#Hassan. Posted November 28, 2021 Posted November 28, 2021 Done with SUVs and hybrids? Well, you might make an exception for this one Why we’re running it: Can a Bentley be affordable to run and still be a Bentley at the same time? It’s a sign of the times that I’m even writing this. Ten years ago, the very idea of a Bentley SUV would have seemed hard to imagine, although I’m not entirely sure why, given that the brand built its name on huge, heavy, do-anything, goanywhere cars. But the thought that Bentley might not only build such a car but then equip it with the smallest engine ever fitted to a Bentley, the first with six cylinders since the 1950s and the least powerful in the modern history of the brand? That would have been closer to unthinkable. But we must move with the times, whether we like the direction of travel or not, and you can’t blame Bentley for doing so, because the statistics say my new long-term Bentayga Hybrid will cover 83.1 miles for every gallon of unleaded I buy and emit only 82g of CO2 for every kilometre travelled. In environmental terms, it makes a 1.0-litre Volkswagen Up look like a Sherman tank. Or rather it would were such numbers not utter rubbish. Their only relevance is to the taxman, ergo the reason for the car’s existence. And the truth is that, for this reason alone and rightly or wrongly, there will be people who are able to park a Bentley outside their house who might never have been able to dream of doing so before. But we must move with the times, whether we like the direction of travel or not, and you can’t blame Bentley for doing so, because the statistics say my new long-term Bentayga Hybrid will cover 83.1 miles for every gallon of unleaded I buy and emit only 82g of CO2 for every kilometre travelled. In environmental terms, it makes a 1.0-litre Volkswagen Up look like a Sherman tank. Or rather it would were such numbers not utter rubbish. Their only relevance is to the taxman, ergo the reason for the car’s existence. And the truth is that, for this reason alone and rightly or wrongly, there will be people who are able to park a Bentley outside their house who might never have been able to dream of doing so before. But it has come at a cost. Inside and out, this is a different car to its predecessor, but so too does it come at a different price, the entry point to Bentley ownership now starting at £155,500, some £22,000 more than the same hybrid version of the previous model. Bentley would say you were getting a lot more car for your money, which I wouldn’t dispute, but it’s also true that Bentley boss Adrian Hallmark believes the brand should become considerably more upwardly mobile, and doubtless that view is reflected here as well. And all that’s before you succumb to the siren call of the options list. I had some say over the colour, and I think the Viridian green paint is as good as I’ve seen a Bentayga wear, but no choice whatsoever over the interior spec. I have in the past driven Bentaygas groaning under the weight of more than £75,000 of non-standard applied goodies, so actually the £30,000 spent titivating this car is a fairly modest outlay. link : https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-review/bentley/bentayga-hybrid/long-term-reviews/bentley-bentayga-hybrid-2021-long-term-review
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