A cursory glance is all you need to properly assess a Bentley Bentayga. The new model with its extended wheelbase tempts us to take an even longer look. It would be our pleasure.
It had all started out so beautifully. The first SUVs were sculptures of timeless elegance and exclusivity. The Range Rover and the G-Class from Mercedes-Benz were not so much passenger cars as furnished aesthetics on wheels that elevated not only their drivers’ seating position but also their social status. That certainly roused some interest.
Things are different today. Status became a trend. And as the SUV became trendy, the beauty of it was carried to the grave. It’s times like this that you want to rub your eyes with a wire brush.
But there is still beauty to be found. And the Bentley Bentayga, with its longer wheelbase, gives it the space it needs. It is enough just to look at this latest Bentayga – you don’t even have to drive it. It’s very instructive to see how an old idea still works when it is well executed. How the unimportant becomes important and the important unimportant. How refreshing style can be.
This Bentley dispenses with all formalities yet still remains true to itself.
That is only possible because the Bentley DNA has none of the trappings of a typical sports car, but has always embodied the feeling of a grand tourer.
Only here does it again make sense to look at the subtleties. The smallest deviations become apparent when white light is created from a thousand colors – and the impression of the Bentayga is composed of a thousand such small, synthetic impressions. It echoes: Nothing can happen to me. Yes, such a thing still exists today!
Adrian Hallmark, Chairman and Chief Executive of Bentley Motors: “No matter which Bentley you drive, you will always get out more relaxed than when you got in before the journey.” This is where things get particularly interesting with the Extended Wheelbase. First and foremost, the longer wheelbase benefits rear-seat passengers with its new airline-style seats. According to the manufacturer, this is the most advanced seat ever installed in a passenger car. It offers twenty-two adjustment options and the world’s first automatic climate sensor system with optimum seat posture technology.
In Relax mode, the seat can recline back to forty degrees, while the front passenger seat is motorized to move forward and a leather-trimmed footrest folds out from the back of the front passenger seat. In Business mode, the seat moves into the most upright position for maximum comfort while working on the go. But of course, that’s not all: the automatic climate seat technology detects the occupant’s body temperature and surface humidity to determine whether to apply heating, ventilation or both simultaneously. The postural adjustment system automatically makes micro adjustments to the seating position and pressure points by monitoring the pressure across the seat surface. The system can apply 177 individual pressure changes across six fully independent zones over a three-hour period.
Now that’s something to raise your glass to. Cheers!
Text: Jack Weil
Photos: Kirill Kirsanaov · ramp.pictures
ramp #58
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