Styling
Ever since it had its eye-catching
facelift in 2020, we've been happy to go on the record as saying the Bentayga is a decent-looking thing, as these hyper-luxe SUVs go. That, though, relates to the standard-wheelbase body, because this
EWB is rather ungainly. All 180mm of its extra metal goes into the Bentayga EWB's midriff, which results in one of those utterly massive designs of rear doors, a fact which is startlingly noticeable if you view the Bentley from any aspect other than dead-on front or rear. It also results in a vehicle which is more than 5.3 metres long and in excess of 2.2 metres wide across the mirrors, so you're left in no doubt as to the sheer size of this thing as you walk up to it, something which seems to be exacerbated by this car's particular matte-effect Cricket Ball red paint (which is otherwise lovely, we should point out).
Interior
There can never be any question marks over the impeccable quality of a Bentley's interior and the 2024MY Bentayga EWB's cabin is no exception to this rule. Finished in opulent Azure specification, there's exquisite two-tone leather upholstery in more Cricket Ball, complemented by cream surfaces in between, which in turn is teamed to luxurious wood panels and those epic 'organ stop' metal controls for the air vents, so the material finishing is of the highest standards. But this is no old-fashioned tree-and-hide passenger compartment that has no concessions to the 21st century, as the Bentley's 10.9-inch main infotainment array and its 12.3-inch crystal-clear instrument clusters are both superb digital interfaces. There's also plenty of physical switchgear, including for the climate controls, that's all laid out in an intelligent manner and, for audiophiles, the possibility of a whopping 1,720-watt, 20-channel, 20-speaker Naim for Bentley Premium sound system that'll blow your eardrums clean through if you'll permit it to. Yes, the Bentayga still has one of the finest car interiors on the market to this day, there's no doubt about it.
Practicality
Shoehorning 18cm of extra metal into an SUV which was already on the large side as it was leads to a comical amount of legroom in the second row of the Bentayga EWB. Our cricket-related test (Test?) car was one of the four-seater models, which does away with a token centre chair in favour of a plump central armrest-and-cupholder construction that is situated between a couple of plush, every-which-way-but-loose-adjustable electric captain's seats either side. There are even fold-out tray tables in finest walnut on the backs of the front seats and one of Bentley's lovely, hefty touchscreen pads down on the rear of the main centre console, but be warned that this four-person interior limits the Bentley's boot space to what looks like a rather piffling 392 litres on paper. And those rear seats in this configuration don't fold down to liberate more cargo room, either.
Performance
The 4.0-litre biturbo V8 up front continues to see service in 550hp and 770Nm specifications, which are more than enough outputs to allow this goliath 2,514kg stately home on wheels to hit 62mph from rest in just 4.6 seconds, before topping out at 180mph where safe, appropriate and, more to the point, legal. Bentley hasn't ever confirmed any homologated economy and emissions data for the EWB, but you can take it as read that the real-world economy will easily be sub-20mpg (we saw 17.5mpg from this Cricket Ball Azure - which looks like a colourful contradiction in terms written down, we apologise for that - on a short, steadily driven A-road route through Cheshire), while CO
2 emissions will be in the ballpark of 300g/km. Of course, if you can afford a Bentley Bentayga EWB Azure with a 4.0-litre V8 engine, you can afford to run something that's going to chew through more than a hundred quid's-worth of Super Unleaded every 200 miles or so, can't you?
And, coupled up to the superb eight-speed ZF transmission in the Bentayga, that V8 remains a torquey, throaty masterpiece. But its performance is notably blunted by the additional mass of the EWB body. Having driven the same powertrain earlier in the day in a standard-length Bentayga S, this stretched SUV felt more lumbering and less willing to get up to speed because it's carrying 98kg of extra timber around with it. Of course, it's still ridiculously quick for something so big and it still sounds terrific as it spins around the rev counter to its redline, but there's no mistaking the fact that the EWB's shell does shave the ultimate edges off what the 4.0-litre engine is truly capable of. Whether that matters or not to you depends on how much space you want your rear-seat passengers to have, you see. Or, indeed, how much space you want to lounge about in while your chauffeur does all the driving instead...
Ride & Handling
As to its detrimental effect on the straight-line pace, so too does the EWB's body make the Bentayga marginally less athletic in the twisties. Again, it's not a huge deterioration in the SUV's abilities to go round corners quickly in a fury of mechanical grip and all-wheel-drive traction, but the EWB does feel a little more 'tip it in and wait for the weight to settle before getting back on the power' in terms of its handling balance, whereas you can hustle a short-wheelbase Bentayga that bit more, and enjoy the process to a significant degree while you're at it.
Kudos, though, to the ride quality, which is largely smooth and composed with admittedly a background edge to it that speaks volumes about the unsprung mass of 22-inch alloys hanging at all corners of the SUV, while we have long banged on about Bentley's ability with steering feel and weighting - it generally gets its set-ups in this regard 'just so', and the Bentayga EWB Azure is another one that can go in the category headed 'excellent Bentley steering, this'.
Value
Bentley's chiefs at the event where we drove the Bentayga EWB Azure 4.0-litre V8 told us that, on average, all of its cars now sell for around £240,000, once owners have added all the choice options that their glamorous lifestyles require. Therefore, the long-wheelbase Azure's circa-£233,000 asking price is expected, yet it can still take your breath away when you think about it. Granted, that figure makes the Bentayga almost look good value when up against a rival
that dare not speak its name when you're in polite Bentley circles, but it remains more cash than the mechanically related
Lamborghini Urus would set you back, and quite a heck of a lot more money than a decent
Porsche Cayenne costs these days - and, again, underneath it all there are bits of the Porsche which are shared with the Bentayga.
Anyway, both the Urus and the Cayenne place much more emphasis on being sporty before they're bothered about decadent interior luxury, while the Rolls-Royce (sorry, Bentley...) tips the balance the other way, so the most natural rival for a Bentayga is the
Aston Martin DBX707, which has just had its erstwhile-lacklustre interior quality improved. That said, Aston doesn't do any alternative to the Bentayga EWB, specifically, so if you want a luxury limo on stilts, the long Bentley still seems the best bet in this rarefied world of top-end SUVs.
Verdict
The Bentley Bentayga has been around for almost a decade now, but it doesn't feel in any way long in the tooth. It remains a truly superb exotic SUV, one with a fabulous interior and the option of this deeply appealing V8 powertrain. We're not massively convinced by the EWB's character, though, and if it were our (huge pile of) money going into the Bentayga, we'd stick with a short-wheelbase 4.0-litre S in a nice, bold colour - that is where this Bentley 4x4 is at its absolute peak.
