The hybrid version of Bentley’s Bentayga is the most comfortable car in the world. Sitting in the driving seat high above the road, cossetted by the hides of ten bulls and with every surface luxuriously tactile, one is in familiar territory. Yet what makes this SUV a cut above the Rolls-Royce Cullinan and Aston Martin DBX – and, indeed, the Bentayga’s very own V8 and W12 Speed versions – is the battery electric motor.
Bentley has rented a large modernist house in West Sussex from which to offer its first test drives. It’s been designed with sustainability in mind and GQ is treated to a spread of healthy lunch that’s been sourced from within a radius of 25 miles. Once was a time that a Bentley launch would take place at a vast and ancient pile littered with precarious chimneys and guests would be offered something calorific with bits of buckshot in it, and with dessert flown in from Maxim’s De Paris.
Today, Bentley has gone woke. It's introduced a plethora of sustainable, often vegan furnishings to the limitless options list; its factory (which is home to 300,000 bees) has gone carbon neutral; it has a diversity and inclusion policy more vocal than any other manufacturer; and it was the first premium car company to announce it will switch completely from internal combustion engines to fully electric powertrains by 2030.
Hybrids are the stepping stone, of course, which makes this £155,500 Bentayga (same price as the V8) a transitional car. It’s designed to take Bentley owners on a philosophical journey: learn to enjoy the advantages of clean electrified motoring without giving up the convenience and dependability of internal combustion.
Those of us who romanticise long-bonneted, baritone coupés of the Continental variety are still trying to get our heads around this new dawn. Yet for Bentley’s four-door line-up, hybrid and fully BEV powertrains make perfect sense, because they’re quieter, smoother and more torquey than traditional ICE engines. This is apparent as soon as we steer our viridian green Bentayga out of the gates. The car automatically starts in EV mode. At low speed, the car emits a faint hum so as to alert pedestrians of its presence, but the car’s sound-deadening means no one inside can hear a thing. It’s as quiet as the moon.
The technology means it pulls away more smoothly than Aloysius Parker could ever manage. It wafts even more imperially than its recently departed uncle, the Mulsanne. That car was the last to use Bentley’s famed 6.75 litre V8, a block that had design roots from the 1950s. This car – the Bentayga Hybrid – is powered by a 3.0 V6 with a single turbo and a total output of 443bhp. Its e-motor, which is the size of a dinner plate, contributes 126bhp to the party and power is drawn from a 13kWh 210kg battery hidden under the boot floor (boot space is unaffected).
Electric-only range is 25 miles, which Bentley says will serve the daily commute of 90 per cent of its customers (max charging speed will brim it in 2.5 hours). That range is not as good as BMW’s X5, but it’s better than the Range Rover PHEV.
Add in the petrol power and it can claim a range that maxes out at 431 miles – so if you ditch the daily commute for a blast to France you needn’t worry about charging, like owners of Audi e-trons surely do every 200 miles. The navigation system will ensure your journey is as efficient as it can be – your right foot allowing – and will deploy intelligent acceleration and intelligent braking, unless you choose to switch the systems off. On our drive around the South Downs, we achieved a very respectable 50mpg.
The Bentley has a top speed of 158bhp and does 0-60mph in 5.2 seconds, which is minutely slower than the V8 version. Zero to 30, it’s actually quicker (as well as smoother).
In EV mode, given this only gives you access to 126bhp, the 2.6 tonne car is sluggish. Most of the time you’ll want it in hybrid mode, which’ll give you the best cruising blend. “Hold” mode puts greater reliance on the petrol motor, which you may wish to select for performance driving.
While the performance – both in terms of speed and efficiency – is impressive, the V6 doesn’t have the silky oomph of the V8 or W12 and it sounds rather coarse when you bury the throttle. Someone being overtaken is unlikely to realise they are being overtaken by a Bentley until they see the Flying B badge on the boot. It does lack authority and gravitas in this sense.
It’s a compromise, and traditionally the customers of six-figure lux-o-barges aren’t keen on the c-word. Here is a spectacularly well engineered and luxuriously hewn hybrid, with pleasingly updated SUV styling and renewed social cachet. It rides like a Bentley and that’s worth applauding. But it doesn’t overtake like a Bentley, because that’s when the orchestra should kick in. It’s going to take a bit of getting used to.
How the Bentley Continental GT was reborn for the 21st century
