2010 Bentley Continental Flying Spur, at Fleetrates.com MSRP $187,485 Sale $179,075 1-800-851-9000

May 24, 2010 - PRLog -- 2010 Bentley Continental Flying Spur Review
A four-door version of the Continental GT coupe, the amusingly named Flying Spur is available with 552 horsepower or an even 600 from a twin-turbo W-12. In either guise, this sedan offers a ridiculous amount of luxury, style, build quality, and straight-line performance. The standard features of the Bentley Continental Flying Spur Base include 6.0L W-12 552HP engine twin turbo, 6-speed automatic transmission with overdrive, 4-wheel anti-lock brakes (ABS), navigation system, side seat mounted airbags, curtain 1st and 2nd row overhead airbags, rear side-impact airbag, airbag occupancy sensor, automatic, 19" alloy wheels, cruise control, and an ABS and driveline traction control.

Prestige
The Bentley Continentals combine the best attributes of European engineering and performance, global contemporary style, and British charm, craftsmanship and sublime road manners in the world's fastest sedan and elegant two-door coupe and convertible models. And they do so at a price point nicely slotted between very expensive and more mundane. To paraphrase one who owns all of them, the Continental is here because there are places you simply do not arrive in a Mercedes, Porsche, or Lexus. The Bentley Continental Flying Spur belongs to a rarified group of automobiles that are signatures of wealth and style. Bentley and Roll-Royce have dominated this market for decades, but now German and Italian manufacturers have joined the game for reasons of both corporate image and national pride. When a British holding company sold off the long-time Bentley/Rolls-Royce concern in 1999 because investment funds for the future weren't available, Volkswagen purchased Bentley while BMW bought Rolls-Royce. This event inspired a re-making of the whole prestige-car marketplace, as Mercedes-Benz invented Maybach, while Fiat decided to join the game with Maserati.

Summary
Since its takeover by Volkswagen, Bentley has been conspicuously successful. Much of the reason has been the Continental model, which was greeted with wide acclaim when the two-door GT was introduced in 2003. The four-door Flying Spur enjoyed similar success when it was launched in 2005. Evidence of this success can be found in the U.S. market during 2005, where Bentley sold 2144 Continental GTs and 1217 Flying Spurs during the year. In the same time period, Rolls-Royce sold 382 Phantoms, while Maybach sold just 152 cars. It should be duly noted that price is a part of the Bentley Contintental's appeal, for while the Flying Spur is twice the price of a Lexus, it is just half the price of a Rolls-Royce.