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2011 Bentley Mulsanne Test Drive

Bentley's flagship debuts at a time when the ultraluxury market is rebounding from a period where conspicuous consumption was viewed as a social liability. How does the high-priced, hand-crafted Mulsanne make a case for itself against mass-manufactured sedans?
2011 Bentley Mulsanne

The Bentley brand has gone through numerous cycles of boom and bust since W.O. Bentley fired up his first engine some 91 years ago, and the company's most recent challenge has been an economic downturn that has placed particular strain on the sales performance of the VW-owned British brand.

The poshest offering in Bentley's already lofty lineup, the new Mulsanne asserts the brand's most ambitious ideals of limited volume and hand-built assembly. But beneath its hand-rubbed paint, several engineering details reveal that Bentley is making subtle strides to adapt to the times. For instance, the Mulsanne's all-new powerplant is the first in its segment to feature variable displacement for improved fuel efficiency, and its 8-speed transmission boasts the first use of paddle shifters in any Bentley sedan. Let's go motoring to see how this big, pricey Bentley addresses the 21st century.

2011 Bentley Mulsanne Review

2011 Bentley Mulsanne

In the Bentley lineup, the Mulsanne slips into the top spot recently vacated by the Arnage sedan, that aged doyen of the luxury-car class. Well, perhaps not exactly the same spot. The Mulsanne is better than fifty grand more expensive, at $287,600 plus a still-to-be-determined gas-guzzler tax. It's also a tick less than seven inches longer while tipping the scales at the same Rubenesque 5700 pounds. The regal coachwork, much of it hand-finished, is draped over a six-inch-longer wheelbase. In price, size, and bearing, the Mulsanne moves closer to Rolls-Royce. Actually, by most measures, it nestles in between the Rolls Phantom and the new Rolls-Royce Ghost.

Bentley claims that the Mulsanne is the company's first from-scratch vehicle in eighty years (!), meaning that it's the first Bentley not adapted from another car. (The Continentals, for instance, are built off the platform of the Volkswagen Phaeton, and previous big Bentleys were adapted Rolls-Royce designs.) Even so, there are some items shared with the Audi A8, such as the Mulsanne's new eight-speed automatic transmission (by ZF) and the infotainment system, which is based on Audi's Multi Media Interface.