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Bentley Bentayga


Range Rover

Summary

Bentley Bentayga

Yes, you can drive your Bentley and keep your family. It's called compromise, or the Bentayga, Bentley's SUV.

The Bentayga my family has been living with is the Azure grade which promises to be even more comfortable and pleasant than the rest of the range.

Comfort is important and we'll cover the Bentayga's lavish details in time, but our mission first and foremost is to find out if the Bentayga makes a good family SUV.

Safety rating
Engine Type
Fuel Type
Fuel Efficiency—L/100km
Seating

Range Rover

As part of the Jaguar Land Rover family, Range Rover will be part of the group's push into an electrified future from 2020 - and it's already had some practice, albeit not very successfully.

The brand new PHEV 400e, though, already looks better than its previous efforts. With up to 51km of pure electric range claimed, is this the Rangie for a new age?

Safety rating
Engine Type4.4L turbo
Fuel TypeDiesel
Fuel Efficiency8.4L/100km
Seating5 seats

Verdict

Bentley Bentayga7.9/10

The Bentley Bentayga Azure may look a bit awkward and it surely isn't great value for money, but it is a true Bentley and a very good family SUV that not only provides terrific practicality but superb performance and comfort.


Range Rover7.3/10

Our testing was far too brief to give a considered opinion of the PHEV's capabilities, particularly when it comes to the claimed 51km range of the car under battery power alone. We'll need to drive it locally, and with a juiced battery, to rate its abilities properly.

In terms of it having the chops to be a proper, luxurious Range Rover, it's possible to say that yes, that box has been ticked. Even with a smaller engine, the Range Rover (as tested) passed muster for ride, quiet running and comfort.

Is a petrol-electric hybrid your kind of Range Rover? Tell us in the comments section below.

Design

Bentley Bentayga

You'd think of all automotive brands Bentley, with its beautiful swooping and powerful saloons, would be able to floor us with something just exquisite in SUV form. But right from the 2012 concept the Bentayga has struggled to stun the world with its design.

So, while there are Bentley family traits all over the Bentayga, from the intricate headlights and mesh grille, to the oval tail-lights and body which squats over the rear wheels, the overall design looks awkward to my eyes.

To me it appears the boxy design with the tall, flat roofline and elevated ride height favours practicality over the sleekness possessed by a lower, more coupe-like SUV.

I favour dark coloured clothes because it hides my shapes, creases and bulges, but these are the things you want to see in a car and our Bentley's 'Onyx Black' paint, despite being a beautiful colour with a blue hue added, make it a featureless blob in the sunlight.

A lighter shade or something outlandish like a turquoise or yellow would look amazing, and even better, upset your neighbours.

Let's look at the interior design which is lavish with all the quilted leather and Mulliner customisation, but lacks the modern look of many contemporary cabins with its smallish media screen and busy mosaic of buttons.

I like the little chrome plungers for the air vents, the winged styling to the dashboard and the stitched leather upholstery, but it's easy to spot parts that are shared by other members of the Volkswagen Group (which owns Bentley).

For example, there are the indicator and wiper stalks, as well as the steering wheel buttons, all from Audi. Surely Bentley should have its own crafted parts?

The interior colour scheme on our Bentayga is 'Beluga' (black) and 'Camel' (tan) and the Mulliner option split the colours with a cream tone.

From a family perspective the tan and black will hide dirt, although the cream will struggle. It's possibly the best leather on the planet, however, coming from cattle living high enough that their hides are unblemished by insect stings.


Range Rover

The Range Rover Sport is the smaller sibling of the Rangie, but both share the same DNA if not the same body panels.

Both shapes remain pretty faithful to the original Range Rover that first surfaced in the 1980s, with its distinctive floating roof, angular rear aspect and bluff nose, though features like the vertical door handles – and indeed the two-door design – of the original are long gone. Both present bluff, vaguely masculine visages, with large glasshouses accentuating their relative sizes.

Inside, both cars are spacious and airy, thanks to that big glasshouse, while the luxury quotient of both is high, thanks to highly refined surface areas and touch points.

About the only let down is the new dual multimedia screen's propensity to show both finger marks and glare, though adjusting the angle of the lower screen does reduce the latter.

Practicality

Bentley Bentayga

Being shaped like a bus does nothing for the Bentayga's beauty but makes it spacious for cargo and roomy for people.

With its large doors and elevated ride height (the car can be lowered for easier access) it's great for families.

Our Bentayga is a five-seater, which is fine for my little family of four, but there are four- and seven-seat configurations available, too.

Second row legroom is exceptional, even for me at 189cm tall, and sitting behind my own driving position there's still plenty of room.

Headroom is also outstanding throughout. We could be a family that loves top hats, on our way to the top hat championships, and not have to remove our top hats. That's how good headroom and hat room is.

Sun blinds in the second row are vital in Australia, and the electric ones in the Bentayga raise and lower quickly, not just offering protection but also more privacy.

Storage is good throughout with big door pockets and five cupholders.

It seems the cabin space eats into the cargo area because the boot isn't overly large at 484 litres with all seats in place.

Buttons in the cargo area allow the rear of the car to be raised and lowered to make it easier to hoist items in the boot.

For devices there's a wireless phone charger up front along with USB ports in both rows.


Range Rover

Both PHEVs are five-seat propositions only, with additional features set aside for rear seaters including climate controls and vents, loads of connectivity points, touch LED courtesy lights and a comprehensive middle armrest that offers storage and two cupholders.

ISOFIX points are mounted to the outside seats, bottles can be slotted in the doors, and both heating and massage functions can be optioned, along with headrest mounted control tablets.

Front seaters are equally cossetted, with heating, venting and massage seats available via the options list, along with a new, deeper centre console bin, a pair of cupholders and small bottle holders in each of the doors.

One of the big omissions on the hybrid car is any form of spare wheel, thanks to the battery array under the boot floor. A sealant kit and compressor is included, but if the hole is big enough, it won't help.

How do we know? A double flat down the right side of a test car rendered it a lame duck, thanks to large tears in the sidewall of one tyre.

The rear storage area loses 98 litres of space to the regular cars, too, with 802 litres available behind the rear seats, thanks to the load space floor height increasing by 46mm.

Price and features

Bentley Bentayga

Reviewing every type of car on the market provides a pretty good perspective, but when it comes to Bentleys we enter a realm where value-for-money often isn't as crucial as it is for more mainstream options.

The same goes for the price. Bentleys are among the most expensive cars in the world. So if, like me, you flinch at the thought of paying more than half a million dollars for an SUV, it may not be the car for us right now.

With that I can tell you the Bentley Bentayga Azure's list price is $475,000 and our car with all of its options comes to $515,000.

That's more money than any SUV from Mercedes-Benz and BMW costs. Even Range Rover can't quite reach that mark.

Only the likes of Aston Martin's DBX 707 and Lamborghini's Urus can match the price.

There are always bigger fish, though, and Rolls Royce's Cullinan swims in at $700,000, making the Bentayga's price seem quite reasonable.

Let's look at the standard features.

Coming standard on the Bentayga Azure are the prettiest LED headlights in the world. There are LED tail-lights, too, as well as a proximity key, roof rails and a panoramic glass roof, plus a hands-free tailgate.

Inside there's the 10.9-inch media screen, sat nav, wireless Apple CarPlay and wireless Android Auto.

The diamond quilting to the door trims is also standard and so are the Bentley sports pedals.

Many of these features are standard on lower grades in the Bentayga range, but the point in choosing the Azure is that many of the optional bundles on offer are fitted as standard here.

So, while leather upholstery is of course standard the 'Colour Specification' package gives you a choice of all interior colour combinations and an extended choice of hide colours.

The 'City Specification' brings extra safety tech like rear cross-traffic alert and a top view camera.

The 'Front Seat Comfort' specification adds 20-way power front seats, ventilation and massage as well as comfort headrests.

The 'Touring Specification' brings adaptive cruise control, a head up display, lane keeping assistance and 'Night Vision'.

And then the 'Sunshine Package' adds electric sun blinds, which are great for kids in the back.

Despite the multitude of standard packages there's plenty left to option on the Azure.

Our car was fitted with about a dozen options including piano black veneer ($5884), 22-inch alloy wheels ($4733), rear privacy glass ($2617), LED welcome lights ($2238), self-levelling wheel centre caps ($1208), a heated acoustic windscreen ($1094), luggage management for the boot ($937) and a heated steering wheel ($543).

Then there's Mulliner, Bentley's in-house customisation division which will personalise your Bentley.

The Mulliner custom features on our Bentayga Azure include the addition of an extra colour in the leather upholstery ($13,492), 'Honeycomb' stitching on the steering wheel ($5391) and contrasting stitching on the quilted areas of leather trim ($2688).

Best family features would have to be the privacy glass, temperature control in the second row and the rear sun blinds.

The second row also comes with a removable tablet which can be used to adjust the climate control, sunroof and media settings among other functions.

In the hands of children this is every parent's nightmare and there's a 100 percent chance of the tablet being lost forever, possibly on the motorway between Sydney and Canberra.


Range Rover

To start off, Range Rover Australia will only offer the PHEV drivetrain in two variants; the Range Rover Vogue PHEV 400e will cost around $210,000, while the smaller Range Rover Sport HSE PHEV 400e will start at around $146,000.

Both models will share the same drivetrain, which uses a turbocharged 2.0-litre petrol engine and an 85kW electric motor to output 297kW/640Nm in total. Both cars are all-wheel drive, and have eight-speed autos as the only transmission option.

The Range Rover is the second most expensive variant in the four-engine line-up, only $1000 cheaper than the top-spec V8. The Sport, meanwhile, is about $3800 under the top spec HSE, and $12,000 dearer than the base six-cylinder powered version.

The pair makes up part of Range Rover's MY18 updated line-up, and both will score a new front bumper and grille, as well as new matrix LED headlights that can dim individual diodes to prevent blinding oncoming traffic. The rear bar has been lightly tweaked, too.

Inside, the pair come with the same dual multimedia screen system that launched with the Range Rover Velar, along with other small tweaks to interior finishes.\

As you'd expect, the Rangies are pretty well equipped, given their price point, with automated lights and wipers, leather interior, up to 17 (!) USB and 12v ports, heated and vented seats, sat nav, DAB+ digital radio, a Wi-Fi hot spot, a heated steering wheel, digital TV and Bluetooth streaming.

They both come with AEB as standard, but other driver aids like blind spot monitoring and adaptive cruise control are buried within the extensive options lists.

Under the bonnet

Bentley Bentayga

When Bentley stopped putting its W12 into the Bentayga this year I was unsurprised yet sad. The world is moving toward tighter fuel emissions but the twin-turbo petrol V8 in this Azure is still a beast.

The 4.0-litre turbo-petrol V8 is from the Audi family and I love it as much for its plentiful torque and superb acceleration as the deep rumble of its exhaust.

Making 404kW and 770Nm the V8 can lift and throw the 2.5-tonne Bentayga to 100km/h from a standstill in 4.5 seconds and onto a top speed of 290km/h. I reckon you could get it to 300km/h with the wind behind you.

Drive goes to all four wheels via an eight-speed transmission and a Torsen-type centre differential.

Default drive balance is 40/60 front to rear, with up to 70 per cent of power able to be sent to the front wheels and up to 85 per cent to the rear axle.

I don't think you'll be astounded to hear this powertrain uses a lot of fuel? Let's go there...


Range Rover

Parent company Jaguar has supplied its top spec Ingenium 221kW 2.0-litre four-cylinder turbocharged engine, eight-speed auto and proper 4x4 drivetrain for the PHEV, matching it with an 85kW electric motor, 13.1kW/h battery array, transformer and inverter, as well as a charging plug under the front grille.

Combined outputs equal 297kW/640Nm.

Efficiency

Bentley Bentayga

Bentley says the Bentayga Azure with the V8 petrol engine will use an average of 11.4L/100km over a combination of open and urban roads.

But what happens if you live in the suburbs not far from the city and drive the Azure every day to do the school drop offs and trips to the shops and then take in some fun country roads? You use an average of 22.8L/100km according to the car's trip computer.

This is still not as high as I was expecting. I've driven V6-powered SUVs which use more than this under the same conditions.

That said, even when using as much fuel as Bentley says you should, an 85-litre fuel tank is only going to deliver an approximate 745km driving range.


Range Rover

Range Rover claims an impressive combined fuel economy total of 2.8 litres per 100km... with the caveat that the battery array must be charged to full capacity.

A 13.1kWh battery that promises an EV range of 51km from a full charge complements its 105-litre petrol tank. Given, however, that our road test loop was less than 20km and the battery wasn't fully charged, we'll wait until we drive the PHEV on home soil to confirm the figures.

Safety

Bentley Bentayga

The Bentley Bentayga doesn't have a safety rating as like many extremely high-end cars it hasn't been assessed by ANCAP or Euro NCAP.

That said, the Azure grade comes standard with an armoury of safety tech including AEB (with turn assistance), lane keeping assistance, blind-spot warning, rear cross-traffic alert, evasive steering assistance, and adaptive cruise control.

Front and rear parking sensors are standard (and the most relied-upon feature I use daily), while exit warning saved my child and myself more than a few times from leaping out into the traffic on the school run.


Range Rover

While AEB and lane departure warning are standard along with a rear view camera and front and rear sensors, other driver aids like adaptive cruise control and lane keep assist must be purchased as optional extras.

Both the Range Rover and the standard Range Rover Sport hold maximum five-star ANCAP ratings.

Ownership

Bentley Bentayga

The Bentayga is covered by Bentley's three-year/unlimited-kilometre warranty. Servicing is recommended every 12 months or 16,000km.

The good news is all new Bentley's have five years regular servicing included in the cost of the vehicle.


Range Rover

Range Rover recommends servicing every 12 months or 26,000km, or more regularly if you use it in the bush on a regular basis. It offers a three-year, 100,000km warranty as standard, with free roadside assistance for the duration of the warranty.

No fixed price service plan is currently offered.