A high-pitched yelp escaped my body the first time I reached down by the gearlever and twisted the rotary dial from B (Bentley’s own customised settings) to Sport and stomped the accelerator deep into the fluffy carpets. The streets around Britsol narrowed frighteningly quickly following a little chirp from the rear tyres. Alright first impression to jot down; Bentayga is savagely fast – that 0-100km/h time of 4.0 seconds every bit as believable as the 301km/h top speed.
Sadly we spent most of our brief time together on the highway, deliberately drifting off the back of slow moving traffic and then rapidly closing the gap. Repeat. At around R140km/h, Bentayga woofles along below 2000rpm. You can’t hear the W12. The largest wheels on any Bentley 22-inch wheels create a bit of road noise but as you would expect from a 2.4 tonne car, nothing disturbs its planted gait. And to our shock, people don’t even seem that interested in its imposing silhouette, which is a bit disappointing considering its R4.5 million price tag.
Second observation concerns the Bentayga’s steering. Crisp and very sharp around centre, the Bentayga darts left and right with soft fingertip pressure applied to its cross-stitched steering wheel. The best accuracy I’ve ever experienced on a large SUV and filters out just the right amount of surface irregularities to be vibration-free but not antiseptically so. A default 40/60 power split from the permanent all-wheel drive system errs towards sporty intentions.
The 6.0-litre W12 engine with 447kW and 900Nm is currently the only one in Bentayga’s family but a V8 turbo diesel is around the corner and is confirmed for South Africa – with 50ppm or better availability. But for now, I can’t imagine why I’d want it in place of the creamy compact Twelve which makes the speedometer glide through the numbers without the briefest hesitation to its sweeping motion.
Bentayga’s optional 48-volt system manages the strenuous demands of the electronic anti-roll bar system designed to counter body roll. We’d have loved to give it a more thorough working over but even on gentle turns, we’re convinced of its effectiveness with genuine bulk-defying nimbleness. Off-road, by de-coupling each wheel, the system provides better articulation so its merits should be emboldened.
Quick word on the off-road capabilities. It’s a question that came up often and the answer was that although customers will probably never use it off-road, they like to know the car can do it. Bentayga was designed to be equal to the best in its category (insert Range Rover here) with a penchant for sand dunes or snow-covered roads through four tailored off-road driving modes. There are eight in total.
A trip to the boutique factory in Crewe is highly recommended and we’re informed many customers do take up the invitation to see their car being assembled in what becomes quite the emotional experience. Full disclaimer: I never took Bentley’s hand crafted thing all too seriously but behind the factory doors I’ve never witnessed such an overwhelming sense of pride and passion in every stitch or every millimetre underlined by a ruthless pursuit for perfection. You wonder how this level of teamwork still exists in such a robotic age. Emotional indeed.
But then Bentley needs to do everything it can to disguise those still very German underpinnings which encircle the group’s MLB scalable platform with links to Audi’s Q7 and Porsche’s 2017 Cayenne. Exquisite organ stops for ventilation, quilted leather, subtle layers to the dashboard’s design and probably the greatest variety of materials and colours without being kitsch.
Ahead of the driver, the raised binnacle now incorporates heads-up display and the instrument cluster can mirror the content on the car’s central screen, or display different information altogether. Siphoning off the technology developed within the group, Bentayga just about does enough to differentiate itself but if you look closely, you can recognise similar typefaces. Still, if you’ve driven some of the older models like Flying Spur, you’ll welcome Bentayga’s much-needed software updates, particularly through smoother graphics and faster response rates but you do suspect that a rotary device in conjunction with touch input, in the same vain as Audi’s MMi system, would further improve Bentayga’s ergonomic comfort.
Bentley has ramped up rear entertainment up a notch with detachable rear tablets that offer a number of common and compatible apps to fully utilise the obligatory Wi-Fi network coverage. The main difference with these tablets is they are truly portable devices, offering the same functionality in your home and office.
Another new version of Bentayga set to arrive in South Africa is the 7-seater version with third-row legroom equal to that found in a Continental GT. This can still be ordered with Bentley’s event seat.
We came to the launch of Bentayga wondering if this is the only Bentley one ever needs. It’s not quite Continental GT fun to drive or jaw-droppingly beautiful (quite the opposite) but its eclipses Flying Spur and Mulsanne in more than enough ways and the off-road lifestyle aspect moves Bentayga into a completely different realm. The competition will inevitably pour in from all angles but Bentley has blazed the trail, creating a insatiable demand that has been building up for longer than many of us realised.
