2014 Bentley Continental Flying Spur

2014 Bentley Continental Flying Spur
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What It Is: A 2014 Bentley Continental Flying Spur—the four-door sibling of the Continental GT coupe and GTC convertible—caught while testing wearing fake Mercedes S-class camouflage. A lot of spy photos come through our email inboxes, but few prove as entertaining as these shots of the next Flying Spur. Not only did Bentley stick on some pseudo-Benz head- and taillights, but it went so far as to affix bulging fender flares similar to those on the current S-class. Looking past this Bentley’s drag, it’s clear that the Flying Spur will inherit the same basic stylistic upgrades that hit the 2011 Continental GT and 2012 GTC.

Why It Matters: Bentley’s entry-level sedan has been on sale in the same form since 2005—that’s quite the product cycle. It’s an especially long lifespan when you consider the stratospheric sandbox in which the Flying Spur competes; rich or poor, people tend to crave the latest and greatest, and that counts double when customers need to shell out nearly $200,000. Mix in the competition that appeared since the Spur first went on sale—the Rolls-Royce Ghost (which beat the Flying Spur Speed in a comparison test), the Aston Martin Rapide, and the upcoming Pullman version of the next Mercedes-Benz S-class—and a freshened Flying Spur becomes even more important for Bentley.

Platform: Just as the latest Continental GT and GTC sit on a carry-over platform, so too will this new Flying Spur. That said, the four-door should get entirely new sheetmetal; it may not be obviously different—changes to the other Continentals weren’t terribly easy to spot—but it should subtly bring the sedan in line with its two-door siblings, as well as the larger Mulsanne.