Bentley Flying Spur vs Suzuki Fronx

What's the difference?

The Bentley Flying Spur Speed is a whole lot of car, for a whole lot of money. Sure, I’d rather have a Ferrari or a Porsche with similar power (and the Panamera shares the same V8 and hybrid set up), but then if you’re in the market for a Bentley like this you already have a garage full of other options. And I can see why you’d add one of these to your collection. Because you can.

Note: CarsGuide attended this event as a guest of the manufacturer, with travel, accommodation and meals provided.

If you’re considering a small car, particularly if an SUV is the goal, a Suzuki should in most cases be on the shopping list. Back-to-basics motoring is key to the brand’s identity. Its most popular model is a tiny ladder-frame 4X4, for example. Hi Jimny.

The Fronx doesn’t break new ground in any practical sense, but it does come in with a decent price and list of features that should sway plenty of small-car fans in the showroom.

It’s decent to look at, comfortable for the segment, and easy to get used to and drive. The numerical rating on this review betrays just how likeable the car is.

It’s not extremely refined and it starts to lose its dynamic shine on rough roads, but in an urban setting the Fronx should excel.

Note: CarsGuide attended this event as a guest of the manufacturer, with meals provided.

Bentley seems to have spent the design budget on the Continental GT Speed, which was launched at the same time and gets the same new engine under its slightly sexier bonnet. The big move there has been going from Bentley’s traditional four headlight face to a smoother more modern one with just two lights, or eyes.

The Flying Spur, by comparison, sticks with the more traditional look, and four eyes, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it looks nerdier. Indeed, it’s still an impressive and handsome beast and does a mighty fine job of making this much metal and mass look bold and desirable. 

Truly, vehicles this large tend to look lumpen and making one look as good this Flying Spur Speed does is an impressive feat. Look at the photos and be impressed.

The interior fit out and fittings are stunning, with Bentley boldly claiming it makes the best car cabins in the world. It’s not an outrageous claim, either.

‘Fronx’ as a name doesn’t exactly scream ‘cute’, but the little SUV has a pretty classically Suzuki design. This is not a complaint at all.

The Fronx is 3995mm long, 1765mm wide and 1550mm tall, but despite its diminutive dimensions the brand has opted to lean into a ‘coupe’ style with a sloping roofline that creates a relatively sporty look, especially for something with a two-digit power figure.

So while some of Suzuki’s designs have been divisive in Australia (Ignis, anyone?) the Fronx takes a slightly more conservative approach by leaning into more design trends than just the coupe-back SUV shape. 

For example, its tail-lights span the width of the tailgate rather than simply flanking the boot as was standard for decades.

The LED daytime running lights at the front are also arranged in a slim, high-up position with a set of headlights below.

Inside is arguably more conservative than out, as the Fronx goes with a fairly standard formula in terms of its layout, with few premium materials (the synthetic leather on the seats feels cheap for example) or adventurous design elements to be found.

But that’s not such a bad thing.

I’m not going to pretend that I had my laptop out taking notes while we were hitting 200km/h down the back straight at Magarigawa, but at more sane speeds there’s no doubt the rear seats of this car would be a very relaxing, plush, cosseting and pleasant smelling place to sit and work.

That’s at least partly what the Flying Spur Speed is for, a limousine for those who don’t like, or perhaps can’t quite afford, a Rolls-Royce, but still want great British solidity, class and that sense of obscene wealth, probably inherited.

The bonus of the Flying Spur is that it’s also a lovely place to be should you choose either of the front seats, with hugely comfortable seats that are more like couches, endless adjustability and many soothing massage settings for your heated and ventilated pews.

The spinning central 12.3-inch display remains the highlight, offering you a modern touch screen, which can disappear to reveal either three classic analogue dials or a plan piece of dashboard, if you prefer a “digital detox”.

Because for all the conservative, even outdated, styling in the cabin, the fact is it’ll be refreshingly familiar to someone who’s getting out of a car from perhaps even before the year 2000.

Suzuki’s place at the budget end of the new-car market means its customers are likely either quite young and buying their first new car, or relatively old and looking for a cheap, rarely used runabout as the ‘last car’.

For the former, a lack of techy distractions is paramount. For the latter, ease of use wins over cutting-edge tech in most cases. Which is why it’s probably okay that the Fronx’s multimedia touchscreen and software wouldn’t feel out of place almost a decade ago.

It can be a tad fiddly to use at speed, but it’s still more straightforward than the ‘iPad-like’ systems Tesla has made popular, and there are physical controls for important functions like climate control.

There’s also a row of ever-present haptic buttons for volume controls and navigation shortcuts.

The ergonomics of the interior are quite basic, but there are no red flags in terms of visibility, reach, or placement. 

The head-up display is a bonus, but the physical dials on the dash rather than a digital driver display are clear enough, despite again feeling nabbed from a time before head-up displays even existed. 

Space for the front passengers is decent, it’s not cavernous but it’s far from cramped. Elbow rests and seating positions allow for a relaxed ride.

The back seat is a slightly less comfortable place, but at 178cm I can sit behind my own seating position without my knees touching the seat in front, and my head has just enough space above to accommodate the top of a mullet.

Behind that, luggage capacity in the boot is 304 litres, or 605 litres with the rear 60/40 split seats folded.

There’s also no space-saver spare tyre, just a repair kit as standard.

There’s only one variant of the Fronx, and it lands at $28,990 before on-road costs. It’s also relatively stacked when it comes to features, and Suzuki is even working on a sub-$30K drive-away offer for its on-sale date in September this year. We’d expect that means about $29,990 DA, though that’s to be confirmed down the track.

For something at that price point, features aren’t lacking. While things like wireless phone charging and wireless Android Auto and Apple CarPlay have become almost expected for even entry-level cars in Australia, the Fronx also features heated synthetic leather seats and a leather steering wheel.

It’s the first Suzuki in Australia to feature a head-up display, and there’s also a standard surround-view parking display thanks to a set of cameras.

The Fronx’s 9.0-inch multimedia touchscreen is joined by a small 4.2-inch driver display nestled between physical dials for the speedometer and tachometer. Exterior lighting is LED front and rear, with auto headlights and manual levelling.

The only extra-cost option for the Fronx is a choice of ‘premium’ single- or two-tone paint - Arctic White Pearl is the standard no-cost colour. Single-tone paint is $745 extra, while two-tone options are $1345, which is a lot pricier than many premium paint options in the market.

The Fronx comes in at the same price as a mid-to-high spec Hyundai Venue, Kia Stonic or Chery Tiggo 4, but some rivals like the Mazda CX-3 or Toyota Yaris Cross (with its Hybrid drivetrain) are more expensive even in their lower variants.

If you’re going to put the word “Speed” in the title of your car, you really can’t mess about when it comes to the powerplant, and Bentley also has a proud history of making hugely powerful V12 engines to live up to. That’s a history that has now ended, with the announcement that the new 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 in this Flying Spur Speed will be the one and only in all Bentleys, henceforth, including the Continental and the Bentayga SUV.

Bentley’s W12 engine is, sadly, no more, which might well make some older Flying Spurs quite collectable.

The V8 will come in different flavours, of course, and it’s also a hybrid, as is the modern way. Bentley calls the 140kW electric motor attached to the engine an “e-machine”.

Using that machine, the Speed can whisk you around in silent, EV-only mode for up to 81km. With such a stupendous sounding V8 on offer, it’s hard to see why you’d bother, but it’s an option, and the hybrid system is cleverly set up so that the harder you drive, the quicker the battery recharges, so effectively you’d almost never have to actually plug this PHEV in.

With the engine and e-machine combined, you’re looking at a staggering 575kW and 1000Nm, enough to propel all 2646kg of this Flying Spur Speed to 100km/h in just 3.5 seconds.

It might not sound quite as orchestrally moving as the big, sassy W12, but it’s still a hell of a replacement, as it is, in fact, “the most powerful Bentley engine ever”. That will do nicely.

The Fronx is powered by a 1.5-litre four-cylinder engine with mild-hybrid assistance, driving the front wheels via a six-speed automatic transmission. 

Its outputs are quoted at 76kW and 137Nm, not exactly high-grade stuff and part of the reason the Fronx feels like it takes more than 10 seconds to hit 100km/h.

So, if you were very careful to use your 81km of EV-only range, as often as possible, and you drove very slowly and treated the accelerator pedal with great care, you might, possibly, achieve the Flying Spur Speed’s claimed fuel-economy of 10.7 litres per 100km. 

That’s the great thing about hybrids like this, they are theoretical fuel misers of the highest order. But if you aren’t careful and you care more about enjoying that twin-turbo V8 engine you’ve paid so much money for, you’re never, ever going to get it under 15L/100km, and you’ll quite likely exceed 20L/100km, as we did, with ease, by driving it around a track all day.

Theoretically, again, this Bentley will emit just 33 grams of CO2 per kilometre. 

Suzuki claims fuel consumption at 4.9L/100km. With its 37-litre fuel tank, the Fronx should be able to manage more than 600km on a single tank, though theoretically its maximum range given its claimed fuel efficiency is 755km.

Any car with a whopping 575kW and 1000Nm is going to be interesting, even invigorating to drive, but you’d have to say the smaller and lighter it is, the more excitement, and even fear, you’re going to be faced with.

In the case of the Bentley Flying Spur Speed, you’re talking about an enormous, and enormously luxurious and comfortable, sedan that’s designed to carry more than two people, and weighs a hefty 2646kg.

It’s a limousine powered by a rocket, as I said earlier, but looking at the size, and pondering the weight of it, you really don’t expect too much in the way of thrills. Effortless performance, sure, titanic overtaking thrust, perhaps, but then you read the fine print and note that this Flying Spur Speed can hit 100km/h in 3.5 seconds.

That’s seriously fast in anything, but in a car this big, and filled with as much luxury as a mid-sized super yacht, it feels other worldly. 

Hammering the big Speed around a tight, intense race track feels strange at first and then strangely comfortable. Even sitting in the back wasn’t so much frightening as amusing, as the big Bentley simply slopes through any challenge you throw at it.

Sure, I’d like it to be louder, and you do miss the sound of the old 12-cylinder engine (and Bentley fans in particularly might find its absence upsetting), but the V8 is still throaty enough to please your ears, and it’s important to consider that it’s actually more powerful than the old W12, which is no mean feat.

Compared to the shorter, sharper Continental GT Speed we drove on the same day, the Flying Spur does have a bit more body roll, a bit more pitch and dive under braking from 200km/h, or when accelerating ballistically out of slow corners, but it’s still stupendously impressive for what it is.

And that is a luxury limousine that can turn itself into a race track weapon if you, and your three passengers, want it to. 

How you plan to use the Fronx will make a big difference in whether what you’re about to read is a good thing or not. 

The Fronx is a light SUV for a start, so expecting brilliant handling, effortless acceleration and a dead-quiet cabin is going to mean you’re disappointed.

But if you want something easy, engaging and fun, the Fronx might work for you.

Our brief test loop wasn’t entirely indicative of what the Fronx is likely to face day-to-day. With limited time and no preset drive program, the roads within a 20-or-so minute drive of Nagambie, Victoria had to suffice.

The Fronx fared well on the average road, it turned out, with the 1064kg Suzuki managing to feel planted enough to hurl along 100km/h back-roads without complaints. It rides on the same platform used recently by the Suzuki Baleno, something I’ll admit to not having driven.

The rougher roads didn’t faze the light SUV too much, though consistently uneven surfaces made it feel unsettled in some cornering.

Its steering and suspension give enough feedback to make the right inputs easily, though the nature of its light weight and minimal accoutrement in terms of driver assistance make the Fronx feel very rudimentary from the driver’s seat.

At low speeds around the centre of town, the Fronx manages the state’s terrible roads well, though taking off from intersections can be laborious. Much like overtaking, the drivetrain will complain.

And don’t expect its mild hybrid system to do a lot in the way of hard work - or any work at all, really. You could take the hybrid badge off the car, let someone have a drive, and they’d be none the wiser.

From the limited observations on the launch, the Fronx would feel best at home in suburbia or a metropolitan centre more so than on the Hume Highway or the towns dotted alongside it.

Essentially, this is not a refined road trip car for the highway, but its no-fuss approach to getting around means you shouldn’t be surprised if you start seeing them in the car parks at universities or bowls clubs.

A big part of many buyers’ decisions about a new car is safety, and the Fronx is pretty basic on this front.

Six airbags cover front and sides for the front passengers, and there are curtains down the sides of the car, but there’s no front centre airbag and no ANCAP rating has been applied to the Fronx as yet.

In terms of active safety, the Fronx has listed among its standard features auto emergency braking (AEB), ABS and brake assist, lane departure warning, hill hold control, weaving alert, blind spot monitoring, traffic sign recognition, rear cross traffic alert and a surround-view parking camera with front and rear sensors.

There are also outboard ISOFIX seat fastenings in the second row.

The only safety system that activated during the test was a lane departure warning, but only when (under normal conditions) it would have been necessary as the car approached the road’s centre line.

The Bentley Continental GT Speed comes with a five-year, all-inclusive servicing plan as standard.

That sounds good, but stunningly, Bentley still only offers a three-year manufacturer warranty, albeit one with no mileage limitations. That's way below industry standard these days.

The battery that forms part of the hybrid system is, however, warrantied for eight years, or 160,000km.

Suzuki has a five-year, unlimited kilometre warranty for its new cars, which is a little behind the curve compared to many budget-friendly brands these days. 

Suzuki does have a five-year servicing schedule, with intervals every 12 months or 15,000km, whichever comes first. Total cost is $2005 over the five years, with services averaging $401, which is not particularly cheap.