BIG GUNS

Bentley’s turbocharged L-Series V8 powerplant may have lived on until this year in the Mulsanne, but in terms of a modern classic successor to the blunderbuss Turbo, the Mulsanne remains a pricey prospect. A fairer comparison in fact would be the four-door derivative of the Continental GT, launched in 2005 as the Continental Flying Spur which at the time of writing is yours for around £18,000 – temptingly close to the values of the nicer Turbo Rs out there for owners looking to make the trade to a more modern replacement.

The two may look very similar at a first glance but under the skin they couldn’t be more different, with the Turbo R resolutely rooted in the hand-crafted era and the Flying Spur a technology-laden celebration of German engineering. One thing’s for certain though: both get you and your passengers down the road at unlikely speed in no small amount of style. Which