It's a dream on wheels

The Bentley Azure makes no bones about the fact that it costs more than a large apartment in a metro. And you have this question buzzing in your head: “Why?” Why, indeed, should you spend a little under Rs 4 crore to buy a car?

After all, unlike an apartment, this gargantuan piece of Anglo-German machinery will depreciate the minute you sign the cheque.

Then, you drive it.

The Bentley belies its size, and driving through Delhi’s posh Chanakyapuri neighbourhood, past all the embassies and high commissions, one feels nice because this is a wonderful car. It is not agile, by any stretch of imagination, like the Mercedes C Class we featured in the last issue, but the 6.75 litre twin-turbocharged V8 engine produces 450 horsepower and an amazing amount of torque, which allows the car to move fast and smooth.

What is doubly remarkable is that the car weighs a not inconsiderable 2,700 kg. That is empty weight; sure, it includes the weight of the thick leather and the genuine wood-and-aluminium finish. The automatic gearbox can, if you step on the accelerator, get this car to 100 kmph in under six seconds, which is fast by any standard. And here is the thing: the car does this gracefully, without the tyres screaming or the engine shouting its lungs out.

Tech specs Engine 6,761cc, V8 twin-turbochargers Power 336kW (450hp)/875Nm (at 1/min) Length/width/wheelbase (MM) 5,140/1,900/3,116 Kerb weight 2,695 kg

And ride? Well, this car sits in a different league. We would even go that far to say this car is on a different planet. They say “smooth as silk”; well, this is as smooth as a supermodel’s legs, which are smoother than silk— or so we are told. There were the tens of indiscriminately placed speed-breakers on the route we took, but this leviathan sailed over them. A warning, this is a very long car. So, even though the suspension might sail over speed-breakers, the body, even at normal speeds, will take more than a few split seconds to pass.

The suspension is soft enough for the roads of the capital. When you try to deal with the many roundabouts the British, and subsequent town planners, have endowed Delhi with, really fast, it will do it just as well. The soft suspension does not come at the cost of handling. There is no sense that the car is about to become a fountain ornament beside the Pakistani Embassy.

And then you realise, you don’t need a driver for this car; it is just too easy to drive. This is a beautiful car and an even more beautiful piece of engineering. But for just under Rs 4 crore? That is still a lot of money in everyone’s book.

That is a question we are afraid that we will never be able to answer, because we don’t have the money. But if you do, please take this one bit of advice from us and buy this car.

It will probably be the best Rs 4 crore you ever spend.