Bentley Flying Spur (2nd Gen)

Scope of this guide

This guide is scoped to the Bentley Flying Spur W12 as launched in 2013, the four-door, four or five seat saloon with the 6.0L twin-turbo W12 petrol engine (5998 cc), 616 bhp and all-wheel drive. It is the second-generation car. It is not a guide to the first-generation Continental Flying Spur of 2005 to 2013, including its Speed version, nor to the later cars that share the second-generation body: the V8 (2014), the V8 S (2016) and the W12 S (2016), which has more power and torque than the car described here. It is also not a guide to the third-generation Flying Spur introduced in 2019. Where those cars differ we say so below, because an advert that says only "Flying Spur" can describe any of them.

We have not driven this model for this article. Everything here comes from three cited sources: Bentley's launch press release as reprinted by 2luxury2 (article dated 21 February 2013), PistonHeads' used buying guide to the second-generation car (Tony Middlehurst, 19 October 2020), and the government recall checker. We also read PistonHeads' May 2013 launch review by Dan Trent, Bentley's own heritage page for the W12 S, Wikipedia and GTspirit's Geneva report, and we flag every point that rests on them. A Top Gear first drive returned HTTP 403 and an Auto123 page refused the connection, so we did not use either beyond a search result snippet, and we did not work around the block. Where sources disagree we say so rather than pick a winner quietly. We give no prices, because they date quickly.

The figures at a glance

• Engine: 6.0L twin-turbo W12 petrol, 5998 cc on both PistonHeads pages. Bentley calls it a 6.0 litre, and our earlier catalogue figure of 5950 cc did not match any source we read, so we replaced it.
• Power: 616 bhp, which is the 625 PS the press release quotes, written there as "625 PS (616 bhp)". Our own check agrees: 616 x 1.01387 is about 625 PS, or about 460 kW. PistonHeads prints 625hp in its launch review and 616hp in its buying guide, so the unit in each place needs reading with care.
• Torque: 800 Nm, which the press release prints. PistonHeads gives 590 lb ft at 2,000 rpm, and 590 x 1.3558 is about 800 Nm.
• 0-100 km/h: 4.6 seconds. The PistonHeads review prints 4.6 seconds for 0-62 mph, which we treat as the 0-100 km/h figure. The press release prints a 0-60 mph time of 4.3 seconds, and the buying guide prints 4.3 seconds in its table and about four and a half seconds in its text, so the published figures do not agree.
• Top speed: 322 km/h, the 200 mph that the press release and PistonHeads both print (200 x 1.609 is about 322).
• Drive: all-wheel drive with a ZF eight-speed automatic gearbox. The press release describes a 40:60 rear-biased torque split.
• Weight: 2,499 kg on PistonHeads' launch review. The press release says only that the car is 50 kg lighter than the first-generation car, and Wikipedia gives 2,475 kg.

Launch year and last year

The car was unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show in March 2013, and Bentley's own heritage page says it was launched there in 2013 as the Flying Spur W12. We therefore use 2013 as the first year. PistonHeads' buying guide gives its on-sale years as 2013 to 2019, and Wikipedia says the third generation was unveiled in June 2019, so we use 2019 as the last year. That end date is the least certain figure in this guide. It is the span of the whole second-generation range, not of the 2013 W12 alone, and we found no source that says when the original 616 bhp specification stopped being built. Expect later cars to be W12 S models, and check the specification of any individual car rather than trusting the year.

What the 2013 W12 was

PistonHeads' launch review said there was just one model for now, and that the single engine left room for a V8 version to follow, which happened in 2014. It also noted that the old 610 hp Speed model was the dominant seller of the outgoing car, so a less powerful replacement would not have worked for owners. The reprint of Bentley's press release carries the headline that this was the most powerful four-door model the company had made, which is a claim about that moment, not today, and we did not check it against Bentley's own archive. The W12 S that followed in 2016 raised power from 616 bhp to 626 bhp, according to Bentley's heritage page, with torque up to 820 Nm.

The cabin is offered in four or five seat layouts, according to the press release. Standard wheels are 19 inch, according to PistonHeads, with 20 inch wheels as an option and 21 inch two-piece wheels on Mulliner cars. The tyre size quoted is 275/45. If a car you are shopping for has the larger wheels, expect a firmer ride over sharp-edged ridges, because PistonHeads says the chassis can pass sharp road shocks into the cabin.

What to check when buying

PistonHeads' buying guide is the main source for this list, and it warns that weight and power data for the car is hard to pin down with absolute certainty. Treat the following as questions to put to a seller and a specialist, not as a failure rate.

• Engine: faulty coil packs cause poor idling and misfires. The W12 is said to suffer from leaky vacuum lines, and the guide says a dealer may claim the job needs the engine removed while a specialist can do it with the engine in place. Head gasket failure is possible, so look for coolant residue and ask how the cooling system has been maintained. Ask when the oil was last changed, because the guide recommends changing it at least once a year to reduce the risk of sludging.
• Gearbox: the ZF eight-speed automatic is described as well judged, but the paddles are poorly placed and slow to respond, and intermediate gears cannot be held. That is a trait of the car, not a fault.
• Air suspension: the air struts can leak, and a car that sits lopsided after standing may have one failing. A leak can stress bushes and ball joints and cause knocking when braking at low speed. The guide says struts can be rebuilt for about half the cost of replacement.
• Brakes: the standard brakes are adequate but not class leading from high speed, and carbon ceramic brakes were optional. The electronic parking brake has been known to show as applied when it is not, which triggers a limp-home mode and can mean the brake motors need checking.
• Electrics and body: check that the engine management light lights up with the ignition on, because a missing bulb can hide a fault. Key fob buttons wear and are expensive to replace. Keep the scuttle drain clear, since water can reach the fuse box and the comfort control unit in the footwell.
• Running costs: many parts are shared with Volkswagen and Audi, which helps, and routine servicing does not have to be done by a Bentley dealer. The official combined fuel figure is 19.2 mpg, so single-figure real-world returns are likely.

Recalls and the DVSA check

We did not run the government checker, because it needs a registration number or the manufacturer, model and year, and we are not looking at a specific car. The page says the MOT checking service shows safety recalls that have not been fixed for a car with a registration, while the vehicle recalls service asks for the make, model and year. It also says the manufacturer will tell you about a recall for any reason other than safety. We found no recall notice for this car in any other source we read, and absence from our sources is not a clean bill of health. Run the registration through the checker before you buy, and ask a Bentley specialist whether any service bulletin applies to the car in front of you.

About the photograph

The picture at the top of this page shows a black second-generation Flying Spur W12 photographed in a car park in 2025, from the Wikimedia Commons category for the W12 (2013 to 2019). Commons labels it a W12 and we have not confirmed that from the car itself. The number plate in the original is already blank, and nothing in the frame is readable. It is used only to show the shape.

Verdict

The Flying Spur in this guide is the 2013 launch W12: 616 bhp (625 PS), 800 Nm, about 4.6 seconds to 100 km/h and 322 km/h, with all-wheel drive and a ZF eight-speed automatic. It is a large, heavy, very quick saloon whose ownership questions are mostly about age: air suspension, vacuum lines, coil packs, electrics and the history that proves they were dealt with. If you are shopping for one, confirm whether it is the 2013 car or a later W12 S, V8 or Mulliner, insist on a full service record, get an independent specialist inspection and run the registration through the recall check. We have not driven it, so use the sources and a proper inspection to decide.