley Motor Company in 1919, their objective was simple: build some of the best cars in the world. Now, more than 100 years into the company’s life, Bentley might be closer to that ambition than ever before. We’ve already gone over the excellence of the new Flying Spur in detail, but Bentley recently made some changes that will hopefully make its only sedan even better.
There isn’t any more performance, as the 626-horse thump from the twin-turbo W-12 is already amply sufficient. Instead, the changes for the 2022 model year make the Flying Spur even more refined and easier to live with. To that end, Bentley has added traffic sign recognition, handsfree trunk opening, a top-view camera, and automatic dimming mirrors to the list of standard kit.
A new air ionizer should help keep nasty, microscopic air particles out of the cabin, and there are new open-pore veneers to make the interior feel just that much more luxe. A new color, Cambrian Grey, grows the list of available exterior finishes to 63 (and makes your Bentley look like a giant dolphin on wheels).
Additionally, Bentley has worked with ESI Group—a company that specializes in virtual modeling—to identify where it could make the cabin of the Flying Spur even more serene. The result is lower noise, vibration, and harshness in some of the louder parts of the cabin. The experience, Bentley says, should bring the Flying Spur ever closer to W.O. Bentley’s ideal of a “dead silent 100-mph car.”
The changes to the big Bentley sedan will be applied to the 2021 model year cars for the British market, with the rest of the world having to wait until the 2022s hit showrooms.
