Why the 2018 Bentley Bentayga justifies the price tag
If you want a vehicle that drives as smooth as a silk sheet, is silent as a library, and is 600-horsepower strong, take a look at the 2018 Bentley Bentayga
If you want an SUV that actively engages with the road, adjusts to your driving style with tight handling, and behaves as nimbly as Mikhail Baryshnikov, buy the exceptional Porsche Cayenne Turbo S. Or get a sports car.
But if you want a vehicle that drives as smooth as a silk sheet, is silent as a library, and is 600-horsepower strong, take a look at the 2018 Bentley Bentayga. With a starting price of US$195,000 and easily cresting US$245,000 for most versions, the latest entry in the luxury SUV market may feel overpriced. But for those who desire the best of British engineering in an SUV form, it’s the obvious choice.
This is a 5,379-pound, eight-speed, AWD, beautiful beast. Torque is 664 pound-feet. Top speed is 187 miles per hour. Zero to 60mph takes four seconds. Even taking into account Alfa Romeo’s Stelvio-set track record at the Nurburgring in Germany, this is the world’s fastest SUV.
Bentley Motors Ltd. debuted the Bentayga – its first-ever SUV – in 2015 after four years of development on the “EXP 9 F Concept” predecessor. The concept was roundly criticised for nebulous body styling and squishy handling, but this newest version is markedly better on all fronts.
It’s an SUV that embodies British heritage by pairing reserved styling and a hand-crafted interior with a massive W12 engine so smooth and powerful it makes 80mph feel like 45. (I should know, because I got a speeding ticket while testing it on the road.) So much for “Rule Britannia.”
The brakes can lack the initial bite we have come to expect from the sportier SUVs, from Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, Porsche AG, and Mercedes-Benz’s AMG line from Daimler AG. The Bentayga is not efficient: Official numbers have the car listed at 20 miles per gallon in highway fuel appetite, though my readings were closer to 14mpg.
Anyone who is a driver’s driver will turn off its “lane assist” feature and live in “Sport” mode. The other drive modes can feel buffered by systems designed to strip every semblance of raw thrill behind the steering wheel. There are more than a dozen of them, with names like City Braking & Pedestrian Warning, Reversing Traffic Warning, and Traffic Sign Recognition, all of which use some combination of beeps, buzzers, light signals, and vibrations on the steering wheel to alert the driver of potential danger. Sometimes, the Bentayga can feel like the kid who cries “Wolf” at every turn.