What does £225,000 buy you? A well-appointed three-bedroomed semi in Middle England. A half-share in a Robinson R22 helicopter. Or a Bentley Mulsanne.
Bentleys have always been cars you can appreciate from the driving seat and the back
They may not seem like comparable choices, but whether you’re in the fortunate position of making such a choice or not, you may well wonder what exactly you’re getting for your money.
There’s no arguing that almost a quarter of a million pounds is a lot of money to spend even though you drive away with a Bentley after signing on the dotted line, but what you get for your money takes a little bit of time to fully appreciate. To truly understand, you need to appreciate how you get from a collection of mere materials to a four-wheeled automotive masterpiece.
Let me walk you through the process. You can walk in to your Bentley dealership, and a well-versed individual will take you through a truly mind-boggling array of options and specifications that you can apply to your new Mulsanne. But even then, you have the opportunity to witness how a Mulsanne is created from scratch.
Head north to Crewe, where Bentleys have been crafted since the end of World War II and you can see the exceptional craftsmanship that begins from the very first sheets of bare aluminium. The factory can claim to be one of the most advanced in the world, despite the reputation for hand-building and traditional processes. Unusually, the roof of the Mulsanne is lowered on to the rest of the structure and then welded in place, and then the seam is flawlessly smoothed out; in bare metal, you can just see the join but run your fingers over it and you can’t feel a thing.
Move into the veneer area and you begin to appreciate the staggering amount of forethought and work that goes into seemingly small elements of the car – as well as savour the delicious aroma.
Maddock and his team make three trips a year all over the world, seeking out new and unusual veneers to give customers a fresh choice. Even then, sustainability is key, and two trees are planted for every one that is taken.
Dave then showed us one of the door cappings which on a finished car looks like a relatively simple, if substantial and well-finished, piece of wood to rest your arm on.
But when you hold it in your hands, you realise what a weighty piece of timber it is; flip it over and you see the structure of it, where the numerous pieces are put together and the care that is taken over it – over 100 hours for every car – and this is just a door trim…
It’s the same story when you examine the glasses holder that sits in the centre console. Dave laid out the multiple stages it goes through; the bare aluminium shell, the veneer applied, sanded, cut, polished and on and on… The mind boggles and at the same time understands that if this level of attention is lavished on what is essentially a piece of trim, you appreciate these standards are applied throughout.
Bentleys have always been cars you can appreciate both from the driving seat and relaxed in the back, but to restrict yourself to just one of those roles would be a shame. So we play plutocrat for the morning, and ensconced in the back, it’s hard not to feel delightfully insulated from the hustle and bustle of the world.
The seats are superbly comfortable, of course. Not only can you electrically adjust them in a multitude of ways but you can move the seat in front of you out of the way if you really want to stretch out.
Specify the ‘business’ package and at the touch of a button a table unfolds in front of you, with an iPad housed in the seat back and a Bluetooth keyboard to tap away at, with the car’s Wi-Fi hotspot to keep you connected. As a means to travel and work, it beats a business class flight hands-down.
But you only get half the experience if you don’t slip behind the steering wheel (a wheel that takes four hours to make and trim by the way) because Bentleys have always been cars to drive, not just to be driven in. Of course, it can waft like little else on the road; don an imaginary chauffeur’s hat and you can ease the Mulsanne along the most challenging roads and deliver your passengers an almost imperceptible journey. What little wind and road noise that is made is muted to a distant hum, while the ride quality is exceptional.
And yet, as if to ram home the point we were allowed to sample the Mulsanne in all its might around the challenging curves of Anglesey race track. The chances of a Bentley owner taking their car on a track day are admittedly slim, but the point is that the Mulsanne is no land yacht.
Push it hard around the constant rise and fall of Anglesey and you are testing the brakes and suspension far beyond the limits that any owner will, but it copes admirably; the performance is huge, munching down the long straights and it sheds the speed with equal ease. Through the bends, it remains impressively stable and free from roll, and if you can afford it, mash the right pedal to perform massive and lurid smoking powerslides. It really can do it all.
That brings us back to the original question. Value for money isn’t something usually associated with a car that costs five figures, never mind six. So perhaps the Mulsanne’s excellence, grace and attention to detail are best explained with another old maxim; you get what you pay for.
At a glance
Engine
6.75 litre petrol unit producing 505bhp and 752lb.ft of torque.
Transmission
Eight-speed automatic, driving the rear wheels.
Performance
Top speed 184mph, 0-62mph in 5.3 seconds.
Economy
16.8mpg combined.
Emissions
393g/km of CO2