Bentley Bentayga: The SUV Raising Questions but Also Profits
The looks might be inelegant – and its name more so still – but the company’s first SUV is an engineering triumph
Why do they make it so difficult? Before you can settle into those large deep chairs and appreciate the most panoramic view ever afforded by a closed Bentley, you have first to be happy to tell people you drive a Bentayga, and second to put up with a shape that is stunningly lacking in presence for a car of its size. It’s also woefully short of the beauty that for too long has failed to be a hallmark of Bentley design.
It gets in the way. I know it shouldn’t, because my job is to tell you how this car drives and what it might be like to live with, not waste precious words bemoaning its looks and curious name (which you are at least as well qualified to judge as I), but to me it all forms part of the picture.
However, I find the potentially larger – albeit philosophical – stumbling block, concerning what on earth Bentley thinks it’s doing building an SUV, somewhat easier to negotiate. It doesn’t bother me at all, and for two reasons.