Life with a hybrid Bentley

In my other life, I have run various cars on Autocar magazine’s long-term test fleet for years. Some have been affordable and practical – most recently a BMW 128Ti and a Ford Focus ST – and others, well, somewhat less so. The McLaren 720S springs to mind.

But never a Bentley, and there’s a very specific reason for that: like most of us, I have to pay for my own fuel. And while wafting around in something with a twin-turbo, 6-litre, twelve-cylinder engine is something to which I could become quite easily accustomed, it would doubtless also wreak havoc on the Frankel family finances.

Because it is so light and efficient, it was surprisingly easy to coax 30 plus miles from a gallon of unleaded in the McLaren’s fuel tank, something you’d not achieve in a conventional Bentley unless it was one of very few diesels made before Dieselgate made it lose confidence in the integrity of Group-supplied powerplants.

But what if it were an unconventional Bentley? A hybrid with an engine with half the capacity, cylinder and turbo count we’re used to? Well that might be interesting.