It doesn't sound as good as the V8, but in every other regard it's impressively close...
Bentley clearly loves a complex powertrain strategy. While most carmakers are trimming their engine lineups in the face of tighter emissions standards and trickier homologation, Bentley is still introducing new ones. So although the company recently dropped both the Mulsanne's venerable 6.75-litre pushrod V8 and the diesel V8 briefly offered in the Bentayga, it is now introducing a new hybridized twin-turbo V6.
Not that the Flying Spur Hybrid does much virtue signalling. The only visual giveaways are ones that only the most attentive are likely to spot: the presence of what looks to be a second fuel filler cap on the left, positioned lower than the existing one on the other side and covering a charging port. There is also a tiny 'Hybrid' badge at the bottom of the front wings, although one so small it is indecipherable at a range of more than about ten feet.
Away from urban trundling, keeping the Hybrid in its EV mode isn't the easiest task. It doesn't use full accelerator travel when driving electrically, or anything close to it - more than gentle top-end pressure fires the V6 into life and switches the car to its blended Hybrid mode.
While the Hybrid's ride is pliant and plush over bigger undulations, my test car's monstrous 22-inch optional alloys gave a noticeable edge to the low speed compliance over high frequency bumps; the standard 20s or optional 21s would probably have coped better. But body control was impressive for something so large on some of the quiet, interesting roads around the hippyish town of Ojai.
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