We are not talking 'mere performance' or 'mere luxury' here...

It’s probably worth pointing out from the outset that this isn’t a straightforward comparison. Not when there’s $ 64k sticking its head out between the $ 225k Bentley Continental Flying Spur Speed and the $ 161k Maserati Quattroporte Sport GTS.

By any standards, that’s quite some margin. A whole sixty four thousand bucks is – let’s face it – a substantial amount. Could happily land you a used 911. Or an M3, with a bit of a discount. But this isn’t really an ordinary test. After all, if it was that straightforward, the Maserati wouldn’t see the light of day before the Bentley, and all its 600 horses, would gobble it up.

You have to look at the premise for these two luxury cars standing side-by-side from a different perspective. The kind of perspective a person with a seven-figure salary might have. We’re not talking ‘mere performance’ or ‘mere luxury’ here, we’re talking about something that’s attainable to a tiny percentage of the population, who aren’t easily impressed, and to whom few things in life are a surprise. The P Diddys and Flavio Briatores of this world. In other words, people to whom $ 64k is simply ink on this paper.

Another thing you may be wondering about is the absence of a German (unless you choose to be cynical and call the Flying Spur a Volkswagen). Two luxury saloons are at our disposal and not a sight of a Deutschland native between them. Yes, funny that. Any multi-car test these days seems to involve a German contingent. But no – no BMW, no Audi, no Mercedes. Not this time.

Perhaps it’s the venerable S-Class that should’ve muscled its way here. Well despite it being technically brilliant, the S65 (extremely rapid, supremely capable) doesn’t quite pull off the sheer abundance of drama of a Maserati or Bentley. Neither does the Audi S8. The S65 would probably be our first choice if a racetrack was the road in question. But it isn’t. The S8 has a lovely V10, but doesn’t seem special enough either, somehow.

So let’s cut to the chase. The Palm Jumeirah. Two lengthily named non-Germans (no schadenfreude here, promise) sit in midday sun, paint gloss slowly wearing away, tyres slowly wearing into the tarmac. Air conditioning decidedly set to the ‘Lo’ setting. I’m in the Quattroporte. We’re scouring this man-made island made of 94 million cubic metres of sand and seven million tons of rock, but despite having enjoyed every moment that I’ve so far had in the Sport GTS, I wish I was in the Bentley. Confronted with a choice, it’s easily the Flying Spur Speed that gets the vote in conditions as extreme as this. Not because it’s more spacious (which it is) but because the Quattroporte’s air con seems to work like an 80-year old chain smoker blowing out the candles on his birthday cake.

At our next photography stop along the Palm’s outer-most road, where construction of large villas is still going on, I quickly transfer into the Speed. The bright red interior that was chosen for this press car isn’t to my tastes, but the silver switch surrounds, knurled chrome on the gearlever and diamond quilted hide are. The minimal changes to the interior over the standard Flying Spur are the drilled alloy pedals and various plates bearing the Speed name, along with the same redesigned three-spoke steering wheel as in the Continental GTC Speed. Hold the brake pedal, press the silver start button and the big twin-turbocharged 6-litre W12 breathes into life in a hushed tone. Not a single bit of its vibration permeates the cabin. So far, so Bentley.

From the outside, the Flying Spur looks as swollen-but-imposing as ever. The Speed treatment lowers it by 10mm, makes bumpers bolder, gives it a more upright grill, darker air intake, wider tailpipes and multi-spoke 20-inch wheels. All are rather subtle adjustments and nominal in their application. Particularly when compared to the Sport GTS, which seems to have borrowed some ideas from its cousin, the F430 Scuderia.

After the comforting boudoir of the Speed, the Maserati is decidedly more intimate, and with every control feeling within easy reach, you sense you’re being cocooned. It’s also a land full of lavishly used Alcantara lining and Titantex trim strips – a material that looks like carbon fibre. The red cross-stitching and longer shift paddles over the Quattroporte S also give you a pretty good indication of what’s coming. Start up the V8 and you get a brief automatic blip of the throttle that, to bystanders, sounds like you’ve just momentarily pushed the throttle half way. It’s a deliciously throaty sound that’s made even more pronounced when you press the Sport button. That not only sharpens the throttle and steering responses, but also opens a valve in the exhaust, letting you hear the GTS’s full orchestra as the exhaust gases bypass the noise damping. It has a similar resonance to the GranTurismo S, a car we raved about in issue 024, and one whose exhaust note we couldn’t get enough of.

'The Quattroporte is more of a thrill you can feel'

As for the exterior modifications of the Quattroporte, well… in a way, it’s best to just look at the Quattroporte and nod in admiration. It’s long been the saloon-cum-supercar favourite, and now with the darkened headlamps, revised rear lights and the addition of the vertical fin grille from the GranTurismo, it’s even more of a work of art.

As it stands, a lot is being hung on each car’s promises. After all, you wouldn’t exactly call the 425bhp Quattroporte S lacklustre, or the standard Flying Spur, with 552bhp and 479lb ft, dreary. With suffixes like ‘Sport GTS’ and ‘Speed’, there’s also a sense that we’re dealing with something quite special here.

As modern and impressive as The Palm may look, its straight, busy and tree-lined roads aren’t the place to get a full grip on the changes that have been made to the Bentley and the Maser. So far, I’ve managed to determine that the GTS’s ZF automatic is brilliant – a huge improvement on the jerky automated manual it replaces – and that the Bentley’s isn’t. It will only change at its own rate. I’ve also been able to ascertain that, where the GTS needs a bit of work to get its 1.9-tons moving and makes every single change in speed felt, the Speed’s pickup is exactly the opposite: it just catapults itself into the distance in a manner more resembling a Nissan GT-R on full bore acceleration from standstill than a 2.5-ton luxury saloon. All useful things to note, but these are facts I could’ve guessed back at the office with the stats printed out next to me.

Later that same day, I venture out onto a more indicative road that combines elevations changes, bumps, surface changes and long and tight corners. With the Speed, you can quickly tell that it isn’t as driver focused as the Maserati. Despite Bentley saying the Speed offers a ‘pure driving experience’, I’m questioning if they’ve redefined the word pure and then set their standards according to their own definition. The increased sound deadening in the Speed means that below 4000rpm, the engine note is barely audible and there’s a big sensation that you’re wafting over the road rather than driving on it.

Unless that is, you actually make an effort to discover its limits. That’s exactly where you begin to notice its body control and steering. The Servotronic system has been retuned and you now get better feedback from the wheel and a more accurate turn in. The Speed also has its steering rack rigidly mounted to the chassis, and with the stiffer suspension bushings, retuned spring and damper settings and thicker anti-roll bars, the Speed controls its girth well, especially for something with a wheelbase of over three metres. You also realise how good the ride is the more you drive: it blends suppleness, quietness and control. You know that once you’ve committed to a corner, it’ll stick to it regardless of the surface changes. Barring the tightest of bends, that gives you the confidence to throw it – if you can ever imagine yourself throwing a Bentley around – into any corner. If you can envisage such an oddity, a word of caution: with 48 more horsepower and 74lb ft more torque than the Flying Spur, you might want to give the optional carbon ceramic brakes some serious consideration.

Where the Speed’s performance was easy to extract – almost on-tap – the Maserati’s is more of a gradual affair. It has gained 8bhp over the S and the rev limit has been raised by 100rpm to 7200rpm on the 4.7 V8 (the same unit as in the GranTurismo S). Top speed increases by 5kph to 285. You still have to work the engine, though. The peak torque is still 361lb ft at 4750rpm and you need to make the best use of all 433 horses to get the best out of it. The 0-100kph is only improved by 0.3sec, too. Not a lot to shout about. Not when you consider the Quattroporte S is $ 60k cheaper and has 85 per cent of the GTS’s talents.

And yet, I could say the same thing of the Speed. Choose it over its lesser brother, the Flying Spur, and you’re simply playing a game of one-upmanship. Are you really going to notice the marginally better 8kph improvement in top speed, the fraction of a second that is the 0.4sec improvement in 0-100kph? I doubt P Diddy will.

With the Quattroporte S and Sport GTS, the answer is yes. Despite the GTS not being far off its less expensive sibling, all the minor variations in the two cars’ abilities are accentuated. The result is that even when driven at a similar pace, the Sport GTS is a more rewarding process and you feel more in touch with what’s going on beneath you. It’s more of a thrill you can feel. Even if Flavio Briatore had three of the scantily clad models you often find on his yacht sharing the Sport GTS with him, I somehow imagine that he’d be more excited by the Maserati.

A lot of that would be down to the refinements made in the chassis. New fixed-rate Bilstein dampers are fitted instead of the old Skyhook system, the springs are stiffened and the suspension is lowered. On the same bit of road, the bumps that seemed to be only a few millimetres high in the Bentley, are a few centimetres high in the Maser. Or at least it feels like it, because every imperfection does something to the GTS’s balance at speed. There are more adjustments to be made at the wheel, more thought about what gear to use and what the rear is doing. If you carve a smooth line, you’ll develop gradual understeer, but throw the nose in harder and harder, and it’s not hard to mobilise the rear. The Maser requires more effort to drive fast, no doubt about it.

The offshoot is that it gives you so much more in terms of feedback. The steering is weightier and has more feel, you’re more aware of how much grip you have left, you’re more in tune with the engine, almost feeling the combustion stroke of each piston. Its body is also accurate in its response and stays flat. Again, impressive for a car weighing as much as it does.

As impressive as the Bentley? Yes and no. There’s more fluidity in the Speed’s movements, but at the same time there’s no way to indulge in its sporting nature – unlike in the Sport GTS – despite the new Dynamic Mode in the ESP that’ll let you oversteer. It is a Bentley, after all.

'The Flying Spur is as swollen-but-imposing as ever'

As is the way in Dubai in June, the heat and humidity doesn’t let up into the night or into the early hours of next morning. Time catches up with me and my short period with both cars lingers to an end. Still ignoring the difference in price, still taking each car on its own merits, I find myself seeing the Speed as a car that has an emphasis on luxury and refinement, while the Maserati has a bigger focus on the driver and feels like it gives you everything it’s got the moment you turn the key.

I somehow feel Diddy would go for the Bentley and Flavio for the Maserati. If you’re one of the lucky few that has the enviable ‘dilemma’ of choosing between the two, I guess the pick would come down to this: who do you identify yourself most with – the rapper, or the F1 team boss?

	Bently	Maserati
Engine	W12, 4v, twin-turbocharged	V8, 4v
Location	Front, longitudinal	Front, longitudinal
Displacement	5998cc	4691cc
Max power	600bhp @ 6000rpm	433bhp @ 7000rpm
Max torque	553lb ft @ 1750rpm	361lb ft @ 4750rpm
Transmission	ZF six-speed automatic with paddleshift, continuous all-wheel- drive	Six-speed automatic with paddleshift, rear-wheel drive, MSP stability system
Weight (kerb)	2475kg	1990kg
Power-to-weight	242bhp/ton	221bhp/ton
0-100kph	4.8sec (claimed)	5.1sec (claimed)
Top speed	322kph (claimed)	285kph (claimed)
Basic price	$ 225,000	$ 161,000
On sale	Now	Now
EVO Rating	* * * *	* * * *