Guilt yes, remorse no
AWISEMAN once said that the very best classic cars will always appreciate in value because there’s a finite supply of them, whereas the number of super-rich people in the world is continually increasing. And that presumably also explains why the ‘luxury SUV’ sector – the apex of the pyramid that’s based on the ‘premium SUVs’, your commonor-garden Range Rovers and the like – is expanding. Buyers just can’t get enough of them.
Today, your average multimillionaire has the choice of luxury SUVs from Rolls-Royce, Lamborghini, Aston Martin and Bentley. But Bentley got there first with the original Bentayga in 2015, an instant success and the company’s fastest-selling car ever. With more than 20,000 sold, it’s time for a re-vamp and so here we have the New Bentayga. Significantly, it’s being launched with the V8 that first appeared in 2018 rather than the W12 that showcased the original car five years ago; perhaps even multimillionaires realise that there’s not much glamour to be had in standing around on windswept petrol station forecourts.
The new Bentayga V8 has identical power and torque figures to the old one – 542bhp and 568lb ft, respectively – which are more than adequate, especially when the upside is a real-world potential fuel consumption of 24-25mpg. In fact, the changes are mainly cosmetic, both inside and out. Easiest ways to spot a New Bentayga are the wider grille and more elliptical headlights at the front, and the very-definitely elliptical tail-lights and scalloped bootlid at the rear. Apparently the design brief was to create a more ‘confident’ look, not that the original car was any kind of shrinking violet.
Without doubt, this is a beautifully made machine. Inside, it rivals a Rolls-Royce for hand-stitched leather-trimmed perfection; you’ll hardly find a better car in which to undertake a long journey. A couple of things niggle, however. Standard-fit wheels on the new model are 22in alloys – they were an option over the default 21in rims, last time around – and they do seem to contribute to a disconcerting ‘wobble’ on poorer road surfaces at low speed. Throttle response also feels a bit hair-trigger on occasion, while the discreet but satisfying V8 throb at 25003000rpm that characterised the earlier car seems more muted.
The faster you go in the Bentayga, the better it gets, however, so it’s just a shame that there are so few opportunities in the UK for it to show its mettle. A 2.4-tonne off-roader that can touch 180mph and reach ‘the ton’ in a whisker under 10sec, yet handle like a car half its size (and weight), is really something. A guilty pleasure, yes, but also proof that nothing succeeds like excess.