It takes as little as 17 hours to build a standard factory production car. It takes an average of 500 hours to build a Bentley. This flagship Bentley Mulsanne will take even longer to build, because one of the unique pleasures of buying a Mulsanne is personalisation. There is no price limit to the options available, anything and everything is available. The entry-level £228,000 of the top level Mulsanne is only the beginning.
Take the car we are testing here; its options’ list adds another £53,000 to your bill. They read with interest; deep pile Wilton carpet mats, entertainment specification (£21,000), back curtains to rear cabin (£5,000) etc. Money is not the point, for serious financial muscle is a given.
Yet there is much more to the Bentley Mulsanne than money and opulence. Quality is second to none, and at every point visible to the eye. You can be excused for sitting and wallowing in appreciation of the craftsmanship of the cabin for a very long time. Outside it’s all aluminium. Inside, it’s wood, leather, chrome and well, just seriously impressive.
The driver’s Bentley
Yet oddly enough this is, both in character and behaviour, a driver’s Bentley. It’s simply astonishing how quickly you can punt this near-on three ton battleship through challenging roads, the combination of technology and chassis genius defying the laws of physics.
You have a choice of four drive settings, from comfort to hard core, but the magical ‘Bentley’ setting is the cause for celebration for those who see these cars as first and foremost the ultimate gentleman driver’s car. The firm up steering and suspension turns the Mulsanne from Dr Jeckyll to Mr Hyde; the formula for this potent mixture being a 6.75 litre twin-turbo charged V8.
With that comes 550 bhp and a hefty 752 lb of torque. The engine revs only to 4,500 rpm, marking the effortless low-rev torque expected of this majestic beast. Go easy with the throttle and four of the eight cylinders will disengage under light load, whilst engine efficiency is boosted further by lightweight pistons, conrods and crankshaft. The eight speed automatic ZF gearbox is flexible enough to adapt to all conditions and demands, and the clever trick is, you will hardly even notice
The Mulsanne may be a quarter of a million pounds, but it is a car to buy and keep forever. As we humans have a tendency to die, Bentleys like these are often passed on to future generations. We thus become custodians not only of a very fine motorcar, but one of the diminishing few that still embodies the best in British craftsmanship and a proud motoring heritage.
