Hello everyone,

I've recently acquired a 2006 Bentley Continental Flying Spur. It was a bit of a snap decision, swapping my much loved Range Rover (Petrol) supercharged for one as an 'alternative choice'. Ironically it was a drive in my friends Rolls Royce Ghost which got me itching to swap my Range for something more classy...

I have had the Flying Spur about a month now and driven about 1,200 miles so far so I feel I have some good miles behind me now to comment.
First impressions are very good (more on that in a bit) but it wouldn't be mine if I didn't customize it a bit... so lets go through what I've done so far...

Interior
The interior really is a special place to be and so far I've replaced and upgraded a few things (apart from the tired old Infotainment system, I'll comment more on my plans for that in another thread). As a tempory measure I ordered from ebay UK a 2015 sat nav disc for a tenner. At least the roads are updated, sadly without postcode search, sat nav is pretty useless by todays standards so will be replaced completely given time. Within the first few days I had to install rear seat entertainment package, so I mounted a pair of DVD 10" screens which I am very happy with. My young kids would have killed me having moved from an all entertainment spec car RR Vogue SE (the model that I originally had) to this without a TV! I'll post some pics soon but they work very well...

Next up was the tired old gear lever, swapped with a new diamond turned version from the latest cars (which looks much better in my opinion). I also sourced a set of quite rare genuine lambwool overmats (which give a bit impression of luxury the moment you step inside the cabin), a first impression I recall from driving the Ghost. I also wasn't happy with a previous leather repair done by another ex owner so i went to a local specialist (actually used by Bentley themselves) whom has been in the business for over 30 years. He did a fantastic job of rectifying the old faults and I couldn't be more happy. Shame I didn't take some before pictures as he did a great job of the drivers seat and front door panel!

A couple of bits of plastic trim where missing from the seat where the seatbelt going into the seat so i tracked them down, finding they where common on the VW Phaeton.. Ordered them in chrome, rather than silver to match the rest of the interior (don't quite know why Bentley used silver on my car when chrome was available in the parts bin..). If anyone is interested I will post part numbers..

Exterior
On the exterior I ordered a set of chromed rear light fittings which look nice and chromed pair of mirror covers (yet to be fitted). Plus I also found one of those genuine petrol filler caps (chromed) and swapped out the horribly VAG group feeling plastic item.

I have more plans but won't comment until i am further on with them...

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Driving Impressions
I miss the high up seating position you enjoy in a Range Rover (and thats exactly what the Bentayga addresses). If I am really being truely honest I still believe the seats in the RR are about the best you can get, definately most comfortable in just about ANY car. Having said that overall I've been able to find a setting thats comfortable for me but the rest of the interior is miles better than the Range. The footwell room for your legs is much more restrictive in the Bentley which was a bit surprising given the size of the car. Overall however you can really see the attention to detail and where all the money has been spent. A very relaxing place to be and oozes quality.

Handling is ofcourse miles better in the Benters, the lower Center of gravity giving it a real advantage here and ofcourse the weight is lighter too vs the Range. It certainly feels more nimble but nothing like proper lightweight sports cars I have (to be expected so nothing unusual here). Having said that it clings on into the corners with much more conviction than any car thats 2.5 tonnes has any right to! Also seems to drive better the harder you hussle it. Setting for the suspension seem to make very little difference to ride quality except more squish so I just keep it in sports mode. It a bit annoying that it doesn't remember this after you get out of the car, defaulting back to comfort... Arrg. I will address this at some point with some electronic trickery with CAN bus injection...

Fuel economy is predictably a bit silly (!) but the Petrol Range wasn't exactly brilliant in this regard either. Best not to think about it and just enjoy the car for its excellent qualities and vfm at this age. Fuel tank is much smaller in the Bentley too meaning you fill up more often and less in one go. Considering the weight and engine size and performance its not really all that bad to be fair. Some of my older cars had equally miserable mpg without the monsterperformance and quality interiors!

The effortless torque is something very impressive about the car, particularly in sport mode. I am also super impressed about the fact the power feels like one big seamless gear, it just keeps accelerating without any perception of gearbox cogs being changed.

Overall really enjoying the car. It has miles more street presence than the Range Rover which are absolutely everywhere in UK, less so with the Flying Spur which is much less a frequently seen. Its also aged really well in my opinion but I would have liked a little bit more aggression to the front end so I may contemplate a supersports front end upgrade at some point in the future... We shall see..

 

It's nice that you are enjoying your Bentley and you are right about the Sat Nav, I much prefer Google maps these days.
Oddly enough, I would love a new Range Rover SVR, now that's some car!

If you are in need of servicing or fault fixing at any time, get in touch with the Indy that a few of us from your area use. Ivor in Crewe. Just Google Indy services for Bentley in Crewe and you will find him. Definitely preferable to the local Cheshire main dealer as a couple of us have discovered the expensive way.

Could I ask which firm you used for the leather repair? Mine needs a little TLC and is your Sat Nav the CD type or DVD?

Les.

 

Already know Ivor, was at his place yesterday infact

IMHO, for the best possible leather repairs in the UK try;
http://www.leathertech.co.uk/

It was one of the first things I wanted resolved. My Sat Nav (currently) is the tired old CD edition so i just got the UK based maps upgraded to 2016 with latest Mapteq data I believe.

I'm going to see if I can develop a conversion kit that Ivor can retrofit for everyone wanting to upgrade from the old Infotainment unit. I'll come back to the forum on options and prices once I have a prototype working. The plan is to develop a complete replacement for the old unit's user interface and going quite a bit further than what Bentley have done even on their new cars... watch this space.

 

Hi.

Nice to know you've already met Ivor.
I seem to recall him mentioning Leathertech so thanks for the reminder.
Your Infotainment upgrade sounds cool and would be a worthwhile thing to have. Good luck with it.

Les.

 

Hi 360trev.

Regarding your mention of inexpensive ECU chipping, is there anyone in the Cheshire area that does it for such a low price as a couple of hundred quid or so?

Cheers. Les.

 

Hello Les,

As I must stress you will need to replace all the ignition coilpacks and have good new spark plugs too so even though the map part isn't that expensive you need to factor in replacing these too and thats before doing a full engine oil service (strongly recommended).

A new set of x12 NGK plugs costs 85 GBP delivered (ebay) and set of x12 good quality coilpacks can be still ordered from Germany for about 260-280 GBP delivered. I'd recommend Beru ZSE031 coils as they can take the extra load no problems.

I also go as far as recommending getting the engine TerraCleaned too to ensure it has no deposits or fouling, it will super clean the fuel injectors too and ensure when the boost is increased there are no other underlying problems. A Terraclean in Cheshire on the 6.0 engine costs around 210 GBP and will also lower emissions too and ensure a smooth running super clean engine internals to start as a base. Furthermore fresh oil/oil filter and air filter will also be worthwhile before starting on this.

Having a faultless clean oiled engine is a must before starting the mapping and checking it has no fault codes logged too. All in doing all of this means your paying quite a bit more (do the maths) with new coils, plugs fitted and a full TerraClean, oil service done. You may also find the oxygen sensors are ageing too, if that's the case they may need addressing too and I believe they are not easy to access on the W12 so worst case scenario your 200 starting point could end up costing approximately 2,000.

For that you get an engine thats super fresh, internally cleaned, new o2 sensor, new coils, new plugs and with the miles wound back so it feels like its new again. Idle will be smooth, fuel economy (ironically!) will be improved, especially after Terracleaning (as much as 15% better mpg!) and you'll not have to worry... Slapping on the map without taking care of all the other stuff means your tempting fate to Check Engine light...

Really the car is transformed, sport mode is a massive difference but it will also mean you'll have to be attentive to other things like brakes and tyres. Are they man enough to handle a charging 3 tonne 650hp+ rip snorting engined car? I'd recommend Michelin Pilot Super Sports when you start to get to this level of performance, they are epic super high performance road tyres.

Pm, me if I haven't scared you off and I'll sort you out with the details and can help you with getting all of this lot done.

Regards,

Trevor

 

Hi Trevor.

The car is looked after by Ivor so it runs just fine. I've spent a lot to get it right though.
It gets used just about every day thanks to my missus so is no garage queen.
Interesting about the coil packs though, that sounds a good price.
The car is in France at the moment but a tune is something that I've been mulling over for some time now.
Please let me know the details and I will take it from there.

Cheers. Les.