Bentley Bentayga Review

There was a time when the idea of a Bentley SUV felt faintly ridiculous. Now it feels almost inevitable. The Bentayga didn't just prove that Bentley could make a luxury SUV, it proved that such a car could become central to the brand rather than a curious side project.

That success came because Bentley understood the brief more clearly than some rivals. A car like this can't rely on badge and price alone. It has to feel genuinely special inside, genuinely relaxing on the move and genuinely easy to use in the way a luxury SUV will be expected to be. The Bentayga does all of that with impressive consistency.

Judged purely on its own merits, the Bentayga still does a very good job of giving buyers what they want. You'll make your own mind up on the styling, but it has huge road presence and an unmistakable Bentley identity. Climb inside and you get every ounce of the craftsmanship, material richness and old-world brand cachet buyers will expect.

The clever part is that the Bentayga is not a one-note luxury barge. It's comfortable and quiet enough to feel suitably indulgent, yet it's also controlled and agile enough to avoid ever feeling clumsy. In character, it still sits neatly between the more overt sportiness of a Lamborghini Urus and the softer, more theatrical luxury of a Rolls-Royce Cullinan.

The current range has broadened that appeal. Standard-wheelbase Bentaygas cover the core brief with V8 petrol, hybrid and Speed variants, while the Bentayga EWB pushes harder into rear-seat comfort and limousine-like indulgence. That means the Bentayga family now stretches from fast, handcrafted luxury SUV to something much closer to a chauffeured Bentley on stilts.

For most buyers, the standard Bentayga V8 or Bentayga Azure makes the most sense. The 4.0-litre V8 suits the car beautifully, delivering huge pace without making the Bentayga feel overblown, and it preserves the broad mix of comfort and control that defines the whole model line.

If rear-seat comfort matters most, the Bentayga EWB Azure is probably the pick of the wider range. It leans hardest into what the EWB does best, which is making the Bentayga feel less like a luxury SUV and more like a Bentley limousine with extra ride height.

The Speed is the version for buyers who want the most outrageous take on the theme, but for many owners, the regular V8 cars will feel more rounded. The hybrid, meanwhile, makes the strongest company-car or urban-luxury case if you can charge regularly.

The Bentayga range starts from around £176,390 and rises to around £265,045 before options, depending on the version.

That sounds extravagant because it's, but the number that matters more with any Bentley is the final one. Options and bespoke trim choices can transform the character of the car and the bill that comes with it.

Used prices now start from around £48,000 for older W12 and early V8 cars, while facelifted V8s, hybrid models and especially EWB versions sit much higher.

The Rolls-Royce Cullinan is the obvious rival if you want the most opulent and theatrical expression of the ultra-luxury SUV idea, while the Lamborghini Urus is the more aggressively sporting one.

The Range Rover remains the closest mainstream-luxury alternative, especially if comfort and effortless prestige matter more than outright exclusivity. The Porsche Cayenne is the stronger value-led performance benchmark, while Aston Martin’s DBX and the Mercedes-Maybach GLS also sit in the same broad orbit.

The Bentayga’s appeal is that it sits neatly between extremes. It's not as wild as an Urus or as overtly indulgent as a Cullinan, but it blends pace, craftsmanship and everyday usefulness better than either.

The Bentayga offers plenty of space, though it's not quite as cavernous as some rivals suggest it ought to be. Up front there's room to spare, a commanding driving position and seats that feel appropriately plush.

Rear-seat space is generous in the standard car, with enough legroom and headroom for tall adults to settle in comfortably. The available seating layouts matter a great deal here. Depending on model and specification, you can find four-seat, 4+1, five-seat and seven-seat configurations, which means there is a much wider spread of practicality than the badge first suggests.

The standard Bentayga’s boot capacity is 484 litres, which is usefully shaped but not especially huge for a car this large. It's perfectly adequate for luxury-SUV duties, but a Range Rover, BMW X7 or even an Audi Q7 makes a stronger case if absolute carrying capacity matters more than craftsmanship.

The Bentayga EWB is more specialised still. Its whole reason for being is rear-seat indulgence, not luggage-hauling, and the official boot figure drops to 380 litres. That makes the EWB harder to justify as the family-all-rounder of the range, but much easier to justify as the rear-biased luxury flagship.

The plug-in hybrid adds its own caveat. The hybrid is easiest to understand as the more urban-friendly, more tax-conscious Bentayga rather than the one to choose if maximum versatility is your priority.

The standard Bentley Bentayga measures 5,125mm long, 2,222mm wide across the mirrors and 1,728mm high.

The Bentayga EWB stretches to 5,305mm long, with the wheelbase extended by 180mm, while the width remains 2,222mm across the mirrors and height rises slightly to 1,774mm.

That means every Bentayga feels substantial on the road, but the EWB takes that visual heft further. It's the more imposing car, though also the one that most clearly prioritises passenger comfort over neat packaging.

Bentley’s infotainment has improved since the earliest Bentaygas, though it still matters which version you're looking at. The current standard-wheelbase range now feels much more modern than the original car, with a cleaner presentation, more polished graphics and a much stronger overall digital impression.

The broader point, though, is that technology in the Bentayga tends to play a supporting role. Unlike some rivals, this is not a car that wants to dazzle you with screens alone. The appeal is how the tech is integrated into a cabin that still feels heavily rooted in craftsmanship and material richness.

The EWB pushes that further with its wellbeing-led rear-seat features, while the standard Bentayga keeps the emphasis on being a luxury SUV you can comfortably drive yourself every day.

This remains one of the Bentayga’s greatest strengths. Leather, veneers, brightwork and switchgear all feel rich, dense and very carefully finished. The best examples have the sort of tactile integrity that makes even expensive rivals feel slightly generic.

It's also one of the few cars at this level that still feels comfortable leaning into traditional luxury. Where some rivals chase visual drama or overt modernity, the Bentayga still understands the appeal of polished wood, beautifully stitched leather and the sense that skilled hands have spent a long time getting the details right.

The current Bentayga range is split into three main strands.

The standard V8 remains the heart of the range. It uses a 4.0-litre twin-turbo petrol V8 with 550PS and 770Nm, enough for 0-62mph in 4.5 seconds and a top speed of 180mph. That's the core Bentayga powertrain and, for many buyers, the most convincing one.

The hybrid uses a 3.0-litre V6 plug-in hybrid setup with a combined 462PS and 700Nm. Its 0-62mph time is 5.3 seconds, which is more than brisk enough in context, but the appeal here is more about smoother urban running and easier short-hop efficiency than outright drama.

Then there is the Bentayga Speed, which is the performance flagship. It uses a performance-tuned 4.0-litre V8 with 650PS and 850Nm, enough for 0-62mph in 3.6 seconds and a top speed of 193mph. This is the most overtly aggressive Bentayga in the family and the one aimed squarely at the Urus-style end of the market.

The Bentayga EWB currently keeps things simpler, using the 550PS V8 rather than the hybrid or Speed powertrains. That feels entirely appropriate because the EWB’s whole identity is built around rear-seat comfort, well-being, and long-distance ease rather than outright pace.

You used to be able to spec the Bentayga with a magnificent but thirsty W12 engine, but this hasn't been part of the range since 2024.

Importantly, it does a good job on comfort. It doesn’t really matter which of the car’s four driving modes you select, the air suspension will mop up most minor marks in the road surface, and only a big bump or pothole will cause you any disturbance. It’s not as comfortable as a Cullinan, then, or a Range Rover for that matter, but it’ll drive away from both around a set of bends. 

Again regardless of mode, the air suspension does a really impressive job of keeping body lean in check, helped in no small part by active anti-roll bars, while there’s also bullish grip and meaty, satisfying steering. It all means the Bentagya changes direction far more crisply and cleanly than the Rolls or the Rangie, even if it doesn’t have the outright athleticism of the Urus.

This is one of the areas in which you’d expect any Bentley to excel, and the Bentayga doesn’t disappoint. All the engines we’ve tried are super-smooth and quiet. 

At tickover, you barely know whether the car is turned on, and on the move, you hear barely a murmur as you whisk along. Until, that is, you nail the throttle pedal, whereupon you're treated to a fabulous mechanical snarl that gets your juices flowing as quickly as your car. And, if you ever had the misfortune to feel any unwanted vibration is your Bentayga, then there would most likely be a powertrain engineer somewhere in Crewe falling on his sword with the dishonour of it all.

Things are just as impressive on wind- and road noise, too, despite the car’s blunt shape and fat tyres, so whether you’re plodding along the King’s Road or blatting down an Autobahn, the Bentayga’s cabin stays impressively serene.

The Bentayga has never been Euro NCAP-tested, but it comes with a broad spread of modern driver-assistance technology and Bentley has long leaned heavily on its safety and convenience packs in this car.

Specification matters. Some examples will be lavishly equipped with driver-assistance, night vision, rear-seat technology and parking support, while others will be much more lightly specified in those areas.

Fuel economy depends heavily on which Bentayga you choose. The V8 and EWB V8 both officially return 21.7mpg on the combined WLTP cycle, which is about what you would expect from a luxury SUV with this much performance.

The Speed is slightly thirstier again, with a current official combined figure of 21.5mpg. But at least it's more frugal than the discontinued W12-powered Speed.

The hybrid is the obvious efficiency-led option, but as with any plug-in hybrid, its official figure only really makes proper sense if you charge regularly. Used that way, it's the Bentayga that makes the strongest urban and company-car case. Used lazily, it simply becomes a very expensive luxury SUV carrying extra weight.

When new, every Bentayga comes with Bentley’s standard three-year new-car warranty, and unusually for this end of the market there is no mileage limit on that cover.

If you're buying used, Certified by Bentley is the most reassuring place to start because every pre-owned car in the programme currently includes a 12-month warranty, with the option to extend it further.

Bentley also offers an extended warranty product that can cover eligible vehicles up to 10 years old, which is useful reassurance on an expensive and complex luxury SUV.

Servicing will be predictably expensive, but on a Bentayga, condition and history matter far more than chasing the cheapest example. The difference between a cherished, dealer-supported car and a merely affordable one can be huge.

Insurance sits squarely in the highest reaches of the market. Bentayga models fall into group 50, which is exactly where you would expect a luxury SUV with this much performance and this much value to sit.

For most Bentaygas first registered on or after 1 April 2017, the standard annual VED rate is now £200. Because every Bentayga costs more than £40,000 when new, it's also liable for the Expensive Car Supplement for five years from the second licence. That takes the annual bill to £640 during that period.