Our test car's steering wheel featured hand-stitched leather (a process that takes five hours), and it tilts and telescopes to accommodate drivers of different sizes. Controls for the audio system and trip computer are integrated into the wheel. The modern gauge cluster set within the instrument binnacle incorporates a small screen to alternately display information either from the audio system, navigational unit or trip computer. Elsewhere on the dash, the ventilation outlets are large bull's-eye modules, a design that's refreshingly intuitive to use and also in keeping with Bentley tradition.
The centerpiece of the dash is the seven-inch video screen that displays both information from the satellite navigation system (which affords nationwide map information in a single DVD disk), and the audio system. Discrete piano keys alongside the screen determine the different functions, while a central knob is used as the input key. The system is easier to use than competing systems from BMW and Mercedes-Benz, but fussier to use that similar systems offered by Acura and Lexus, both in terms of physical controls and internal computer logic.
The premium audio system features 12 speakers, and the acoustic quality is excellent. But because the navigation computer takes up so much space in the central console, the six-disk CD changer is located in the glovebox, an ergonomic compromise often seen in modern cars with a surfeit of electronics.
There are no ergonomic issues once you're behind the wheel, however. The 16-way adjustable front seat puts you in just the right position, and the seating surfaces can be either warmed or cooled, a feature that keeps leather from feeling icy in the winter or sweaty in the summer. This seat also cradles you with firm, supportive bolsters. Both front seats incorporate a massage feature to relieve the fatigue of long-distance driving.
If you select the optional two-passenger, limousine-style rear seat, the individually adjustable rear bucket seats afford first-class accommodations. There are climate and audio controls mounted in a center console between the rear seats, plus the electrically deployed privacy screens for the rear window and side glass, and it all adds up to the ambience of a business jet.
Yet, just like a jet, there's not quite as much room in the Flying Spur as you suppose. This car offers some 102 cubic feet of interior passenger volume, but this is an average of three cubic feet smaller in overall passenger volume than a BMW 7 Series, Lexus LS, or Mercedes S-Class. Front-seat legroom is generous, but the oversize Bentley front seats restrict rear-seat by a couple inches. On the other hand, the Flying Spur's trunk is truly voluminous, some 16.7 cubic feet in all.
Taken as a whole, the interior surroundings are gorgeous. Bentley uses no less than 11 cowhides to trim the interior, and it selects leather strictly from climes in northern Europe, where the animals are less likely to have been scarred by insect bites. Bentley is also unique in its use of natural unstained and unbleached wood veneers (a total of seven different veneers are available). As a result, everything you see is a delight and everything you touch is a pleasure.
