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Bentley to retire aging 6.75-liter V8 with current Mulsanne

The massive 6.75-liter V8 in the Bentley Mulsanne is one of the oldest engines still in production. But it may not be around for much longer. According to Car and Driver, Bentley intends to finally put the big old pushrod V8 to pasture once the current Mulsanne is phased out, thus putting an end to a saga that goes back some 57 years. Powerful as it may be, ever-stricter exhaust emissions and fuel-consumption regulations will see that the L Series V8, originally introduced way back in 1957, doesn't stay in production forever. Whenever the Mulsanne is replaced, it will reportedly get a brand-new twelve-cylinder engine. Bentley is currently the world's largest producer of dozen-pot powerplants. Production of the British automaker's 6.0-liter twin-turbo W12 far outpaces anything from Rolls-Royce, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Ferrari, or Lamborghini. Over the decades since its introduction, Bentley's long-serving V8 has gone from making an "adequate" amount of power and torque to an impressive 530 horsepower and a positively massive 811 pound-feet (with the help of a couple of turbochargers). Its eventual discontinuation wouldn't be the first attempt on the life of the 6.75-liter engine. When BMW briefly took control of both Rolls and Bentley, it replaced the big engine by a smaller 4.4-liter V8. Customer demand led Bentley to bring the old engine back. It will likely be some time before we get details of Bentley's next powerplant. Models like the Mulsanne and Rolls-Royce Phantom tend to stick around for a long time, and the latest version of Bentley's flagship was just released earlier this year. Related Video:

2022 Bentley Flying Spur First Drive Review | Purple reign, purple reign

MALIBU, Calif. – When I first moved to New York City in the early 1990s, two careers before I became an automotive writer, I worked as a preschool teacher in Brooklyn. I rode my bike to work from Manhattan each day, over the Brooklyn Bridge, one of the most bountiful opportunities for car-spotting in a city with the nationÂ’s lowest rates of automobile ownership. The most notable vehicle I saw regularly was a stately and very violet Bentley sedan. The only thing more outrageous than its Azure Purple exterior color, and the distinctive rumbling of its signature 6.75-liter V8, was its vanity license plate. Seeming to signify that its owner was a proctologist or gastroenterologist, it read, MD TUSH. As I drove that car's descendant, an excessively purple Bentley Flying Spur Hybrid, I couldnÂ’t stop thinking of MD TUSH, whomever they were. Their flash. Their panache. Their dedication to being seen – even from the elevated bike path of New York's original suspension bridge. One could argue that this is part of the job of an occasion car like this, a $204,000 (base price) sedan that is as long as a Chevrolet Tahoe. It is supposed to make an impact. So it's counterintuitive that the Flying Spur Hybrid always starts off in EV Drive mode, which prioritizes the sole use of the rechargeable 14.1 kWh lithium-ion battery pack. It decidedly does not make an impact. I suppose that one cannot discount the element of surprise. But in that mode – one of three accessed through a metal button on the center consoleÂ’s button-resplendent surface – the big four-door skulks off with eerie silence, and will continue to do so for about 25 miles on the European WLTP cycle (EPA certification has not yet been completed, but it will likely be lower than the EU number), whereupon it needs 2.5 hours to charge with a fast charger of unspecified voltage via a conspicuous port on the left rear fender. As a preview of BentleyÂ’s promised all-electric future – which will begin with its first fully battery powered-vehicle in 2025, en route to a full-line voltaic conversion by 2030 – the Flying Spur has some allure. With its silence, thrust, and uncanny eeriness, electric power suits ultra-luxury limousines.

2021 Bentley Bentayga V8 First Drive | Not messing with success

The 2021 Bentley Bentayga V8 marks the first refresh for Bentley’s first and rather successful SUV. The company has sold more than 20,000 of them worldwide since its introduction just a few years ago. As such, Bentley didnÂ’t need to do much to keep it updated, nor did it. The refresh boils down to exterior and interior updates, and after spending some time with the updated Bentayga, it continues to be a brilliantly luxurious machine with impressive capability. The most obvious and significant changes are to the exterior styling, which has hardly been the Bentayga's strong point. There are new round headlights with a cut crystal design like on other recent Bentleys. The grille has been enlarged, and the front bumper has a sportier design with an integrated spoiler. On the side, the fender vent has been lengthened and mounted higher, while the rear now has slim oval taillights and oval exhaust outlets. Those taillights have the same kind of cut crystal design as the headlights. The changes are subtle but effective at sprucing up the Bentayga, but they also donÂ’t make existing Bentaygas look out of date. ItÂ’s a similar situation inside. The biggest changes are in the center of the dashboard. The upper air vents are thin and horizontal instead of circles, and they've been relocated with the dash clock to sit mostly on top of the dash instead of nestled into it. Below them is a larger, 10.9-inch infotainment system that spans the whole width of the center stack and looks better integrated than the old version. The back seats can be configured to have nearly 4 inches more legroom, and thereÂ’s a larger touchscreen remote and available rear air vents for the bench seat configuration. Beyond that, the interior is mostly the same, which is hardly a complaint. This is a Bentley, after all. Essentially every surface is wrapped in soft leather, adorned with rich wood trim or made of weighty knurled metal. And customers have access to a vast variety of colors and combinations to create a genuinely custom cabin. There are a few low-ish points. The infotainment system isnÂ’t the most responsive, and it can be a little tricky to find the menu you want. Also, and this is a bit of a car journalist nitpick, you can spot some bits pilfered from the Audi parts bin: the turn signal and washer stalks, the headlight knob, and the underlying menus and layout of the instrument panel.