Every car manufacturer and his dog wants a luxury SUV in their line-up: Lamborghini, Audi, Tesla. Oh, and Bentley. The brand new Bentayga packs a twin-turbocharged 6-litre 12-cylinder engine, and will hit 100km/h in 4.1 seconds, then steam on all the way to a top speed of over 300km/h. This thing is ridiculous.
At a kerb weight of nearly 2500kg, the Bentley Bentayga isn’t exactly a spritely Mazda MX-5; in fact, it isn’t even two MX-5s welded together in some ungodly abomination. But despite that heft, the fact that its reworked version of Bentley’s oft-used twin-turbo W12 (basically two V6s very neatly combined under the hood) develops 447kW up at 5250rpm and 900Nm from 1250rpm means that it’s no slouch at getting up to highway cruising speeds.
And if you want to go faster, it will. The Bentayga’s rated top speed is 301km/h, a few clicks faster than the previous reigning champion, Porsche’s Cayenne Turbo S. Perhaps more fascinating than the fact that it’s so fast or so weighty is the fact that its 8-speed auto and a host of smarts like cylinder deactivation and stop-start are responsible for a combined fuel consumption rating of just 12.8L/100km. (Although perhaps not if you’re putting your foot down around the city…)
If you’re a tech geek looking for a massive hulking super-luxury super-sports four wheel drive, then look no further. The Bentayga has an optional 10.2-inch, 4G-capable Android tablet for both rear-seat passengers, a similar front and rear birds-eye camera system to a $750,000 Rolls Royce and an in-dash 8-inch touchscreen controlling the 1950 Watt 18-speaker sound system. [Bentley]
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