It’s huge, daring and loud and not using a battery in sight. Meet the brand new Bentley Bentayga Velocity

For a automotive that was launched to greater than the same old quantity of criticism for its appears, the Bentley Bentayga has weathered the years somewhat higher than most. A significant facelift in 2020 tweaked probably the most egregious parts of the unique 2015 design and the corporate has continued to nip and tuck its SUV to maintain apace of its rivals, each by way of efficiency and plushness. The latter has been taken care of by the Mulliner spec vehicles, while the previous quest continues with this, the primary Bentley Bentayga Velocity of the brand new era.

Whereas the automotive’s key rivals, the Ferrari Purosangue and Aston Martin DBX S, appear to be locked right into a somewhat puerile horsepower battle that faucets into the highest trump ethos of conspicuous consumption. For efficiency vehicles, it is all concerning the energy, simply as yacht house owners duel over size and skyscraper builders bicker about peak. Twas ever thus, and thus ’twill ever be.

Bentley has chosen the Montana to debut the Velocity, reasoning that the state’s mix of open vistas, sweeping roads and upscale outdoorsy life-style is a positive match for the automotive’s talents. The state’s panorama is famously fabulous, open skies above a carpet of dramatic snow-topped peaks, pine-encrusted slopes and broad river basins. Some 28,000 ranches are scattered throughout this territory, the scale of Germany but with simply over 1% of the inhabitants.

Except for a couple of main cities (the biggest has a inhabitants of simply 120,000), the ‘densest’ elements of the state are the place golf programs, resorts, ski runs, beneficiant mansions and related providers cluster in amongst the deep folds of the panorama. Huge plots, huge bushes and large contours successfully cloaks all this somewhat suburban infrastructure, giving the impression of 1 huge open wilderness.

Montana isn’t simply Surrey with bears, nonetheless. Regardless of the picture-perfect vistas and large, huge skies, it’s additionally turning into probably the greatest locations to be a rich outdoorsman, whether or not it’s proudly owning an arrogance ranch, having a ardour costly skiwear, taking the $35m penthouse within the Montage Huge Sky lodge, or just strutting round in a Stetson and cowboy boots. Maybe for this reason Bentley picked the latter lodge to host the launch occasion, a spot the place the luxurious SUV’s incongruous mix of wealth and utility feels proper at residence.

It is notable that this new Velocity mannequin, the primary high-performance variant of the corporate’s evergreen SUV to be fitted with a twin-turbo V8, somewhat than the mighty-but-obsolete W12 engine discovered within the first-generation automotive. The opposite level to notice is that this specific Bentley is now the lonesome ICE machine within the vary. All its different fashions, the GT, GTC and Flying Spur, can be found in quite a lot of trims and specs however at all times with a plug-in hybrid powertrain. It subsequently feels a bit bizarre to be driving a model new 2026 mannequin yr automotive that eschews any and all types of electrification.

Stripping out the 17.3 kWh battery from the hybrid Bentaygas may save a little bit of weight however given {that a} light-weight SUV is one thing of an oxymoron (like ‘moral AI’), the true story right here is the facility. In V8 type, Bentayga Velocity comfortably outperforms its W12 antecedent in each metric.

There’s a launch management mode that will help you attain that magic 60mph quantity is simply 3.4 seconds, while prime velocity is a DBX S-matching 193mph. Don’t try this in Montana, nonetheless tempting it is likely to be. If the state troopers don’t get you, the wildlife nearly definitely will. Even the roar of the optionally available sports activities exhaust in all probability received’t give something time to get out of the way in which.

There are refined updates to the styling too, however they’re confined to parts like darkish colored brightware, a black roof, gray taillights, a pinstripe aspect element and Velocity badging. If you need a very lairy Bentley, you solely have two choices; go to an aftermarket provider to get a decidedly unofficial physique package or interact with Bentley’s personal Mulliner division and have adequate power of character to have the ability to throw style and warning to the wind.

We’ve famous earlier than how Rolls-Royce is turning into bolder and bolder relating to specifying its press fleet, aware that many homeowners assume contrasting colors are de rigueur. Bentley is taking an analogous tack, therefore the slashes of lime inexperienced and electrical blue scattered across the fantastically trimmed cabins of those vehicles.

Palettes apart, a Bentley remains to be an distinctive place to sit down, particularly behind the LWB automotive. The Velocity isn’t fairly as huge as that, however at 5.1m and practically 2.5 tonnes, it’s akin to having a lavishly upholstered area rocket.

To earn that Velocity badge, each setting has been dialled up just a bit bit greater than ordinary – extra exhaust noise, stiffer dampers, extra freedom from the ESC and snappier gearchanges. We bought the chance to pattern loads of freeway miles in addition to a brief off-road(ish) diversion by the backroads of an amenable native ranch.

On gravel and grass all that energy is a really completely different proposition, particularly in case you relieve the ESC of its reins and permit the hefty Bentayga to slip a few bit. It feels a bit perverse to say it, given the placement, however a bit more room would have been welcome to actually discover the boundaries, somewhat than a slender monitor adjoining a steep drop down into the valley.

Bragging rights duly received, most Bentayga Speeds will find yourself as on a regular basis transport by cities, cities and villages, with maybe the odd horsebox or speedboat getting an easy tow. Patrons who actually care about driving will probably personal one other automotive or two to scratch that itch, however maybe the perfect factor concerning the Bentayga Velocity is that after they swap again to the high-riding, leather-trimmed serenity of its cockpit, they received’t really feel they’re 1,000,000 miles away, dynamically.

Anachronisms often have their admirers, in thrall to qualities that others have chosen to dispense with (often for sensible causes). The Bentley Bentayga Velocity isn’t precisely forbidden fruit, given the countless forwards and backwards over EV laws, tariffs and quotas, however it’s a daring assertion, visually, acoustically and politically. That such a reliable and likeable machine can nonetheless floor amidst a cultural panorama of such infinite complexity is a minor triumph for the model.

Bentley Bentayga Velocity, from £219,000, BentleyMotors.com, @BentleyMotors