First Drive: 2011 Bentley Mulsanne

We drive the all-new Bentley flagship that combines 21st century technology with a distinctive old-school soul.

Transcript

00:00 [MUSIC]

00:07 The Bentley Mulsanne doesn't look like a retro car, but it is.

00:13 Unlike say, the new Mini, the new Beetle, or even the new Mustang,

00:18 the new Mulsanne is not a skin deep styling homage to an iconic ancestor.

00:23 Even though it drips with 21st century technology,

00:28 such as composite body parts, an eight speed automatic transmission,

00:32 computer controlled air suspension, the new Mulsanne,

00:36 which replaces the flagship Arnage sedan, is old school to its very soul.

00:42 Rear drive and a 6.7 liter turbo charged V8 with push rods overhead valves.

00:48 All right, the rear drive makes a bit of sense, but a push rod V8?

00:53 But after a stirring drive in the new Mulsanne through the gorgeous

00:57 rolling countryside on the border of Scotland and England, we are convinced.

01:02 With 505 horsepower and a staggering 725 pound feet of torque on tap,

01:09 the all new old school V8 propels this 5,700 pound Bentley

01:14 across the landscape with insolent ease.

01:17 Just caress the gas pedal and the Mulsanne surges forward from corner to corner.

01:22 The eight speed CF automatic seamlessly shuffling the ratios.

01:27 The improvement in smoothness, refinement, and

01:29 silence compared with the Arnage is instantly obvious.

01:32 [MUSIC]

01:35 It's more fluid looking too.

01:37 The increases in wheel base and overall length, plus that rakish C pillar,

01:42 mean the Mulsanne looks lower, sleeker than the Arnage.

01:46 We're still not sure about that front end, but

01:48 there's still no mistaking this car for anything else on the road.

01:53 In the end, the Mulsanne's old world craftsmanship and

01:57 state of the art technology both work toward the same philosophical goal,

02:02 permanence.

02:03 Or as Franz Joseph Pefkin, Bentley's chairman puts it,

02:07 in a world where cars are meant to be scrapped,

02:10 this is a car that is meant to last forever.

02:13 [MUSIC]