Bentley Mulsanne 2014 Overview
Automotive works of art like the Bentley Mulsanne are owned by those who demand nothing but the very best and can afford to spend many hours making multiple visits to a Bentley center to fine-tune their exacting requirements from a huge selection of options.
On average, this setup results in an additional 500 hours of work in the factory, while highly trained craftsmen and women put their hearts and souls into giving you exactly what you want. Am I exaggerating these statements too much? Possibly, but I have spent many hours at Bentley's UK factory over the years and watched these people in action. They take care of their cars and future owners.
More importantly, I have spoken to many Bentley buyers to get a good idea of their personalities (very different), their backgrounds (almost all but often DIY), their driving style (hard and fast!), and their feelings. to the Bentley (they love them passionately).
The big, imposing cabin, where we just spent the most enjoyable few days, was fitted with a $24,837 Premiere Specifications package that includes Bentley's "Flying B" mascot on the hood, seat cooling and heating, veneered picnic tables in the back, ambient lighting and rear view camera.
Those are the sort of upmarket elements you'd expect from a car like this, with the exception of the rear camera, which is found on many cars these days that are thirtieth the price of a Bentley.
Also installed in "our" Bentley Mulsanne was a list of items under the heading Mulliner Driving Specifications. These include polished 21-inch alloy wheels, sport-tuned adjustable suspension, front fender vents, diamond quilted panels on the doors and seats, knurling on the vent knobs and shift lever, and a host of other little things. Mulliner extras are up to $37,387.
The Bentley Mulsanne is named after the Mulsanne Straight, the hallmark of the Le Mans 24 Hours of Endurance (think of an entire Grand Prix season running in just one day). Bentley has won Le Mans five times, most recently in 2003. British riders completely dominated racing from 1927 to 1930, winning all four stages.
Its "six and three-quarter liter" (always pronounced in full) engine is a large aluminum alloy V8. Its original design dates back to the 60s, although it has been heavily modified many times.
Although its specifications seem primitive, the big V8 has pushrod valves and only two of them per cylinder, in its latest version it is forcibly powered by twin turbochargers and produces 505 horsepower, 377 kW and a ridiculously high 1020 Nm of torque. only at 1750 rpm.
Although the Mulsanne weighs around three tons with four people on board, it can shift very quickly, thanks in part to the efficient ZF eight-speed automatic transmission. Acceleration to 100 km / h in just 5.3 seconds is incredibly fast for such a car.
It's a greedy beast, during our testing it consumed 12 to 14 liters per hundred kilometers in light highway traffic and a whopping 18 to 22 liters per hundred in the city.
This is a big car and can get a little bit in traffic, especially in car parks where it often sticks out of standard Australian length patches. Dents, when the doors of other cars are opened against the wide body of the Bentley, seem inevitable. Out of respect for someone else's car, we did not use the parking lots. Owners may need a smaller vehicle for everyday use.
On the open road, the big Brit is a real delight, cruising with the ultimate comfort and smooth ride that comes with the sheer mass of a sedan of this size.
The view of the very long bonnet, all the way to the Flying B at the front, is excellent. Traction is much better than one would expect from a car of this size, and a well-thought-out suspension system is always at hand; after all, it is a machine designed to travel five kilometers per minute where speed limits permit, such as in our Northern Territory. Don't mind blowing up there somehow.
The total road cost of a tested Bentley Mulsanne is around $870,000 – it will vary slightly from state to state depending on registration fees.
