Bentley Mulsanne road test

The Mulsanne is the first all-new bespoke Bentley in 80 years and is an important model for a company that took a bit of a beating during the recession (sales fell from 10,014 to 4,700 between 2007 and 2009). A £220,000 luxury limousine with a sporting twist that is in keeping with Bentley’s Le Mans-winning heritage, the Mulsanne is the company’s new flagship model, replacing the Arnage. Its looks are little controversial, with many critics finding its external styling a little too idiosyncratic for their tastes, but there’s no doubting its performance.

The Mulsanne, even in its most basic form, costs £220,000, a sum that can only be afforded by the very richest members of society. Add a few optional extras and the price soon rises beyond £250,000. But you don’t buy a Mulsanne if your bank balance is going to take a significant hit, so it would be unfair to mark it down in this category. After all, if you have that kind of money to spend on a car, it constitutes good value. In terms of running costs, it’s pretty much a question of if you have to ask, you can’t afford them. Fuel economy of 16.7mpg on the combined cycle is around what one would expect (although the Rolls-Royce Ghost’s 20.8mpg betters it) and CO2 emissions of 393g/km mean that it’s positioned in Band M for vehicle excise duty, which will cost £950 in the first year and £435 in subsequent years. Residual values should be decent, but the Mulsanne won’t be as good an investment as a Picasso lithograph. The previous Arnage retained around 44% of its value after three years and 60,000 miles, which is a good indicator of how the new model will fare.