Bentley Bentayga 2021 long-term review
Our plush new SUV may look like a mild update, but appearances can be deceiving
*Why we’re running it: *To evaluate the depth and especially breadth of ability of the luxury SUV cohort’s now established leader
-Month 1 - Specs-
-Life with a Bentley Bentayga: Month 1-
*Welcoming the Bentayga to the fleet - 10 March 2021*
This is going to sound weird: our Bentagya V8 long-termer has already been with us a couple of weeks, yet I’m still having trouble deciding whether it’s big or small.
I mean, it’s way bigger than most SUVs; of course it is. It’s 5.1 metres long, 1.7 metres high and 2.2 metres across the mirrors and weighs 2.4 tonnes. Those are big-car dimensions in any car manufacturer’s language. But if you park this new-look Bentley SUV away from other machinery, its excellent proportions make it look imposing yet also curiously compact.
Our car’s 22in wheels help a lot: designers are always banging on about how awful cars look on ‘small’ wheels. The rule, they say, is that big cars need big wheels – and we’ve got ’em. The other improvements help, too: the bigger, prouder grille and especially that altered tailgate shape, which removes unsightly shutlines from your sight. Such things don’t work very well in description, but park the original and revised Bentaygas together, rears facing you, and you will see that the difference is profound.
What seems to have died a death with this latest car is a folk view that the Bentayga isn’t too easy on the eye. The latest isn’t so different from the original, but to my eye it’s handsome. Perhaps those original impressions were born of the fact that, in the past seven decades or so, Bentleys have all been long limousines, graceful convertibles and svelte coupés. Now even the wider public seems to have decided that they can be SUVs, too.
The is-it-big-or-small question extends to the dynamics as well. Once you’ve learned to depend on the authority and fine centre-feel of the steering (which heavily contrasts that of other big cars), you discover that there always seems to be plenty of space left on the road. It helps that the Bentayga’s suspension geometry is so obviously well-honed: over bumps or cambers, the car simply tracks like an arrow. Driving close to walls and kerbs feels safe, because you know that you won’t be thrown off line.
Not that there has been a surfeit of opportunities to drive the Bentayga so far. Apart from a necessary journey from home to several Lambourn locations for the pictures you see on this page, the saga has been largely about lockdown. There’s a limit to how much enjoyment you get from a car just looking at it through your window, even when it’s a Bentley.
To make matters more urgent, there’s the versatility of this car to be tested: our editor-at-large, Matt Prior, reckons there’s a decent argument to the effect that the Bentayga is one of the most versatile vehicles you can buy at any money, given its ability one minute to emulate the refinement of a limousine fit for royalty and a few minutes later to do the Unimog thing over battlefield terrain. At one end of the dynamic spectrum, its performance is never compromised by what it does at the other. Plans are being laid even now for some essential off-roading.
We didn’t specify this Bentayga ourselves; rather, it’s a Bentley demonstrator. But the equipment is just about perfect for me, its first Autocar user, because it avoids showy two-tonery while allowing full appreciation of Bentley’s top-class build and materials quality.
The gleaming Silver Frost paint is calmed by a Blackline specification, while the 22in wheels are black- painted but diamond-turned. These things are perfect for a car that’s a tasteful signifier of wealth but must also radiate a use-every-day spirit.
The interior description talks of Beluga leather and Dark Tint diamond-brushed aluminium, but in essence we’re talking about a black interior with a series of carefully matched textures that perfectly display their quality.
For all its appearance of apparent restraint, our car is fitted with nearly £40,000 worth of options, five related equipment collections grouped as ‘specifications’, which show why Bentley buyers take much time and trouble over specifying their cars and enjoy it so much.
We’ve got the Mulliner Driving specification (22in wheels, quilted leather, embroidered Bentley emblems, bright pedals and ornate oil and fuel caps) plus the All Terrain specification (underbody protection, lots of driving modes and a luggage storage system so your Louis Vuitton baggage doesn’t f ly about). Chuck in the Touring specification (adaptive cruise control, a head-up display and all manner of ‘assists’), the Five Seat Comfort specification (ventilated seats and luxury head restraints) and the Blackline specification (black trim instead of chrome all over) and you’ve spent £37,990. Lesser options drive our car’s total to £208,035.
Impressions so far: it’s beautifully refined, with just enough V8 woofle under discreet acceleration (all that’s needed) to remind you that its engine has that most emotive of all cylinder layouts. The suspension is coming into its own, coping with our currently pockmarked surfaces. And the road noise is low wherever you drive, even though the car is still on winter rubber, which to me is more worth paying for than all the nappa leather you can climb over.
The Bentayga has depth. We must now proceed to evaluate its breadth.
*Second Opinion*
I’m even more intrigued to try the new Bentayga after a stint in the Range Rover, itself heavily refreshed. Somehow, Solihull’s finest feels even smoother and more refined than before. I’ll bet that’s because of Bentley forcing Land Rover to raise its game further. It just shows what competition does to standards.
*Mark Tisshaw*
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-Bentley Bentayga V8 specification-
*Specs: Price New* £146,700 *Price as tested* £208,035 *Options*Mulliner Driving pack £11,635,
All Terrain pack £3610, Touring pack £6415, Five Seat Comfort pack £4290, Blackline pack £5380, Naim stereo £6660
*Test Data: Engine* V8, 3996cc, twin-turbocharged petrol *Power* 542bhp at 6000rpm *Torque* 568lb ft at 1960-4500rpm *Kerb weight* 2416kg *Top speed* 180mph *0-62mph* 4.4sec *Fuel economy* 21.2mpg *CO2* 302g/km *Faults* None *Expenses* None
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