First Drive: 2017 Bentley Bentayga

We all know of Bentley’s long-standing relationship with Breitling, but watch associations aside, the idea of tearing around for a couple of days in the world’s fastest, most powerful, and most luxurious SUV on the planet sounded like a pretty reasonable place to set the bar. Bentley has run a string of first drive events for media over the last handful of months, but as it turned out Bentley had an extra trick up its sleeve this time, and its name was Lime Rock Park.

For those who don’t know, Lime Rock Park is a short and painfully technical track located in northern Connecticut. Measuring 1.5 miles in length and comprised of a vicious string of bends and elevation changes, many pro-drivers are quick to quip that if you can be quick around Lime Rock, you can be quick on any other circuit.

While I’m by no means a novice to the sports and performance realm, Lime Rock was a new bit of territory for me, and the idea of tackling it from behind the wheel of a 600hp, 668lb-ft behemoth seemed like a pretty baffling proposition. I mean, if Bentley was launching its upcoming Speed 6 sports car here it would make a fair bit of sense, but we’re talking about a 5300lbs SUV.
Either way I was curious enough to hop behind the wheel and see why Bentley was convinced that a track day was putting their best foot forward.

Dinner, then Drive

Before we were able to get to the nitty gritty of our excursion, we had the joy of sitting down for dinner with the brand’s top brass, including President and CEO of Bentley Motors USA, Michael Winkler. I’ll spare you the finite details of the PR speak and brand positioning, but one thing is for certain, Bentley is well aware of its need to identify with a younger demographic. The “old boys club” of the uber-luxe car buying market is getting well beyond retirement age, and much as all the luxury car brands are doing well right now, there’s a clear acknowledgement on the part of Bentley that this short-term success isn’t sustainable without developing a lust for the brand among a new generation of buyers.

There were a few of us at the table that were quick to note the references to millennials and Apple user interface technology when discussing the new Bentayga. Credit where credit is due, the touchscreen infotainment setup in the big SUV is the best we’ve seen from the brand yet, so Bentley was definitely paying attention.

Now this isn’t to say they’ve forgotten the sensibilities of their long-standing clientele either. Exquisite wood veneers and supple leathers adorn every corner of the Bentayga’s interior and before you even fire up its mighty W-12 engine there’s no mistaking it for anything other than a top-tier luxury vehicle.

Bentley laid out a great little road course to get us from our hotel up to the racetrack roughly an hour’s drive away. Before we were to rattle the Bentayga around the circuit at ten tenths, this presented us with a healthy opportunity to experience the SUV in the kind of driving situations it was more likely to encounter through 99% of its daily life.

Through what wound up being one of the most winding stretches of roads I’d been on in awhile, I had plenty of time to fiddle with the Bentayga’s variable suspension setup to see how well Bentley has managed to mask its significant heft. A quick toggle between Comfort and Sport suspension settings revealed two completely different vehicles altogether. In comfort mode, the Bentayga rides like an old-school luxury cruiser – wafting along softly without a care in the world. We’re not talking vintage Cadillac, living room on wheels sort of cruising, but more in the vein of a BMW 7-series.
On the other hand, flipping the dial over to Sport mode reveals an entirely different dynamic altogether.

One of the tricks that Bentley has up its sleeve is the use of a 48-volt active sway bar system – something previously unheard of in the auto industry. Active roll bars have been around for a couple of decades now, though typically they operate on your standard 12-volt circuit that powers your average car.

Bentley knew that to keep something as heavy and tall as the Bentayga from pitching and rolling through the corners would require serious power. After experiencing it first hand, this new setup is just what the doctor ordered. Before we were set loose on the race track, Bentley’s driving instructors presented us with a quick exercise to show us how planted the Bentayga really could be.

The premise was simple. Hammer the throttle up to the marker cones ahead. Our target speed being in the ballpark of 100 miles per hour. From there we were to immediately hop on the brakes and maneuver around a bend with the ABS fully engaged. We each took about five passes through the exercise, and though the Bentayga would take a fair nose dive during the exercise (as you’ll see in the quick video clip), it was nothing shy of shocking to feel how little body roll it showed when being hucked left to right.

After we had jumped through all the hoops, it was time to really put the pedal to the metal. After a quick couple of laps in the passenger seat, we were “all systems go” at Lime Rock. On paper the Bentayga’s 4.0 second 0-60 time sounded impressive, but in the best of ways it felt almost underwhelming. This isn’t to say that the Bentayga isn’t quick, because trust me, it is. The thing is, the heavier and more planted the vehicle, the less fuss it makes when roaring up to speed.

Through the main straight the Bentayga clawed its way somewhere north of 130 miles per hour, and if it weren’t for the fact that heavy braking was necessary to avoid certain doom, it could easily achieve much higher speeds without feeling the least bit nerve-racking or unstable. Hammering through the corners, the Bentayga continued to show off its lateral stability, and the more we powered around the track the more it proved it could handle the course more like a sports sedan than a hefty SUV. After about four or five laps I was finally starting to convince myself that I had the course figured out, but sadly that was as much as the burly beast could take before needing a break to let its meaty brakes cool off. Our hot laps were done, but Bentley had one last treat in store before calling it a day.

Bentley’s brand ambassador, British racing legend, repeat LeMans champion and an all-around fascinating character Mr. Derek Bell just happened to be on hand at Lime Rock for our event. Derek played a key role in the fine tuning of the Bentayga’s chassis, and he was happy to give us a ride around the track to show us that no matter how quick we thought we were, we were still slow as shit by his standards. Even this late in his career Derek took to the track at an amazing pace. Any of us would be unable to focus on anything else to accomplish such a feat, and yet Derek steered his way around the course one-handed, all while softly regaling passengers with racing anecdotes from years past.

The whole experience was the perfect wrap up of my time with the Bentayga, and I’m immensely excited about the prospect of more seat time late this year.

The 2017 Bentayga is expected in showrooms later this year. Seventy-five “First Edition” models are destined for the U.S. market with a starting price of $297,400 (each will include a Bentayga Edition Breitling for Bentley Watch). Standard edition models will start at $229,100. A Breitling Tourbillion dashboard clock can be added as an optional feature for $165,000.

The Specs
Engine: twin-turbocharged and intercooled 6.0 Liter DOHC 48-valve W-12, aluminum block and heads, port and direct fuel injection
Power: 600 hp @ 6000 rpm
Torque: 664 lb-ft @ 1350 rpm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic with manual shifting mode

Performance
Zero to 60 mph: 4.0 sec
Zero to 100 mph: 9.3 sec
Standing ¼-mile: 12.4 sec
Top speed: 187 mph