Would Sir care to drive his automobile? Then we have
just the ticket for you here…
Calling a special edition the Driving Specification would,
for most cars, seem tautological in the extreme. What does that make the
standard model? The Non-Driving Specification?
Bentley Mulsanne
But the Bentley Mulsanne is not most cars. Forget driving:
the owner of a Mulsanne will more likely be found lounging in its throne-like
rear.
So the Mulliner Driving Specification, then, is that rarest
of Mulsannes: one for the millionaire who likes to feel a steering wheel within
his grip rather than bellow orders while popping peeled grapes into his mouth.
Accordingly, the MDS, as Bentley would hate it to be known, gets new
sport-tuned air suspension and steering. No change to the venerable V8, but,
really, if you need more than 505bhp from your $296,000 Enormo-limo, we fear
you shouldn’t be in the market for an Enormo-limo.
For a car measuring more than five and a-half meters in
length and tipping the scales at 2,585kg, the Mulliner doesn’t half go down a
road. Engaging Sport mode from the rotary knob beside the gearshift firms up
the suspension and does an impressive job of keeping the Mul’s considerable
mass heading in the correct direction.
And with 1020Nm of imperial, empire-building torque, it
heads in the right direction mighty quickly: 0-100kph takes 5.1seconds and a
small swimming pool of super unleaded. You won’t be surprised to hear it
doesn’t corner like an Exige, but provided you never lose sight of the fact
you’re driving something that costs and weighs considerably more than the
average British house – the Mulliner goes through bends with impressive
composure and fearsome grip.
However. Let’s be realistic. Even Woolf Barnato might stop
short of whanging a Mulsanne through the twisties, and not just because he died
in 1948. Driving Specification this may be, but the Mulsanne’s centerpiece
remains its staggering cabin.
Around new knurled doorhandles (or Criss-Crossy, to the rest
of us) and drilled-aluminum pedals is wrapped several acres of especially
glitzy quilted leather, which apparently uses a new perforation process to
achieve perfectly uniform, er, holiness and allows the seats to be ventilated.
And believe us: when you’re tanking along in a $296,000, 2.5tonne mega-barge,
you’ll be glad for some cool air ventilating your nether regions…
The verdict of
Bentley Mulsanne is 8/10
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The specs
§
The numbers: 6752cc, V8, RWD, 505bhp, 1020Nm, 5.9kpl, 0-100kph
in 5.1secs, 294kph, 2,585kg
§
The cost: $296,000
§
The verdict: The Mulsanne for hardcore drives. A bit like being
a sporty cruise ship. Still astonishing, though
§
8/10
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