Waiting to greet me and the other pressmen as we park our Bentley Mulsannes in front of the main entrance of Archerfield House is none other than company CEO Dr Franz-Joseph Paefgen himself. Looking for all the world like a Scottish country gentleman in his tweed jacket, the good doctor apologises for not having joined us earlier, during our tour of the Scottish Borders in examples of his company’s latest creation.
“I had planned to meet you at the lunch stop at Floors Castle, but there was the small matter of the volcanic ash, so my flight was diverted from Edinburgh to Glasgow,” he explains. Ever the engineer, he steps forward and pulls my car’s bonnet release. “We’re very proud of what we’ve done with the V8,” he says. “Same architecture but all new parts… Smoother, even better torque spread, more efficient.” And, of course, driving through a new eight-speed autobox from ZF – incidentally, the same transmission as the Rolls-Royce Ghost.
We’ve already brought you all the technical details on carmag.co.za, but I’ve now had a chance to sample the new Mulsanne for myself. It’s super-refined, fast and luxurious. But above all, it’s a real driver’s car. I’ve enjoyed few drives as much as my blast through Kielder Forest – famous for its RAC Rally stages – with this car.
I remind Dr Paefgen that I interviewed him at the Geneva Show way back when he headed up Audi. Back then we disagreed on the handling of the original A8. But this time we are in complete agreement: the new Mulsanne is superb.
