Category: Exotic Sports 
Price Range: No data available
Brilliant power delivery from monster engine, beautifully appointed interior.
Still looks too ordinary, some ride comfort has been sacrificed.
Not quite as captivating as it seems on paper, but impressive and likeable nonetheless.
Here are some numbers for you to conjure with: 0-60mph in 4.5sec; 0-100mph in 10.5sec; 0-186mph (300km/h) in 45 sec; flat out a nice, round 200mph.
The last figure, in particular, would make Ferrari proud. Yes, for a car weighing 2.5 tonnes, the Speed is astonishingly, absurdly and sometimes comically fast - all the more so when you consider we know of no manufacturer more conservative with its claimed figures that Bentley.
And you don't need to be a test or racing driver to extract this performance from a Speed, all you need is a lot of space, the absence of a speed limit and the courage to straighten your right leg. Then you just sit back in your vast armchair as this stately home on wheels throws itself - and you - at the nearest horizon. It is a car for which the word 'majestic' could have been invented. The prow rises, the engine thunders as the rev counter needle swoops around its dial, is checked by a flawless gearchange and begins another charge for its red-line.
So far so good: Bentley has achieved its goal and created the fastest saloon on sale. But there is a price to pay and it's more than the calamitous single digit fuel consumption that will inevitably result if you make use the Speed's awesome potential with more than occasional frequency.
For while its true that the firmer springs, dampers and anti-roll bars that come with Speed specification have provided a tangible extra degree of control over its body movements, so too is it undeniable that this has not been achieved without a significant degradation in ride quality. Those huge 20" wheels thump a little too readily into even small road imperfections and that wonderful, gliding lollop that makes the standard Flying Spur such an outstanding luxury car has gained a coarse edge that's not really in keeping with the character of the rest of the car.
Some will not miss that last bit of finesse to the ride and will regard its flatter cornering as a more than fair exchange, but it is fair to point out at this stage that for all its potential, the Speed remains essentially a large, four-door limousine and not an ultra-sporting two-seat roadster in which such compromise in ride comfort might be regarded not only as entirely acceptable, but even quite desirable.
