The super-luxury Bentley Bentayga SUV is not pretty but is striking in the flesh
Yes, this is a Bentley SUV and you’d better get used to it, because it will undoubtedly become the best-selling model in the British brand’s proud history.
The Bentley Bentayga is the world’s most expensive SUV, although the New Zealand price is still to be announced, with the all-new W12 twin-turbo engine.
Before we get into it, we must address the elephant in the room. The Bentley Bentayga may not be what many would call pretty, but it’s certainly very striking in the flesh, possessing a lot of presence — particularly from the front. The rear is more conservative, but it all works together as a package.
Furthermore, Bentley making an SUV is merely a sign of the times. When Porsche came out with the first Cayenne SUV in 2002, many said it was the end for the German performance brand, having given over its sporting soul to making SUVs.
Fast forward to today and SUVs account for nearly two thirds of all things from Porsche, but it hasn’t had any negative effect on purist models like the 911 or the Boxster. In fact, it’s the income from SUVs that has allowed Porsche to make cars such as the 911.
The case with the Bentley Bentayga is a little different, as the company claims to not need the money to fund its other models, and that it has instead made an SUV due to enormous customer demand. It makes sense, as large super-luxury sedans are becoming a tad old-school — so why not make super-luxury SUVs?
The Bentayga shares its underpinning with the new Audi Q7 (and other new large SUVs from the Volkswagen Group), but Bentley claims at least 75 per cent of the car is unique.
World's fastest SUV
The most obviously exclusive part is the 12-cylinder twin-turbo W12 engine. Although W12s have been a Bentley tradition for some time, this new engine is almost entirely new compared to the W12 on offer in Bentley’s other models (for now).
Producing a staggering 447kW of power and 900Nm of torque, the Bentayga moves its 2440kg mass from 0-100km/h in just 4.1 seconds. That makes it the fastest SUV in the world (until the Tesla Model X arrives, at least).
You appreciate its ferocious appetite for acceleration when you plant your right foot flat to the loor and things start to go a little fuzzy upstairs. It’s not just the 0-100km/h that’s impressive, but also the acceleration that continues after that. It is uncanny and somewhat unnatural just how quickly 200km/h comes about, and it’s bewildering how it will keep going until it hits 301km/h.
Of course, it’s not just about straight line speed. To counteract the higher ride height and weight of the Bentayga, Bentley has employed a rather technical electric active roll control technology with a 48V system that reduces body roll noticeably. Around the never-ending tight cornering roads of Palm Springs, California — where Bentley decided to launch the Bentayga globally — the British SUV sat flat and powered on from one corner to the next.
The out-of-corner acceleration of the Bentayga is phenomenal. The all-wheel drive system shows no signs of understeer when pushed to the limit, and you can carry a lot more speed than you probably think possible. The 400mm front brakes (380mm at the rear), which are the same size as ones you’d find on a Bugatti Veyron, make stopping a battle of your internal organs against physics.
It’s perhaps not as fast as a Porsche Cayenne Turbo S or Range Rover Sport SVR from corner to corner, but it’s not meant to be. Besides, it makes up for that in ride comfort.
We are talking about a super-luxury SUV here, after all, which is primarily built to be comfortable. Wait, what’s that you say? An SUV is meant to be off-road capable as well? Well, you’re in for a surprise, because the Bentayga is an off-road monster.
That sounds odd to say, but it’s true. Nonetheless, no one in their right mind (unless you live in Dubai) would take his or her half-a-million dollar SUV off-roading. The nine-layer exterior paint alone would cost you the price of a Toyota Corolla to fix if anything was to really scratch deep.
Even so, Bentley insisted we take the Bentayga off-road. After changing the drive mode selector to ‘mud & trail’, our Bentayga climbed and descended hills that would make Jeep Wrangler owners hesitate.
Our experience inside the cabin while driving up 34 degree gradients felt as though the Bentley wasn’t actually climbing any hills. It simply made the hills submit to its will. There’s so much torque that getting stuck actually takes effort.
If it weren’t for its (still very respectable) 245mm ground clearance (500mm wading depth) and its Pirelli road tyres, we suspect the Bentayga could do far more off the bitumen.
We also came across some sand dunes and the Bentayga ate those up as well. To emphasise just how much torque the Bentley has, the tyre pressure was only dropped to about 22 PSI for the dunes (usually you’d go to around 10), as any lower and its mighty torque would’ve ripped the tyres right off the rim (as Bentley’s prototype testing programme revealed).
Unrivalled interior
So, the Bentayga can go really fast, it can conquer an off-road course and it can even play in the sand, but what’s it like inside?
That is, perhaps, the Bentayga’s best aspect: the interior is unrivalled. Everything, and we do mean everything, feels nice to the touch. The air conditioning vents, the little dials for the stereo, the speaker grilles, every surface feels as though it has had hundred of hours of someone’s devoted attention.
The car takes more than 130 hours to put together. This is what makes a Bentley, and from that perspective, the Bentayga is the finest SUV in the world.
The front seats, with their massage functions on, are a place you can sleep in. The 18-speaker, 19-channel, 1950W Naim audio system is also out-of-this-world good. It’s better tuned to the cabin than what we experienced in the Mulsanne Speed.
All that being said, it’s not entirely smooth sailing in the Bentley Bentayga. There are some issues. The gearstick, for example, has the parking button positioned at the front of the stick, which resulted in us continually and unintentionally putting the car into park.
The rear legroom can be an issue for some taller passengers, being just borderline uncomfortable for this reviewer’s 176cm height (with the front seat’s height adjusted for the same frame).
The infotainment system is sub-par, compared to the rest of the cabin. Bentley has taken the unit straight from the Volkswagen parts bin and adjusted it to meet its needs.
But perhaps the biggest complaint we have for the Bentayga is the options list. Expect to pay at least A$50,000 (NZ$53,000) to equip your Bentayga to your taste.
Overall, there’s no doubt the Bentley Bentayga is the best SUV in the world. It combines the most comfortable and refined cabin of any SUV in history with extreme dynamic performance, while its off-road capable nature is true to traditional SUV roots.
— CarAdvice.com.au