The 180mph drawing room
If the DBX is the new kid on the block, the Bentley has already become a familiar sight in Britain’s smarter postal districts. It can’t be coincidence that Crewe’s ushered along a facelift just in time to greet its new British rival. The Bentayga has always impressed and repelled in equal measure, with luxury overload, dynamic ability and family practicality in spades, but also an appearance that many find offputting.
The 2020 refresh brings a modest redesign, including Conti GT-style rear lights. Ours is resplendent in Verdant paintwork, a zingier, lighter British Racing Green, and it’s vast, easily the biggest car of this trio in every dimension. It feels it on the road, where you breathe in through tighter gaps and it bulges out of regular parking spaces. The upside? The Bentley has the deepest boot and a cabin so echoingly roomy that I’d challenge anyone not to get comfy in any seat (it’s the only car here with the option of a third row of pop-up seats, too).
You climb up into an exquisitely engineered cabin and there’s a reassuring heft to everything from the switchgear and traditional Bentley organ-stop air vents to the quality of leather and wood. Purists may decry the Audi fundamentals, yet most buyers will neither know nor care. Instead, marvel at the contactless phone charger, night vision, extraordinary Naim stereo, full-length, double-row smoked-glass sunroof and substantially improved infotainment system (though we’re less convinced by the overwrought virtual dials, digitally upgraded like the Lambo’s). We also can’t quite believe that they’ve snuck the fan speed selector into the touchscreen. Surely that’s not the kind of Blower that Bentley customers want?
If family duties are a top buying requirement, the Bentayga makes a strong case for itself. Its 589-litre boot is huge and stretches further back than any rival, with no impediment to access and convenient buttons to lower the air springs (like on the Aston) and to conjure a pop-out towbar for lugging your pony/powerboat at the weekend. Our test car came equipped with a space-saver spare wheel and loadbay locking rails to hold luggage in place. It feels brilliantly engineered and tough; we’d be less worried about reliability here than in the unproven Aston.
Slide into those magnificent massaging, electro-everything seats, stab the start button and you’ll just about make out the distant V8 hum. The Bentley is markedly more refined than either of these rivals, its default mode providing a hushed cruise as it wafts along in eerie near-silence. Only in the lairier Sport mode at full throttle is the engine uncorked, a gentleman’s cough clearing the throat before a melodious V8 throb
emerges when you rev it hard, but even then it’s significantly quieter than the DBX and, especially, the ostentatious Urus.
This calmness defines the Bentayga’s character. It’s demure, happiest at six-tenths or below, where you’ll lap up the plump ride, the eight-speed automatic transmission slurring through gearchanges with imperceptible polish, relaxed steering inputs nudging the prow. Just watch out for the wretched lane-keep assist system, which must be disabled to prevent the car constantly nibbling away at your inputs.
It’s hard to reconcile those enormous 22-inch wheels with the compliant ride quality; select Comfort and the Bentley floats over crests, yet there is little thud and it’s generally cosseting and quiet.
Turn up the wick, flick the car into all-rounder ‘Bentley’ mode (our preferred choice) or Sport, and it never quite shakes off the penalty of that extra bulk. The Bentayga is the porkiest car here at 2.4 tonnes and it feels every one of those killer-grammes, yet the 48-volt anti-roll system – versions are fitted to all three of these cars – works wonders to stop the body listing like a dilapidated country mansion if you hurl it into a corner, and you’ll never tire of the way it deploys all 568lb ft and 542bhp in a secure fashion.
Where the DBX broke traction surprisingly often, feeling as tail-happy as one of Aston’s sports cars, the Bentayga is more effective at transferring every single pony to the tarmac. Nail the throttle, the turbos spool up and it simply slingshots up the road on its way to 62mph in just 4.5sec. The brakes are reassuringly powerful when you drop anchor.
They’ve done a neat job updating the Bentayga. It marks its card as the sensible choice here: the one if you want relatively unobtrusive family transport with lashings of British charm and quality, yet the ability to get a wiggle on as you peg it down for a weekend at your Cornish getaway. ⊲
A gentleman’s cough clears the throat before a melodious V8 throb emerges when you rev it