Bentley Bentayga

After building cars for almost a century, most of the car marques are now looking to build SUVs or as they call it – the crossovers. Bentley Bentayga is a true blue modern SUV from the British luxury car maker. Based on the new generation Audi Q7 platform, the car was first showcased at Frankfurt in 2015.

While it has been developed on the Volkswagen group's MLB platform, the Bentayga shares almost nothing other than the underpinnings. The front fascia is signature Bentley with the twin round headlamps and a large rectangular mesh grille in the centre. The Bentayga gets a unique mix of creases and curves that effectively mask the bulk of this massive SUV at first glance. The tail is rather simple looking with the horizontal LED tail lamps and twin rectangular exhausts.

The interior is as stately as it should be in a Bentley. The cabin gets wooden veneer with metal inlays along with the leather upholstery. You can choose from 15 colours for your upholstery and get the cabin done in single or dual tone as per choice. The seats are 22-way adjustable in the front and the car can be ordered with four or five-seat configuration. The front seats get six massage types and also are ventilated. Of course, the massagers can be opted for in the back. The 8-inch touch-screen infotainment system gets navigation, 60GB storage and can be used in 30 languages.

The new twin-turbocharged massive 6.0-litre W12 TSI petrol mill develops 600bhp at 6000rpm and 900Nm of torque from as low as 1250rpm. The over two-tonne SUV goes past the 100kmph mark in just 4.1 seconds to attain a top speed of 301kmph. The power is delivered to all four wheels (40:60 front-rear torque split) through the eight-speed automatic gearbox. To improve efficiency, the Bentley gets active cylinder management where only six cylinders work under part load, start-stop technology and coasting. A hybrid powertrain is expected to make it to the SUV by 2017 and a diesel mill will be offered by 2018.

The Bentley Bentayga competes with the Range Rover Sport SVR in the Indian market. At a price tag of Rs 3.85 crore (ex-showroom, Delhi), the Bentayga is more expensive than the Mercedes Maybach S600 by almost Rs 1 crore.