By Mashum Mollah
The level of entry of Bentley Bentayga that was promised three years back is nowhere. You did not expect hubcaps and steel wheels; did you? The novel variant comes with eight cylinders in the place of twelve and a few minor visual tweaks. For the 2018 model, journeys were made to the alps of Australia to find out the way it compares to the W12 model.
This vehicle is a mono-spec model because it does not offer levels of trim in the conventional sense. Buyers choose a car, add-on options, personalize it the way they wish, and then sign the dotted line. That is the way a transaction happens in this market segment. The additional options of cost add up very fast, but the good thing is that Bentayga comes with very many standard features. It includes the adjustable air suspension, LED lighting, twenty-inch alloy wheels, ten-speaker audio system, panoramic roof, voice commands, eight-inch screen navigation, SD card slot, and text-to-speed. It has a drive of sixty GB to drive the entertainment system and even store media files.
The pricing begins at one hundred and sixty-five thousand dollars which make it a real bargain in the scheme of items. Why? The W12 begins at roughly USD 230,000. The difference between these two can buy you a Porsche.
Other models that are competitive to V8 include the high ends of range rover land rover and, in case you are the kind of option-ticking, you can choose the Lamborghini Urus. Bentayga and Urus are distant cousins but are different beasts at the same time.
Spotter’s guide:
Car spotters need to be aware of this car. Bentayga 2019 stands out from the former with glossy black trim all over. It is on the fender vents, grille, on light bezels on both ends, and around the windows. The engine that is of eight cylinders exhales through exhaust tips that are engine specific. These two models are also identical. V8 comes with a high-gloss carbon-fiber trim, the first one in the Bentley land.
Interior and tech:
Bentley gifted Bentayga with an interior that is very lavish, and there is some surprise that it does not have a caviar bar and sauna. People called the W12 the most powerful one in the market, but the V8 version is not any different — pieces of wood that are mirror-matched complement soft upholstery leather which swathes the door panels, the dashboard, and the seats. Its materials are authentic. In case it looks like leather, then it is; if it seems metallic, it is too. The exception in this rule is the buttons that are on the steering wheel that reveal the Audi origins of the SUV. You will find other 4x4s in the market representing the crop on the front of craftsmanship.
The eight-inch touchscreen in the center of the stack displays the entertainment system. It is quite straightforward software that is easy to use with clearly-labeled menus and redundant knobs and buttons on each side of the screen. It has everything you expect from the entertainment system and anything else that you do not. For all fans of iPhones, it comes with Apple CarPlay compatibility, but the system is not compatible with Android and will not be compatible anytime soon.
Driving experience:
The wide grille of Bentayga hides the twin-turbocharged V8 engine that closely related to the 8-cylinder engine powering the Panamera and Porsche models and Lamborghini Urus. All these companies operate under one umbrella. Bentley employed the in-house magic to V8 to bring 568 pound-feet torque and 542 horsepower at 6,000rpm over a band that stretches between 1,960 rpm and 5,500 rpm. The automatic transmission channels the power to all the four wheels.
To add some context, the other engine of Bentayga is the twin-turbocharged 6-liter with a horsepower of 600 and an impressive 664 pounds of torque. When you walk across the road, you will drive away in a range rover that has the 516-pound twist and 565 horses.
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