2013 Cadillac XTS vs. 2012 Bentley Continental Flying Spur Speed

2013 Cadillac XTS vs. 2012 Bentley Continental Flying Spur Speed 2013 Cadillac XTS vs. 2012 Bentley Continental Flying Spur Speed
Comparison Tests

Everything luxurious begins as something unpretentious. Hermès started as a harness workshop. Louis Vuitton luggage is just animal hide that protects your silk teddy from filthy TSA fingers. ­Luxury is about elevating an experience or a set of components—pushing well past mere utility to a place that makes you say “ahh.” Luxury is an escape, a transcendence of  basic function.

We are certain that the Bentley will get closer to the 210 mph marked on its speedometer than the Cadillac will get to 160.

Under its Cadillac skin, the new XTS conceals the skeleton of a Buick LaCrosse, which itself branches off the same family tree as the Chevrolet Malibu. And here’s the similarity: Bentley’s Continental Flying Spur also springs from humble roots. The Flying Spur shares its architecture with the defunct-in-the-U.S. Volkswagen Phaeton. So the Bentley is to a $70,000 VW as the Cadillac is to a $20,000 Chevy. Yes, the Bentley’s VW underpinnings are arguably more solid and refined—pricier, even—than the XTS. We’re not here to dispute that. What we seek to compare is the degree to which Bentley and Cadillac have sculpted the lumps of clay they were handed.