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If you've driven other similarly priced & similar-sized SUVs (Porsche Cayenne, Maserati Levante, etc), please compare the overall ride quality.
It's going to be interesting to see how many Bentayga-owners switch over to the Purosangue. The lead singer of the 80's band Roxette lives close to me, and he traded in his Bentayga for the Maserati Levante Trofeo. I've never been much of a Maserati fan myself, but with his collection of Ferraris, I'm guessing he will be receiving his own Purosangue as soon as they start shipping out.
I rented this car for about 600 euros per day for 7 days. It is a 2017 version (over 600 hp), so the pre-lift one. I own a 2nd gen (2019) Range Sport V8SC (525 hp), and just wanted to try an alternate SUV that seemed more luxurious, and also which had the rare quality of a 12 cylinders engine. First time with W12 engine for me, and I was very impressed by the
About VW: some people say it's just an Audi Q7, some say it is a real Bentley. Let's find out...
At first glance, this car seems massive (and this comes from a Range Sport owner...). It's actually about 30cm longer and 1 cm wider than the Sport. What makes it even more complicated for parking is:
- the rear camera display is really not as good as the Range (particularly at night, because there the rear light is too dim).
- the parking sensor which are too sensitive, and are continuously beeping to the point they are useless (and visual indications do not help much)
I was able to park it my parking slot without much problem though...
Experience with the GPS was that is was close to unusable, the fact that I am color blind and that it is not possible to change the screen colors did not help though...
I found the design of the car surprisingly appealing (despite all the bad things I read), front, side and back. However, I have a big big problem with the grille made from chromed plastic (they did the same on the Continental). The exhausts are massive and nice. The car -unfortunately- is fitted with the 22' wheel option: can someone explain me how one can select an option that is almost impossible to notice visually (from the 21'...), but will create higher noise and discomfort, which are both easily noticeable?? and pay for it?
The interior is what I hoped for: it is way more refined than the Range Sport. Diamond patterns stitching on the leather, nice chromed parts, things look really nice. Now, it is not to the same level as my Aston Martin DB9GT. In particular, some chromed areas may actually be plastic (I got oversensitve after seeing that grille)... and some buttons look like they come from Audi. There are 2 mechanical needles in the instrument cluster, which I love (the 2021 lift version replaced them with digital). In the middle of the instrument cluster you can see the infrared camera, not sure I want to stop looking at the road to watch it however...
What you see from driver seat is the hood with the central fine.
This is a pleasant view that suggests power, however, the hood seems not "wide" enough.
Driving at night revealed to major flows of the interior design:
- a strong light reflection coming from the driver door handle
- impossible to read the clock, due to its low contrast design (which is pretty ridiculous given the focus that Bentley gave to this watch...)
The Homelink garage door opener is nice (my rental did not have this option) in the sense that its configuration is integrated into the multimedia interface (so you don't need to keep you arm raised for ages in order to press the needed buttons on your reverse mirrors for programming it).
However, I discovered (like another reviewer) that my garage remote control did not work if I did not open a window.
The luggage space is Ok for me: I can fit my model airplane However, some reviewers reported that the rear space is almost unusable... if the driver is big...
The smell of the car is pleasant for me, way better than the Range (which I bought new) that is close to unpleasant. Unfortunately it is not the smell of leather (like the DB9), looks more synthetic like perhaps glue.
I watched
showing how Bentley work on leather (bulls only by the way), it shows a level of man-made work which is unusual in the automotive world.
The mechanical feeling of most of the buttons (the ones which are chromed...) is pleasant. I think about 2 examples: the mini-wheel for audio volume on the steering wheel, and the central **** for selecting the drive mode.
This last one in particular is particularly satisfying to rotate (Bentley had some patent fights with Land Rover regarding that **** actually...)
However, I personally found the shifter difficult to use: indeed, I kept pressing the Park button with the palm of my hand....
The cup holder is supposed to be hidden under a removable glasses case, which is missing here, like in many reviews I watched.
The comfort of the seats is excellent. Better for than the sport. In particular it has much better lumbar comfort (I had to buy a separate cushion because the lumbar support is insufficient in the Range).
Also, it has massaging seats, which I am used to, but it was a pleasurable experience each time (it has many programs).
However, what is better in the range are:
- your arms support: the Range has door on left and armrest on right.
- your head support: the Range has a headrest... on which you can actually put your head. Some automakers still did not understand that headrests are not only for security but also for comfort. If you touch this one with your head it's either that you have a serious physiological problem or that you have an accident
The audio system is outstanding. Close to the level of the upgraded B&O of the DB9GT, and way better than the Burmester of Mercedes S Class.
In my 7 days experience I spent most of the time listening to various types of music and it was a wonderful experience. However, I noticed some small amount of "digital noise" that could only be heard between 2 tracks of music.
The engine now: so, granted, this is a W12, a beast. However, its noise is perfectly uninteresting. I think it is recurrent with German manufacturers: engineering without emotion (..and I am an engineer...).
Even, with window open, you will not hear anything interesting. Not that it is always silent though. Press the pedal and it is like you are driving a muscle car, an american one, very raw, not refined at all. I have other cars with interesting sounds, this car will not be one of them.
The turbo lag is *very* significant, once again this is casting mistake: a lag does not fit the character of luxurious SUV in my opinion.
What is pretty ridiculous is the plastic cover on the engine, which shows... a V12. The cover should rather show 4 lines of 3 cylinders...
Anyway. The power is really there, impressive. Actually so massive that the whole car is tilting during acceleration and the hood is pointing to the sky like if you were going to take off.... And surprisingly, there is not much roll when you turn. I would say, similar to the Range.
However, the damping is way way better than the Range (which is close to rough). It is like they were able to achieve comfort without compromising handling (a 2,7T handling though...), impressive. Probably thanks the 48V active antiroll bar system.
However, I saw absolutely no effect when changing the damping setting from Sport, to Bentley or to comfort. Actually, to be fair, I never saw any effect of any damping setting on any car in my life....
The braking is fine (although not carbon-ceramic as could be expected on such a pricey car). I also made a braking test on snow. I compared the Range braking distance by braking to the max (engaging the ABS). It was similar to the Range.
The variable ratio steering is very pleasant: when I came back to the Range Sport I had the feeling of operating the steering wheel of a truck. Indeed, the Sport seems to require to turn much more the steering wheel during maneuvers (although it is also supposed to have variable ratio).
Now, one of the major quality of this car is the noise insulation. It is not as good as the S Class, but it is so much better than the Range!
I put a link here to a youtube video when I recorded the cabin noise in the 3 cars to you can compare by yourself,
I ended my rental and came back to my daily Range.
It did not take me more than a few kilometers to realize the Bentley was definitely a better car to drive. I have now started to look for a used Bentayga....
... but I will still test the new Sport next week to be sure...
Thank you for taking the time to go in to this level of detail. (I imagine that is the engineer in you coming out) I wish you the best of luck getting one.
Thank you for taking the time to go in to this level of detail. (I imagine that is the engineer in you coming out) I wish you the best of luck getting one.
I love the color combo; it is almost identical to my Continental GT, and exactly how my "dream-Bentayga" would look.
I don't mind so much that my chrome grille is plastic, I don't sit and fiddle with it. Would you have been happier if it was made of chromed metal, is that what you are saying?
The bigger the better when it comes to wheels! I honestly think 23's or 24's would look great on a Bentayga, but I'm a big wheel nerd. (And I'm used to driving Jeeps with soft tops, so road noise doesn't bother me..) I have 24's on my Mercedes truck.
Good luck with your car search; keep us posted if you happen to find a Bentayga!
I love the color combo; it is almost identical to my Continental GT, and exactly how my "dream-Bentayga" would look.
I don't mind so much that my chrome grille is plastic, I don't sit and fiddle with it. Would you have been happier if it was made of chromed metal, is that what you are saying?
The bigger the better when it comes to wheels! I honestly think 23's or 24's would look great on a Bentayga, but I'm a big wheel nerd. (And I'm used to driving Jeeps with soft tops, so road noise doesn't bother me..) I have 24's on my Mercedes truck.
Good luck with your car search; keep us posted if you happen to find a Bentayga!
Nice Beast!
For the grille, if I pay a lot I expect authenticity and quality, not fake stuff. My Db9 has a grille that looks like metal… and it is metal. I guess it’s the same for Rolls. So, yes this only tiny detail is sufficient to discourage me to spend 350k€ for a new Bentayga! (same applies to the Conti for the same reason).
For the wheels, it is clear that many people prefer large ones like you, this is actually why they propose such options.
And surprisingly, there is not much roll when you turn. I would say, similar to the Range.
