My Dad runs a professional chauffeur company in London. I have already written about his previous car - the World's Fastest Chauffeur Car, an S Class 600. His Mercedes-Benz S Class was a lovely car, but in his efforts to find the best chauffeur car, his attention was drawn to Crewe and Bentley Motors.
The Bentley Chauffeur Experience
My Dad has had a lot of experience with chauffeur driven Bentleys, and in particular the Bentley Arnage. They are a lovely car, crafted by hand and full of character. Their design is classic, timeless and reeks of class. In terms of performance, the Bentley Arnage is great, but the Continental Flying Spur is breathtaking. It has permanent all wheel drive, a phenomenal 552 BHP W12 twin turbo charged engine that creates a tarmac crunching 650Nm of torque at 1600 rpm. This effortless power makes the Flying Spur a very smooth and quiet ride, making it an ideal chauffeur car.
Bentley Safety
With all this horsepower, you would think that the Flying Spur would be more than a little unruly. This couldn't be further from the truth, the Bentley's sophisticated all wheel drive means that as you approach a blind bend; gravel or water would not cause a problem as you power out of it. The car weighs more than a semi detached house, so stopping the car would seem to be near on impossible. Not so, Bentley have fitted the Continental Flying Spur with the largest front brakes to be found on any passenger car in the world. The engineers have designed the car so that it can produce fifteen consecutive stops from 200 mph, which means in normal day to day use this car can stop on a button.
The Continental Flying Spur has a full suite of safety equipment, including a total of six airbags, seatbelt pre-tensioners and retraction systems for all seats, and a front passenger seat occupant detection system. It has a sophisticated suspension system, with continuous, electronic variable damping control and self-levelling, air suspension with manual driver adjustment facility for ride height and damper settings along with electronic tyre pressure monitors. All in all this makes the Flying Spur a very safe motor car.
Safety shoot out: Bentley Flying Spur vs Mercedes S Class
S Class Mercedes-Benz
It's all very well spouting impressive figures about safety, but does the Flying Spur deliver what it promises? A new S Class might have as an option, Distronic cruise control fitted, which is a remarkable piece of engineering. I had the pleasure of driving an AMG CLK Mercedes-Benz recently which had Distronic fitted, and more than anything else, this really impressed me. Distronic is like cruise control on steroids. Set your desired cruising speed and the car will maintain it all day long, just like regular cruise control - except when a car or traffic jam gets in your way. Then the Distronic car will brake, to a stop if need be. When the traffic clears then the car will accelerate back to your desired cruising speed. It takes a little getting used to, and the first time you use it is a little worrying but it soon becomes second nature and is a fantastic gizmo and safety feature. The S Class does not have an all wheel drive drivetrain but is in all other areas a very safe chauffeur car.
Bentley Continental Flying Spur
Unfortunately the Continental Flying Spur doesn't have Distronic, but in all other areas it is a very safe car, and arguably the safest in the world. It has an incredible array of safety features and the Bentley engineers have invested a considerable amount of time on making sure that the Flying Spur is indelibly safe. It also is incredibly fast, it is the fastest 4 door production saloon in the world, it will accelerate to 60 miles per hour as fast as a Lamborghini but in refined luxury and comfort. The S600 was a great car for my dad and his clients, but the Flying Spur is breathtaking in almost everyway possible.
Whatever car you have it is only as good as the driver. My dad is a very safe chauffeur. He has spent a considerable amount of time on Bentley track days, learning the right way to handle the Bentley in emergency situations, and undertaken Police-led driving courses to learn about driving in high-security situations. To be a safe driver, more than anything it's important to be smooth and drive defensively. As a chauffeur, my dad has all the right credentials; he doesn't drink, do drugs and has a lot of experience in driving heads of state, movie and film stars and that certain something that many other chauffeurs lack - a commitment to service and a affable and friendly personality. Just like car specifications it is very easy to quote impressive facts and figures but experience and attention to detail are a lot more important, so contact iChauffeur to find out more about their luxury chauffeur driven limousine service.
