The Bentley Continental Flying Spur is a grand car that recalls a heroic age, a throwback to a time when big sedans were more art than science. Yet the Flying Spur also adds performance, technology, and even utility to this formula, and the result is a car that is uniquely practical as well as uniquely beautiful.

Beneath the Flying Spur's dramatic sheetmetal, you'll find the latest developments in automotive technology. A W12 engine incorporates twin turbochargers to produce some 552 horsepower. All-wheel drive delivers excellent traction in all kinds of weather. A sophisticated suspension with air springs and electronically controlled dampers produces extraordinary driving composure.

Moreover, the Flying Spur is a car that's meant to be driven. The driving experience is effortlessly intuitive, the performance is powerful yet controllable, and the interior is useful as well as comfortable. Compared to other prestige cars, the Flying Spur can be used on a daily basis just like a conventional sedan.

The Bentley Continental Flying Spur belongs to a rarified group of automobiles that are signatures of wealth and style. Bentley and Roll-Royce have dominated this market for decades, but now German and Italian manufacturers have joined the game for reasons of both corporate image and national pride. When a British holding company sold off the long-time Bentley/Rolls-Royce concern in 1999 because investment funds for the future weren't available, Volkswagen purchased Bentley while BMW bought Rolls-Royce. This event inspired a re-making of the whole prestige-car marketplace, as Mercedes-Benz invented Maybach, while Fiat decided to join the game with Maserati.

Since its takeover by Volkswagen, Bentley has been conspicuously successful. Much of the reason has been the Continental model, which was greeted with wide acclaim when the two-door GT was introduced in 2003. The four-door Flying Spur enjoyed similar success when it was launched in 2005. Evidence of this success can be found in the U.S. market during 2005, where Bentley sold 2144 Continental GTs and 1217 Flying Spurs during the year. In the same time period, Rolls-Royce sold 382 Phantoms, while Maybach sold just 152 cars.

It should be duly noted that price is a part of the Bentley Contintental's appeal, for while the Flying Spur is twice the price of a Lexus, it is just half the price of a Rolls-Royce.

This Bentley is an example of automotive art, yet it also illustrates the way in which prestige cars are becoming more affordable, practical and useful in response to ever-increasing sophistication from consumer-grade sedans built by Audi, BMW, Lexus, and Mercedes-Benz.