Yahoo Autos The 2021 Bentley Bentayga Is the One-Car Solution
The ideal one-car garage is an endless enthusiast conversation starter. It forces you to confront a truth in this business; the automotive world is defined by compromise. No car can be perfectly composed on a back road, quick on a race track, steadfast through rocky terrain, and predictable on loose surfaces. Except, maybe, the 2021 Bentley Bentayga.
None of this is new to the Bentayga—a vehicle that has always defined for itself a broad mission scope. But 2021 brings new enhancements, including a much nicer 10.9-inch media display, wireless Apple CarPlay, a digital instrument display, some new materials, and other improvements at the margins. With a broader, more upright grill, thankfully reworked headlights, and a restyled rear end to bring it in line with the rest of the Bentley lineup, the 2021 Bentayga shakes out to also be more attractive than its predecessor too.
The previous model was not particularly distinguished—my tester was confused for both a Jaguar and a Ford Explorer by friends. The new one is much more proudly and obviously Bentley, rectifying any troubles with curbside flexing. Plus, Bentley smoothed over some of the detailing issues. They’re still working with a constrained canvas, though, with the proportions ultimately limiting the Bentayga’s visual athleticism and the brand’s old-school corporate grill dating the new design from day one.
Inside, though, is where your $177,000 check pays the most dividends. My optioned-up tester with its $224,260 MSRP had an eye-grabbing two-tone scheme. The cream and maroon—er, Linen and Cricket Ball—colored leather was supple and covered almost every surface, save the wood and metal bits. The tech upgrade also drastically modernized the centerpiece of the cabin, a touch that made the whole interior look a full generation ahead of the more pedestrian, pre-refresh Bentayga. Option an interesting color scheme and the Mulliner specification and few cabins in the world can match the Bentayga’s appeal.
That helps it fulfill its primary mission as an effortless daily luxury car. Every bit of technology you’d expect on a $200,000 Bentley is here, from every form of driver assistance to the world’s best automotive stereo and massaging seats. In comfort mode on an interstate, everything is soft, perfectly executed, quiet, and easy. It’s not as unnaturally comfortable as a Flying Spur, but the Bentayga is a distinguished long-haul cruiser.
Even at absurd speeds. Don’t be fooled by the quilted leather and luxurious pretentious, this thing will bury itself deep in the world of jail-time velocity without complaint. At no point does it feel floaty, unsettled, or at all overmatched by its 542-horsepower, 4.0-liter turbocharged V-8. Push it to the limit and you’ll find that, really, the opposite may be true.
Because while the Bentley is soft and compliant, it’s also one of the starkest examples of a car with multiple personalities. The massive three-chamber air springs provide a huge degree of adjustment, but you also have variable torque split all-wheel-drive, brake-based torque vectoring, and Bentley’s game-changing, industry-leading active anti-roll bar system. It’s an SUV that actively counteracts body roll. Not a little bit, not sometimes, but almost entirely—the system’s 932 lb-ft of electric motor torque is enough to completely eliminate roll, but testers found that disconcerting. So Bentley dialed in enough to know that you’re butting a 5000-lb SUV up against the limits of physics. The result is cornering performance that’ll keep you inches from the bumper of an M5.
It’s hard to get your head around. Probe for the limits of this system and you’ll find them far beyond where you’d normally push an SUV. Even under massive lateral loads, the Bentayga won’t give an inch of roll or a fraction of its contact patch up. It is perpetually hooked up, standing at the ready to wallop you with 568 lb-ft of torque. And whenever you get bored, it settles back into being one of the world’s best luxury SUVs.
Few cars in the world so casually dispatch with the duties of a luxury vehicle and a performance one. But the Bentayga hasn’t even shown its entire hand until you break free of the pavement. Jack up the suspension and blow down a gravel road and the big Bentley will pull off predictable, hilarious four-wheel drifts. It’ll blast over rutted sections and splash through standing water without ever snapping out of line. A $200,000, quilted-leather Lancia S4.
On tougher terrain, too, the Bentayga can depower its active anti-roll bar, effectively eliminating the sway bar entirely. That enables maximum wheel articulation, giving the Bentayga’s endless off-road gizmos and modes more grip to work with. I didn’t have the time nor career stability to torture test this $224,260 loaner car, but I know it’d get a hell of a lot further than a Mercedes E63 Wagon. That it can do that without giving up much pace or any luxury shows what an advancement the Bentayga is in the fight to build the ultimate all-rounder.
I’d be lying if I said it’s fully solved the question, though. First you have the looks and the price, two things that not everyone can stomach. Then you have the fact that, while the Bentayga is incredibly fast and incomprehensibly sorted, it’s not very tactile and far from exhilarating. These are small issues, and in total, the perfect one-car solution is as reliable as it is competent. The Bentley Bentayga may not be the perfect answer, but it’s the closest we’ve gotten yet.
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