Future classic: Bentley Bentayga S

By Alastair Clements

| 9 Aug 2024

Classic & Sports Car – Future classic: Bentley Bentayga S

Let’s just set aside whether or not it was Ettore Bugatti: whoever suggested WO Bentley’s Le Mans heroes were ‘the world’s fastest lorries’ turned out to be surprisingly prophetic.

Because of all the super-luxury manufacturers today cranking out sports utility vehicles, who better than Bentley to produce a super-truck?

Unlike Ferrari, Rolls-Royce or Lamborghini, which have all bent their brand values beyond recognition in the pursuit of tall ride heights and extra seats, Bentley’s design language suits an SUV: the Bentayga is handsome and muscular, particularly in cleaner post-2020 facelift form.

The Bentley Bentayga S has a swish cabin (left); luxurious rear seats

The classic world is coming round to this genre of on-road off-roaders, led by a growing passion for the likes of the Jeep Wagoneer and Range Rover two-door, and this is surely the ultimate evolution of the breed.

The latest 2024 V8 S takes over as the flagship model following the retirement of the long-serving W12, and adds the four-wheel steering previously only available on long-wheelbase models to its arsenal.

Combine that with double wishbones all round, vast 285/40 ZR22 tyres, and active roll control courtesy of air springs and electric anti-roll bars, and you have a car that shrugs off its monstrous dimensions – more than 5.1m long and 2.2m wide, and 2416kg – with an extraordinary agility.

The Bentley Bentayga S measures 5.1m long, but its 542bhp V8 helps disguise its hefty proportions

Summon all of the distant thunder from the twin-turbocharged, quad-cam 4-litre V8 and the performance similarly dismisses the Bentayga’s heft, storming to 100mph in less than 10 secs.

It gathers momentum with much the same graceful charge as a 1980s Mulsanne Turbo, albeit with an aggressive edge to its snarl, far more cornering ability and massive retardation from the all-round dinner-plate discs (400mm up front, 380mm to the rear).

From behind the wheel, the combination of SUV and Bentley continues to make sense.

You get that imperious sense from your raised perch, much like in a ‘WO’ car, and the usual truly gorgeous trimming we’ve come to expect from Volkswagen-era Crewe.

The V8-powered Bentley Bentayga S became the flagship model when the W12 unit was retired in 2023

Plus, of course, it’s the first Bentley since the glory days of the coachbuilt shooting brake – bar a couple of quirky, Turbo R-based one-offs – that will swallow a couple of Purdey shotguns and a pair of labradors.

And with the various drive modes including bespoke off-road settings, backed up by a Torsen centre differential and electrically locking rear diff, it should have no problem romping across the heather to distant parts of your Highland estate on the Glorious Twelfth.

Far from a cynical exercise like so many range-widening SUVs, the Bentayga feels like a natural fit.

It’s the consummate modern-day go-anywhere, do-anything luxury vehicle.

Images: John Wycherley