Bentley Mulsanne

Synopsis

Bentley Mulsanne is the flagship luxury sedan by Bentley Motors Limited (UK). It was unveiled at Pebble Beach Concours d'Elegance on August 16, 2009. It is the first car to be independently designed by Bentley Motors Limited after 80 years, last was in 1930. Since then, most of the Bentleys shared their platform with Rolls-Royce cars.

The Mulsanne was designed by Dirk Van Braeckel. Bentley Mulsanne gives the most luxurious, most royal and the most solid look through its exterior which includes its traditional front grille, chrome surrounded round inner headlamps neighbouring two small outboard lamp cluster, twin bi-xenon projector headlamps with daytime running LED halo lights, aluminium doors and extruded aluminium side impact beams, Bentley name embossed on chrome bezels, electronically adjustable, fold-able, reverse dip door mirrors with heating, long front aluminium bonnet, short front and longer rear overhang, wide, oval and highly polished stainless steel exhaust tailpipes, floating-ellipse type LED rear light clusters, high-level stop lamp, integrated puddle lamps, chromed metal door handles, huge haunches and sharp lines that extends from light, Aluminium shaded front wings to rear, 20-inch five spoke light-alloy wheels and power boot lid operation. The body of this luxury sedan is made of stainless steel with sill tread plates and matrix grille.

The interior of Mulsanne is a fine blend of luxury, comfort and technology. The whole cabin seems to be surrounded by a wooden waist rail, symmetrical patterns produced by mirror matching veneers, deep pile carpets, quality leather seats, four-zone air conditioning with the help of the air vents, 24 standard colors to choose from in single-tone or dual-tone combinations in four different styles, central console, Burr Walnut, Dark Stained Burr Walnut or Piano Black colored front and rear roof consoles, unique glass switch-gear, an instrument panel with inverted dials for vehicle and engine speed, an additional color screen which displays compass, infotainment, vehicle and trip information and navigation prompts of driver-configurable choice, minor gauges panel in central fascia, hidden passenger side map lamp and leather trimmed boot. Mulsanne is widely known for its comfort features which are tinted glass sunroof with powered Alcantara roller blind, front seats with 14-way electrical adjustment, adjustable heating, lumbar support and easy entry/exit function, adjustable front passenger seat, four zone Air-conditioning with rear cabin AC unit, traditional stainless steel bulls-eye air vents and organ stop controls, trimmed and multi-functional four spoke steering wheel which can be electrically adjustable, tilt-able and reachable and have easy entry function, two memory positions and paddle shift, cordless telephone handset, electrically and height adjustable front seat belts with two memory positions, cruise control, electro chromatic auto-dimming interior rear view mirror with ON/OFF button, roof console integrated with remote controlled three button garage opener, rain sensing windscreen wipers, rear leather lined stowage compartment with 12V socket, power windows with one-touch operation and anti-trap protection, acoustic glazing with infrared reflective inter-layer, electrically operated privacy blinds for rear windows and screen, front and rear cabin cigar lighters and illuminating hide-lined glove-box with 12V power socket. This is a highly spacious sedan with the boot capacity of 443 litres.

As far as infotainment is concerned, it has an 8-inch color screen which can be concealed behind veneered panel when not in use, central MMI rotary controller with convenience keys, 60GB hard disk with 20GB of personal storage space, single slot DVD drive, two SD card readers, six CD changer, voice control system, satellite navigation system, four map configurations with 3-D topographical maps and day/night display modes, Naim 2200-watt audio system with 14 speakers, two sub-woofers powered by six channels with digital sound processing, MP3 player, iPod player, video playback, digital radio, satellite radio, hide-lined iPod drawer with integrated connectors, microUSB ports, telephone with Bluetooth wireless connectivity and a SIM card reader in hard drive unit.

Bentley Mulsanne has a powerful 6752cc 6.8L OHV eight cylinder thirty-two valve twin-turbocharged V8 petrol engine which screams a maximum power of 505 bhp at 4200 rpm and a maximum torque of 1020 Nm at 1750 rpm and has an eight speed automatic gearbox with electronic shift interface and sport mode. It gives a top speed of 296 kmph and reaches 0-100 kmph mark in just 5.3 seconds. It has a mileage of 3-5 kmpl in the cities and 5-8 kmpl on the highways.

For the full safety of its passengers, this sedan includes intelligent driver's and front passenger's Airbags with the deactivation facility for front passenger air bag, head and thorax air bags for front and rear seats, air bags fitted to seats not to the car body, three point seat belts for front seats with electric height adjustment and memory function, pyrotechnic pre-tensioners and force limiters, three point seat belts for outer and center rear seats with pyrotechnic pre-tensioners and force limiters, rear seat having ISOFIX child seat fixings, tyre pressure monitoring system, speed sensors, vehicle immobiliser and interior volumetric alarm system, Active Traffic Information, 4-wheel ABS with EBD, ESC and ESP, emergency interior trunk release, Servotronic speed sensing power steering, Driver Dynamics Control, Remote Anti-Theft Alarm System, clear high-intensity lamps, Anti-Slip Regulation, traction control system, hydraulic brake assist, electronic brake prefill, automatic hill-hold control, parking sensors, Electronic Parking Brake with drive-away assist and hill-hold feature and rear wiper and defogger. It has ventilated disk brakes in both front and rear wheels and a twin-booster braking system. The suspension system is a double wishbone type in front and multilink type with toe and brake reaction control in rear. It also has electronically controlled air springs with CDC (Continuous Damping Control) to regularly examine and adjust vehicle's damping. It has a fuel tank capacity of 96 litres. It has a wheelbase of 3266mm and front and rear track of 1615mm and 1652mm respectively. It has 5575mm of length, 2208mm of width and 1521mm of height as its dimension.

Bentley Mulsanne is available in only one variant which is V8. It is available in twelve beautiful shades which are Storm Grey Metallic, Venusian Grey Metallic, Tungsten over Onyx, Titan Grey Metallic, White Sand Metallic, Violette Metallic, Thunder, Wedge-wood Blue Metallic, Umbrian Red, Sunburst Gold Metallic, Walnut Metallic and Sunset Metallic. It has a price range of around INR 2.90 crores. It has a basic, drivetrain and roadside warranty of 3 years or unlimited miles and rust warranty of 12 years or unlimited miles.

Overall this luxury sedan is a royal blend of luxury, space, comfort, safety, infotainment, technology, performance, speed and rigidity. But in India, its customers are limited because of its high price and less fuel efficiency.